A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Authors: Jack McDevitt
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Fantasy, War, High Tech, Life on other planets, Heroes
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three monographs, all dealing with her achievements in translating and commenting on Ashiyyurean literature. All three are available for your inspection. I should observe that I've reviewed them, and found nothing that would seem to be helpful, although there is much of general interest.
"You're aware that Ashiyyurean civilization is older than our own by almost sixty thousand years? In all that time, they have produced no thinker to surpass Tulisofala, or at least none who possesses her reputation. She appeared quite early in their development, and formulated many of their ethical and political attitudes. Tanner was inclined to assign her the place that Plato holds for us. She has, by the way, drawn some fascinating conclusions from this parallel—"
"Later, Jacob. What else is there?"
"Two other monographs are known, but they are no longer indexed. Consequently, they will be difficult to locate, if indeed they exist at all. One apparently concerns her ability as a translator.
The other, however, is titled 'Diplomatic Initiatives of the Resistance.' "
"When was it published?"
"1330. Eighty-four years ago. It went off-line in 1342, and the last copy I can trace disappeared Page 22
about 1381. The owner died; the estate went up for auction; and there's no record of general disposition. I'll keep trying.
"There may be other off-line materials available locally. Esoteric collector's items, obscure treatises, and so on, frequently never make the index. Unfortunately, our record-keeping procedures are not what they could be.
"Some journals and memorabilia have been maintained on Khaja Luan, where she was an instructor before and after the war. The Confederate Archives have her notebooks, and the Hrinwhar Naval Museum owns a fragmentary memoir. They're both located on Dellaconda, by the way. And the memoir, according to my sources, is exceedingly fragmentary."
"Named after the battle," I said.
"Hrinwhar? Yes. Wonderful tactic, that was. Sim was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant."
Next day, I visited half a dozen universities, the Quelling Institute, the Benjamin Maynard Historical Association, and the meeting rooms of the Sons of the Dellacondans. I was naturally interested in anything connecting Tanner with Talino or, more broadly, the Resistance. There wasn't much. I found a few references to her in private documents, old histories, and so on. I copied everything, and settled in for a long evening.
Little of the material seemed to have much to do with Tanner herself. She appears peripherally in discussions of Sim's staff, and of his intelligence gathering methods. I found only one document in which she could be said to be prominent: an obscure doctoral thesis, written forty years before, discussing the destruction of Point Edward.
"Jacob?"
"Yes. I've been reading it. It has always been a mystery, you know."
"What has?"
"Point Edward. Why the Ashiyyur destroyed it. I mean, it was empty at the time."
I remembered the story: during the first year of the war, both sides had discovered that population centers could not be protected. Consequently, a tacit agreement came into being, in which tactical targets would not be located near populated areas, and cities became immune to attack. The Ashiyyur violated that understanding at Point Edward. No one knew why.
"But Sim found out what was coming," continued Jacob. "And he evacuated twenty thousand people."
"There were only twenty thousand people?" I asked. I'd always assumed there'd been a lot more.
"Ilyanda was settled by the Cortai. A religious group that never cared much for outsiders.
Controlled immigration rigidly, so much so that they'd stagnated, culturally and economically.
That's all changed now. But during the Resistance, the city was a theocracy, and virtually everyone on the planet lived there. Communal life was very important to them."
According to the document, Sim compromised his entire intelligence network by reacting the way he did. The Ashiyyur
"You're aware that Ashiyyurean civilization is older than our own by almost sixty thousand years? In all that time, they have produced no thinker to surpass Tulisofala, or at least none who possesses her reputation. She appeared quite early in their development, and formulated many of their ethical and political attitudes. Tanner was inclined to assign her the place that Plato holds for us. She has, by the way, drawn some fascinating conclusions from this parallel—"
"Later, Jacob. What else is there?"
"Two other monographs are known, but they are no longer indexed. Consequently, they will be difficult to locate, if indeed they exist at all. One apparently concerns her ability as a translator.
The other, however, is titled 'Diplomatic Initiatives of the Resistance.' "
"When was it published?"
"1330. Eighty-four years ago. It went off-line in 1342, and the last copy I can trace disappeared Page 22
about 1381. The owner died; the estate went up for auction; and there's no record of general disposition. I'll keep trying.
"There may be other off-line materials available locally. Esoteric collector's items, obscure treatises, and so on, frequently never make the index. Unfortunately, our record-keeping procedures are not what they could be.
"Some journals and memorabilia have been maintained on Khaja Luan, where she was an instructor before and after the war. The Confederate Archives have her notebooks, and the Hrinwhar Naval Museum owns a fragmentary memoir. They're both located on Dellaconda, by the way. And the memoir, according to my sources, is exceedingly fragmentary."
"Named after the battle," I said.
"Hrinwhar? Yes. Wonderful tactic, that was. Sim was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant."
Next day, I visited half a dozen universities, the Quelling Institute, the Benjamin Maynard Historical Association, and the meeting rooms of the Sons of the Dellacondans. I was naturally interested in anything connecting Tanner with Talino or, more broadly, the Resistance. There wasn't much. I found a few references to her in private documents, old histories, and so on. I copied everything, and settled in for a long evening.
Little of the material seemed to have much to do with Tanner herself. She appears peripherally in discussions of Sim's staff, and of his intelligence gathering methods. I found only one document in which she could be said to be prominent: an obscure doctoral thesis, written forty years before, discussing the destruction of Point Edward.
"Jacob?"
"Yes. I've been reading it. It has always been a mystery, you know."
"What has?"
"Point Edward. Why the Ashiyyur destroyed it. I mean, it was empty at the time."
I remembered the story: during the first year of the war, both sides had discovered that population centers could not be protected. Consequently, a tacit agreement came into being, in which tactical targets would not be located near populated areas, and cities became immune to attack. The Ashiyyur violated that understanding at Point Edward. No one knew why.
"But Sim found out what was coming," continued Jacob. "And he evacuated twenty thousand people."
"There were only twenty thousand people?" I asked. I'd always assumed there'd been a lot more.
"Ilyanda was settled by the Cortai. A religious group that never cared much for outsiders.
Controlled immigration rigidly, so much so that they'd stagnated, culturally and economically.
That's all changed now. But during the Resistance, the city was a theocracy, and virtually everyone on the planet lived there. Communal life was very important to them."
According to the document, Sim compromised his entire intelligence network by reacting the way he did. The Ashiyyur
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