Not even the military." Davis' voice, in the background "You don't have that authority, Dr. Rijseen." "If you will check your records," the distant voice of the staff head advised him, "you will find that I am in complete control of this project, sir. That authority extends to anything below a direct military threat to the civilized worlds. Human civilized worlds," he added, with just a tinge of amusement. "I do not regard one isolated and avowedly friendly alien as constituting such a threat." "How do we know you'll do what you say?" asked Sanchez.
"Ask Dr. Bhadravati." "Obviously, Dr. Rijseen and I have disagreed on a number of matters. Or I wouldn't be here at this moment." Bhadravati flashed a bright smile. "I believe he is trustworthy. I have never known him to break his word. I believe it once cost him a substantial scientific prize and accompanying honors. He is one of the few scientists I know whose word is as sound as his studies." Bonnie spoke toward her own console pickup. "I believe you, sir. If Dr.
Bhadravati trusts you, then I'm willing to trust you. But can you vouch for your associates? And can you guarantee the cooperation of Colonel what'shis name?" Muffled sounds issued from the speaker. Then, "I will go along with whatever Dr.
Rijseen and the science staff advise. My sole concern is for the safety of the civ of the humaninhabited worlds, and for government property, of which you are presently in unlawful possession. If that is returned undamaged, then I am perfectly willing to stay out of this." His voice dropped to an irritated rumble. "I would far rather stay out of this. Would you people please make up your minds?" "I believe you, Colonel," Bonnie continued. "There's just one problem. We're not dealing solely with scientific decisions anymore." She glanced at Sanchez, who returned a comforting smile.
Bonnie took a deep breath. Her voice trembled slightly. "In Service Corridor TwoFour Dee you'll find... you'll find..." She hesitated, forced herself to go on. "You'll find the bodies of Loo Huasung and Seeker maintenance consultant Richard Weldon." Rijseen's voice did not change as he asked, "Bodies? Both dead?" "Yes, sir." "Weren't you and engineer Huasung engaged to be married at one time?" "There waswe talked about it, yes." Ryo was staring at her. Finally he understood the relationship that had existed between his two closest human friends. They were, not quite premated, but living in similar status. It explained a great many things.
"Weldon suspected our intentions," Bonnie rushed on. "He managed to follow one of us, maybe more. I don't know." "I wonder why he didn't sound the alarm, if he knew," said Colonel Davis.
"He had other plans," Bonnie told him. "Plans of his own. You know how restricted access was to Ryo. Of the Seeker's crew, generally only Loo and I were allowed to see him once he'd been established in his own burrowhis quarters.
"When Weldon became suspicious of our actions, he bided his time. He was waiting for us in the service corridor. He didn't have the slightest interest in stopping us. All he wanted was to kill Ryo. LooLoo stepped between them." "Cocontroller Taourit here," said the man on Sanchez's right. "I'm the one who shot Weldon. For the record." He said it proudly.
"I don't understand," Davis was muttering. "Two men dead. Why did this Weldon want to kill the alien?" "Because to Weldon, Ryo was an ugly, stinking, hardshelled, smelly slimy bug.
That's why, Colonel. That's the attitude we're going to have to contend with and that's why we have to be allowed to establish formal contact with Ryo's race before word of their existence is leaked to the general populace.
"By the way, you ought to put a seal on environmental specialist Mila Renstaad.
She felt the same way as Weldon and could cause trouble." "I'll handle that," Davis said curtly.
"If we don't make successf ul, friendly contact," she went on, "then any chance our two peoples have for understanding each other will be drowned by the initial outpouring of visceral, ancestral loathing for creatures of Ryo's appearance." She broke off suddenly, as if amazed at the length and passion of her unintended polemic.
"That's all I have to say about it, sir. I've already lost aa very good friend.
