Still Forms On Foxfield

by Joan Slonczewski

  “Mom, I forget,” said Dave, “what is ‘cattle,’ anyway?”

  “Uh…they were sort of overgrown four-legged chickens.” She was more interested in what the program had not mentioned; the Silence, for example…and Aurora, the nickname which citizens seemed to give this planet. It was all so puzzling. “Maybe we should bring this up in business session this anti-eve.”

  “‘We’? Aw Mom, I don’t have to go, do I? I’d rather do homework.”

  “But Dave, you don’t have homework in the summer, and I got someone else to watch the Center for once. So,” she added cheerfully, “that’s what you get for being such a precocious young citizen.”

  Half the population was here tonight, and the Hall resounded with voices. Monthly Meeting Ten was a Third-Month Meeting, when delegations came from other settlements to discuss matters of concern to all. Of course, Georgeville’s usual agenda would be full, as well…she had to admit some sympathy for Dave’s reluctance to come.

  Anne approached Allison before she had found seats. “A word with you, Allison. Your name has come up in Ministry and Counsel, and it was felt that a brief talk might clear up the matter.”

  Allison grew cold inside. “Of course, Martha has discussed our…”

  A faint uncertain look crossed Anne’s face. Then she pressed Allison’s arm. “Oh yes—that. Allison, we are at ease on that matter, though since you brought it up I’d like to let you know how glad I am that you and Martha have opened your hearts together on your feelings. Each of us agonizes over the Spirit at times, and such trials are hard to bear alone. My present concern is a far lesser matter. The Fifth Query, you know.”

  Dave spoke up. “Okay, what’s my Mom done now?”

  “David,” said Allison, “go sit over there by Doc Frances and save me a seat.”

  “Aw, Mom…” He headed for the bench.

  Anne said, “Our standards of outward simplicity have taken on new importance since credometers have blurred the distinction between private and public behavior.”

  “I see. Can’t let UNI think we’re uncivilized, right?”

  Anne shook her head. “The point is, we must consider more than ever before the example we set for our children. Now that credometers expose them to a bewildering array of lifestyles, how are they to know what Friends sanction? You yourself first pointed out the danger, Allison.”

  She nodded.

  “That is why,” Anne continued, “even the appearance of thoughtlessness in word or action should be avoided when possible. Moderation, that’s all.”

  “‘In speech, in lifestyle and in choice of recreations,’” Allison added. “That’s all fine, but frankly, Anne, I think the problem’s a lot bigger than that.”

  “I’m sure it is, and we’ll deal with matters as they arise. I think folks want to start now—”

  Most were already seated in silence. Allison hurried to sit by Dave. Lowell opened as usual, and Martha reported the accounts.

  Then Anne brought up the request, originally raised in the Extraplanetary Concerns Committee but referred to Ministry and Counsel, for reconsideration of homosexual marriage.

  “At this point,” said Lowell, “I ask leave of Friends to transfer clerkship temporarily to Martha Fuller, during consideration of this issue.”

  Frances nodded. “Lowell’s been pushing for it, though,” she muttered to Allison. “He’s lived with my brother for years. But you know as well as I how many closet traditionalists are among us.”

  Overt reactions were mixed. Some spoke to the issue, while others felt that it more properly belonged to Yearly Meeting.

  “Indeed,” observed Frances, “then Yearly Meeting will stall on it forever.”

  Edward rose to speak. “Over the years,” he said, “Friends gradually came to accept homosexual feeling as a valid expression of human love. Myself, I fail to see how we can stop there and deny this form of love the highest recognition which we bestow upon heterosexual union.”

  Then Noah rose from his seat in the center row opposite Allison. “Friends came gradually to accept nonmarital heterosexual relations, as well. As far as marriage goes, I still feel that sexual preference, like other desires, must be restrained at some point in deference to higher needs. The Lord said, ‘be fruitful and multiply.’ On Foxfield, the wisdom of those words is practical, as well as spiritual.”

