Abukoff House Books

Towards the end of the Earth/Bhengarr War…

“Admiral Nogulich, the Ev’nan ambassador is ready for you.”

“Thank you,” the tall, thin, Russian woman said. She stepped through the reception area and into the inner office. The walls were bare, in keeping with Ev’nan custom for diplomatic offices. On one side of the room, the ambassador stood behind a small simple desk that was completely bare, except for a computer monitor. The other side of the room was empty except for a small pillar that held a single large book. She resisted the temptation to examine the book that seemed so out of place. “Ambassador Prynn. Greetings from Earth.”

The greying Ev’nan woman came around from behind her desk and replied with a noncommittal nod of her head. “The Bhengarr representative is waiting for us. But I wanted you to see something first.” She led Nogulich to the mysterious book. “This is a copy of the Secret Histories of the Bhengarr Families. Abridged of course, but it is an ambassadorial edition, which means that it is somewhat more complete than the normal edition offered to aliens.”

“Interesting”, Nogulich said as she glanced at the title. “Written in English.”

“Nobody but Bhengarr are allowed to see the native tongue edition. But we can still learn something about them, even with this limited resource.”

“Are we going to read this while the Bhengarr representative waits for us?” Nogulich felt the smile try to form on her lips, and she resisted.

“That won’t be necessary,” the humorless Ev’nan answered. “I’ve studied it at length. The Bhengarr Families have been at war ten times in their modern age, which goes back approximately two thousand earth years. Six of those were territorial expansions. Two are ongoing affairs over rogue states resisting their rule. The other two are Earth and the Tsantarii/Ak’luk alliance.”

“I always had the impression that they were more warlike than that sounds.”

“As I said, the ambassadorial edition is more complete than any you’re likely to have seen. The Bhengarr have established their territory. They aren’t seeking more. Not at the moment, anyway. Their war with the Tsantarii alliance is a reaction to hostile acts and cultural, well, ‘violations’ is as good a word as any. The Ev’nan are not given to war, but we might have reacted similarly given the same provocation.”

“Their war with us?” Nogulich asked. “We’ve never gotten an answer directly from them. Believe me, we’ve tried.”

“Their war with you is about religion,” Prynn said coldly. “Their religion.”

“What?”

“The Bhengarr representative has agreed to explain it to you. Admiral, all of the answers you need are in this book.” She picked it up and weighed it in her hands. “That is how we established a relationship with them, by reading this very carefully and understanding what they will and will not tolerate. We started from there- from the points that they would not negotiate. Then we found points that they would and slowly built our relationship on those points. That is what you’ll have to do. With my help.”

Nogulich stepped aside to allow the ambassador to lead the way to the conference room, satisfying herself with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

“Teleporter”. The Bhengarr representative, a female with striking obsidian-black… almost blue- black fur spoke the english word with a strange inflection, as she closed the copy of The Secret Histories and put it on the table between them. “How do your teleporters work?”

“In simple terms, they scan the subject down to the quark, digitize it, transmit the pattern via a containment beam, and then reassemble it at the destination. But-“.

“You digitize it.”

“Yes. It’s quite safe. In fact, statistically speaking, it’s the safest means of transport that we have.”

“What does it do to your soul?” The Bhengarr asked. “You humans do have souls, don’t you?”

“But that’s totally-“.

“It’s a simple question, with a follow-on. Can you scan a soul down to the quark, digitize it, transmit it in a containment beam, and then reassemble it properly?”

“But it’s a different-.”

“What you do with your own souls is your business. What you did to ours is an entirely different matter.”

Nogulich was staggered. Her mouth was dry and her eyes were desperate to escape the eyes of the furious Bhengarr sitting a few feet away from her. This was a degree of helplessness that she hadn’t encountered even in the most frightening of battles against them. “But-.”

“By ‘digitizing’, what you are really doing is taking it apart. Destroying it, and then supposedly making an exact copy at the destination. Correct?”

“But the matter is the same. The transmission- it’s a matter stream. It’s the same matter. It’s just been disassembled.”

“Reduced to its component parts, down to the quark. Yes, you explained. But you haven’t explained how a soul can be reduced to a quark. Has your science managed that?”

“But we never meant any harm. We didn’t think that-“.

“And that is your answer, right there. Despite what we assume to be your good intentions, you disassembled thirty of our brothers and sisters. Including their Urqs, incidentally. And then, minus their souls, you reassembled them on one of your ships.”

“It was a rescue mission. We were trying to help. We reached out to you, we tried to understand what we’d done.”

“That is the only reason we are here today.”

“After thirty years of war, you’re willing to talk? We have been trying to make peace since this started.”

“And the fools who refused to listen to you then are dead. Once blood has been spilled, the road to peace is not simple.”

“Okay, we’ve established your differences,” Prynn interjected. “You have learned what it means to be enemies. Now you can learn what it means to be friends.”