Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [22]
‘Why not?” Picard asked.
‘They deal with demons,” Basha said.
Picard just blinked at him, his uncertainty wriggling along Troi’s skin. She herself didn’t know what to make of this new information.
‘They deal with demons?” Picard asked. His voice was careful to make no insult of the question.
‘Everyone knows that they do unholy things. They twist the very stuff of life, deforming our babies, while theirs grow healthy!”
His hatred was like some ugly black thing inside Troi’s head. It crawled over Troi’s skin and filled her with revulsion. It was rare, but sometimes a person’s hate was so strong that it was almost physically repulsive.
‘I found the Green’s representative to be intelligent and thoughtful. A man of science, not superstition.”
‘Then how do you explain their children being healthy while ours die?” Basha asked.
‘I have no answer for that, General, but I have spoken with the Greens, and I believe they can help this planet.”
‘I have given my answer, Captain Picard. His voice was low and rage-filled, each word carefully bitten off.
‘You would turn to off-world strangers for help, but refuse aid from your own people?” Picard asked.
‘The Greens are not my people. I am Torlick. They are my people.”
Picard shook his head. “If that is what you truly believe, General, then there will be no peace.”
Basha frowned, winced. “What are you talking about?”
‘As long as you see yourselves as separate people, you cannot work together. You must put aside old hatreds and work as one people, not fractured groups.”
‘I do not understand,” Basha said.
Again, Troi knew he was lying, but it was a lie of politeness. His rage was like a great hovering warmth in the room, ready to swoop down on the captain.
‘We are Torlick, they are Venturi. We are not the same people.”
‘Except for the colors of your cloaks you are the same people. Your language, most of your customs, your physical appearance is the same. What is it that makes you two separate factions?”
The general struggled to stand, pushing himself upward with his one good arm. “How dare you pass such judgments on us. We are two separate people. We want peace. We do not want to embrace our enemies.” Basha’s anger had found a focus, and it broke against the Captain like heat-lightning. Picard seemed not to notice. Troi felt scorched just standing nearby.
‘I do not ask that you embrace your enemies, General Basha, but you must know that you cannot have peace in the midst of hate.”
‘Our hatred of each other has been built over centuries of fighting, Captain. Everyone in this room has lost parents, children, brothers, sisters, to the enemy. How can we forgive that, or they forgive us?”
‘It is not a matter of forgiveness,” Picard said. “It is a matter of practicality. Your world is dying because all your technology has gone into causing death instead of preserving life. If you do not stop now, it will be too late. I ask you, General, is winning the war worth killing all the people on this planet?”
Picard took a step forward. The guards moved in on either side to eye each other suspiciously. “Is winning a war worth the death of not just the children in the nurseries, but all the children? We have met your son, Jeric. He is a bright, strong child. Would you trade his life for your hatred?”
‘He is right.” Talanne’s voice was soft, but clear.
Basha turned to look at her, but the movement was too quick and he nearly groaned aloud with pain. Talanne moved toward him, as if to help him. He stared her into immobility. “So you speak against me.”
‘No, husband, I speak for our child and for myself. The fighting must end or all will be lost. Everything. Jeric looks at the wall hangings and asks what a tree is, or a flower. He doesn’t believe me when I tell him the pictures of dozens of children playing together is true, not a made-up story. Our son doesn’t believe that that many healthy children could exist.”
Talanne stepped toward her husband, fingers touching his bruised cheek ever so gently. “Husband, we must make peace, and it must last.