  Frances shot up. “A successful family requires parenting as well as procreation, and in my experience the former takes far more effort than the latter. Homosexuals have adopted at least a dozen orphans over the last generation alone. There are children who lose more than one parent, Noah.”

  Allison winced. Directness was fine, but Doc could go a bit far sometimes.

  “Furthermore,” Frances went on, “you may recall that we now face UNI population quotas.”

  Bill Daniels’ jaw dropped in that typical way of his.

  “That’s right,” said Frances, “you young folks had better let this sink in. Population quotas, and immigration: the price of the security which large numbers bring.”

  “How much immigration?” Bill wanted to know.

  “That’s not set yet,” Martha told him.

  “But the minimum,” Frances pointed out, “for a habitable planet is one thousand per year.”

  Clifford shook his head. “Forget it. I tell you, we’d have to be crazy to accept that. The first year alone would swamp us. We’d be left with a Foxfield Preservation Society, at best.”

  Allison cringed at the thought of her own planet overwhelmed by a sea of faces. Why, she wondered, should citizens want so badly to come here? Anxiously she searched the others for answers.

  Anne asked quietly, “How can we turn them away?”

  Someone else called out, “What about the Lanesbridge Motion?”

  Lanesbridge—Allison looked up to see who had spoken. She had heard some people from out of town were grumbling about the attitude of Georgeville Meeting.

  Martha sighed wearily. “That comes up later. Since we now face substantial disagreement on the marriage issue, unlikely to be resolved, are we in accord with referring homosexual marriage to Yearly Meeting?”

  “Approved,” murmured voices.

  “All right. Back to you, Low.” She avoided his face.

  Lowell said, “If Ministry and Counsel is through, we’ll hear next from the Resource Coordinator…”

  Dave fidgeted in his seat as time passed.

  The Coral Vale report came up. Seth was still away, an unusual lapse, but gaunt Letitia Mott brought word that the Splint injured during Casimir’s expedition had recovered. A message of apology was approved to send to the Dwelling. A committee was appointed for roads improvement.

  “This is all well,” said the Coral Vale woman. “Now, I have a query for the off-world blood-sharers: when will the first of you come forward to share blood with the One?”

  An awkward pause ensued, since no off-world citizens were present to reply.

  Frances rose and said, “It’s my understanding that the citizens wish to hold off at this time, for fear of precipitating another incident through inexperience or ignorance. What happened last week was no picnic, you know.”

  “I understand. There is, however, but one way to gain experience, and, since this matter is of some concern to the One, I suggest that we send my query to the UNIS-11.” The Meeting approved.

  Allison rose then. “I have a pertinent concern. I’m disturbed to see that off-world citizens are getting some distorted notions about what commensals are like. For example, a documentary holoview today compared ’mensals to farm animals such as milk-cows. I think it is our duty to correct these misconceptions.”

  A man rose far off to the right. “That’s not the story I heard on the UNI newscast last night,” he said. “What I heard was all about some crazy cult the ’mensals were supposed to run, worshiping auroras or something.”

  “Well, that’s equally absurd.”

  Lowell raised an eyebrow. “This unfo
rtunate. Perhaps we should prepare our own educational program on the One. Cliff, you’d have time, now that school’s out.”

  Frances added, “That biosphere analyst should help, too. We’ve helped him enough.”

  “Perhaps,” said Lowell, “before we make any further plans we should take up our next item, the Lanesbridge Motion. I think most of us are aware of the deep concerns which some Friends have raised about our relationship with UNI. Christine Loflin, clerk of Lanesbridge Meeting, has a motion to address these concerns. Christine?”

  The Hall completely hushed as the miner rose to speak. “Lanesbridge Meeting,” said Christine, “approved this motion last night and sent me to put it before Third Month Meeting.” She read from a sheet of paper. “‘We ask Friends of Foxfield to consider whether to secede, or in some manner withdraw ourselves, from the jurisdiction of United Nations Interplanetary.’” She looked up.

  No one moved to respond.

