The Final Encyclopedia

Chapter Fifty-one

Cutting the connection to Chuni, Hal called Ajela.

"I'd like to talk to you and Tam right away," he said. "Something new's come up. And I'd like to bring Amid with me, unless there's an objection to it."

"I'll ask Tam." Ajela's face looked at him curiously out of the screen. "But I can't imagine any objection. Why don't you just bring him along to Tam's suite? If there's any problem with that, I can meet you at the door and explain to Amid."

"I'll be there as soon as I can collect him, then," said Hal.

When the two of them reached the suite, Ajela was waiting, holding the door open. Inside, Tam waved them to chairs.

"I'm afraid this is going to disrupt things," said Hal, sitting down. "I'm going to have to leave for a while - "

He glanced at Amid.

" - Taking Amid if he'll go."

He had said nothing of this to the old Exotic. Amid raised his eyebrows, very slightly, but said nothing.

"Also, I'm going to suggest we tighten security on the Encyclopedia right away. I'm afraid that means all visitors - visiting scholars included - should leave."

Tam frowned.

"The Encyclopedia's never been closed," he said. "Even back when it was on Earth's surface, down in St. Louis, it was always open to those who needed to use it and were qualified to come in."

"I don't think there's any alternative now, though," said Hal. "Otherwise, one of these days a human bomb is going to be walking through an entry port. Bleys can find people willing to give their lives to destroy the Encyclopedia. Closed, we're invulnerable. Only, we'd have to look to the supply situation."

"That was taken care of long ago," said Ajela. "Even in the beginning Mark Torre considered the chance that the Encyclopedia, being what it is, might be isolated one day. We're an almost perfect closed system, ecologically. The only thing we'd lack for the next half century is enough energy to see us through that much time. Closed up, we might go half a year to a year on stored power… but at the end of that time, we'd have to open irises to collect a fresh supply of solar energy. Of course, I can put Jeamus Walters to work on a way to get solar energy through the shield without opening up…"

"I don't think we need to worry about obvious physical attack from outside for some time, yet," said Hal. "But for everything else, the available time looks a lot shorter than I'd thought."

"That's what you found out from Bleys, was it?" Tam asked. "What did he say?"

"What he told me, effectively, was that he'd like me to resign myself to the fact that his people had already won - "

"Won!" said Tam.

"Unfortunately," Hal went on, "what he had to say about it agrees with what Amid came to tell me. Amid, why don't you tell Tam and Ajela?"

Amid did. When he was done, Tam snorted.

"Apologies, and all that," he said to Amid. "But I don't know you. How can I be sure you're not someone who belongs to Bleys Ahrens?"

"He isn't, Tam," said Ajela, softly. "I know who he is. He's the kind of Exotic who wouldn't be able to work on Bleys' side."

"I suppose," Tam growled, looking from her to Amid and back again. "You Exotics should know each other, of course. But as far as the Others already having won goes, though - well, what did you have in mind to do, Hal?"

"I'm going to have to go back to Harmony, to Mara or Kultis, and the Dorsai. It's become time to get our forces organized," said Hal. He turned to the small Exotic. "Amid, you were going to help me with communication. Can you get a message, now, to Harmony ahead of our own landing there? A message arranging a meeting for me with a Leader of one of the resistance Commands, named Rukh Tamani?"

Amid frowned.

"The Encyclopedia can put me in phone communication with the Exotic Embassy in Rheims, down on Earth, can't it?"

"Of course," said Ajela.

"Good. Let me see what I can do, then," Amid said. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go to that room you gave me and do my calling from there."

"Thank you," said Hal.

Amid smiled a little grimly, and went out.

"He's a sensitive listener," said Hal, after the door had closed behind the small man in the gray robe. "I think he understood I needed to talk to the two of you, alone."

"Of course he did," said Ajela. "But what was it you didn't want him to hear?"

"It's not exactly that I had a specific reason for not wanting him to hear," said Hal. "It's just that there's no particular reason for including him, yet; and until there is - "

"Very good. Quite right," said Tam. "When we know him better maybe it'll be different. But for now, let's keep private matters among the three of us. What was it you were going to tell us, Hal?"

