Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [56]
"They learn the Saga from beginning to end," Vao'sh explained. "A rememberer will spend half of his life absorbing all the stanzas until he can recite it without error. The story must be told without a single change."
Anton gave a wry smile. "I hate writers who keep editing even after a story is finished." As he and Vao'sh continued past scrollwork pillars and mirrored fountains, rememberers stood before each of the text-covered wall panels, memorizing and reciting. "They're getting older from one segment to the next."
"The youngest rememberers begin their training just inside the entrance. Once they perfect the first segment of the Saga, they move to the next plate on the wall, progressing year by year until they have absorbed the whole epic."
Anton laughed. "And I thought Earthbound academia was tedious!"
At the core of the Hall of Rememberers, scribes quietly and intensely discussed their work, crowded around tables. Middle-aged storytellers pored over stacks of records. Working together with a single goal, they compiled and critiqued one sheet after another, adding new lines to the never-ending Saga.
The ceiling swept upward in a gigantic chimney above a huge brazier that burned with bright flames. Discarded sheets were cast into the hot fire, destroying unacceptable drafts. Once each line was finished, discussed, and approved, then--and only then--was it scribed in permanent diamondfilm that would eventually be mounted onto the walls within the Hall of Rememberers.
"The accurate recording of events is as important as the events themselves." The lobes on Vao'sh's face flushed a chameleon palette of colors. "A society that does not remember is not worth remembering. It is a core Ildiran belief."
Although human epics were often embellished myths that served a purpose beyond the mere chronicling of facts, Ildirans took every mark of recorded history literally. Only Vao'sh's kith--and presumably the Mage-Imperator--knew that the legends of the Shana Rei were false, made up to add drama and conflict to the Saga. But if the Shana Rei were fictional, then might not other parts of the Saga of Seven Suns be suspect?
As he watched the rememberer kithmen scribbling and discarding draft stanzas, Anton realized that "history" was literally being made before his eyes. An apprentice threw another sheaf into the brazier, where the flames consumed more unacceptable lines.
Vao'sh walked from one table to the next. "Right now, my comrades are writing the story of Adar Kori'nh, from his evacuation of Crenna after the blindness plague, through his struggles against the hydrogues, to the final battle in the clouds of Qronha 3."
"Your Adar Kori'nh certainly earned his place in the Saga."
Vao'sh smiled. "Within months, rememberers will discuss the inclusion of our long trek across Maratha and our battles with the Klikiss robots."
Anton gasped. "I came to study your history, not make a mark on it. You mean I . . . we--"
"You are no longer a mere observer of historical epics, Rememberer Anton. You will soon become part of one."
32
ADMIRAL LEV STROMO
They kept up the fight for two full days, losing ground a centimeter at a time. But still losing.
After the mutinous Soldier compies killed Sergeant Zizu, taking the security chief down in a flurry of broken bones and last spurts of weapons fire, Stromo saw that only he and Commander Ramirez remained alive on the Manta's bridge. He'd heard enough panicked transmissions across the intercom to know the compies were massacring everyone else aboard. Frightened bridge crewmembers had tried to evacuate, but the corridor was stacked with the bodies of dead soldiers. And the compies kept coming.
Below, Qronha 3 looked maddeningly peaceful, exhibiting no sign of rammers or hydrogue warglobes. His Manta was all alone and vulnerable.
"Admiral!" Ramirez tossed him a charge pack for his twitcher. "This is the last one."
Stromo's hands were trembling, but he managed