  Christine added, “We don’t see secession as a negative move. Rather, it just might allow a more constructive relationship in the long run. We could cooperate with UNI on an ‘international’ level, without violating our own principles or our inner Light. There used to be lots of nations, remember?”

  Babel revisited, Allison thought.

  A man rose far in back and cupped his hands to be heard. “Shouldn’t the frog-suit folks be here to comment on this?”

  “They chose not to attend this Meeting,” Lowell said. “They feel that we should crystallize our own feelings first. Of course, we may reach them at any time. Christine, could you summarize for us the reasons for this recommendation?”

  “Certainly,” she said, “and we only urge consideration, you understand. First, there’s invasion of privacy; the credometers are an invasion, no matter how you slice it. Then, the System ‘voting’ just doesn’t square with our way to truth. Their medical ‘miracles’ are the same story: what’s it all worth, if the price is violation of the self?

  “Now I’m no saint, but as I see it, they don’t hold any spiritual concern at all, not what I’d call spiritual. They separated church and state long ago—then threw out the church altogether. So where do we fit in?”

  Several hands rose at once, keeping Lowell busy. “Clifford Fuller?” he called.

  “Christine,” said Clifford, wiping his forehead, “I won’t touch your theology, but—it’s only been four weeks, you know, and some of those concerns might yet work out. Voting, for instance; one idea might be for Friends to reach consensus on each System proposal, and then vote in common.”

  The Lanesbridge woman shook her head insistently. “That’s not my point, at all. The point is that I personally don’t want to see my opinion, or a Meeting’s opinion, win out over that of some other citizen simply because we happen to be part of a majority.”

  “Even if that is the method they chose?”

  “I didn’t choose it. I doubt whether all of them did, either.”

  “But your ancestors did—”

  “Clifford, please,” the clerk interposed, “others are waiting.”

  “Of course.” Clifford sat down.

  “Noah Rowntree?”

  Noah said, “I think Christine has the right of it. The question is not what did we agree to on a piece of paper over a century ago, but whether it makes sense now, when everything has changed.”

  “Noah, what if UNI strongly opposes our, er, secession?” Lowell asked.

  “Well…we stand on principle, right?” He nodded firmly. “Friends history bears its share of martyrs.”

  Martyrs—the word fell like a slap on the face. Martyrdom was for old stories you learned in school, not something that happened today.

  Edward Crain’s beard shook as he rose. “I hope we needn’t think of that yet,” he urged. “Have any of our visitors from the stars yet made a single threat against us or harmed us in any way? I confess I share grave misgivings about the System mechanism; but if a line must be drawn, let us draw it in a cooperative spirit.”

  Allison waved her hand and finally was recognized. “Listen, this isn’t fair,” she said. “You have to give them a chance to respond. Why don’t you call them, Lowell; call Silva, or somebody?”

  Clifford agreed. “Can’t have trial in absentia,” he observed.

  “No,” said Noah. “Since when do we conduct Meeting by ‘long distance’? Let them show their faces down here; that shuttle takes but a minute.”

  This thought struck a responsive chord; many heads nodded. Allison fell back on the bench and her brow creased anxiously.

  “Bill Daniels?” said Lowell.

  “I just think we’re getting too jumpy about this,” said Bill. “What about all the stuff they have to offer us; they seem pretty generous folks, to me. And think of all the educational opportunities, to say nothing of medical health—like Cliff says, there’s plenty of time to work out the bugs.”

  Martha spoke up quickly. “Frances,” she asked, “is there any flexibility in the medical requirements?”

  “Not on the main points,” Frances grimly replied. “Civilized humans bear offspring in vitro, and that’s that for UNI—unless you can come up with a valid medical reason otherwise.”

  “What about a psychological reason?” Martha suggested.

  “Psychosynchronic, you mean. No; the Catholics tried that.”

  Allison said, “But they’re just a ‘Preservation Society.’”

  Frances shifted her glasses with a puzzled expression.

  “I think,” Lowell was saying, “that since our agenda is long, and since we are unlikely to resolve…er, Noreen Connaught?”

