The Concordia Deception

by J. J. Green

  No one else seemed to have gone out while she was away. Aubriot wasn’t there. The others were standing around, not talking, looking bored and frustrated. The agricultural scientist who had been so verbally defiant of Aubriot had apparently stayed in the workshop.

  Cariad walked over to the group. Garwin was close by, though he was under a large machine, his legs protruding.

  “Did any of you go and have a look around?” she asked.

  “No,” Alasdair replied. “We’ve been here all this time. Why?”

  Before Cariad could reply, however, Aubriot showed up.

  “There’s something fishy going on here,” he announced angrily as he came inside. “Something isn’t right, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

  Cariad couldn’t help but agree. When she’d gone into the farmers’ dorm, she’d heard the man say, Right. I’ll try to act normal. Do you think they suspect anything?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Ethan had known the day would come, of course. Everyone had. Somehow, that didn’t make anyone less jittery when it arrived. The Woken knew that something was up. It was only a matter of time until they discovered exactly what the Gens had done. What wasn’t so clear was what the scientists and their oppressive Guardians would do about it.

  A party was down from the ship, including someone newly Woken—a bigwig of some kind. Cariad was there too, Ethan had heard. He would have liked to have gone to see her. On the other hand, he feared her realization that he’d kept something important from her for so long and he would have found her inevitable questions hard to answer.

  The Woken were asking plenty of them. Why was the settlement almost empty? Where had everyone gone? As agreed, every Gen there was giving the same answers: Sorry, I don’t know. I have no idea. Maybe they’re working somewhere else today. Yes, it is strange, but I’m sorry, I can’t help you.

  Ethan wondered how many were managing to sound convincing in their answers. Not that it really mattered. Only an idiot would believe them, and the Woken were no idiots. What was remarkable was that the Guardians hadn’t noticed the increasing absences for so long.

  However, the next question the Gens had to answer was, what were they going to do now?

  The new settlement at the caves wasn’t anywhere near finished. The habitable caves remained little more than holes in the cliff with sanitation. The storage caves were full, stuffed with as many of the supplies from the original settlement that would fit inside them, but the supplies themselves were in a terrible mess. No single person had overseen the transfer, and everyone who had helped had organized the boxes and crates according to their personal idea of how everything should be stored. Certain essential items, like disinfectant and salt, had gone missing. No one thought they’d been stolen. The containers had to be somewhere among the randomly stacked jumble. It was just that no one knew where.

  The discussion to decide how to respond to this latest turn of the screw tightening the tension between the Gens and the Woken took place on the top of the cliffs above the caves. No cave was large enough to hold everyone who wanted to take part, which was some three or four hundred Gens.

  Some young children remained at the original settlement, and many parents were nervous that they would be separated from their offspring. They wanted to go to retrieve them. Others argued that it would look suspicious if lots of people suddenly appeared on flitters, racing into town, especially those who could give no good reason for being away.

  Wait until we think up an excuse, the objectors argued. Only no one could think of anything that made any sense. Others wanted to tell the Woken and Guardians exactly what the Gens were doing and defy them to put a stop to it.

  Ethan didn’t know the right answer, and without Garwin there to lead the discussion, it had descended into chaos. Loud arguments between individuals had broken out, while others were shouting themselves hoarse asking for quiet. The debate was going nowhere and Ethan needed some peace. He left the group and climbed down the network of ladders that led to his personal cave.

  He’d felt a little guilty at taking a cave all to himself, but others had urged that he deserved it, considering his service to the colony. That argument hadn’t made a lot of sense to him. He’d only done what seemed right and what anyone else would have done in his position. But the cave was tiny, too small even for a couple, so he’d decided it wouldn’t hurt to accept it.

  Ethan was nearly down to the level of his cave when a rung on the ladder gave way as he put his weight on it. He let out a cry of surprise and gripped the sides of the ladder while seeking blindly with his foot to find the next rung. He looked down at the beach, thirty meters or more below him, and the waves that pounded it. He’d come close to having his entire involvement in the Gens/Woken problem solved for him.

  Climbing down further, he reached the defective rung. It had slipped out from its hole in the side of the ladder. The nut that held it there had become loose. Ethan sighed. The ladder system was pure Gen construction. Whenever they made something of their own, they never seemed to do it as well as when they followed the Manual. It was an ingrained problem they faced. The Gens had been brought up to follow instructions, not to be creative or innovative.

  Ethan stepped sideways into his cave and nearly moved backward and off the cliff. Twyla was there. She was near the entrance, lifting a bag over her shoulder, as if she’d been about to leave.

  “Ethan,” she said, moving out of his way. “Sorry. I had to come inside. Having no doors makes it hard to knock. I was looking for you.”

  It was a poor excuse. She could have easily called out and left when he didn’t answer. Ethan casually glanced around. He didn’t have much in the way of personal possessions, and nothing seemed to have been disturbed. The likelihood of Twyla wanting to steal from him was remote, but he couldn’t think of another explanation for her presence. “Can I help you with something?”

