“Does forming a pod with citizens give me the right to stay in the Republic?” Sokrates asked.
He was looking at me questioningly. “Not inherently, no. But you have that right. You’re already a citizen here,” I said, surprised.
“Am I?”
“Everyone who was a citizen at the time of the Last Debate remained a citizen of the Remnant if they wanted to be. Lots of people left and came back. Admittedly, it hasn’t happened with an original citizen since immediately after the Relocation. I think my grandfather Nikias was one of the last. But it still holds.”
“But was I a citizen then? I was not a Master, for I never prayed to Athene to bring me here. The Children took oaths of citizenship and in token of that were given pins designed by Simmea, which I see you still use.” I withdrew my hand from Hilfa’s and touched the bee on my pin, and saw Jason and Thetis making the same automatic movement towards theirs. The pins were all identical, whatever metal they were cast in. I had forgotten they had been designed by my grandmother. Sokrates’s kiton was pinned with a plain iron pin. “I never took that oath, or went through any other form of citizenship. I regarded myself always as an Athenian citizen in exile.”
“And that’s why you called this house Thessaly,” I said. “I’ve always wondered about that.”
“Krito suggested I escape to Thessaly instead of drinking the hemlock,” he said, smiling. “If he’d suggested this plan, I’d have had even stronger arguments against. But I’m here now, and from what I’m hearing, things are much improved from when I was here before.”
“You’re Sokrates,” Thetis said, and indeed, that was enough. “Whether or not you’re a citizen in your own mind, or legally, nobody would dream of saying you couldn’t stay here. You’re Sokrates, and this is Plato’s Republic!”
“One of them,” Sokrates said.
“Do you want citizenship here now?” Jason asked.
“I’d have to examine the question, the implications and obligations, and also the details of your laws,” Sokrates said.
“You can take the course with Hilfa,” I said. “You’ll love it. You can argue as much as you like, and debate every single point.” Thetis and Jason were both smiling, probably remembering their classes. “You can both take oath together, if you decide you want to. But Thetis is right. Whether or not you take our citizenship oath, whether or not you’re part of a pod, everyone will want you to stay. Think how you were welcomed in Chamber this morning.”
“I wish you’d been on the course when I took it,” Thetis said.
“Oh, so do I! I think you should take the course all the time,” I said, suddenly realizing how wonderful that would be. “I don’t mean teach it, though maybe you could, later, if you wanted to, but I think if you stay, you should always be around some of the time when the kids are taking the course. For one thing, there isn’t a sixteen-year-old on this planet who wouldn’t love being on that course with you to shake things up. But the real reason is that we have a tendency to become—well, Jathery said it yesterday about me. Piously Platonic. We accept it too much as received wisdom and we don’t question enough. All of this has made me see that. If you were around the young people they wouldn’t get complacent.”
“You’re asking me to corrupt your youth?” Sokrates asked. “You know I have a conviction for that at home?”
We all laughed. “Yes, you’re perfectly qualified, and it’s precisely the kind of corruption we need for our youth,” I said.
“I have made a committment to join this pod,” Sokrates said, smiling. “I’d also like to explore the other cities, and indeed the other worlds. But I’m an old man. Don’t count on me being around to help with these things long-term.”
He was hale and fit, but definitely an old man. “The space humans were talking about possibilities of medical and technological rejuvenation,” I said, remembering what had been said in the morning’s meeting.
As I spoke, I looked at Hilfa again, and I realized he hadn’t spoken since Jathery left us.
“Are you all right, Hilfa?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, in that flat way he had. The pink marks on his skin were the brightest I’d ever seen them. “I am free. I belong to Plato. And I have helped free all the Saeli here. I am very all right.”
“What did gla say to you?” Jason asked.
“It’s hard to translate,” Hilfa said. “Gla said gla could have reunited me with gla, and that he wished me joy of my folly. And then gla said that Our Parent wants us to learn and experience and comprehend new things.”
“What?” Sokrates asked, completely focused on Hilfa now, not a shred of amusement left in his face. “Do you mean to say gla told you what Zeus wants? The purpose of life, spat at you like a curse? Gods! They’re not fit to be entrusted with their responsibilities. They’re like a bunch of heavily armed toddlers.”
“Can that really be the purpose of life?” I asked.
“We can’t trust gla,” Thetis said, decisively.
“Even if we could trust what gla said, is that for Hilfa alone, all the Saeli, our pod, or for everyone?” Sokrates asked.
“I don’t know,” Hilfa said. “It is like what many Saeli believe. Plato says excellence is the greatest good, but our culture, the religion we follow, has always put discovery first, science, knowledge.”
“This is the religion that’s more like philosophy?” Sokrates asked.
“Yes. Other Saeli cultures worship other gods and have other priorities. But those of us who went into space, with Jathery, value discovery. I have heard that the Amarathi prioritize ubiquity and connection over everything else.”
“Perhaps it is meant for the Saeli, because gla gave me no hint of that when I was trying to talk to gla outside,” Sokrates said. “But how interesting. Learn, experience, comprehend?”
“Pity gla didn’t stay around so we could ask gla now whether it’s for all of us,” Jason said.
“Let’s ask Grandfather,” I said.
“Or Athene,” Sokrates said, thoughtfully.
Jason let go of my hand, and it tingled where he had been holding it. He had hugged me earlier, when he came in. I hadn’t meant to trick him into a form of marriage. I knew he was in love with Thetis. But since she was included, I hoped he didn’t mind too much. He seemed to be taking it very reasonably, thinking about the details, exactly like you’d expect from a Silver really. Though Sokrates was thinking about details too. We’d work it out.
II. Thetis
Everyone looked up as we went out into the garden. The night was growing chilly, though nothing like as cold as the night before. “What have you been up to?” Dad asked, his brow furrowing as his eyes passed over us.
“We have been forming a pod,” Hilfa said, all at once like that with no warning.
“What!” Dad could sound so cold and disapproving sometimes. I shrank back, then stopped myself. Never let them think you’re inferior.
“Jathery was attempting to attack Hilfa,” Sokrates explained. “As pod members, we had the right to witness the interaction. Without that, gla would have done something unreasonable.”
“Unreasonable! You probably did exactly what gla wanted,” Athene said, rolling her eyes.
“I think so. I freed Hilfa. I freed all the Saeli,” Marsilia said to her.
“You’ve been forming a pod with my daughters and Hilfa?” Dad looked at Sokrates as if he was about to erupt. Ikaros was grinning.