"My conclusions about Bleys, and his visit," said Hal. "Bleys said he came here to see if I couldn't be brought to accepting the fact that his side had won; and I believe that actually was one of his reasons for coming. From which I judge that he's now ready to move against Earth; and that's why I feel the Encyclopedia's now in danger."

"Why?" demanded Tam. "What makes you suddenly think he's ready to move against Earth; and why should that suddenly put the Encyclopedia in danger?"

Hal looked from one to the other of them.

"I thought it was obvious. You don't see it?" he said. Ajela, beside Tam, shook her head. "Well, to begin with, you've got to realize that Bleys is completely honest in anything he says; because he feels he's above any need to dissimulate, let alone lie outright. He told me he'd hate to waste what I could do for the race; and since that's what he said, that's the way he must feel."

"How," demanded Tam, "do you know he's above any need to dissimulate?"

Hal hesitated.

"In some ways I understand him, instinctively," he answered. "In some ways, even, I think he and I are alike. That's one of the things I was forced to recognize in the Militia cell on Harmony, when I came to understand other things. I can't prove it to you - that I understand him. All I can do is ask you to take my word for it. What I'm sure of, in this instance, is that if he ever needed to dissimulate, he'd cease, in his own eyes, to be Bleys Ahrens. And being Bleys Ahrens is the most important thing in the universe to him. "

"Again," said Tam, "why?"

Hal frowned a little.

"Because he's nothing else. Surely that much has always been obvious about him?"

Tam was silent.

"Yes," said Ajela, slowly, "I think it always has been."

"So," said Hal. "Since he doesn't dissimulate and therefore he really was interested in saving me if he could, we're faced with the fact that that reason alone isn't strong enough to bring him here, now. Also, his main reason for coming, whatever else it is, isn't likely to have to do with the Encyclopedia, which he respects but doesn't fear. So it must have to do with Earth. Earth's always been the one world where the Others have been inexplicably ineffective with a majority of the populace."

"As opposed to the Exotics, the Friendlies and Dorsai, you mean?" said Ajela, "where the reasons are plain why most of the people there manage to resist that charismatic talent of the Others?"

"Exactly," said Hal. "The people of Old Earth as a whole never have had the sort of commitment to the ideals of their cultures as members of the three great splinter groups have. But in spite of this a majority of the people on Earth seem to be able to shrug off the charisma. The Others know they'll have to control Earth, eventually; but in spite of this mobilization of theirs for what looks like an orthodox military movement against their enemies, their natural preference isn't for that way of doing things. Neither Bleys nor any others of his kind want to spend any large part of their lifetimes playing at being generals. What they really want is to sit back among worlds already conquered and enjoy themselves. So, since Bleys is here now, it has to mean two things at least. One, that he's planning to move soon on Earth, in a non-military manner - since any military effort they could mount is at least logistically unready; and two, Bleys, himself, wanted a first-hand look at the situation there before that effort got under way."

"All right," said Tam. "I still don't see what in this sends you off to Harmony, the Exotics and the Dorsai."

"The fact that Bleys is different."

"That's what 'Other' means," said Tam dryly.

"I mean," said Hal, "different from the rest of the Others. He heads their cause for a reason of his own I don't yet fully understand; and until I do, I've got to dig for every possible understanding of the situation."

He stopped and looked at Tam, who nodded slowly.

"And the situation right now requires that understanding," Hal went on, "if we're to get any clear idea of what Bleys and the Others are planning for Earth."

"All right, then," said Tam, "just what are they planning, do you think?"

"Well," answered Hal, "they know they aren't as successful at stampeding individuals there as they are elsewhere; but on the other hand, Old Earth's people have always been ripe for any emotionally powerful appeal, particularly in an apocalyptic time. You heard Amid. The argument they're already beginning to use in their mobilization on the other worlds - is that individuals on Earth with a traditional desire to dominate all other civilized planets, and armed with new, dark weapons from the Encyclopedia, are about to try to conquer the Younger Worlds. Note that the blame's being laid on individuals."

"Why's that important?" said Ajela.

