The Crucible of Empire (65 page)

"I'm at loose ends Saturday morning, too," she said. "As it happens."

Tully took a long swallow of his beer. By the time he finished, her beer had arrived. He held up his glass in a little salute.

"Here's to Operation Riders of the Purple Sage."

She clinked glasses with him, chuckling. "It's Operation Sagittarius, Gabe. They named it after the galactic arm we're in, not a Zane Grey western."

"And a good thing, too," he said. "A galactic arm is way bigger than Texas. Which way are we going, have they decided yet?"

"Inward, Caitlin tells me. The brains figure there's more chance of finding intelligent life that way, at least until we start getting too close to the center."

Tully summoned up his knowledge of astronomy. It was fairly rudimentary, but some things are pretty basic, too. "We're about two-thirds out on the arm, if I remember right."

She nodded. "Yes, you are. Which means this is likely to be a long expedition."

That was a devil's minion type smile, if Tully had ever seen one.

"I'm at loose ends Sunday and Monday, too," Caewithe added. "As it happens."

Ata:

suffix indicating a group formed for instructional purposes.

Az:

Jao measurement, slightly longer than a yard.

Azet:

Jao measurement, about three fourths of a mile.

Bau:

A short carved baton, usually but not always made of wood, issued by a kochan to those of its members it considers fit for high command. The bau serves as an emblem of military achievement, with carvings added to match the bau-holder accomplishments.

Bauta:

An individual who has retired from service honorably and has chosen to relinquish his automatic kochan ties.

Bodyspeech:

Postures, used to communicate emotions.

Bodystyle:

individual kochan's style in bodyspeech

Dehabia:

Traditional soft thick blankets used for lounging.

Dry-foot:

dry-footed, as in incapable of swimming, insult

Early-light:

The period between dawn and early morning

Emerged:

officially released from one's childhood (as in natal pool)

First-Mate:

first sexual partner in one's marriage group

First-light:

dawn

Formal movement:

Codified postures, taught to young Jao.

Fraghta:

An older and experienced batman/valet/advisor/bodyguard assigned to young Jao of high kochan status.

Framepoint:

A stargate, the means for interstellar transit.

Hai tau:

Life-in-motion.

Heartward:

Right.

Jinau:

Sepoy troops recruited from conquered species.

Jints:

huge lumbering land animals native to Mannat Kar, one of the Krant homeworlds, notable for their awkwardness

Kochan:

Jao clan. The term is used also to refer to "root clans" or "great kochan."

Kochanata:

Instructional group taught in the kochan.

Kochanau:

The leader of the clan, at any given time, chosen by the elders. The office is neither hereditary nor permanent, although some kochanau retain it for long periods of time.

Kroudh:

Outlawed, officially severed from one's clan.

Last-sun:

Yesterday.

Late-dark:

Midnight or after.

Late-light:

Afternoon.

Lurret:

A large herbivore found on Hadiru, a Dano world. Specifically, an old rogue male, notorious for its belligerence and unstable temperament.

Mank:

sea creature that inhabits Mannat Kar, about the size of a manatee, very strong swimmer, not aggressive

Medician:

combination of doctor and medical technician

Mirrat:

Small finned swimmers on Jithra's homeworld.

Namth camiti:

To be of highest ranking in an emergent generation, sometimes referred as "of the clearest water." Loosely equivalent, in human terms, to graduating first in the class from a military academy.

Natal compound:

Where one was born.

Naukra:

assembly of all the kochan called to deal with a specific issue

Next-sun:

Tomorrow.

Ollnat:

Conceiving of things-that-never-were, or what-might-be, lies, imagination, creativity, etc. It is a quality mostly lacking in Jao, except in a frivolous manner.

Oudh:

In charge, having official authority in a situation.

Pool-sib:

children born during the same season of mating so that they are raised together: they may or may not be born of the same parents: the relationship is equally close, either way

Sant jin:

A formal question requiring a formal answer.

Smoothface:

An insult, implying no incised bars of rank or experience. Roughly equivalent to such humans expressions as "wet behind the ears" or "greenhorn."

Stub-ears:

insult

Tak:

Woody substance burned for its aromatic scent.

Taif:

A kochan-in-formation, affiliated to and under the protection and guidance of a kochan.

Timeblind:

Having no innate sense of time as the Jao do.

Timesense:

Innate ability to judge the passage of time and sense when something will happen.

Vai camiti:

The characteristic facial pattern by which one may often recognize a Jao's kochan; faint vai camiti are considered undesirable, a mark of homeliness.

Vaim:

Traditional Jao greeting between two who are approximately equal in status. Can also be used as a compliment by a higher status Jao to a lower. The literal translation is "We see each other."

