Zack grunted, then turned back to Jessica. "I don't care," he said.
"An order is an order."
"I know," Jessica said, her voice still extremely even. "Rules are rules, because we can't trust individual judgment. You can't trust your individual judgment." And I was never frozen. I don't have ice on my mind. "Zack, my father wrote most of the Standing Orders, remember?"
"You're taking advantage," Zack said. "Cadmann will be back tomorrow."
Jessica leaned forward. "What makes you think that I care? The Grendel Scouts are controlled by Second Generation. Biomed is controlled by Second Generation. This is for Star Born, not Earth Born."
"At the moment."
"The eel was spotted by—"
"—sensors created and monitored by adults. First Generation. We set up the alert and sent out the skeeter. You commandeered it, and directly countermanded my order—"
Jessica's blue eyes narrowed hotly. "Cadmann's Bluff is not incorporated into the township of Avalon Town, never has been, never will be, and you damned well know why. The eel was captured there. My father is incommunicado. Justin and I are in command of the Bluff until he returns. I made my decision based upon my authority on the Bluff and my control of the Grendel Scouts. Chaka?"
Chaka spun in his swivel chair. "Mother Eel is secure, Zack. We can put a net over the tank, if you want."
"You know damned well that isn't the issue. The issue is that you exceeded your authority. I am responsible for the security of this colony—"
Jessica's smile was hard, but her voice remained even and untempered. "And although I had no hand in giving you that authority, I have abided by the decision. Until now. But I think we can learn more about Avalon from a live creature—and we have eggs coming down the mountain—"
"Eggs?" Zack was furious. "I want them destroyed—"
"You are the civilian authority, and as such have control of ordinary emergencies. But this isn't one of them, it's no emergency at all. It is the normal functioning of the planet, Zack. The ecology is returning. The signs have been there for eight years. Plants. Fairy-brollies, and look what they grew into! No birds, but we have new fish, new insects—Zack, this is important, this is the way this island used to be. This is for a joint council. Earth Born and Star Born—"
"Adults and Second Generation," Zack said absently.
"All right, but this is for the joint council. First and Second Generations, together. Or the biology board. But it's not something for rules, or a panicked, autocratic decision."
"But—"
"Our world, Zack," Jessica said. "Ours, not just yours."
"It was my impression, Zack, that this was a republic—not a principality." Chaka's tone was mocking, but gentle. "And it is our world too."
Zack closed his eyes for a moment, and finally nodded. : "Right, right. You're right. All right. I want a cover on the tank. As soon as your father links in, I want him informed. And we'll have a special meeting when he gets back." Zack placed a fatherly hand on her arm. She let it remain there.
"You don't remember, you can't." Zack said it with a kind of resignation, and she knew two things: first, she was about to get a dose of Grendel Angst, and second, this was as close to an apology as Zack could come.
"Things have been peaceful for a long time. We want them to stay that way."
It's for your own good, children.
He patted her, then took another long, hard look at the eel. It was beginning to swish to and fro around the tank. As if seeking a way out. "Put a cover on that tank." Zack shook his head, and left the room.
"Ice on his mind," Chaka said. "You know what Ruth said?"
"What?"
"She said Zack sleeps in his own room. Wakes Rachael up in the middle of the night, screaming."
"Hell, I think that half of the First have nightmares. Freezing
Grendel Wars." Jessica shook her head. "Dead and gone, man, dead and gone.
Just like the grendels."
"Gone here," Chaka said. "Plenty of them over there. We'll have to deal with them someday."
"Or our kids will," Jessica said. "We won't have to settle the mainland for generations."
"Yes we will," Chaka said. "I'd better get the cover on that tank."
"Do you want one?"
Chaka shrugged. "It will be inconvenient."
"Freeze it, then. Don't bother."
Chaka looked at her. Before he could say anything they were interrupted by the whir of an approaching skeeter. "That should be baby bro, with the egg samples," Jessica said.
"Right. Cassandra," Chaka said briskly. "I want a lifecycle simulation."
"Where do you think this thing lives?"
"The Deeps north of Surf's Up, maybe."
Justin slammed the door open. A jar half-filled with murky water sloshed in his hands. Within floated a sample of the jellied egg sac. "Merry Christmas," he said cheerily. "Are we set up?"
"All but." Chaka took the jar carefully. He drew a few drops of cloudy fluid and placed them into an analyzer. Cassandra worked. Presently a stream of filtered, designer water began to splash into a small tank on the workbench. When it was filled, Chaka emptied the jar into the tank.
Jessica sat down next to Justin, winked at him. "Caught hell from Zack about our slippery friend."
Chaka was big, the strongest of the Star Born, but you didn't notice that when he was at work. "We'll just dissect one of the eggs so Cassandra can have a look. There. Window, please." A flood of biological and mathematical symbols reeled past them in a small holographic window, a peek into Cassandra's mind. She was comparing the eel with other Avalonian life forms, including the dreaded grendel. And she was scanning the eggs down to their DNA. And although it was understood to be no more than thirty percent accurate, Cassandra would devise a best-guess life cycle for the beast, including preferred foods at varied points in its development.
Before their eyes the eel transformed: Now its holographic image was covered with skin, now it was a network of muscles, now it was a mere skeleton whipping eerily through the water. Now it was a jelly sac crowded with internal organs, and in the next second it was merely a nervous system, each branching node outlined in blue.
Jessica lit a cigarette. It was machine-rolled but unfiltered. The tobacco field covered less than ten acres of the twelve thousand acres of cultivated land surrounding Camelot. There had been discussion as to whether the seeds should be grown at all. Most of the Earth Born didn't smoke and hated tobacco. Some were astonished to find there were tobacco seeds aboard Geographic. The same debate had preceded the hemp planting.
Mankind's vices had accompanied him to the stars. Alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana existed on Avalon; likewise poppy fields and coca plants. The mountain ridges had been seeded with coffee. Pharmaceutical cocaine and morphine were too valuable medicinally. Hemp too hardy and useful a plant fiber. Tobacco... well, tobacco was tobacco.
Jessica allowed herself a cigarette or two a day. You'd have to quadruple that level of consumption to find clinical deterioration of lung tissue, and it had been a century since anyone died of cancer anyway. As for the other drugs... well, they were a part of Man's history.
"Terrible habit," Justin said. She nodded, and shook him out a butt.
The pumps made small, moist rhythmic sounds, swishing murky water about in the egg tank.