"Because, since it's easier to paint individuals as villains than all those on Earth, the most obvious deduction is that Bleys plans to send charismatics to Earth, to preach a crusade in which the common people there will be urged to rise against the Encyclopedia and those supposedly evil individuals who're pushing the plan to take over the Younger Worlds. If they can get a popular movement of any size going down there, then the Younger Worlds can be asked to send help, to take power by force. Meanwhile, it's a good argument to use on Earth's people; and a good plan to gain power for the Others, there. It's using their special talent at one remove; but, given the special character of the old world's full-spectrum peoples, that makes it all the more likely to work."

He paused.

"Am I making sense to you both?" he asked.

Tam nodded.

"Go on," his deep, hoarse voice rattled against the walls of the room.

"So it's necessary I carry what we know and what I deduce to the Exotics and the Dorsai; and show the Exotics, in particular, that victory for the Others isn't a foregone conclusion - that they can be fought, if they try what I believe they're going to try. They can be fought and checked right here on Earth."

"And how are you figuring on fighting them, right here on Earth as you put it?" asked Tam.

"With counter-preachers." Hal's eyes met the dark old ones levelly. "What I finally realized in that cell on Harmony was that, at base, those charismatic abilities of the Others are derived from a talent evolved on the Friendlies; where the urge to proselyte has always been strong, powered by the quality of their faith. Rukh Tamani, if I can get to her, can tell me who the Harmonyites are, who're available and would want to come to Earth and oppose those who'll preach this doctrine of the Others. We'll need people who can oppose it with the same sort of force and faith that fuels the charismatic talent. Then, if the Exotics and the Dorsai see reason to hope, we may be able to get all those who ought to be united against the Others working together effectively as a unit - in time to stop Bleys."

Tam said nothing for a second.

"I see." He glanced at Ajela. "The minute you begin fighting him on Earth, successfully or otherwise, you'll force Bleys to fall back on the use of force to win. That's why you think we've got to start protecting the Encyclopedia right now?"

"Yes," said Hal.

Tam nodded.

"All right," he said, heavily. He turned to Hal. "I suppose you've taken into consideration the possibility that Bleys might already have someone, a saboteur, already here, at the Encyclopedia."

"Yes," said Hal. "But it's a long shot. The plans of the Others are too recent for it to be one of the regular personnel; and there's been none of the regulars who've been away from the Encyclopedia in recent years long enough and under conditions where they could be permanently corrupted, by even someone as capable as Bleys himself. That leaves the visiting scholars, as I say; and while it's unlikely one of them could have been gotten at - considering the general level of their ages and reputations - in the last year, we shouldn't take chances. In any case, there's no way I can see that we can check those we've got here now for possible intent to sabotage us, and be sure of what we find."

"Perhaps there is," said Tam. "Come along to the Academic Control Chamber. Let me take a look at the neural chart there and see what our current visitors have been working on in the last twelve months."

They went. The Control Chamber was as Hal had remembered it from his first visit to the Encyclopedia when he had been brought to it by Ajela. The room, which was large as rooms in the Final Encyclopedia went, was still banked on each wall with the control consoles, with half a dozen technicians in white shirts and slacks moving softly about it, recording the work done by the visitors and surveying it for what was new to the master files and should be added to them.

Tam led Ajela and Hal directly to the mass of red, cord-thick lines apparently hovering at waist level in the center of the room. The one technician beside it moved discreetly back out of view as the old man came to a halt and stared down at the intermittently glowing sections that came and went in the mass of lines. He stood, studying it for a long moment.

"Rotate this overall view forty-five degrees," he said, almost absently.

"Rotate… ?" the technician who had retreated came forward, staring. "But then all our present charting is going to be thrown off - "

He checked himself at the suddenly raised head of Tam and the glare of Tam's eyes. Tam opened his mouth, as if to speak, then closed it again.

"Of course. Right away - " The technician hurried to a console and Tam looked back at the display of the Encyclopedia's neural circuits, as they seemed, not so much to rotate, as to melt and twist into different patterns. After a second, the changes stopped taking place, and Tam considered the shapes before him.