As you said, two men are dead. That's only a portent of what could come." "No disrespect intended, Colonel Davis," Sanchez said, "but you can only speak for your immediate staff. The same is true for you, Dr. Rijseen." "I will enter the revised staff recommendation in the computer," Rijseen said, not offended. "You can check it, through your onboard system. All points about keeping this quiet are well taken and will be properly acted upon.
"As to whether this incident will be followed by your suggested establishment of formal contact with the Humanx, that remains to be discussed. On that I really do not have the authority to make promises. Such a decision requires the blessings of at least three of the five acting members of the ruling board of the Terran Society for the Advancement of Science and Exploration, plus permission from the appropriate governmental agencies and elected authorities.
The political ramifications are explosive." "Then if you cannot promise, you can at least promise to try," Sanchez said.
"I will do my best. Of course, if you do not return there can be no discussion.
What do you say?" "It's not for me to make the decision." She looked back at the large arthropod who was carefully preening his left antenna.
"Ryo, I don't know you as well as I'd like to. Not as well as Bonnie does, or Loo did. This is your choice to make. If you insist, we'll move out to five planetary diameters and head for your home. I know what awaits you there, but it's up to you to decide." She didn't smile. She rarely did. "I wouldn't blame you after all this for wanting to return to your own kind." "I really am not sure what to do. I am an agricultural expert, not one prepared to determine the course of future relations between two species." "Like it or not," Bonnie said, "you've been put in that position." "Put your trust in God," Bhadravati urged him.
"Yours or mine?" "There's only one God, by whatever name you call him," the scientist said.
"Theology student, yes? I can see that you and I are going to have many long conversations, Dr. Bhadravati. There is a friend of mineat least, I left him as a friend whom I think you would enjoy talking to more than me, but he is not with us right now. I hope someday you have the privilege of meeting him." "So do I. Like everything else, though, that's up to you." So while the humans waited and watched their instruments, Ryo thought. Of Fal waiting on Willowwane. Or was she? Of his comfortable and unpressured position with the Inmot, which had once seemed so dull and pointless and which now seemed unbearably inviting. Of his sisters and their families.
What would Ilvenzuteck advise me to do? he wondered. What would the hivemother say? He wished desperately he could consult with both those wise matriarchs. But there was no one to consult; not a clannmother, not a poet, not a larva. He stood alone in an alien ship, surrounded by five monsters who meant him well and who would do his bidding.
That trust was not to be exploited. And what of the human Loo who had died protecting him? Which would be the best way to insure that no additional deaths would result? Which way, which way, to allay the mindless hate that festered among the less intelligent members of both species?
Sanchez was right. He badly wanted to return home. But to what? To prison and reconditioning? His own kind had left him with no promises. Here at least he had gained something of a commitment. As to whether that commitment would be honored, well... If he returned home, five humans whom he'd come to like very much would return here to suffer. If he remained to work and cajole and fight for contact, only he could lose.
As so many things did, it came down to simple mathematics.
Captain Sanchez's hand was poised over the control console, he noticed. A screen showed the small ship that was coming toward them from the station.
He executed a multiple gesture indicative of fifthdegree sardonicism, with fourthdegree resignation and just a flavoring of irony. No one, including Bonnie, was sufficiently well versed yet in Humanx to interpret it. Perhaps someday they would be.
"Let us return. If all of you are willing t
o trust this Dr. Rijseen, then so am I" "I'll be sure to tell him that," Bhadravati said. "I'll make it a point to tell him to his face." "You can tell him yourself, Ryo." Sanchez's fingers danced on the controls.
The Seeker pirouetted gracefully on its latitudinal axis. Systemwise it was facing inward once again. The thoughts and spirits of its inhabitants were soaring in a different direction entirely.
Chapter Fourteen
"'You don't change the destiny of an entire people that quickly. It takes time." The man in the azure jumpsuit was waving his hands as he spoke. Ryo thought he could be very fluent in Low Humanx. The human was short and corpulent. His hair was completely white. It descended in waves down his collar. His pink forehead gleamed in the light, almost shiny enough to pass for stained chiton. If I were to press on it, Ryo reminded himself, my finger would not slide off as is normal but would move inward until encountering bone. He shuddered slightly and doubted he would ever grow used to the idea of wearing one's body outside one's skeleton.
