nothing like ours. It’s neither linear nor hyper, but both, and something else as well. But extremely efficient.”
“Of course. What do the Chapalii prize above everything else? Efficiency. Peace. Those two things. So, what if we put a spoke into the smooth turning of their wheel? What if we disrupt their efficiency? What if we disturb their peace? As the Tai-en Mushai did, fourteen thousand years ago.”
“I record his death as 10,382 B.C.E,” said Rajiv.
David felt a shudder of misgiving—no, more a premonition, a feeling that they stood on the edge of a momentous step, that once the word was spoken, once that first step was taken, once the reckless hand turned over the first card, that there was no going back. That their road would be chosen, for good or for ill. To the death, or to freedom.
“Sabotage,” said Charles. “It’s an old Earth strategy. Constant, unending, unexpected, disruptive. A campaign of sabotage.”
“You mean terrorism,” said David.
“No, I think that’s a later accretion to the term. But use terrorism if you want to. These timetables, these charts, these merchant houses—have they changed significantly since the Mushai’s time? Do we have reason to think the Empire is static enough, the Chapalii so addicted to stability, that they might still be—” Charles paused and abruptly grinned. “Still good?”
David and Maggie and Jo all laughed. “Does the eight twenty-nine still leave Rigel for Betelgeuse?” said Maggie.
“That could take years to research,” objected Rajiv. “We don’t know enough about the Empire. But certainly many of the structural systems could have remained parallel, even pertinent to our situation now.”
“We have years. We have eternity, if our heirs keep the torch burning. But I’m convinced of it. I’m convinced that this is why the Mushai accumulated this knowledge here. I’m convinced that this is how he broke the empire that he lived in. There is proof here that the borders of the Chapalii Empire were once larger than they are now. Rhui is proof. Before they absorbed the League, before they absorbed human space, Rhui and this system were not part of the Empire just as human space was not part of the Empire. But the Mushai’s movements prove that they were once part of the Empire, long ago. How could they lose track of them? Of what they once had?”
“What if they had no history?” asked Maggie. “Or no access to historical records, at least. Or—I don’t know. Given this lead to go on, and time to work, Tess could probably make some sense of it.”
Charles bore that fixed expression on his face that meant he was absorbed in the genesis of a new idea. David was not even sure that he had heard Maggie. “For the sake of argument, let’s say that those who administered did so as if every day was the present day. So they lost track, somehow. If we fix in our minds that they don’t operate like we operate, that they don’t think like we think, then it’s possible. If all is in the present, and they are otherwise stable, why shouldn’t the information in these banks be reliable? Why shouldn’t we be able to use it in the same way he did?”
“You want to bring down the Empire?”
“I want to free humanity. I sincerely doubt we have a chance against them, main force against main force. But if we’re persistent enough gadflies, perhaps they’ll consider us too much trouble and let us go.”
“Or crush us entire.”
“There’s always that chance. Every risk we take in life risks, as one of its consequences, oblivion. But the hand of the Yaochalii is gentle. I’ve never seen the least sign that they’re as ruthless in war as, say, Bakhtiian is.”
“Well,” said David, encouraged by Charles responding to Maggie’s comments, “and we’ve certainly seen more of the Chapalii in war than any other humans have. I don’t know.”
Charles shook his head impatiently. “We don’t need to know, yet. We’ve got a lot of
“Of course. What do the Chapalii prize above everything else? Efficiency. Peace. Those two things. So, what if we put a spoke into the smooth turning of their wheel? What if we disrupt their efficiency? What if we disturb their peace? As the Tai-en Mushai did, fourteen thousand years ago.”
“I record his death as 10,382 B.C.E,” said Rajiv.
David felt a shudder of misgiving—no, more a premonition, a feeling that they stood on the edge of a momentous step, that once the word was spoken, once that first step was taken, once the reckless hand turned over the first card, that there was no going back. That their road would be chosen, for good or for ill. To the death, or to freedom.
“Sabotage,” said Charles. “It’s an old Earth strategy. Constant, unending, unexpected, disruptive. A campaign of sabotage.”
“You mean terrorism,” said David.
“No, I think that’s a later accretion to the term. But use terrorism if you want to. These timetables, these charts, these merchant houses—have they changed significantly since the Mushai’s time? Do we have reason to think the Empire is static enough, the Chapalii so addicted to stability, that they might still be—” Charles paused and abruptly grinned. “Still good?”
David and Maggie and Jo all laughed. “Does the eight twenty-nine still leave Rigel for Betelgeuse?” said Maggie.
“That could take years to research,” objected Rajiv. “We don’t know enough about the Empire. But certainly many of the structural systems could have remained parallel, even pertinent to our situation now.”
“We have years. We have eternity, if our heirs keep the torch burning. But I’m convinced of it. I’m convinced that this is why the Mushai accumulated this knowledge here. I’m convinced that this is how he broke the empire that he lived in. There is proof here that the borders of the Chapalii Empire were once larger than they are now. Rhui is proof. Before they absorbed the League, before they absorbed human space, Rhui and this system were not part of the Empire just as human space was not part of the Empire. But the Mushai’s movements prove that they were once part of the Empire, long ago. How could they lose track of them? Of what they once had?”
“What if they had no history?” asked Maggie. “Or no access to historical records, at least. Or—I don’t know. Given this lead to go on, and time to work, Tess could probably make some sense of it.”
Charles bore that fixed expression on his face that meant he was absorbed in the genesis of a new idea. David was not even sure that he had heard Maggie. “For the sake of argument, let’s say that those who administered did so as if every day was the present day. So they lost track, somehow. If we fix in our minds that they don’t operate like we operate, that they don’t think like we think, then it’s possible. If all is in the present, and they are otherwise stable, why shouldn’t the information in these banks be reliable? Why shouldn’t we be able to use it in the same way he did?”
“You want to bring down the Empire?”
“I want to free humanity. I sincerely doubt we have a chance against them, main force against main force. But if we’re persistent enough gadflies, perhaps they’ll consider us too much trouble and let us go.”
“Or crush us entire.”
“There’s always that chance. Every risk we take in life risks, as one of its consequences, oblivion. But the hand of the Yaochalii is gentle. I’ve never seen the least sign that they’re as ruthless in war as, say, Bakhtiian is.”
“Well,” said David, encouraged by Charles responding to Maggie’s comments, “and we’ve certainly seen more of the Chapalii in war than any other humans have. I don’t know.”
Charles shook his head impatiently. “We don’t need to know, yet. We’ve got a lot of
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