After a moment he sighed and looked at Ajela, then beyond her to the technician, now standing well back by the console he had gone to to rotate the display.

"Come here," said Tam.

The technician came forward. The other white-dressed figures in the room were not looking, not watching what was going on at the center of it; but they were very still and Hal thought he could see their ears tensed.

"I do my best nowadays," said Tam quietly to the technician, "not to lose my temper, but sometimes I'm not too successful. Try and remember that the rest of you don't know all the things I've learned in the last century; and that I get weary of having to make the same explanation over and over again to new people every time I want something done."

"Of course, Tam," said the technician hastily. "I shouldn't have spoken up."

"No, you shouldn't," said Tam. "But now you should also know why you shouldn't have; and from now on you should tell other people, so they know, too. Will you do that?"

"Yes, Tam. Of course."

"Good." Tam turned back to Hal and Ajela. "Jaime Gluck and Eu San Loy. I think both those visitors may have used up their welcome here."

"Tam - " began Ajela.

"Oh, I can't be sure," Tam said. "But let's go on that assumption that I'm right. Better safe than sorry, as Hal pointed out."

"All right," said Ajela. She turned to Hal. "I'll tell them, right away. How soon will you be leaving?"

"On the first available deep-space transport…" But Hal's eyes were on Tam, who had turned back once more to studying the neural display. Ajela's attention followed his and they stood in silence, watching the old man as the seconds slipped past. But Tam was paying attention only to what held his gaze. Finally, slowly, he looked back and around, at Hal, with an expression on his face Hal had never seen before.

"You're doing it," he said, on a long exhalation of breath.

"Not really," replied Hal. "Not yet. I'm just beginning to investigate the possibilities - "

"You're doing it - at last!" said Tam, in a stronger voice. "What Mark Torre dreamed of - using the Encyclopedia as a pure thinking tool. Using it, by God, the way he planned it to be used!"

"You have to understand," said Hal, "this is just a beginning. I'm only trying out poetry as a creative lever. I was waiting to show you until I had some firm results - "

Tam's wrinkled gray-skinned hand closed with remarkable strength on Hal's sleeve.

"This trip," said Tam. "Put it off. You've got to stay here, now. Stay, and work with the Encyclopedia."

Hal shook his head.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'll get at it again just as soon as I can get back. But there's no one else to do what needs to be done on the Friendlies, the Exotics and on the Dorsai. I have to go, if the worlds are to be saved."

"Damn it, the worlds can take care of themselves, for once!" snapped Tam. "This is the doorway, the dawn of a new beginning! And you're the only one who can lead us into it. You can't be risked, now!" The technicians about the room were staring. Tam ignored them. "Hal!" he said. "Do you hear me?"

"I'm sorry." Gently, Hal pulled his sleeve out of the other's grasp. "I meant what I said. There's no one else to talk to the people who have to be talked to if the worlds are going to survive."

"Well, and what if they don't - as long as the Encyclopedia survives with what you can learn to do, now - what does the rest matter, then?" raged Tam. "Let Bleys and his friends have the other worlds, for fifty years - or a hundred years - or whatever. They can't touch you and your work here; and here's where the future lies. Isn't it the future that counts?"

"The future and the people," said Hal. "Without the people there wouldn't be any future. What good's a gift with no one to give it to? And you know as well as I do it's only if what I might find here turned out to be no use to anyone else, that Bleys'd leave the Encyclopedia alone. While if he already had all the other worlds and was really determined to get the Encyclopedia, eventually he would. With Newton, Cassida, and the stations on Venus, he'll have some of the best scientific and technological minds in his service. They'd find a way eventually to break through to us. Nothing ever made by humans stops other humans forever. Tam, I have to go."

Tam stood still. He did not say anything further. But his whole body seemed to hunch into itself, to become less. Ajela stepped to him and put her arms around him.

"It's all right," she said softly to him. "It'll work out, Tam. Hal'll come back safe. Believe him - believe me."

"Yes…" said Tam, harshly. He turned slowly away from her and toward the doorway that would take him back to his own suite. "You don't give me much choice, do you?"