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could be less imperious. "You think something's being broadcast
. What an image of the system, altered somehow?"
Hakim cleared his throat. "Jennifer and Giacomo "
"Spare me more goddamned momerath," Hans said. "I need something concrete."
"Please have patience," Hakim said, looking to one side, face darkening.
Hans lifted a hand, flicked a finger: go on.
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"Jennifer and Giacomo have taken time from the work in the combined libraries.
Jennifer believes that several regions of space may have had their ray
tracing, their radiation-transit bit structures, interfered with. Photons
could seem to appear out of nothing. These regions, each perhaps as wide as
the star system itself, but having no depth located perhaps at the periphery
of the system would act like giant projectors, revealing convincing
full-spectrum images of& a nonexistent system."
Hans poked his finger into a projected image of the fifteen-planet system.
"Like this one, but a lot bigger. You mean, if we were to enter, we'd pass
through the deception, see what was really there?"
"Not at all," Hakim said. "It would be possible to shift these ray-altered
regions to continue to deceive. I admit, it would be a massive undertaking,
but not nearly so great as wrapping the entire solar system in a sphere of
deception."
Silken Parts said, "Our ideas cross difficult. Please project."
Hakim quickly sketched in diagrams showing their positions, regions of
ray-alteration shaped like shields, camouflaged or deceptive images perceived
from great distances.
"Very powerful," Silken Parts said. "Could change field of battle. Great
blindness and confusion." He explained to Eye on Sky and Shipmaker.
"Scary stuff," Hans said. "Any way we can penetrate it?"
"If it is constant, no," Hakim said. "But if the images are maintained only at
certain intervals, we may receive a correct image with constant vigilance."
"But we wouldn't necessarily know which was correct."
Hakim shook his head, eyes downcast.
"So what do we plan for?" Hans asked.
"Stonemaker should be in on any planning," Harpal said. Martin agreed.
"Right. But what I'm asking is, how can we make plans, when we can't know what
to expect,
what is real and what is not?"
"Possibly nothing is there at all," Silken Parts said.
Hans' eyes seemed to glaze over. He put his hands behind his neck, shook his
head slowly, said, "I haven't the slickest notion what we can do, but we need
a war conference."
As they prepared to leave, Paola Birdsong arrived with a string of ten braids,
all eager to see the unobscured stars. She smiled at Martin as they passed,
happy with her new occupation. "They feel better if they can see the stars
once or twice a tenday," she said.
The braids rustled like leaves poured from a bag.
* * *
Martin learned from Silken Parts that Stonemaker would not be available for
four days.
Hearing the search team's latest information had caused quite a stir among the
Brothers, and
Makers of Agreement had been called for.
Donating two cords apiece, the Brothers had created three large new
individuals, the Makers of Agreement. They served one function only: to look
over the present situation and render fresh judgment, unclouded by whatever
prejudices the former braids might have had.
Hans received this news from Martin and Eye on Sky with intense vexation. He
conferred with Rex for a few moments in one corner of the schoolroom, then
returned and said, "All right.
We'll hold a conference with the Makers of Agreement. Is that okay with you?"
Eye on Sky smelled of cabbage and old tobacco smoke, showing intense
cogitation, and replied, "It will be adequate."
"Maybe they'll give us a fresh perspective as well," Hans said. Martin watched
from one side, arms folded behind his back.
The discussion took place in the Brothers' territory. It was dark in the
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corridors there; the air smelled moist and electric, like a storm. Sometimes
Martin caught a tang of beach, salt and organic decay. Eye on Sky led Hans,
Rex, Paola, Martin, Harpal, Cham, and Joe to a small, close chamber. Martin
had requested that Paola join them, since she was most expert at Brother
speech.
The walls were coated with dripping oil. On the floor of the chamber, three
braids lay, undulating slowly to a steady wind of intensely organic, fishy
smells and the sound of waves breaking on a shore.
The braids rose and coiled like cobras as the humans entered. Martin could not
recognize any of them; all patterns had been rearranged. They did not even
smell familiar. In the past few tendays, Martin had learned to pick up a few
of the subtle odors of individual braids, even giving some of them code names:
Teacake, Almond Breath, Kimchee, Vinegar.
Eye on Sky, the best of the Brothers at speaking English, would act as
translator for the temporary braids. "Makers of Agreement will seem
disoriented for a time, but when the braids return cords to all, we they all
will remember discussions."
"Not ideal," Hans commented dryly. "Still, we're coming into Leviathan in the
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