"But the mentality is very different," April said. "An investigator will tell her much different things than a simple data sorter. For example they will inform a client what data is missing and why its absence is significant. No keyboard drone searching databases is going to analyze things in that depth. She was smart to hire their sort as well as data searchers."
"Yes, but they will have to be theologians to sort out the moral hazards from such an assignment," Dakota warned. "I'd certainly not be confident I could look at everything they know about us, and decide what is public and searchable, and what they only could know about from our relationship. I don't consider myself a candidate for sainthood to be so flawlessly impartial."
"I can see how to do it," April admitted. "Just hire a promising new investigator and turn him loose on the problem with resources, but without any access to their own files."
"But . . . you've just hobbled him to do that," Dakota objected.
"That's all Lee's paying for, and all she'd get elsewhere," April pointed out.
"Did you think of that twisted devious thing all on your own? Or has Marsh and Hasan hired a new associate who might be used that way?" Dakota asked.
"I thought of it on my own," April said. "But they do have a request out to several recruiters to find a new investigator. And it's their first hire in over six months, so that's sort of suspicious."
"Are you going to quietly drop them?" Dakota wondered.
"Why, because they could treat us badly?" April asked. "They've always had plenty of opportunity to be crooked with us. I don't feel right to fire them unless they actually do something wrong. It'll be interesting to watch."
"You know . . . You could feed them misinformation or deliberately leak selected bits of information back to them," Dakota suggested.
April smiled, amused. "And you think I'm devious?" she asked Dakota.
* * *
"Are we going to go the slow way like our last visit? Commercial transport to Fishtown and ground car to the last town? I actually enjoyed riding out to the Keep mailbox with the postman," Lee remembered. "He was a character."
"I still feel it would be disruptive and seen as showing off to get dropped off by an air car," Gordon said. "How about if we get a shuttle ride down to Fishtown, then an air car can drop us off near the Keep just like the mailman did, and we can walk in?"
"Does an air car have the range to fly from Fishtown and back?" Lee asked. "They're fuel hogs and I seem to remember it was a long drive."
"There are more fueling stations out in the country than you might think. The ground cars and farm machinery all use synfuel the air cars can burn. We can get dropped off and the pilot can go fuel up to return, probably in that little town where we slept last time. It has to be piloted, because they don't have a navigation net outside the city," Gordon said.
"No satellite net?" Lee asked, surprised.
"Yes, for location services, but not with the bandwidth or intelligence to auto-pilot occupied vehicles. That takes a level of redundancy and expense nobody wanted to pay for at the projected usage. At least for some years," Gordon said.
"Because the Mothers keep everybody bottled up in the Keeps and there isn't any transport for fun. I bet the concept of tourism and people going to town for entertainment and shopping would horrify them," Lee said.
"They are only one generation removed from making sure nobody starved over the winter being a major concern," Gordon reminded her. "I want to see change too, but I have to cut them a little slack. The idea of allowing clan members a little discretionary income and freedom to go to town, to even have enough time off work to go to town, is going to come slow. If the Red Tree Mothers work to patch up the differences between Clan Derf and city Derf I think all that will follow naturally."
"And that's just Red Tree," Lee said, still unapproving.
"Believe me, Derf have all the jealousies and desires of the other races. If the Derf in other clans hear about Red Tree clansmen visiting town, or owning things like a movie viewer, it won't be long before their Mothers have to consider loosening their grip or risk having their best people going to the trade towns. The clans do mingle at festivals. Gossip and stories are a big part of those gatherings. That custom is far too established to change."
"Like you did," Lee acknowledged.
"Yes, but I was way ahead of the curve," Gordon insisted. "Most who went off did it to work at something like the fishing boats or mines. The whole thing was arranged by the Mothers, and they understood they were working for the clan not themselves. The Mothers gave them a little allowance, but only because they had expenses living in town they wouldn't have at home. It was understood their pay went to the clan and they would work a year or two and return.
"When I left it was contrary to what the Mothers assigned me. I had no idea if I'd be welcomed back. Most clan Derf would be terrified to go to town not knowing what they would do. Not knowing if anybody would hire them or if they would end up an outlaw wondering the woods. The Mothers never shared any information about the outside world that would encourage leaving. Once in awhile people would meet other in town who struck out on their own, but that was uncommon. I certainly never knew anybody who walked away before I did. I just couldn't stomach the idea of making barrels forever. It was a life sentence."
Lee didn't look happy, but considered that all in silence.
"I'm not saying it won't happen," Gordon clarified. "I'm saying it probably won't happen as fast as you want."
"And if I push too hard I may hinder it more than help it," Lee concluded.
"Exactly, you do get it," Gordon confirmed.
"Well, we do want to avoid a bloody revolution," Lee agreed.
"Please, keep thinking that way. Especially since the clans would win. They have a history of destroying the opposition completely, so they might even do away with the trading towns entirely in victory, no matter how inconvenient that would be."
"You had trading towns, clan neutral territory, before Humans," Lee said.
