"The recall order concerning Ambassador Rafiki must be rescinded. Rafiki will continue to represent the United States of Earth at the talks. Is there anything more? Mitzak?"
"The lists of persons on the orbiter at the time of Heliot’s death, until the present, in addition to their records-as much of their records as Hajjis Da could assemble."
"Have you copied the information into the mission’s central computer?"
"Yes."
"And the information I requested on the orbiter?"
"Yes, Ovjetah."
"Give me the codes. I will study them at a later date. Give Nicole the codes, as well. Nicole, do you have anything to add?"
She held the tips of her fingers to her temples. "Perhaps." She faced Mitzak. "You said that the tests determined the presence of pronide in Heliot Vant’s beverage."
"Yes."
"Who did the tests?"
"Londu Peg. Heliot’s personal health master."
"And Londu Peg also did the autopsy that determined the cause of Heliot’s death?"
"Yes. Do you see a fifth possibility in Londu Peg?"
"Mitzak, we are relying upon nothing more substantial than Londu’s word both as to the cause of death and the evidence indicating how the poison was administered."
"Why would Londu misrepresent the truth?"
"What law of the Universe, Mitzak, prevents Londu from misrepresenting the truth-or from murdering Heliot? And if we doubt Londu’s word concerning the cause of death, the suspects are no longer limited to those we have discussed. We are even in doubt that there was a murder." She turned her head and faced Tora Soam. "Where is Heliot’s body?"
"At the present: it is in Sindievu on Draco. It was sent home immediately after the autopsy." The Ovjetah paused. "Emmmm… I see. I shall at once order another autopsy done at the Chin Kovah in Sindievu. And now both of you may go. Kia, I want you to stay. We must talk."
"About what, my parent?"
"It is a private matter."
Nicole stood up. "There is one more thing, Tora Soam."
"What is that?"
"We know that this war is rulebound. You told me that my task was to determine how it is rulebound. To continue this investigation into the death of your friend will necessarily take away from the time I can spend on the more important problem."
"What law of the Universe prevents knowledge of the circumstances concerning Heliot’s death from being a possible path to achieving the larger goal?"
Nicole held out her hand. "Mitzak, please help me to my quarters. I haven’t been there since we arrived, and I am tired."
She felt Tora Soam’s hand on her arm. "My view is not as narrow as you suspect, Nicole. Do not close paths simply because another wants them explored. You must have better reasons."
"Just as you must have better reasons than your friend’s death to commit all of our resources to exploring only one path."
"May the morning find you well, Joanne Nicole."
She nodded, the hand released her arm, and Leonid Mitzak led her from Tora Soam’s quarters.
After entering her guarded quarters, she quickly felt her way around the walls-noting each light fixture, each piece of cabin furniture-then she lowered herself upon the bed platform and stretched out, her arms over her head. She took two deep breaths, relaxed her muscles, and tried to clear her mind for sleep.
But there was something: uneasiness; questions hanging without answers; an overwhelming sense of dread. Her thoughts moved at random, the attempted suppression of a particularly demanding or disturbing thought only moving her mind to more demanding, more disturbing, areas.
Jetah Lita had delighted in inventing situations in which to place its students; each situation designed to remove mental blinders from the students, inflicting upon them the kind of mistrust that would allow the corner of a truth to be seen. And the mental blinders that were removed-fairness, right, honor, morality, good, evil, love, hate, duty, justice, freedom, oppression-were all malleable creatures composed of transitory rules.
Inventions.
And the student said, "Jetah, love is not a thing of rules; it is a thing of feelings."
Lita smiled. "And you do not see, Fa Ney, that feelings are creatures of rules?"
"I do not, Jetah."
"Do you love me, Fa Ney?"
"Of course, Jetah."
"Why?"
"I just do."
"And if all that I taught you were lies, if I constantly beat you, degraded you, and humiliated you, would you still love me?"
The student thought. "No."
"Then, Fa Ney, your feelings demand certain conditions they require that I be a certain way, and do certain things. Your love demands that I comply with certain rules-rules you invented."
Fa Ney began to cry. "Does this mean, Jetah, that I do not love you?"
"I comply with your rules, child. Therefore you do love me, as I love you. Did our discussion make you doubt that?"
The student nodded. "But you love me… because I comply with your rules?"
"Yes. But that does not diminish the feeling. Understand the event and the facts that govern the event Fa Ney. Understand your feelings and the rules that govern them. Place your trust In such an understanding, for this allows you to trust your feelings.
"Never place your trust in a word."
Joanne Nicole sat up, crossed her legs, and rested her face in her hands. "Peace" is a word representing the compliance with a malleable set of rules. And "war." When. the Tsien Denvedah and the USE Force fight, it is called "war." When the Amadeen Front and the Mavedah fight, it is called "terrorism," "civil conflict,"-
-or reach back in time for other words: "police action," "the troubles," "uprising,"-
-And "murder" is a word. The Drac children who died at the kovah in V’Butaan were not "murder victims." They were casualties. They died by a different set of rules than did Heliot Vant.
Nicole sighed, swing her legs to the deck, and stood up. She moved toward her compartment’s terminal and sat down before it. Lita had said: "All rules aim toward goals and all goals are rules aimed toward further goals "
"A circle-a chain."
Ditaar had said, "To understand the circle, break it and travel both directions until you meet yourself. To understand the chain, understand the closest link, then travel in both directions until you run out of links."
She sat back from the terminal. What goal was served by Heliot Vant’s death? She spoke out loud: "It prevented the signing of the Rafiki-Heliot Treaty, it renewed hostilities upon Amadeen, and it made possible different terms under the reopened negotiations." …And all goals are rules leading to further goals.
"What is served by changing the treaty terms?" She reached out her hand and felt the controls of the terminal. Finding the proper key, she pressed it and spoke: "Joanne Nicole voice-receive."
The terminal toned, and Nicole spoke again: "Play document, Amadeen orbiter treaty, initialed draft." She listened to the document.
While the USE Force and the Dracon Fleet stood only an order away from mutual destruction, and while the Amadeen Front and the Mavedah unleashed horror and suffering upon each other below, Heliot Vant and Ana Rafiki had reached an agreement.
The agreement ended the major conflict, made permanent joint USE-Drac institutions for returning captured territories, colonizing new planets, exploiting the undecided areas upon Amadeen, arbitrating war crimes and reparations, and policing in force a demilitarized zone upon Amadeen that divided human and Drac according to the territories each governed prior to the war-