  Twyla looked at her feet, then out across the ocean. For an older woman, she suddenly seemed young and vulnerable. “You’re angry with me for waiting for you here, aren’t you? I’m sorry to invade your privacy, but I need to talk to you alone about something that’s bothering me. It’s kind of embarrassing. I’m not sure I know how to put it.”

  Ethan’s suspicions fell away. He had a horrible presentiment of what Twyla wanted to speak to him about. He began to grow uncomfortable.

  “It’s weird,” Twyla went on. “I had it all clear in my mind what I would say before I came here. Now I can’t remember a word.”

  “Do you want to sit down?” Ethan asked. If he was right about what Twyla wanted to talk about, he didn’t relish the prospect of the conversation they were about to have, but he felt sorry for her. He would have hated to be in her position.

  She looked for a place to sit. Ethan pulled a storage box out into the floor space and wiped off the fine dust that permeated everything in the caves. He sat down on his mattress.

  Twyla put her hands on her bony knees. “I wanted to ask you something. I hope it’s okay. You’re the only person I can ask. I don’t trust the others to tell me the truth. You’re honest. That’s what people say, anyway. You have a lot of integrity. Only…” She swallowed. “Now that it comes to it, I don’t know if I want to ask you. I don’t know if I want to know the answer.”

  The situation was becoming extremely awkward, but what Ethan felt most was sympathy and sorrow. He almost opened the subject for her but stopped himself. If his guess was wrong, it would be extremely embarrassing for them both and potentially disastrous for Twyla’s marriage.

  “On the other hand,” Twyla went on, “I got up the courage to come here, so I guess I should go through with it.” All the time she’d been speaking, she hadn’t met Ethan’s gaze. Now she looked him directly in the eye. “Ethan, you spend a lot of time with Garwin, right?”

  He nodded.

  “Do you know… Have you noticed anything?” She stopped, closed her eyes, and took a breath. She opened her eyes. “Ethan, i
s my husband having an affair?”

  For some reason, Ethan felt almost as bad as if he was the one who was being unfaithful to his wife. Twyla looked fragile, like a breath of wind would break her in two. Ethan didn’t want his words to be that breath, but what could he do? He couldn’t bring himself to lie to the woman. She’d been lied to enough already.

  Yet the words were difficult to say. Instead, he nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  He’d expected Twyla to burst into tears or begin an angry rant, but instead she only looked defeated. Her shoulders sagged and her head hung down like something inside her had been crushed. “I should have known. The signs were all there. I just didn’t want to see them. Do you know how long it’s been going on?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t.”

  “Or who the woman is?”

  Ethan hesitated. He thought he’d been right to tell Twyla the truth about her husband’s affair, but was Cherry’s personal business his to tell? Was she doing anything wrong? She hadn’t broken any vows.

  “No. Don’t tell me,” said Twyla. “It doesn’t matter, whoever it is.” She abruptly stood up. “I think I’ll go. Thanks for being honest, Ethan. I appreciate it.”

  “I wish I had a different answer for you.”

  “Me too. I wonder how long he’s been at it. I’ve suspected him for a long time.”

  Ethan said again, “I’m sorry.”

  Twyla went to the cave entrance as if to leave, but she had another question for him. “Do many people know?”

  “I don’t know how many people know about it,” Ethan replied. It was the truth, though a more accurate statement would have been, I think everyone knows. But he couldn’t bring himself to add to her anguish. The woman had enough to deal with at that moment.

  Twyla said, “No one else even gave me a hint. You were the only one to tell me and only when I asked you about it directly.”

  Ethan struggled to find an answer. Should he have told her? No. He hardly knew her. Luckily, Twyla left before he could think of a response. He stuck his head out of the cave and warned her about the broken rung, but she didn’t reply and carried on climbing up the cliff.

  He sat down heavily. Big and small, the problems for the settlement were compounding. His revelation to Twyla could have a wider impact than it should. If Garwin was affected by the breakdown of his marriage, he might not be able to continue on as he had, leading the Gens to their freedom and independence while playing a double game with the Woken. The chaotic meeting going on at the top of the cliffs was evidence of how much the Gens needed the man.

  Out over the ocean, clouds were building up on the horizon. A storm was coming. Ethan got up and began moving his belongings deeper inside the cave, where the bone-dry sand indicated that rain never reached it. He thought he should go up to the cliff top and draw others’ attention to the impending downpour but he didn’t have the motivation. He sat on a box and watched the gathering clouds.

  It wasn’t right that Garwin was repeatedly unfaithful to Twyla. She wasn’t a bad person, and Garwin had wanted to marry her after all. It also seemed unfair to Ethan. Garwin had the opportunity of a happy relationship with someone he loved, or at least someone he had loved at some point, while Ethan’s first love had been murdered, and… He avoided the train of thought. It would be a long time before he could be with someone else. Perhaps that might never happen, especially if whoever he chose didn’t choose him.

  His thoughts strayed to safer ground. While he felt sorry for Twyla, he was also bemused at her ignorance about her husband’s affairs. Garwin was notorious among the Gens for his numerous flings. He had confidence and charisma that few single and even married women seemed able to resist. It hardly seemed credible that the first news Twyla had heard of Garwin’s dalliances had come from Ethan’s lips. Garwin wasn’t careful about hiding what he was doing, as his behavior that day they spent exploring the caves attested. Could Twyla really be that naive? He guessed she had to be. Perhaps the old saying he’d read in Earth literature was correct—the partner was always the last to know.