"Yes," Gordon agreed, "but they were small, and had much less influence than now, with things like ground cars and airline service. Fishtown was about three thousand people when I walked in as a boy, with dirt streets and no public utilities. Now I'd guess it is about twenty thousand and it has spread out several kilometers in every direction."
"You guess? Don't they do a census?" Lee asked.
"The Mothers know exactly how many live in their own Keep," Gordon said. "In town there isn't any one controlling authority over everything. There's a council and its membership varies from town to town. The town people didn't go there for their love of dominating authority. If somebody tried to declare themselves Mothers over a town they'd likely lose their head over the matter.
Lee grimaced, knowing in Derf custom that would be literal.
"I never asked how the trade towns operate," Lee said, dismayed at herself. "I'm trying to change the system and I only knew how the clan side of it worked. I have to get better at asking questions."
"I knew," Gordon reminded her. "If opening up the Keeps for people like me to leave would have created problems in the towns I'd have spoken up. It probably will create some minor trouble with established interests. With trade associations and merchants, but it’ll be worth it."
* * *
The air car set them down by the road, within sight of the large crate the Keep used as a mailbox and freight drop off. There was no artifact or building visible in any direction but the road and the box. There would be little point to be dropped off any closer and hope keen Derf hearing wouldn't notice the air car. It was a bit of a hike in from there, but they were both looking forward to it. A few hundred meters left them in what would be wilderness, except there was a faint path worn through the vegetation that was little more than a game trail.
Lee was better rested, twelve kilo heavier and longer limbed than the first time she visited Red Tree. She didn't ask to ride on Gordon's shoulders as they'd done the first visi
t, but the difference would have been insignificant to him. It was odd to think that her growth was going to slow down now that she started life extension therapy.
The alpine meadow looked about the same until they progressed to a saddle in the hills below the old fortress that overlooked the bowl holding the Keep. From that point on the trees, already stunted and dwarfed from the harsh climate were simply dead. Killed off by the enhanced radiation weapon the Derf used on the North American invaders during the war. They weren't all cut and cleared away this far from the center of the Keep.
But looking down on the Keep, and flat area around it, the mature trees were all gone. They'd been still standing, though dead, the last time Lee was here. They were all removed now both to clear them for safety before they started falling, and to make room for new plantings. Lee wondered what the Mothers did with all the wood.
That special nuke killed the trees, the soldiers, the crew of the four invading shuttles, and one Derf, the Champion of Red Tree Clan, William. He met the invaders in ceremonial armor after their landing, but they refused to surrender, thinking him insane to even ask it. Then it was too late to surrender, in a literal flash. William was Gordon's father and Lee's self declared Champion. The fact she only met him briefly still bothered her.
The Clan's war with North America was over her treatment and kidnapping while visiting Earth, so Lee still had pangs of guilt thinking about it. She never expected or wanted anybody to die for her. Gordon and others assured her she just happened to be the trigger of the dispute and if she hadn't come along another event would have done so. The situation was just ripe for conflict and had to be resolved. That still wasn't much comfort to Lee. The loss of William alone seemed far too dear a price.
It wasn't until they were past the saddle and well down hill before the hundreds of trees planted on the basin floor became visible as more than a scattering of pale green color. They were only about the same height as Lee still and their skinny trunks weren't visible until they were all the way down on the flat ground. By that point the stones piled up as a monument to the dead, both Human and William were visible. Lee had added to the cairn herself last visit.
There were a few sheds and larger outbuildings Lee didn't remember, and plenty of foot traffic including a few Derf with wheelbarrows. Lee suspected the Mothers would be slow to adapt any powered transport as long as they had abundant labor. She knew they had at least one tractor to till fields, but Gordon had assured her most harvesting was done manually with the entire population turning out to help.
The Keep stuck up as a mass of rock in the middle of the valley, with very little external stone work and no high towers. Just a radio mast that was so slim it was nearly invisible. Unlike the fortress overlooking their way in it extended mostly underground with little actually visible to hint at its extent or volume. Entry was by one main gate, and any other exits were hidden and for emergency only.
Gordon had explained to Lee that there were some escape exits, near the surface, but the final few meters would have to be dug by hand or removed by demolition charges if there was a great hurry. The tunnel end at the Keep was blocked by massive locked doors and only a handful of military leaders besides the Mothers knew how far they went and where they came out. Gordon left home before his age for military training and had never gained that particular knowledge.
Lee looked up as they approached the entry and had a distressing pang of emotion. The figure seated in a shallow alcove by the entry looked just like William the first time she'd seen him. Not in ceremonial garb, but practical harness and a modern twenty millimeter automatic rifle. It had to be Garrett, William's successor as Champion. William started Garrett's training, and in many ways, Gordon had told her, it was ongoing. The new Champion stood up and came to meet them, and Lee swallowed her discomfort and tried to present a happy face to him.
Garrett greeted her warmly and took both her hands in his true hands. He didn't sweep her up and hug her like William had, but neither had he been getting letters from Gordon for years like William had, so that he felt he knew her.
"Are the Mothers holding court in the Great Hall?" Gordon asked.
