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Al Past
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have died& or to have been launched into the galaxy never to return, which was
what happened.
She didn t know the fourth person. All Hleo had been able to tell her was that
his name was Bennec Vianogh and he was a lawyer. She wasn t sure what a lawyer
was doing on a goodwill mission but she hoped he at least had humanitarian
leanings.
There was a further layer of complexity that she would have to deal with, the
one she liked the least: the political aspect. Her people prized balance and har-
mony above all and tried to build that into their government, by dividing it into
two assemblies. On one side were the representatives of the clans, of the people as
a collection of relations. They tended to look after the common welfare and to
seek consensus, usually by compromise, on matters affecting everyone, or at least
the majority. Most of her life her father had been the presiding official of the
Council of Clans, as they called it. Before him, her grandfather had served. Uncle
Rothan had been, and probably still was, a senior advisor to the Council. And
Ianthe, as a daughter of the chief, would count as another member of that group.
The Council of Clans was considered the highest embodiment of her people.
Herecyn, on the other hand, was a senior representative of the Peoples Con-
gress, those who came together based not on family clans but on economics,
occupation, or personal affiliation. At the village level a citizen would belong to
both, and would balance the interests of his clan against his or her individual
interests. For a person working at the upper levels of government one interest or
the other tended to dominate, making compromise a major art form. She remem-
bered Herecyn as a devoted Congressman, firmly wedded to the notion of pure
self-interest. That may have been why she had never taken to him.
Thus, with Uncle Rothan and Ianthe on the Clan side, and Herecyn repre-
senting the Congress, it was highly probable that Bennec would be a representa-
tive of the Congress. That would make two and two, a typically Thoman effort to
achieve balance on this crucial second mission to earth.
Ianthe was the complicating factor as Darcy saw it. She was from a Council of
Clans family, but also the wife of a Congressman. If she were overshadowed by
her husband her weight in the equation would be lessened. If so, then the Con-
gressionals might control the mission. That could account for their unannounced
early visit to earth. She was certain Uncle Rothan would never have proposed
such a thing. But if Ianthe had any influence with the two Congressionals, then
the Council of Clans might have the edge. Ianthe could be the key. The fact that
they were coming here to earth, on their own initiative apparently, was not a
good sign.
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Their original message to Hleo had implied that they would first land at the
moon base and make the preparations for their eventual arrival on earth from
there. That was what she had relayed in her address at the United Nations. As far
as she could tell, most people on earth were eager to meet and get to know their
long-lost relatives. But now it looked as if these lost relatives would suddenly be
found, as it were, in the living room when the homeowners came down to break-
fast. They would not be pleased. They might even feel threatened. Darcy thought
she would feel that way, if she were in their place. Matt probably could have kept
the secret if she had told him, but if it got out, she could envision spreading panic
about the aliens among us. Her mission would have failed, and the relations
between two huge groups of humans would be irretrievably soured. She felt sorry
for Matt, but it was better that he not know, at least for the moment.
Why the new arrivals would risk ruining everything was beyond her. And
what she should do about it was even more beyond her. It would have kept her
awake at night, only she didn t have a night she had about an hour.
She really, really hated politics.
The navigation display indicated Bristol Island should be fifty kilometers
ahead. It would be good to be on solid ground for a while, if for no other reason
than she would not have to hurry back to the tiny head aft to throw up. The
bumpiness over land hadn t been severe, but it was too much for her delicate
stomach. Another long nap would have been nice, but there was no time.
At least it was smoother after increasing the pod s altitude to 1500 meters once
back over water. There was nothing to be seen through the small windshield
except dark, streaming clouds. She switched off the computer navigation system
and took over the controls. The ocean came into view at 900 meters, gray and
stormy, whitecaps visible even from this height.
In a few minutes an island could be made out against the horizon. It had the
proper profile, dominated by a volcanic cone. She slowed the pod as it
approached and banked around the island, scanning the beaches as she went.
She wasn t sure what to look for. She made another circuit at 400 meters. One
side of the island, no doubt the windward side, had few beaches, many rocks, and
ice and snow everywhere. The lee side had several rocky, narrow beaches, and on
one of them, finally, she spied a man-made object that could only be her visitors
vessel.
Very gradually, as much to give notice to them as to be careful herself, she
slowed the pod and descended, setting down gently about 100 meters from the
strange vessel, in the shelter of some large boulders. There were several soft
crunches as the full weight of the pod settled. Then there was silence.
Al Past
339
She felt oddly excited anticipation? dread? or perhaps a combination. It
would be best to wait a half hour before emerging. Visitors never barged in back [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]