She released Tora Soam’s arm. "No one can be in here except you, Rafiki, Indeva, and myself."
Nicole heard the Chirn Jetah, Natueh Gi, leave the room. Then the Ovjetah spoke to Ambassador Rafiki and Jetah Indeva. "My distinguished guests, it is necessary that all of your guards wait outside," Tora Soam changed the direction of its voice and addressed one of the several Dracs operating the screen room’s consoles. "My apologies, but you and the members of your watch must wait outside."
The Drac operator paused. "Should we shut down the facility before we leave?"
"No. We will need it. Have your watch put the things they are working on now on temporary hold."
"Yes Ovjetah."
As the operators put their stations on hold and left the compartment, the Drac and USEF guard contingents began moving out in almost identical clouds of low muttered curses. When all had gone, the compartment door hissed shut. Ambassador Rafiki walked across the deck, stopping at the foot of Nicole’s bed-table.
"You must be the traitor Moore told me about."
"I am no traitor. As Tora Soam can confirm. I am vemadah. Do you understand the meaning of the term?"
Rafiki answered. "I’ve read The Talman. I’m not sure what difference it makes what label it is one uses to commit treason. Nicole, why am I here?"
"To witness a nightmare, Ambassador. This nightmare will tell you why this war happened and what binds everyone to this war. But to do this, Tora Soam must have access to USE commercial and historical information."
"Impossible."
"Ambassador Rafiki, none of the information we need is classified."
Jetah Indeva walked up and stood next to Tora Soam. "Ovjetah, is the Talman Kovah tied into this complex?"
"Yes."
"And our information will be put on display for this woman?"
"As much of it as is needed."
Indeva noised a grump. "I cannot allow this."
"You have no choice in the matter, Jetah Indeva. I am the Ovjetah of the Talman Kovah. Not even the Dracon Chamber may dictate to me to what use I put information."
Ambassador Rafiki spoke. "Tora Soam, you cannot force me to allow the tie-in."
Nicole interrupted. "No. But there is enough information from the kovah to begin, and in beginning, perhaps, Ambassador Rafiki will see enough to want to learn more." Nicole listened as the Ovjetah took its position before one of the compartment’s screen consoles. She spoke. "Represent upon the screen that portion of space governed by the USE and the Dracon Chamber."
After a few moments, Tora Soam spoke. "This view is from the planet Draco."
Nicole shook her head. "Give us a three-dimensional view centered between Earth and Draco, and make the point of view far enough away from that center that all of the territory can be represented."
"And now?"
"Highlight the planets Earth and Draco."
"It is done."
Nicole pointed toward the screen with her left hand. "This is how things stood almost twenty-one hundred Earth years ago. Humans were still planet-bound, and the Sindie under Poma had just refounded their race upon the planet Draco. Now, Tora Soam, by accelerated time progression, show: the colonizations by both races until the Earth year 2050. Nicole imagined the halo of dots surrounding Draco, then a similar halo surrounding Earth.
After a few moments, Ambassador Rafiki spoke. "And this is in illustration of what?"
"This shows the patterns of colonization prior to the formal establishment of the Ninth Quadrant Federation." She turned toward Tora Soam. "Now continue at a slower progression, bringing us to the present." Nicole spoke as her mind described the dots appearing on the screen. Beginning with the year 2050, the colonization patterns changed. Observe how each pattern seems to reach toward the other." Her mind showed her the patterns aiming at each other, coming to sharp points near the planet called Amadeen.
Tora Soam spoke. "And now?"
"And now, Ovjetah, one of those planets has been colonized by both races. Amadeen. And all seems well until, without warning, the Front and the Mavedah are formed. Before anyone knows what is happening, three hundred worlds are at war. And the war is such that neither side can win; and the problem of the war is such that neither side can quit. The only remaining path seems to be one of mutual destruction. The interplanetary fighting will end when there is nothing to fight with and no one left to do the fighting."
Ambassador Rafiki sighed impatiently. "I see no purpose in history lessons. And there is another path: the treaty worked out by Heliot Vant and myself."
"If that treaty is implemented, Ambassador, the fighting on Amadeen will continue. No police force can hold down a population determined to make war upon itself. The Dracon Chamber has a commitment to support and defend the Mavedah; The United Stales of Earth has a commitment to support and defend the Amadeen Front. And every soldier that fights upon Amadeen brings the infection of war away from the planet to its home."
Tora Soam’s voice turned toward Ambassador Rafiki. "This is true. Until the problem of Amadeen is satisfied, both forces will remain ready, poised to strike. And more-and-more the soldiers behind those triggers will have the horrors of Amadeen in their sights. By accident or by intent, renewed interplanetary war would only be a matter of time." Tora Soam waited for the human to speak, then continued. "Nicole, we see that we are rulebound. Do you see how?"
"Find the major commercial interests involved in planetary colonizations after 2050."
There was a moment, then the Ovjetah spoke. "Nicole, there are hundreds of companies… labor guilds, and immigration organizations."
"The companies provide the incentives for the labor and immigration organizations, Ovjetah. Find the link between the companies."
As Tora Soam worked the console, Jetah Indeva walked to Nicole’s bed-table. Indeva stopped and looked down at her. "Why don’t you simply say what you have to say?"
Nicole smiled thinly, the anesthetic in her shoulder beginning to wear off. "Jetah, Shizumaat did not tell Namndas that Sindie was a sphere; Shizumaat showed Namndas."
"Dah!" Indeva thumped at its chest with the tips of its fingers. "I am not some callow whelp sitting before my master at the kovah, Nicole. I must have answers; not stage productions!"
Tora Soam spoke from its place at the console. "If this is truth you speak, Indeva Bejuda, then you will have no objection to receiving evidence and making your conclusions after the manner of an adult." Before Indeva could answer Tora Soam’s rebuke, the Ovjetah continued. "Nicole, there is no clear pattern. However, almost seventy percent of the capital investment in the colonizations is controlled by a tangle of eleven holding companies. All of these companies are charted out of different planets-none of them members of the Dracon Chamber. We don’t have commercial information on them."
Nicole nodded once. "But all of those planets are members of the Ninth Quadrant Federation."
A pause as the Ovjetah requested and received the information. "You are correct."
Nicole turned toward Ambassador Rafiki. "Will you allow the tie-in?"
Rafiki turned her head toward, the screen. "Nicole, do you have any idea of the size of the horror you are building up to?"
"Then you see it, too, Ambassador?"
Rafiki paused for a moment, then walked across the deck until she stood next to Tora Soam. "Get me the USE mission operator."
After the USE ambassador had authorized the tie-in, Tora Soam worked over the new information. Once the information had been processed, the Ovjetah walked from the console and stood next to Nicole’s bed-table. "Nicole, eighty percent of the capital investment in the USE post-2050 colonizations is divided between fourteen holding companies, none of them chartered out of USE planets."