Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [88]
Anton couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'But, Your Majesty, I'm just a scholar, not even an Ildiran--'
'Your perspective is necessary. You are both rememberers in your own way, and you will have my full support. Revise the Saga to include the shameful revelations of the Dobro breeding programme and our involvement with the hydrogues. Reveal the schemes that my father and his predecessors - and yes, even I -participated in. It is only the first of many wrongs that I must atone for. I have spoken at great length with Nira about it. Do you accept this noble task I entrust to you?'
Vao'sh was confused. This simply was not done! 'Liege, does that mean you wish for us to include the apocrypha - all the unofficial documents that we recently studied?'
'Yes. Others tried before you, but they were unsuccessful. You may recall a rememberer named Dio'sh.'
The old rememberer nodded. 'He was a friend of mine. He survived Crenna's blindness plague and came back here years ago. I heard that he died.'
'He did not simply die. He was killed. My father murdered him.'
Vao'sh gasped. 'The Mage-Imperator? He cannot - would not - do such a thing.' But Jora'h explained how Dio'sh discovered the truth about the Lost Times and went to Mage-Imperator Cyroc'h with his findings, whereupon the corpulent leader strangled the poor man with his long, living braid.
'You will include that story when you rewrite the Saga as well.' The Mage-Imperator's words were sharp, as if he had to force himself to say them.
Vao'sh would never defy the command of his Mage-Imperator, but he was greatly unsettled. 'Liege, you are asking us to alter the unalterable. The Saga of Seven Suns is revered as a perfect record.'
'Yet you know that is not true. You have known it for some time.'
The rememberer's voice grew smaller. 'But it is… tradition.'
'Is it a worthy tradition that serves only to perpetuate lies? You will tell the truth. That is my command. The Ildiran people must learn to accept change. That in itself is an important change I will bring about.'
Fifty-two
Kolker
Thanks to Osira'h, Kolker understood now. He understood everything, and it was marvellous! Breathtaking.
His hopes had been correct. Now that his mind was open to the connections in the cosmos, he saw all aspects of the power struggles, the shifting tides from one Spiral Arm to the next. From the grand elemental beings, to the humans and Ildirans, to the tiniest insects and single-celled organisms, everything was woven together by passageways, bridges, networks, and webs that he had never comprehended. It was as if he'd been standing too close to a mosaic and now, after taking a few steps away from it, could discern how all the discrete fragments fit together to form a vast and complex pattern.
Kolker sat in the bright sunlight, drinking in everything he held in his mind, everything he had begun to share. A group of lens kithmen still sat staring into the plasma-bubble fountain, meditating, but Kolker no longer yearned to join them. He already understood more than they could see and think. They were limited by their , and he was not.
His place in the overall scheme had not changed, but all of a sudden he knew he had a place. He sensed a million embracing arms of from the Ildirans around him, and when he touched the lone treeling, he could soar across the connections of telink. After his long, lonely misery he had never imagined feeling so incredibly wonderful.
He knew he had to open the minds of his friends to this glorious reality - not just green priests, but normal humans as well. This was not meant to be a private revelation. It could raise them all to a higher consciousness.
First, he would