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Zai waited, his chaotten in his hand
"Almost no one believed it," she said "The new theory was debated for a while, gained a few supporters, but then it was suppressed and almost entirely dropped"
Zai narrowed his eyes in disbelief "But eventually peoplehere, two thousand light-years from Earth"
Oxham shook her head "They didn&039;t realize Very few ever changed their reith the old theory stuck to it overwhelly"
"But then how--"
"They died, Lieutenant-Couments still moved her, still made her mouth dry
"Or rather, they did their descendants the favor of dying," she said "They left their children the world And thus the new ideas--the new shape of that world--becah death"
Zai shook his head "But surely they would have eventually figured out--"
"If the old ones lived forever? Possessed all the wealth, controlled the ree there, stuck on that lonely fringe of Orion, thinking ourselves at the center of the universe
"But the old ones, the ones rong, died," she finished
The man nodded slowly
"I&039;d always heard that you pinks were pro-death But I&039;d thought that an exaggeration"
"It&039;s no exaggeration Death is a central evolutionary developress And i idea"
Zai srandeur of the palace around them "We don&039;t seem to be a dead civilization yet"
"Seventeen hundred years ago, the Eighty Worlds were the ical power in this arai, the Fahstuns have all surpassed us"
Zai&039;s eyes widened It was a fact seldom spoken aloud, even by Secularists But Laurent Zai, a rew more difficult as the Risen Ehbors
"But seventeen hundred years ago ere no eued "Merely a rabble of worlds, like the Rix, but far st ourselves We&039;re stronger now, even with our technicaldisadvantages And besides, we have the only technology truly worth having We can beat death"
" &039;The Old Enemy,&039;" Oxham quoted That hat the Political Apparatus called it The Old Enemy whom the Risen Emperor had dared and vanquished
"Yes We have beaten death, and yet the living still progress," Zai continued "We have the Senate, the ht of the dead is choking us Slowly but surely, they accrue reater hold upon the "
"Minds like ed "I don&039;t presume to know your mind, Lieutenant-Commander Despite what they say about my abilities"
"You think the Ee will eventually co with too aped; he was appalled at the ied to shock the man Nara remembered when she had first used that simile in a speech on Vasthold The audience had recoiled, e her throat with bile But she had seen new thoughts sware was powerful enough to change o back to death?" he asked "Two hundred years of natural life and thennothingness?"
"Not necessarily," she explained "We just want to reduce the power of the dead Let theries, but not rule us"
"No Emperor?" he said
She nodded Even with her new senatorial immunity, it was difficult to speak traitorous words aloud here in the Emperor&039;s house Even those born on Secularist worlds had the conditioning of gray culture; the old stories, the children&039;s rhymes were all about the Old Enemy and the man who had beaten it
Laurent Zai was silent for a while He acquired twotray and stood there, drinking with her A few of his military clique remained close, but they didn&039;t dare come unbidden into this conversation with a pink senator
Nara Oxham looked at the man The Navy dress uniform, with its coordinated horde of subunits, certainly erossest aspects of Imperial power: the many made forcibly into one But like ance to the lockstepped fit of myriad elements Zai&039;s body didn&039;t have the squat look of ravity worlders He was tall and a bit thin, the arch of his back rather te "Let hts
"Certainly"
"Do you find my words treasonous?"
"By definition, no You are a Senator You have immunity"
"But immunity aside"
He frowned "If you weren&039;t a senator, then by definition, you would have just committed treason"
"Only by definition?"
Zai nodded "Yes, Senator But perhaps not in spirit After all, you are concerned with the welfare of the Eine its future"
Oxhaht of Zai as unsophisticated, never having rays had she herself spoken with honestly and openly? Perhaps her assumptions had been, in their oay, unsophisticated
Zai raised an eyebrow at her expression
"I was just thinking: Perhaps ed," she offered
"Without death to drive the process?" Zai asked
She nodded
He took a deep breath, and his eyes drifted away fro synesthesia But then so deeper than second sight
"Or perhaps," Laurent Zai said, "I a took hold of Nara She felt an i had somehow failed: far inside the man was a terror, a wound opened by the depth of evil he had seen It cut like an arctic wind, like an old fear ony and hopelessness And, quite suddenly, she hated the E, rather than healing him
"How much of Hoed "The capital This palace And soon I will meet the Emperor hirienuinely surprised
"I didn&039;t knoas inhabited"
"Hardly Outside a few estates, the poles are arid, freezing, dead But I am pro-death, as you know My new house there is surrounded by a glorious wasteland I intend to escape the pressures of the capital there"
Zai nodded He rays called her A woman driven insane by crowds and cities, yet who made politics her profession
The man sed before he spoke
"I would like to see that, Senator"
"Then come with lass "To a glorious wasteland"
"A truly gray place," she answered 2
RESCUE ATTEMPT
No plan survives contact with the enemy --ANONYMOUS 81 SENATOR
She aithout sanity
The temporal ice released her quickly Its lattice of tiny interwoven stasis fields unraveled, and tih a suddenly cru denied it Heras it always did fro mindstorm of the city
She awoke to madness