  A creaking from outside told him someone was approaching. Ethan jumped up and went to the cave entrance. “Watch out for a broken rung,” he called before he could see who it was.

  He was looking up at Cherry’s legs and bottom as she climbed down the ladder.

  “Where is it?” she asked, calling down to him.

  “The third one below where your left foot is now.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  A moment later, she jumped into the cave. “These ladders aren’t very safe, are they?”

  “No,” Ethan replied. “Someone needs to go over them and double check all the connections. And we need to install a safety system, something like a harness that we clip onto the struts. Eventually we’re going to have to cut stairs into the cliff and wall them in.”

  “That’s a great idea,” said Cherry, “but it’ll take forever.”

  “Maybe not. Someone was saying we might be able to use controlled explosions to break away areas of rock. That would speed up the process quite a bit.”

  “Ethan,” said Cherry, “what would we do without you?”

  “I don’t know. Find another dumb farmer?”

  “Don’t run yourself down like that. When are you going to understand how important you are to this colony?”

  “Thanks, but you’re exaggerating. So, is there something you need me for?”

  “Something I need you for? What kind of a question is that? Why did you go off when we were discussing what to do? It’s anarchy up there. You have to come up and help us decide how to respond to the Woken sniffing around the settlement. We need your opinion, Ethan. People will listen to you.”

  He was in no mood for the meandering, confused discussions and arguments he’d just slipped away from, but he said, “Okay. I’ll come up. But there’s a storm coming. Can you see? We have to move everything away from the cave entrances.”

  “All right. I’ll organize that. There are plenty of people avoiding the debate just like you. You go and talk some sense into those Gens up top.”

  ***

  When Ethan returned to the clifftop meeting, it didn’t seem to have moved on from where it had been when he left. The same people were repeating the same arguments. No side was willing to back down or even listen to anyone else. The only difference was that the mood had grown even more argumentative. If things were to continue in the same way, the debate could soon turn into a brawl.

  “Hey,” he shouted, raising his hands. “Hey!” He jumped up and down, waving the crowd to silence.

  The Gens turned to him and gradually the noisy discussions subsided.

  “Have we heard any more news on what the Woken have said or done?” Ethan asked.

  “They haven’t done anything yet,” someone replied. “Least ways, that we know of. Just been asking awkward questions.”

  “And the people in the settlement have been offering no explanation, like we agreed?” Ethan asked. “Just saying they don’t know?”

  “That’s right,” someone said.

  “Then it seems to me the best thing for us to do,” said Ethan, “is nothing.”

  He paused to let his statement sink in. “Look at it this way: Why should we answer the Woken’s questions? We’re not their slaves. We don’t owe them our compliance, and even if we did, we’ve done nothing wrong. We have nothing to be ashamed of. Even if we believe we should follow the Manual, which, by the way, I don’t, there’s nothing in there that states we can’t do what we’re doing, and nothing that states we have to keep the Woken informed.”

  The immediate reaction to his statement was silence.

  “That’s right,” someone said in the tone of receiving a revelation. “In fact, the Manual states that we should move out of the original settlement and start new ones. We’ve only brought the schedule forward.”

  “Whether we’re following the Manual or not,” said Ethan, “makes no difference. So what if the Wok
en have noticed the settlement’s half empty? This is our planet. We can do what we like. We don’t answer to them unless we choose to. So we do nothing. Right?”

  Someone said, “I guess it makes sense. So, we just carry on?”

  “Yes,” said Ethan. “Just carry on as we have been, making our new home habitable, and moving our supplies here.”

  No one had any further comments to make, so Ethan said, “Glad we’ve sorted that out, because we’ve got more important things to deal with. It’s going to start raining soon. We need to get everything we can into the back of the caves.”

  The crowd began to dissolve.

  “But take care on the ladders,” Ethan added. “Some of the rungs are coming loose.” The Gens moved away, forming lines as they waited to descend to their various locations within the cave system.

  Ethan wondered if he’d said something different, whether the Gens would have gone along with that too. It was like they were only waiting for someone to take charge and tell them what to do. They had far to go to begin behaving like autonomous human beings. Their conditioning had made them into sheep or children, which is exactly what Cariad had accused them of being. It was partly a problem of confidence, he realized. The Gens needed to think more independently, it was true, but in order to achieve that they needed to believe in themselves.

  He joined the back of a line. As he waited his turn on a ladder, another realization hit him. What he’d been thinking about his fellow Gens also applied to himself.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Aubriot was in a rage and he’d gathered all the Woken together to witness it. He’d even demanded that representatives from the Guardians attend his rant. Strongquist and Faina sat at the back of the large meeting room aboard the Nova Fortuna. Strongquist’s arms were folded and his legs outstretched and crossed at the ankle. Faina sat erect, her hands together in her lap. The female Guardian’s eyes were bright and alert, while Strongquist’s were hooded, as if he was mentally a great distance from the event.