Reyard joined these, had the butler Halbert refill his water and returned to his chair opposite the fire. Soon the room was again settled. Senator Moxman quietly re-entered and resumed his seat, nodding to Reyard, who nodded in return.
Reyard began, “The Seven Guilds have told the ‘what’ and to some extent, the ‘how’ of the story of people of Metis. The profound recovery accomplished from subsistence to satellites in orbit in something under four hundred years has held everyone’s attention. Their burgeoning science and technological society was of great interest to our scientists on ‘Starflame’.
“The philosophy of peace and cooperation and the very apparent results have been accurately reported by the Seven Guilds. I have filled in some further, perhaps more personal, small details for you with my stories. However I suspect, if you think about it, you have heard little about why it happened as it did. Senator Hassan, did you not raise a question about possible changes from environment that might bring their humanity in question?”
“Only as a starting point for discussion, Reyard. You say there is no religion, cult or such. What then? Creed? Politics? Philosophy? What stopped the violence?”
“Which leaves me concerned and still wondering what is going on in the services, Reyard,” said General Wellens.
“Yes, well… ah, as General Wellens and Senator Stamert observe, I have gone ‘native’. Enough so that I know what I can tell you and what I cannot. I will tell you The Story, as anyone from Metis could. It will explain why Metis is what it is now. It should clarify the issue of the peace and cooperation Metis enjoys. For you General, I hope to answer all of your questions. Halbert, may I ask that you clear the table here as I will require the surface for a small display.”
“Certainly, Reyard,” said the robot.
“Thank you, Halbert. So, then… gentlemen, I shall convey unto you The Story of The Lysis of Metis. Forgive me if this confuses you somewhat, but I will speak in the first person as if I were from Metis and stood witness to these events personally and intuitively understand their import.” As the robot Halbert completed his task Reyard rose from his seat and stepped to the table. Everyone gathered around to see what he intended to do. Removing one of the leather bags from his shoulder he brought forth from it a rolled animal skin and placed it, fur up, in the center of the table. Unrolling the hide revealed a quantity of small, well-made stone knives each with a hole in one end. These he carefully arranged on the skin in two concentric circles with the pointed end of the blades pointed outwards. Next, there came a bundle of thongs which he separated into four groups and laid out in equal spacing outside the circle of points. From the bottom of the bag he retrieved a small bunch of dried plants tied with colored string. This was placed in the center of circle of Flints. Coiling the braided strap, Reyard set the open bag upon it to one side of the display. The eyes on the outside of the bag surveyed the four directions. The red interior was set with triangular shapes of bone which now appeared to be teeth surrounding a gaping mouth. Reaching into the open maw one last time Reyard retrieved a small folded leather scabbard containing yet another of the stone blades. Stepping back a pace from the table and removing the blade from its sheath, he handed it to Senator Moxman. “Pass this Flint among you for examination if you please, sir,” he said. “Be very wary, it is quite sharp.”
“So it is!” exclaimed the Senator, feeling the edge with his thumb.
“Yes, they can be sharper than steel.” said Senator Stamert, reaching for the blade. “As you may know, before I took up politics, I was a surgeon. Before modern ceramic blades, knives such as these were occasionally used in surgery.”
“Quite amazing!” observed Sub-Speaker Sun. “I have never heard of such a thing.”
“That was among their original uses on Metis as well, sir”, said Reyard.