“You were lovers?”
I swallowed and thrust my chin forward resentfully. “Briefly,” I said.
“He is lawbonded now to a woman from Cailetet.”
“Oh.”
Bithras studied my reaction. “Mr. Franklin heads a group of young theoretical physicists at Tharsis Research. They are known as the Olympians.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said.
“Not surprising, since their work is kept close to their bosoms. They report only to the fund administrators, and have published nothing so far. I want you to read this transmission from Earth. It is a few days old, and. it was sent to Cailetet from Stanford University .”
“How did you get it?” I asked.
Bithras smiled, shook his head, and handed his slate to me. The message was pure text and read:
We’ve established strong link between time tweak and space tweak. Can derive most special relat. Third tweak discovered may be co-active but purpose unknown. Tweak time, tweak space, third tweak changes automatically. Probably derive general relat. as regards curvature, but third tweak pushes a fourth tweak, weakly and sporadically… Derive conservation of destiny? Fifty tweaks discovered so far. More to come. Can you share your discoveries? Mutual bennies if yes.
“A scientific courtship,” Bithras said. “Highly unusual, Earth courting Mars. Did Charles Franklin discuss such matters?”
“No,” I said. “Well… I think he mentioned ‘Bell Continuum’ and something else. ‘Forbidden channels.’ Whatever they are. He didn’t say much. I wasn’t interested.”
“Pity,” Bithras said. “You had a prime opportunity, both to romance Mr. Franklin and to learn about something very important. He might have told you?”
“If he had, I wouldn’t have understood.”
“The ‘Bell Continuum,’ my researchers tell me, is the key to a radical theory of physics that shows some promise. The Olympians refer to universes as ‘destinies.’ ”
I shook my head, still all uncomprehending.
“We are interested, Casseia, because Cailetet Mars is being pressured to pull out from Tharsis funding. All funding.”
“Cailetet is Lunar,” I said.
“Yes, but dominated by GEWA, and Cailetet Mars would enjoy being more independent. And at the same time, Mr. Franklin has been approached by Stanford University to join their program and come to Earth to continue his research. They promise access to Earth’s most advanced thinkers, including Quantum Logic thinkers, and a very high personal salary as well. They will also help relieve Klein’s money problems. Which, of course, are due largely to interference from GEWA.”
“Did he accept?”
“He reported the offer to Klein, as is only polite within a family, and Klein informed the Council, which is also only polite. The Council passed the information to major funders of Tharsis research. No, he did not accept. Mr. Franklin is an admirable young man. Alice concludes that Earth is heavily engaged in research in the Bell Continuum and something called ‘descriptor theory.’ There have been other hints to that effect.”
“It’s important?”
Bithras smiled. “Earth won’t get Charles Franklin, or any of the Olympians. Majumdar will work with Cailetet to finance three QL thinkers for their purposes.”
“Oh,” I said. Charles had done the right thing, and he had gotten what he wanted by doing it. Admirable.
“I am sorry your affair went no further,” Bithras said. “Why did you break with him?”
The transition into personal prying was accomplished with so little change in tone that I was almost lulled into answering. Instead, I smiled and turned one hand over, raised my eyebrows, and shrugged: C’est la vie.
“Have you had much experience with brilliant men?”
“No,” I said.
“Much experience with men at all?”
I continued smiling and said nothing. Bithras watched me intently. “I have observed that young women acquire most of their knowledge of men in the first five years of their romantic lives. It is a crucial time. I would guess that you are within that five-year period. To neglect your education would be a pity. A spaceship offers such limited opportunities.”
Here it comes.
“If you remember anything more about Charles Franklin, please tell me. I am reluctantly forced to catch up on physics, and I am not so skilled at mathematics. I hope Alice is a good tutor.”
He thanked me and opened the cabin door. In the hallway, I passed Acre on some errand, murmured hello, and went to the exercise room. There, accompanied by four sweating men, all about Bithras’s age, I worked off my anger and dismay for about an hour.
Charles had married. He had the anchor he wanted. He was well on his way to being significant, to Earth and Mars, if not to me.
Good for him.
Orianna burned like an intense flame blown by swift winds. I never could predict the direction of those winds, what her moods would be precisely — but I never knew her to be morose, or discouraged, or even overtly judgmental. When she fixed her attention on me — listening to me or just watching me — I knew what a cat must feel like, scrutinized by a human…
Orianna was not effectively more wise than I was, but her instant access to information, her blithe show of skills not learned or earned but bought, were marvelous. What she lacked was what I lacked — what all Earth’s glory could not give her or me: experience that sat deep in the mind and in the flesh. Her enhancements and all her advanced education could not give her passionate conviction or a true sense of direction.
Talking, letting the telescope fill our rooms with projected images, sharing LitVids, playing games in the lounge, watching the stars pass from the observation deck… Orianna showed me a mirror to my own immediate past — she taught me a lot about Earth, and perhaps even more about myself. Through her, I saw more clearly how far I had to go.
But I was still reluctant to join Orianna in a sim. She persisted in her efforts to convince.
“I smuggled some real outer sims past Earth douane. I haven’t told my parents,” she said to me on Jill’s Day, December 30. We were in the fifth month of our crossing and had just emerged from the most strenuous regimen of exercises yet — three hours in the gym with magnet suits, running in place in fields that simulated full Earth gravity. “You won’t tell?”
“Is that illegal?”
“Well, no, but the companies that make them are pretty protective. They could cut me off a customer list if they found out. They don’t want dupes made off Earth.”
“Sims aren’t very popular off Earth,” I said.
Orianna shrugged that off. “There’s one I think you’ll really like. It’s gradual. Puts you in touch with all the cultural differences between you and me. Set on present-day Earth, but it’s not an education piece. It’s fantasy and very romantic. Since you have access to Alice … Alice would be perfect for screening our sims. Much better than slates… We could go full-depth with Alice .”
“I’m not sure she’d agree.”
“I’ve never met a thinker that wasn’t eager to build up more data on human nature. Besides, it’s Jill’s Day. Time to celebrate. Alice needs relaxation, too.”
Jill, the first thinker on Earth to achieve self-awareness — on December 30, 2047 — had served as template for the next generation of thinkers, and so in a very real way was a direct ancestor of Alice . Jill was still active on Earth. Alice wanted to visit her broadband on the nets when we got to Earth, if we had time.
We took turns in my room with the vapor bag and toweled off, then sat. “You are fixed on sims,” I said. “What about real life?”
Orianna said, “When I’m eighteen, real life will mean something. When I’m on my own, and my parents aren’t responsible for my actions, I can take risks and be dangerous. Until then, I’m a cutlet.”
“Cutlet?”
“Slice off the parental loin. Sims are exercise for the rest of my life.”
“Even fantasy?”