Though he possessed only half the requisite number of limbs, in his metallic attire the man looked very much like a Humanx. He was a part of the hierarchy of the human government, a Secretary of something. His position was not as high as they'd hoped for, but Sanchez and Bonnie had assured Ryo that it was substanial enough. His arrival on Centaurus V, though at night and in comparative secret, had caused something of a stir on that world.
Several others had come with him or ahead of him, traveling the long way from distant Earth to CV and then out to the system border station slowly orbiting CVII. From there they had been escorted by shuttle to the wardroom of the Seeker. Sanchez and her associates, despite repeated assurances of noninterference from Davis and Dr. Rijseen, had chosen to remain on board and in free space. It helped, the captain explained, their peace of mind.
Rijseen was also present. So were Sanchez and Bonnie. The others were monitoring ship functionsand other items of interest. Outside the observation port that dominated the wardroom lay the cold dark mass of Centaurus VII, the faint disk of the station itself, and two much smaller spots of light that Sanchez and Taourit had assured Ryo were warships.
They did not seem to worry the Seeker's captain, who was confident the ship could engage its Supralight drive before either of those motionless warcraft could do her any damage. The warcraft were present mostly to make an impression, though whether on Ryo, his human friends, or the visiting dignitaries was hard to say. They could not engage their own drives in their present position without destroying the CVII station and its five thousand inhabitants.
Debate proceeded in the wardroom of the Seeker in an atmosphere of cordial uncertainty.
"Of course, I have no authority to commit my people to any kind of formal treaty," Ryo was saying. "I admit that as a representative of my species I stand here unappointed and unanointed. But from all I have observed, all I have experienced, I believe an alliance between our peoples not merely to be desirable but vital." One of the human officials spoke up. He was ordinarily silent and said very little. Nor did he seem gifted with unusual intelligence. Yet his comments were always relevant and to the point.
"I can understand your use of the term desirable. But 'Vital'? I've been informed that your command of our language is quite good, and from what I've seen so far I wouldn't dispute that. But are you sure of your use of the word?" "Yes. Vital." Ryo added a gesture of maximum emphasis that was lost on his attentive listeners. "Vital for our survival because of the increasing depredations of the AAnn and because our culture badly needs a kick in its gestalt, vital to you for your mental stability." Several of the officials stirred uneasily, but the white haired man in their midst only laughed. "I've studied the claims you've made for your psychtechs.
Alliances are not made by psychologists." "Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad change," Sanchez suggested softly.
The man glared at her. "I understand Mr. Ryozryiez..." "Just Ryo," the Humanx said.
"I understand your reasoning." He bent to examine papers on the table in front of him, spoke while reading. "It is your contention that a close alliance between and association of our peoples would be beneficial to the mental health of the human species." "I have reasons to believe that to be so," admitted Ryo.
"So you think you're better than we?" "Not better, just different. As I just stated, I believe there are many things you have to offer in return, though doubtless many officials of the government of Hivehom would dispute that." "You mentioned a `kick' of some kind," put in another official.
"Our culture is immensely successful. We have enjoyed interspecies peace for thousands of years. This stability has bred technological success. It has also led to sterility in other areas. Many of your art forms, for example, I find delightful. Your music, your forms of recre ation... there is great energy there, reflective of your racial hysteria. These are outlets for your cerebral furies. We could be another. It would benefit us both." "Then you want to channel us?" the fat man said dangerously.
