Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [174]
The Chairman said in a deprecating tone, ‘An agrarian economy, a bit more than self-sufficient. The people are comfortable and complacent and had no qualms about severing ties with the Hansa.‘ Cain didn't point out that Earth had severed ties first. 'They tore up the Hansa Charter, declared themselves independent, and joined the Confederation. After all that, they expected to go about their lives as before.‘
‘They seem harmless enough, Mr Chairman,' Cain said.
‘They rebelled against their legitimate authority! They walked away from the Terran Hanseatic League, embarrassing us in front of the other colonies. If we ignore this, we only encourage others to follow them.'
Andez spoke up, without being asked. As the General himself said when so many pilots deserted the EDF, the only way to stop this haemorrhage is to set one or more prominent examples in a manner so dramatic and unforgettable that others will think twice before defying us. It is long past time that we should do something to the breakaway worlds. In my opinion.‘
General Lanyan seemed relieved to have an assignment he could really do well. ‘I'm ready to crack down on Usk, Mr Chairman. We'll show them the error of their ways.'
‘You must do more than that, General. Make an impressive example of the people of Usk, though you may find it unpleasant. I'm counting on you to do what must be done. The Archfather will assist you.' He stared at the General, and Lanyan hesitated only a moment before briskly nodding.
Though Cain did not dare to say anything aloud, he was certain he had stepped into a madhouse.
The Archfather wore a distant smile on his face. His sapphire-blue eyes seemed to be lit from within. ‘Ah. It will be a real pogrom.'
One hundred and seven
Anton Colicos
Anton had never seen Vao'sh so excited. The rememberer's facial lobes flushed bright colours as he related the news. ‘The Mage-Imperator intends to go to Theroc! It is said that he means to ask forgiveness for what the Ildiran people did on Dobro.'
The trip itself was another sudden shift for the Ildirans. By tradition, supplicants came to the Mage-Imperator. Their ruler, whom they considered without equal in any civilization, did not travel elsewhere to see an inferior leader. And he most certainly did not apologize.
But times changed. ‘A bold move,' Anton said. ‘Maybe a foolish one. Only history will tell.'
They met in the Hall of Rememberers, where the new diamondfilm plates were being mounted in place. Scribes had been busy etching new words, revising stanza after stanza according to the new information that Vao'sh and Anton had provided. Though at first he had been relieved and excited to get back to his ‘real' work of translating the Saga of Seven Suns, Anton's eyes were scratchy from the overwhelming amount of reading and writing he had done in the past several days. He remembered cramming for exams back at the university, rehearsing his oral defence, editing his thesis again and again before finally receiving his degree. This, though, was far more intense. He and Vao'sh were reinterpreting an entire chronicle.
The corrected replacement panels included uncensored excerpts from the epic, and deleted the intentionally false tales. The story of the firefever killing all the rememberer kith was replaced with the grim truth of their assassination, so that the Mage-Imperator could rewrite history. The Dobro breeding camps were there, the unsettling civil war with mad Designate Rusa'h, even Jora'h‘s near treachery with the hydrogues. Ildirans were still grappling with the idea that real history was not always pleasant and heroic.
Though Chief Scribe Ko'sh and some hardliners continued to quietly protest, a new generation of rememberers was already studying the revised Saga. Some older historians, who had also accepted the chore of relearning what they had previously memorized, purged the now-discredited stories from their retellings. The changes would sink in eventually,