He doubted that, or he might have taught them something. The shouts of children pursued him as he went; they played their games. That was all. When they grew up they would go to the hills and go and come as they pleased. Himself, he kept trying with them, with life, with the world. This was not the world born‑men had planned. But he did the best he knew.
V
OUTSIDE
i
Excerpt, treaty of the new territories
“Union recognizes the territorial interests of the Alliance in the star systems variously named the Gehenna Reach or the MacLaren Stars; in its turn the Alliance will undertake to route fifty percent of trade with these systems through Union gateway ports after such time as a positive trade balance has been achieved;…further…that the defense of these territories will be maintained jointly by the terms of the Accord of Pell…”
ii
Private apartments, the First of Council, Cyteen Capital
“It’s only come a few years ahead of expectations.” Councillor Harad’s face, naturally long, was longer still in his contemplation. He paused, poured himself and the Secretary each a glass of wine–lifted his, thoughtfully. “This is our purchase. Pell wine, from the heart of Alliance.”
“You would have opposed the signing.”
“Absolutely not.” Harad sipped slowly and settled again in his chair. The window overlooked the concrete canyons of the city and the winding silver sheen of the Amity River. Outside, commerce came and went. “As it is, Alliance ships go on serving our ports. No boycott. And the longer that’s true–the less likely it becomes. So the colonies were well spent. They’ll keep the Alliance quite busy.”
“They may just lift the colonists off, you know. And if one colony should resist, we’ll have a crisis on our hands.”
“They won’t. There’ll be no untoward incident. Maybe Alliance knows they’re there. We’ll have to break that news, at least, now the treaty’s signed. They’ll take that hard, if they don’t know. They’ll be demanding records, access to files. They’ll know, of course, the files will be culled; but we’ll cooperate. That’s at the bureau level.”
“It seems to me a halfwitted move.”
“What?”
“To give up. Oh, I know the logic: hard worlds to develop; and we’ve hurried Alliance into expansion–but all things considered, maybe we should have thrown more into it. We may regret those worlds.”
“The economics of the time.”
“But not our present limits.”
Harad frowned. “I’ve looked into this. My predecessor left us a legacy. Those worlds were all hard. I’ll tell you something I’ve known since first I opened the file. The Reach colonies were all designed to fail.”
The Secretary favored him with a cold blue stare. “You’re serious.”
“Absolutely. We couldn’t afford to do it right. Not in those years. It was all going into ships. So we set them up to fail. Ecological disaster; a human population that would survive but scatter into impossible terrain. That’s what they’ll find. No mission was ever backed up. No ships were dispatched. The colonists never knew.”
“Union citizens–Union lives–”
“That was the way of it in those days. That’s why I supported the treaty. We’ve just dictated Alliance’s first colonial moves, handed them a prize that will bog them down in that direction for decades yet to come. Whatever they do hereafter will have to be in spite of what they’ve gained.”
“But the lives, Councillor. Those people waiting on ships that never came–”
“But it accomplished what it set out to do. And isn’t it, in all accounts, far cheaper than a war?”
VI
RE‑ENTRY
Military Personneclass="underline"
Col. James A. Conn, governor general d. 3 CR
Capt. Ada P. Beaumont, It. governor, d. year of founding
Maj. Peter T. Gallin, personnel, d. 34 CR
M/Sgt. Ilya V. Burdette, Corps of Engineers, d. 23 CR
Cpl. Antonia M. Cole, d. 32 CR
Spec. Martin H. Andresson, d. 22 CR
Spec. Emilie Kontrin, d. 31 CR
Spec. Danton X. Norris d. 22 CR
M/Sgt. Danielle L. Emberton, tactical op., d. 22 CR
Spec. Lewiston W. Rogers, d. 22 CR
Spec. Hamil N. Masu, d. 22 CR
Spec. Grigori R. Tamilin, d. 22 CR
M/Sgt. Pavlos D. M. Bilas, maintenance, d. 34 CR
Spec. Dorothy T. Kyle, d. 40 CR
Spec. Egan I. Innis, d. 36 CR
Spec. Lucas M. White, d. 32 CR
Spec. Eron 678‑4578 Miles, d. 49 CR
Spec. Upton R. Patrick, d. 38 CR
Spec. Gene T. Troyes, d. 42 CR
Spec. Tyler W. Hammett, d. 42 CR
Spec. Kelley N. Matsuo, d. 44 CR
Spec. Belle M. Rider, d. 48 CR
Spec. Vela K. James, d. 25 CR
Spec. Matthew R. Mayes, d. 29 CR
Spec. Adrian C. Potts, d. 27 CR
Spec. Vasily C. Orlov, d. 44 CR
Spec. Rinata W. Quarry, d. 39 CR
Spec. Kito A. M. Kabir, d. 43 CR
Spec. Sita Chandrus, d. 22 CR
M/Sgt. Dinah L. Sigury, communications, d. 22 CR
Spec. Yung Kim, d. 22 CR
Spec. Lee P. de Witt, d. 48 CR
M/Sgt. Thomas W. Oliver, quartermaster, d. 39 CR
Cpl. Nina N. Ferry, d. 45 CR
Pfc. Hayes Brandon, d. 48 CR
Lt. Romy T. Jones, special forces, d. 22 CR
Sgt. Jan Vandermeer, d. 22 CR
Spec. Kathryn S. Flanahan, d. 22 CR
Spec. Charles M. Ogden, d. 22 CR
M/Sgt. Zell T. Parham, security, d. 22 CR
Cpl. Quintan R. Witten, d. 22 CR
Capt. Jessica N. Sedgewick, confessor‑advocate, d. 38 CR
Capt. Bethan M. Dean, surgeon, d. 46 CR
Capt. Robert T. Hamil, surgeon, d. 32 CR
Lt. Regan T. Chiles, computer services, d. 29 CR
Civilian Personneclass="underline"
Secretarial personneclass="underline" 12
Medical/surgicaclass="underline" 1
Medical/paramedic: 7
Mechanical maintenance: 20
Distribution and warehousing: 20
Robert H. Davies, d. 3 CR
Security: 12
Computer service: 4
Computer maintenance: 2
Librarian: 1
Agricultural specialists: 10
Harold B. Hill, d. 32
CR Geologists: 5
Meteorologist: 1
Biologists: 6
Marco X. Gutierrez, d. 39 CR
Eva K. Jenks, d. 38 CR
Jane Flanahan‑Gutierrez, CR 2–CR 50
Elly Flanahan‑Gutierrez, b. 23 CR–
Education: 5
Cartographer: 1
Management supervisors: 4
Biocycle engineers: 4
Construction personneclass="underline" 50
Food preparation specialists: 6
Industrial specialists: 15
Mining engineers: 2
Energy systems supervisors: 8
ADDITIONAL NONCITIZEN PERSONNEL.
“A” class: 2890
Jin 458‑9998
Pia 86‑687, d. 46 CR
(chart)
“B” class: 12389
“M” class: 4566
“P” class: 20788
“V” class: 1278
i
Communication: Alliance security to AS Ajax “…survey and report.”
ii
Year 58, day 259 CR
The ship came down, all long‑range contact negative, and settled at the site the orbiting scan had turned up.