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Authors: Liz Williams
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notion of social chaos?" He did not wait for Sirru's murmured refutation. "As I have said, your task will be to set things to rights."
"I am honored. But I am also surprised that a minor per-son such as myself should have been selected for such a task," Sirru said, trying not to sound as though he was pro-testing.
"The project is not a difficult one, compared to others. This is a little, primitive world, hardly a matter of great complexity. You," EsRavesh said with a withering glance, "have been deemed appropriate.
Nevertheless," the khaith added, and his golden gaze became beady, "I do not need to remind you that the last attempt to bring a desqusai colony into the fold ended in termination. No one wants such a debacle to happen again. I believe you knew IrEthiverris EsTessekh?"
"Yes," said Sirru bleakly.
"A friend of yours, I understand. A pity. He seemed to be a reasonably capable administrator, at least at first. And Arakrahali was a minor colony, too. It is still unclear what went so tragically wrong… I understand you have been inves-tigating the incident?"
"Yes," Sirru said, suddenly wary. He thought he had taken care to be discreet. "As you so rightly say, IrEthiverris was a friend of mine, and obviously I'd hoped to discover the rea-sons for the tragedy."
"Reasons?" EsRavesh asked. "What reasons do you need? IrEthiverris administered his colony with increasing inepti-tude. His kjiaith colleague reported a series of misjudgements; she was most concerned about the deteriorating relationship between the locals and IrEthiverris himself. I need hardly re-mind you that the situation seems to have created a most disas-trous plague, and shortly after that, IrEthiverris disappeared. Tragic, yes, but not something that needs further investigation. We are looking into the case ourselves."
Then why are there so many things about Arakrahali that don't add up ? Sirru thought mutinously, but said nothing. The thought was painful; as it occurred to him, his epistemic sup-pressants clamped down. The whole Arakrahali affair had been difficult to think about; he needed a lower suppressant level, but that wasn't possible. He bowed his head. "Doubtless you are correct."
" Desqusai are so emotional ," EsRavesh mused, as if to the empty air. "There has even been talk within the Core that the desqusai castes are degenerating, their colonies proving unsuit-able for sustained development. It would be a pity, if that were so. Your caste remains a valued part of this society." He did not sound as though he believed it. "I'm sure your future suc-cess with Tekhei will help redeem desqusai standing in the senses of the higher castes." The expressives that EsRavesh was sending to Sirru were bland, as smooth as sweet oil, but even through Sirru's epistemic suppressants and the soothing scale, the warning was clear: Sort out your new colony and don't mess it up, otherwise it will the worse for both you and it .
Sirru was to be sent from Rasasatra, then, summarily dis-patched across a span of stars. This talk of ancestral connec-tions between his own caste and the new colony was true enough, but there were many people of a more proven experi-ence than Sirru. Why not send them?
There were two reasons, one of which was Anarres. Women like Anarres made their own sexual choices, but those choices were supposed to reinforce the values of hierarchy. So was he being sent halfway across the galaxy to a primitive and marginal planet as a result of EsRavesh's snobbish jealousy?
Sirru closed his eyes for a brief, bitter moment. When EsRavesh had summoned him, he realized, he hadn't even slept with Anarres.
That led to the other possibility, which was even worse. EsRavesh knew about his inquiries into the Arakrahali tragedy. What if he'd stumbled across something important and the 'thaith was getting him out
of the way? And if so, what could that important information possibly be? The band of headache tightened around his skull.
"Are you all
"I am honored. But I am also surprised that a minor per-son such as myself should have been selected for such a task," Sirru said, trying not to sound as though he was pro-testing.
"The project is not a difficult one, compared to others. This is a little, primitive world, hardly a matter of great complexity. You," EsRavesh said with a withering glance, "have been deemed appropriate.
Nevertheless," the khaith added, and his golden gaze became beady, "I do not need to remind you that the last attempt to bring a desqusai colony into the fold ended in termination. No one wants such a debacle to happen again. I believe you knew IrEthiverris EsTessekh?"
"Yes," said Sirru bleakly.
"A friend of yours, I understand. A pity. He seemed to be a reasonably capable administrator, at least at first. And Arakrahali was a minor colony, too. It is still unclear what went so tragically wrong… I understand you have been inves-tigating the incident?"
"Yes," Sirru said, suddenly wary. He thought he had taken care to be discreet. "As you so rightly say, IrEthiverris was a friend of mine, and obviously I'd hoped to discover the rea-sons for the tragedy."
"Reasons?" EsRavesh asked. "What reasons do you need? IrEthiverris administered his colony with increasing inepti-tude. His kjiaith colleague reported a series of misjudgements; she was most concerned about the deteriorating relationship between the locals and IrEthiverris himself. I need hardly re-mind you that the situation seems to have created a most disas-trous plague, and shortly after that, IrEthiverris disappeared. Tragic, yes, but not something that needs further investigation. We are looking into the case ourselves."
Then why are there so many things about Arakrahali that don't add up ? Sirru thought mutinously, but said nothing. The thought was painful; as it occurred to him, his epistemic sup-pressants clamped down. The whole Arakrahali affair had been difficult to think about; he needed a lower suppressant level, but that wasn't possible. He bowed his head. "Doubtless you are correct."
" Desqusai are so emotional ," EsRavesh mused, as if to the empty air. "There has even been talk within the Core that the desqusai castes are degenerating, their colonies proving unsuit-able for sustained development. It would be a pity, if that were so. Your caste remains a valued part of this society." He did not sound as though he believed it. "I'm sure your future suc-cess with Tekhei will help redeem desqusai standing in the senses of the higher castes." The expressives that EsRavesh was sending to Sirru were bland, as smooth as sweet oil, but even through Sirru's epistemic suppressants and the soothing scale, the warning was clear: Sort out your new colony and don't mess it up, otherwise it will the worse for both you and it .
Sirru was to be sent from Rasasatra, then, summarily dis-patched across a span of stars. This talk of ancestral connec-tions between his own caste and the new colony was true enough, but there were many people of a more proven experi-ence than Sirru. Why not send them?
There were two reasons, one of which was Anarres. Women like Anarres made their own sexual choices, but those choices were supposed to reinforce the values of hierarchy. So was he being sent halfway across the galaxy to a primitive and marginal planet as a result of EsRavesh's snobbish jealousy?
Sirru closed his eyes for a brief, bitter moment. When EsRavesh had summoned him, he realized, he hadn't even slept with Anarres.
That led to the other possibility, which was even worse. EsRavesh knew about his inquiries into the Arakrahali tragedy. What if he'd stumbled across something important and the 'thaith was getting him out
of the way? And if so, what could that important information possibly be? The band of headache tightened around his skull.
"Are you all
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