'Combat sequences in the illusion tanks will not be extended beyond twenty-one days.' Twenty-one days. A long time.
– Still.
– There's no helping it.
And at least he had a reason for enduring those days. The protection of his wife and daughter… and his lover.
– So.
So Hatch began the diligent practice of conscious relaxation.
He tried to concentrate on all the things that were good. Here in his tree above the swamp, he was free from all the worries of Dalar ken Halvar. Here nobody could touch him. He was a world away from the City of Sun, and, equally, a world away from the Nexus. He was safe. Beyond all demands. Answerable only to the Great God Mokaragash, and to none other.
'Wah!' said Hatch, relaxing, reclining, feeling his steel become flesh, his bowstrings become spiderweb.
Abruptly, the million million clicketing insects of the jungle simultaneously fell to silence. Hatch listened. Heard, somewhere, a rhythmic squelching. A drop-drop-drop of water. Then the insects began to speak again, all at the same moment. What concerted their actions? Telepathy? Or did each incorporate in its makeup some kind of clock? Valid questions, these, for Hatch knew this jungle of illusions to be modeled on a real, literal boneand-water mud- and-blood pollen-and-wood ecosystem on some planet which did or had existed sometime, somewhere.
So the insects were not random aspects of a computerized fantasia, but accurate models of living creatures which – Hatch thoughts were interrupted as the world wavered, melted then abruptly brightened, his body suddenly seated, the hot and moist replaced by the dry and cold – For he was back in the Combat College.
Weirdly disorientated.
Hatch had made the transition from illusion tank to reality thousands of times before, but never under conditions quite so unexpected.
'Lupus!' said Hatch, blurting the word.
Lupus Lon Oliver must have killed him, must have, thus winning their encounter. Else how could Hatch possibly have been plunged back into the world of the Combat College?
'He demands,' said Paraban Senk, speaking from the display screen in Hatch's combat bay.
'Demands?' said Hatch, bewildered. 'Demands what?'
'What do you think?' said Senk. 'He demands adjudication.'
And Hatch felt a shuddering relief. So Lupus had not outguessed him, outfought him, outmatched him. Instead, the young Ebrell Islander was seeking to win this match by legal manoeuvre.
Well, it would be very interesting to see what he came up with.
Because as far as Hatch could see, his own position was watertight.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Warfare weakens. It generates chaos, crisis and unknowns in abundance. Battle is apt to compromise both psychic and physical integrity, and a predisposition to favor the enemy may further weaken your resolve to prosecute your duty.
This last factor is often ignored when we study warfare which sees the warrior locked into machines kept parsecs apart.
However, while the Nexus does train for intergalactic and transcosmic warfare, the military reality of the last millennium has been that most active operations involve civil interventions undertaken as a response to political or religious extremism.
Here we must consider the human element: and here note that the tactics of empathy are of particular value when your own resolve is weak.
Unfortunately humans cannot be taken out of the loop, least of all when dealing with the Nu-chala-nuth, who reject the authority of machines over humans. In any case, one could not, for example, entrust a dorgi with the task of policing the streets of any of the cities of the Nu-chala-nuth in the aftermath of one of the periodic upheavals inspired by that religion. So we rely upon the warrior.
If you are of the Nu-chala-nuth, then in the supervision of members of your own faith you may find that your discharge of your duty to the Nexus is difficult. This is an extreme case, but for any given individual we can wargame a situation in which that individual's loyalties will be divided.
In pitched battle, this may be of small account, but it matters greatly in civil interventions, which tend to revolve around negotiations. You as an officer of the Nexus may one day find yourself endeavoring to discharge your duty in a situation in which you have a predisposition to support the enemy in defiance of your duty.
Under such circumstances, you should attend first to the emotional dynamics of the negotiation scenario. If you can befriend your opposite number then that person will tend to refrain from using those tactics which will be most hurtful to you. Here we ask you to understand the first rule of the Characterization of the Enemy: the Enemy is someone to respect. As you come to understand the horrors of total war and the methods which can be used to avoid it, you will begin to understand the importance of this characterization. – from the Book of Negotiations So was it then a slip which let The hero fall and long odds claim the day?
Or was the one sword sharper, or the sand Made partial by its hungers?
'So what's Lon Oliver going to argue?' said Hatch.
'I've no idea,' said Paraban Senk.
'Can we be heard?' said Hatch. 'Right now, I mean? By those in Forum Three?'
'They get to watch you while you're in the illusion tanks,' said Senk. 'They get a full-color full-sound split- screen presentation of the battles. But right now you've got a guarantee of privacy.'
'Then while we're closeted together in private,' said Hatch, 'let's talk about Dalar ken Halvar.'
'Why?'
'Because there's revolution in Dalar ken Halvar.'
'Why should I worry about that?' said Senk.
'Because it's going to compromise your ability to fulfill your mission,' said Hatch. 'Your mission to train Startroopers for the Nexus.'
'So?' said Senk. 'I thought I'd made my position on that clear. Some lawful authority will establish itself swiftly in the city, and I will then deal with that authority.'
'So,' said Hatch, 'let's talk about dealing. Obviously it's something you've got to do, so why not now rather than later? Why not deal with someone you know, someone you trust, rather than someone unknown and untested? Why not manipulate the situation in Dalar ken Halvar rather than taking whatever random leadership gets thrown up by the present disorder? Senk, if you're willing, then I'd like to cut a deal. If you make me the instructor, I'll do my level best to restore order in Dalar ken Halvar and help you fulfill your mission.'
'I thought you didn't want to be instructor,' said Senk.
'What gave you that idea?' said Hatch.
'Lon Oliver gave me that idea,' said Senk. 'He told me today that you offered to sell him the instructorship. You invited him to bribe you. Lon Oliver asked me to disqualify you from this competition on that account.'
'But you didn't,' said Hatch.
'That's right,' said Senk. 'I didn't. Even so, the information made me doubt the strength of your commitment to the Nexus.'
'You're not saying you believe Lon Oliver, are you?' said Hatch.
'You're not denying the truth of his accusations, surely.'
'Of course I am!' said Hatch. 'It's a nonsense, an utter nonsense, the whole lot of it.'
'Perhaps,' said Senk. 'But Lon Oliver was very persuasive.
He makes much of the fact that the Silver Emperor is missing.'
'Temporarily, perhaps,' said Hatch. 'But – '
'He tells me,' said Senk, 'that the Free Corps is going to end up in effective control of Dalar ken Halvar. I'm inclined to believe him, Hatch. I've come to a decision. As you say, I've got to do deals with whoever ends up in