"No, no!" Ryo struggled to convey his exasperation as best he could in human terms, without the use of gestures. It was a constant struggle to talk only with air and not with your limbs and body. "I don't want to channel you, don't want to see you directed. There is nothing of dominance in this. I don't want us to do anything for you, or to you. Only with you." "With us." The official considered. "A fine sentiment, but by your own admission it will be difficult to convince your own people of that." "They will be frightened of you at first, as they were of the crew of this ship.
As I was. We must overcome old emotions, all of us. Shape must not interfere with reason. Nor must your psychotic tendencies." "We do not have psychotic tendencies." The official was uncomfortable.
"Talk to your own consultants," Sanchez advised him. "Study human history. We should not be afraid of admitting that we are what we are" "Consider your own state of mind right this minute," Rijseen added. "Then look at this alien across from you. He is far from home and among what are to him creatures of surpassing ugliness. See how calm he is, how relaxed and at ease." That wasn't entirely true, Ryo thought, but he wasn't about to step on the scientist's hypothesis.
"Would a human placed in the same situation react this way? We know he wouldn't.
We know it because Captain Sanchez and her people did not, and they were trained for such confrontation. They kicked and screamed and acted likewell, like humans. From my studies I am convinced that Ryo's mental stability is the result not of racial or individual weakness or fatalism, but of a better understanding of himself." "I can see that he's convinced you, at least," the official said.
"Facts," Bhadravati said softly, "can be most persuasive, sir." The official rose and walked toward the large port. He stood and stared silently at the vast dead world below. The star Centaurus (that was not Alpha because of a great mistake) was a dim, distant point of light. Ryo could see his fingers twisting and entwining in some secret ritual.
"It's difficult," the man murmured, "very difficult. For example, we have only your word for the supposedly relentless hostility of these AAnn." "They'll give you ample proof themselves soon enough," Ryo noted.
"Our records show that the ship that attacked us is different from any Humanx vessel we saw," Sanchez told him. "If half of what Ryo says about them is true, they will present a real danger." Ryo tried to divine the man's mood by looking at him, but failed utterly. He tried to believe that the continued silence was a sign that the man's indecision was weakening, that despite his uncertainties he was coming around to the side of reason.
He turned, his fingers still working, silhouetted by a dead world. "I mean no offensedamn, I don't know how to put this. There are problems here that logic will not solve. It's simply that" "That if I were of a different ancestry," Ryo told him, "everything would be simpler. If I did not look like a big, icky, crawly insect." The Secretary looked distinctly uncomfortable as Ryo continued. "I have had ample time to study the phobia most humans have regarding my tiny relatives on you
r world. We are not properly insects, by your classification system." "The general public," the Secretary replied, "is not interested in scientific niceties. You look like something out of many of their worst nightmares." "And what about you, Mr. Secretary?" Ryo slid off his saddle and approached.
"How do I look to you?" He reached up with both tru and foothands and grasped the lower edge of the man's shirt.
"Does my touch make your skin crawl? An intriguing phenomenon, by the way. Do I make you want to vomit? Does my smell make you ill?" He let loose of the material. The Secretary hadn't moved.
"As a matter of fact," he replied calmly, "your smell, of which I was apprised prior to my arrival, is quite as lovely as reported. However, our media systems are not sufficiently advanced to convey odiferous stimuli. Only sight and sound. I'm afraid that when it comes to the question of contact, sight will predominate in determining responses." Ryo had turned and retaken his saddle. "So you are not optimistic." "You have already had an unfortunate encounter with one fanatic, I understand?" "Yes. It cost the life of a very dear human friend of mine. I believe the incident proves not the adverse reactions my people might provoke, but the opposite. A human has sacrificed his life for mine, grotesque quasiinsect though I am." "A singular, isolated example involving a man who was a trained explorer. The same reaction cannot be expected from the average human." "Or for that matter, the average Humanx," Ryo admitted. "Somehow a solution must be found." "I can't see one." The Secretary was not encouraging. "We would have to demonstrate beyond a doubt that our two species could live side by side in harmony and understanding despite thousands of years of mutual conditioning to the contrary.
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