"I think the Second Mother is off doing something, but I expect she'll come back to meet you," Garrett predicted.
Once again Lee and Gordon managed to hit between meals. The tables were busy with other things though. The First and Third Mother talked with workers, while others sat to each side waiting for a turn, some of them still using the time to work on a tablet or some actual paper printouts. Lee was sure there were more electronic devices in use than her previous visits. The Mothers were slowly but surely modernizing.
The First Mother waved at seats opposite her and held a single digit up to say she'd be with them after a pause. It had to be a learned Human gesture. Once upon a time there wasn't enough Human contact for such things to leak in.
"Welcome," she said after disposing of the male hurrying away with a sheet of instructions. "Sit down and relax a moment. Service! Somebody bring our visitors some refreshment!" She said loudly over her shoulder. "Let me slay one more monster and I can talk with you," she promised, in Derf still.
"I know the words, but I never heard them used like that," Lee said.
"Because you never had a Derf grandmother to terrorize you," Gordon said. "We have our own fables and fairy tales, well we would if we had fairies, there's nothing exactly like that, but we have plenty of stuff like Trolls and Orcs to understand the idiom she just used."
"What does that have to do with grandmothers?" Lee asked, mystified.
"They watch children and keep them safe. A lot of times they have to tell a child not to go near the pond or to stay away from the storage room or keep away from the live stock. A small child can't really follow a big complicated lecture about safety so they just tell them there is something bad and scary there. They personify it as a monster," Gordon explained.
"But it's a lie," Lee objected, being very literal.
"Yes. I've heard that argument," Gordon agreed. "I believe it alternate Tuesdays. The grandmas would ask me what I want, absolute truth or drowned cubs?"
"Hmm . . . I'll have to think on that a bit. Are you sure it's a binary choice?" Lee asked.
"No," Gordon admitted, "but when I run the arguments through my head I have yet to find an alternative that I have any confidence a skeptical grandmother couldn't pick apart."
The First Mother was through with her urgent matter and seemed to have followed the tail end of their conversation with interest. "Well I'm a grandmother, and I have a keen appreciation of traditions and history. Fortunately since I'm tied up with executive matters I have a lot of support from other grandmothers, mothers, and aunts to help with child care.
"I'm very glad of that, because I have enough trouble with stubborn farm foremen, town traders, fall hunters and cooks. I can lay down the law and inform them a matter is decided and go do as I've told them. It has always amazed me the patience of someone dealing with a three year old, who doesn't care who you are and just says NO when you tell them what to do."
An adolescent Derf of indeterminate gender but beautiful cinnamon coat slide a mug of beer in front of Gordon, a much smaller glass in front of Lee, and reached between them depositing a plate of snacks on the table within reach of both of them. The table was still too big for Lee, but she could at least see, and reach her snacks now, without sitting on Gordon's knee.
"We've read your logs and reports," the First Mum informed them. "It seems like all the resources you've found on your voyage will take a very long time to develop and even longer to use any significant portion of them."
Gordon nodded, a Human gesture the First Mother accepted now with no questioning look on her face. "In my opinion, by the time any of these resources run low we'll have moved toward technologies that can create less abundant elements at need."
"In a few centuries," Lee piped up.
"But will it be economical to bring these resources so far ba
ck to us?" First Mum asked.
"We've had some good discussions about that," Lee said. "And the Fargoers gave me a lot to think about. I think they are correct that people will move to where the resources are over time. I've thought about that, and how it could happen, the last couple days. I doubt it is anything anybody could stop or even control. But it doesn't change who owns those resources, unless you treat people so badly they feel cut off from what they need."
The Second Mother did join them, and just gave a deep nod to acknowledge them, almost a bow, rather than interrupt anyone.
Gordon tilted his head slightly and looked off past the First Mum's shoulder.
"You haven't discussed this with her," The First Mum decided.
"Oh, we've discussed it back and forth, and raised all sorts of possibilities, but this is a new thought she just revealed. I think she may have the right of it," Gordon said. "People would rather buy what you own than fight for it or steal it most of the time, if you just have the sense to be reasonable on price, and not try to gouge them.
"But there will be a shift of power. We're traders, businesspeople, so that doesn't concern us unless a shift in governance leads to someone trying to remove our property rights. I don't pretend to know how you will regard that idea as administrators."
"You know Red Tree is not aggressive," the First Mum declared, "not expansionist, to use an English term that would likely be perceived to be more about excessive eating than politics in Derf. We are happy to have an opportunity to develop a colony on Providence, but we have no desire to push against our neighbors, nor even encroach on the neutral territory towards Fishtown. We feel our present boundaries are rationally defined by geological features. That makes them easier to accept than arbitrary lines drawn across an otherwise featureless plain.
"But I'm not at all sure Earth or the major Earth powers will accept being relegated to being a sort of quaint backwater. They do send a firm signal that they crave territory and influence beyond their own system, given their forward military outposts in uninhabited systems and intimidating show the flag visits such as we just had."
A Hop, Skip and a Jump (Family Law Book 4) Page 11