Vaish:

Traditional Jao greeting of inferior to superior. The literal translation is "I see you."

Vaist:

Traditional Jao greeting of superior to inferior. The literal translation is "You see me."

Vithrik:

Duty, what one owes to others, the necessity of making one's self of use.

What-is:

Reality.

What-might-be:

Something imagined.

Windward:

Left.

Wrem-fa:

A technique of instruction through body-learning in which nothing is explained, laid down in the brain too deep for conscious understanding. Also, in a broader sense, used to refer to life experience.

Boh:

ancient guardian spirits, left behind during the exodus

Children's Court:

home for youth before they are released for the Festival of Choosing that takes place in their fifteenth year; if they are not chosen, they must live thereafter in the
dochaya

Dochaya:

unskilled laborers' living area at the far edge of the city, a slum

Elian:

social and occupational grouping; similar to a human caste, except members are selected, not born into it

Han:

meeting of all the most senior elders of the elian

Last=of-Days:

long foretold time when the Ekhat will finally exterminate the Lleix

Newest:

term of low age-rank

Oyas-to:

shunning, not-seeing, disciplinary mode for being disharmonious and flaunting social order

Sensho:

the correct manner of behavior which includes order in the Han and elian according to age-rank

Shortest:

term of low age-rank

Unassigned:

those without an elian who must live in the dochaya

Vahl:

black cosmetic stick with which to emphasize the upswept lines of the eye

The Ekhat are an ancient species which began spreading though the galaxy millions of years ago, an expansion which reached its peak before the onset of what human geologists call the Pleistocene Age on Earth. That final period of expansion is called by the Ekhat themselves, depending on which of the factions is speaking, either the
Melodious Epoch
, the
Discordance
, or by a phrase which is difficult to translate but might loosely be called the
Absent Orchestration of Right Harmony
.

Three of the four major Ekhat factions, whatever their other differences—the Melody and both factions of the Harmony—agree that this period was what humans would call a "golden age," although the Harmony is sharply critical of some of its features. A fourth faction, the Interdict, considers it to have been an unmitigated disaster. The golden age ended in a disaster usually known as the Collapse. (See below for details.)

The era which preceded this golden age is unclear. Even the location of their original home planet is no longer known to the Ekhat. They spread slowly throughout the galactic arm by use of sub-light-speed vessels, and in the course of that expansion began to differentiate into a number of subspecies, some of which became distinct species, unable to crossbreed with other Ekhat lines.

The Ekhat today are a genus, not a species, and some human scholars even think it would be more accurate to characterize them as a family. They are widespread throughout the galactic arm, but are not very numerous on any particular planet. That is partly because they are a slow-breeding species, and partly because they are still recovering from the devastations of the Collapse.

The golden age began when Ekhat scientists discovered the principles behind the Frame Network, a method used to circumvent the lightspeed barrier. By then, they were already widely dispersed and the Frame Network enabled them to reunite their disparate branches into a single entity. Whether that entity was purely cultural and economic, or involved political unification is a matter of sharp debate. This is, in fact, one of the main issues in dispute among the factions of the Ekhat in the modern era.

It is unclear how long this golden age lasted. The lack of clarity is primarily with the beginnings of the era. There is much greater agreement about its end: approximately two million years ago, the entire Frame Network disintegrated in what is usually known as the Collapse (although the Interdict faction calls it the Rectification or the Purging).

The collapse of the Network was quite clearly accompanied by (and probably caused by) a massive civil war which erupted among the Ekhat and quickly engulfed their entire region of galactic space. By the end, Ekhat civilization was in ruins and most Ekhat had perished. There was an enormous amount of collateral damage, including the extinction of many other intelligent species.

Slowly and painfully, in the time which followed, three different Ekhat centers were able to rebuild themselves and begin to reconstruct the Network. Two of them did so for the purpose of restoring the Ekhat to their former position (although one of them proposes doing so along radically different lines) and another wishes to prevent it.

The factions can be roughly depicted in the following manner:

The Melody can be considered the "orthodox" faction. It believes the "golden age" was truly golden, an era during which the different strains of the Ekhat were working together toward the ultimate goal of merging and becoming a species which would be "divine" in its nature.

The Ekhat notion of "divinity" is difficult for humans to grasp, and can sometimes be more clearly expressed in quasi-musical rather than religious terminology. Each branch of the Ekhat contributes to the slowly emerging "supreme work of art" which is the "destiny" of the Ekhat. No faction of the Ekhat seems to have anything close to the human notion of "God." The closest parallel in human philosophy is probably Hegel's notion of God-in-self-creation, except that the Ekhat see themselves, not some outside deity, as what Hegel would call the Subject.