"Which thing? Its struggle to cross the Madah? The crossing of the poisoned seas? Shizumaat outwitting the Hadyi, or its combat with Seuorka, Chief of the Omela?"
"I meant Shizumaat’s discoveries: its theory of worlds; its discovery of talma?"
"But everyone knows that, Joanne Nicole."
Nicole felt slightly exasperated. "They know it now, because Shizumaat taught it then!"
The snipping stopped.
"I do not understand why you are angry."
"Vencha Eban, can you not see that Shizumaat’s discovery of talma is more important than all of its other adventures combined?"
The snipping resumed for a moment, then stopped. "I do not fly or fight among the stars, Joanne Nicole. I clean floors."
The snipping continued.
In the Koda Ayvida, Vehya taught talma to Mistan, who used it both to improve talma, and to invent writing. Mistan’s students reproduced the stories of Aakva, Uhe, and Shizumaat; and Shizumaat’s talma spread throughout the world of the Sindie.
The Koda Schada told of the increasing oppression of the Servants of Aakva’s rule, their overthrow by Kulubansu, and almost five hundred years after Shizumaat’s birth, the story of Ioa, who founded the first Talman Kovah.
The Schada concluded with the invasion of the Sindie by the Hadyi, the destruction of the kovah and the dispersal of the Talmani, and the death of Lurrvanna under the rule of Rodaak The Barbarian. Then followed almost four hundred years of war as the different races of the planet Sindie struggled for dominance.
The Koda Itheda told of Aydan and the War of Ages. Aydan, a secret Talman Master, applied talma toward the task of waging war, then toward the task of establishing and maintaining peace. As the warring neared its end, another Talman Master, Tochalla, began the movement to reassemble the Talmani and to rebuild the Talman Kovah.
The following books of The Talman tell of the next six thousand years of progress and application of talma under many Jetai: Cohneret, Maltak, Di, Lita, Faldaam, Zineru, Dalna.
Throughout this period, talma is made the core of a unified science of existence. By 2000 BC, the Sindie had made its first probes into space.
The Story of Dalna, in the Koda Siayvida, is the last of the Sindie books of The Talman.
Pur Sonaan visited to inform Nicole that the solution to her blindness was still outside its talma. "But I am constantly working to move the limits. Joanne Nicole."
"Pur Sonaan, you are called a Jetah, but of the Chirn Kovah."
"Yes."
"But you speak of talma the same as any Talmani."
"I am Talmani. I apply talma toward the goal of health."
"When I was an intelligence officer, I saw recordings of Drac prisoners. Soldiers; Tsien Denvedah. They, too, spoke of talma. One of them called itself a Jetah."
"The soldier and the health master are in the same discipline. Joanne Nicole. They specialize according to the goals they desire and the diseases that stand in the way of those goals."
The first of the Draco books, the Koda Sishada tells first of the division of the Talmani. Almost two hundred years after the death of Dalna, it is proven that Sindie is a dying planet.
A movement begins within the Talmani to escape Sindie and find other planets upon which to live. The larger faction chooses to remain on Sindie, hoping for a solution; or as the ancient Mistan wrote in the Koda Ayvida: "Talma shows each one its path. But, as beings of choice, we can choose not to see the signs."
…Mitzak reading the news to her, and from all she could tell, the war was stalled; going badly for everyone. Military casualties were into the millions; civilian casualties were into the billions…
"Mitzak, what are you going to do after I leave here?"
"My plans are made."
"Are you going back with the Drac Fleet?"
"No. Thanks to my service to Tora Soam, I am being allowed to continue my work at the Talman Kovah. I think I have had enough of this war…"
The Koda Shishada concluded with the Story of Atavu, the Ovjetah of the Talman Kovah, who left with the armada of generation ships toward the unknown. Two hundred and forty years later, Poma writes the Koda Sitheda. Poma is one of the founders of Draco and the Ovjetah of Draco’s Talman Kovah. The stories of Eam, Namvaac, and Ditaar, the last three books of The Talman, tell of the development of Draco and the colonization of many other planets, and the beginning and end of the Thousand Year Rebellion, which saw the formation of the first Dracon Chamber more than a century before the birth of Copernicus.
Until the USE had come into conflict with the Dracon Chamber over the issue of the planet Amadeen, Dracs had seen nothing but hundreds of years of peace…
Talma.
Talma is composed of fundamental rules of situation assessment, goal definition, and goal achievement; methods for finding out where one is, where one wants to go, and how to get from the former to the latter; individually and/or collectively. It is the foundation for all activity, from individual conduct and social relationships to science, business, and law…
The Jetai, masters of the Talman, are the ones who study, invent, experiment with, and apply these fundamental rules. The Talman Kovah is their institution; as much laboratory as it is library and philosophers' hall. The Ovjetah is the First Master of the Talman Kovah. And Tora Soam was the current Ovjetah: the overseer of talma.
Tora Soam was the Drac equivalent of a chief economist political theorist, attorney-general, first military strategist, the board of the USE Academy of Sciences-and too many other things-all rolled into one person.
And if the war ever paused long enough for a truce, Tora Soam or some subsequent Ovjetah would advise the negotiations for peace. And Nicole felt that peace would have to come, or there would be no human race. The Dracs had fought an Interplanetary war for a thousand years without a moment of shaken resolve. Tokyo Rose had said that the war would not last forever. But the Dracs were prepared to fight for all of the forever that belonged to Joanne Nicole.
Then came the day she was to leave the Chirn Kovah.
On her feet were open sandals. Everyone who cared to had wished her well; and Pur Sonaan had promised to keep her informed of any progress in its research efforts. Pur had also added a cryptic sentiment:
"Joanne Nicole, if things go well in the future, you will have great cause to hate me. When that time comes, I ask you to remember this moment. The things I have done…" Pur searched for words. "This I should not say. May the many mornings find you well."
Nicole sat on the edge of her bed, feeling the softness of her new robe, slightly apprehensive about leaving the known of the room for the unknown on the other side of the walls.
There were strange footsteps. They halted and there was a moment of silence. "I am Tora Kia. I have been sent to bring you to my parent’s estate."