  Noreen was waving her hand desperately. “Listen, folks, I don’t know if you realize just how far along we’ve gone already, into the System. All those credos, and whole shipments of parts made to order—what do we do now, send everything back until we decide?”

  “Hey, wait a minute.” A woman jumped up across the Hall. “You can’t do that. Those wrist-things—one of them saved my husband’s life last week. He was up on the roof repairing a solar cell, and he fell and broke a couple things, and—you tell them, Doc.”

  “That’s right,” said Frances. “Without the credometer, no one would have found him for hours. Now that the wrinkles are ironing out, my medical opinion would have to be that every man, woman and child should wear one—purely on medical grounds, I emphasize.”

  “But Frances,” called Rennie Fuller indignantly, as she rose with some difficulty. “I can’t wear one, because I’m expecting and the System won’t abide that. What good is it for me? What if a credo-wearer gets pregnant?”

  “That’s one of the wrinkles left, but—”

  “Please,” said Lowell, “some have waited long to speak. You, Friend—”

  “Wilbur Blyden, from Mawrford.”

  “My apologies, Wilbur; go on.”

  The man nodded. “I’d just like to know who authorized your Tech Center to bring in all this foreign hardware to begin with.”

  Lowell considered this. “Georgeville Meeting approved some things; Allison?”

  Allison rose with mixed relief and trepidation. “The Georgeville Meeting in special session authorized us to draw up hypothetical plans for System integration, as recommended by the Committee for Extraplanetary Concerns with numerous out-of-towners in attendance. So it seemed only reasonable for the Tech Center to accept credos, transcomms and the model power plant on an experimental basis. It does seem now that we’re all getting used to it in a hurry.”

  “But isn’t it true, Allison,” said Martha, “that UNI considers credometer acceptance irreversible?”

  “So they say,” Allison admitted with a sinking feeling.

  Lowell pointed out, “In all fairness, the concept of, er, disunity seemed unthinkable to us at that time.”

  “Beg to differ, clerk,” said Wilbur, “but someone did raise the issue that day the citizens first came, over on cousin Anne and Ed’s farm. Someone asked that Adjustor, straight o
ut, what would happen if we ‘weren’t happy’ with UNI. Got a bush-beating answer, too, as I recall.”

  “That’s right,” called Noah, “they don’t tell us a thing till it’s too late, except maybe in some language none of us ordinary mortals comprehend. Maybe the tech folks do, and that’s why they’re all hobnobbing together. Myself I don’t need some machine to tell me what’s socially useful—”

  “Quite right, quite right,” the clerk soothed. “Christine?”

  “There’s one more point to remember,” said Christine Loflin.

  “What is that?”

  “There are plenty of planets now, including Earth. No one has to stay here, on Foxfield.”

  The impact of this statement took some time to make itself felt. Stricken looks appeared throughout the Hall. Allison was stunned; she tried to imagine the scenario of such a choice, of having to turn one’s back on Foxfield and all it meant in order to become a citizen. Was that really an answer? How could they, Friends, reject UNI on Foxfield without in some sense rejecting themselves?

  No one seemed to have the heart to respond. The silence lengthened; five minutes, ten…

  At last Celia Blyden rose to speak. “I am very sad,” she began, “for I still recall a time when Friends lived within the greater world, with all of its…sorrows and contradictions. There were even Fighting Quakers, once, long before my time—Friends who did join in battles for freedom’s sake. Perhaps their fraction of the Light was smaller than ours—who can say?—but each one has his share, even those citizens. Who are we to judge their Light; and who are we to reject our duty to bring our own Light back to the world? Can we hide our Light in a chicken coop forever?”

  After this sank in, Clifford spoke. “I agree one hundred percent with Celia. United Nations Interplanetary seems to work at least as well as any other nation Friends were ever part of. If it works for two hundred million other folks, I’d say it’s only reasonable for us to give it a try.”

  Lowell nodded. “Wilbur, what do you say?”

  The Mawrford man stood once more. “Well, I can hardly contradict my own grandma, can I?”

  Laughter rippled through the Meeting, a welcome release of tension.