The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [75]
“I’m sure it wasn’t,” Ro prompted. “What does the book say, mother?”
“It’s truth,” Ilsewidna said again. “That’s all it is, and that’s all it has to be.”
Tarrajel cleared his throat. “Uh, Fessalahka, if I might try to explain—?”
Ilsewidna frowned as Ro shifted to face the young man. “Yes?”
“Actually, Ilsewidna is right,” Tarrajel said. “The book is truth, or at least it’s truth of a sort. It’s truth as viewed through a distorting glass of time and tradition, but it’s truth nevertheless—unfortunately for us.”
“Truth,” Ilsewidna insisted. “Truth!”
Tarrajel waved a hand. “Yes, Ilsewidna. It’s truthful enough. The book—The Holy Book of the Exile—tells in very obscure and confusing language the story of how, thousands of years ago, our people enslaved and abused an innocent race, which eventually rebelled against our rule and forced us to leave our native world.”
“That would be the Krann,” Data observed.
“So it seems,” Tarrajel said. “Historical events are not stated in straightforward terms in the Book of Exile, but the ancient writings can be interpreted to foretell the Krann invasion. I’m not surprised you and your spouse haven’t heard of the book, Porratorat. Few people our age have, and fewer still have read it. The Book of Exile has been suppressed since the revolution.”
“I have read it,” Data said. “An acquaintance of ours recently gave me a copy.”
“How unusual, Porratorat,” Tarrajel said. “Well, what did you think of it?”
“I believe the ancient writings in the book can be interpreted in any number of ways,” Data told him matter-of-factly. “They can certainly be interpreted in a manner that predicts the present crisis.”
“How did you come to know of the book, Tarrajel?” Ro asked.
The young man grinned. “I was a history student before I went into law, and I decided that I needed to read the Book of Exile to understand my chosen subject more fully. I’ve always believed in doing as many illegal things as possible, and I don’t believe in the government’s right to tell me what I can and cannot read. I’ve studied the Book of Exile very closely—as an historical text, of course, not a religious one. As religion, it’s pretty thin stew.”
“Truth!”
“Yes, Ilsewidna,” Tarrajel said. “As I’ve said, it is truth—but only of a sort.” He addressed Data and Ro again. “The book is apparently based on our earliest written records, the ones we brought with us from our homeworld. Those records, of course, were all lost during the dark centuries that followed our arrival here. We think the book was written from oral histories that were developed during that time. That made the text subject to corruption.”
“The ‘dark centuries’?” Ro asked. “Um, I’m sorry, Tarrajel. I was never very good at history.”
“Not much to remember, in this case,” Tarrajel said. “When we arrived here, the civilization that had been maintained throughout the long journey from the homeworld aboard the asteroid ships broke apart quickly. People spread out all over the planet. It took centuries for our people to draw together again and start building a planetary civilization. The Book of Exile dates from the beginning of that era.”
“You said the book represented truth, Tarrajel,” Data said. “Why did you say that?”
“The book has been proven correct in one very important way,” the young man said. “The most important thing that’s in the book, the thing that concerns all of us now, is its promise that one day, should we not repent our sins against the enslaved race, that race would find us and annihilate us.”
“And we did not repent and it has found us and we are all going to die!” cried Ilsewidna. She pointed a finger at Tarrajel. “The monks were keeping the beast at bay with