Insigna shook her head. ‘Don't think that technological advance means that you can empty the Solar System by a mere wave of the hand, Janus. To remove billions of people without chaos and without tremendous loss of life would require long preparation. If they are in mortal danger five thousand years from now, they must know now. It is not too soon to begin to plan.’
Pitt said, ‘You have a good heart, Eugenia, so I'll offer a compromise. Suppose we take a hundred years in which to establish ourselves here, to multiply, to build a cluster of Settlements that will be strong enough and stable enough to be secure. Then we can investigate Nemesis' destination and - if necessary - warn the Solar System. They will still have nearly five thousand years in which to prepare. Surely a small delay of a century will not be fatal.’
Insigna sighed. ‘Is that your vision of the future? Humanity squabbling endlessly over the stars? Each little group trying to establish itself as supreme over this star or that? Endless hatred, suspicion, and conflict, of the kind we had on Earth for thousands of years, expanded into the Galaxy for thousands more?’
‘Eugenia, I have no vision. Humanity will do as it pleases. It will squabble as you say, or it will perhaps set up a Galactic Empire, or do something else. I can't dictate what humanity will do, and I don't intend to try to shape it. For myself, I have only this one Settlement to care for, and this one century in which to establish it at Nemesis. By then, you and I will be safely dead, and our successors will handle the problem of warning the Solar System - if that should be necessary. I'm trying to be reasonable, not emotional, Eugenia. You are a reasonable person, too. Think about it.’
Insigna did. She sat there, looking somberly at Pitt, while he waited with almost exaggerated patience.
Finally she said, ‘Very well. I see your point. I will get on with analyzing Nemesis' motion relative to the Sun. Perhaps we can forget the whole thing.’
‘No.’ Pitt raised an admonishing finger. ‘Remember what I said earlier. These observations will not be made. If it turns out that the Solar System is not in danger, we will have gained nothing. We will then merely do what I insist we do in any case - spend a century strengthening the civilization of Rotor. If, however, you find that there is danger, then your conscience will hurt and you will be consumed with apprehensions and fears and guilt. The news will somehow get out and it will weaken the resolve of Rotorians, many of whom may be as sentimental as you are. We would then lose a great deal. Do you understand me?’
She was silent, and he said, ‘Good. I see you do.’ Again, the wave of his hand made it clear that she was to leave.
This time she left, and Pitt, looking after her, thought: She is really becoming insupportable.
7. Destruction?
Marlene watched her mother owlishly. She was careful to keep her expression flat and meaningless, but within herself she was both pleased and surprised. Her mother was finally telling her of the events involving her father and Commissioner Pitt. She was being treated as a grown-up.
Marlene said, ‘I would have checked Nemesis' motions regardless of what Commissioner Pitt said, Mother, but I see you didn't. Your guilt makes it plain.’
Insigna said, ‘I can't get used to the notion that I wear my guilt like a label on my forehead.’
‘No-one hides their feelings,’ said Marlene. ‘If you really watch, you can always tell.’
(Others couldn't. Marlene had learned that only slowly, and with difficulty. People just didn't look, they didn't sense, they didn't care. They didn't watch faces, and bodies, and sounds, and attitudes, and little nervous habits.)
‘You shouldn't really watch like that, Marlene,’ said Insigna, as though their thoughts had taken parallel paths. She put her arm around the girl's shoulder to prevent her words from sounding like a scolding. ‘People get nervous when those large dark eyes of yours fix on them soulfully. Respect people's privacy.’
‘Yes, Mother,’ said Marlene, noting without effort that her mother was trying to protect herself. She was nervous about herself, wondering how much she gave away at each moment.
Then Marlene said, ‘How is it that despite all your guilty feelings about the Solar System, you did nothing?’
‘A number of reasons, Molly.’
(Not ‘Molly,’ thought Marlene with anguish. Marlene! Marlene! Marlene! Three syllables. Accent on the second. Grown up!)
‘Like what reasons?’ asked Marlene sulkily. (Couldn't her mother detect the wave of hostility that swept over Marlene each time a kid name was used? Surely it twisted her face, smoldered her eyes, convulsed her lips. Why didn't people notice? Why didn't people look?)
‘For one thing, Janus Pitt was very convincing. However odd the points he makes, however hostile you feel toward them at the time, he always makes you see that he has good reasons for his viewpoints.’
‘If that's true, Mother, he's awfully dangerous.’
Insigna seemed to break away from her thoughts to glance curiously at her daughter. ‘Why do you say that?’
‘Every point of view can have good reasons behind it. If someone can seize those reasons quickly, and present them convincingly, he can argue anyone into anything, and that's dangerous.’
‘Janus Pitt has those abilities, I'll admit. I'm surprised you understand these things.’
(Marlene thought: Because I'm only fifteen, and you're used to thinking I'm a child.)
Aloud, she said, ‘You learn a lot watching people.’
‘Yes, but remember what I told you. Control the watching.’
(Never.) ‘So Mr Pitt persuaded you.’
‘He made me see there'd be no harm in waiting awhile.’
‘And you weren't even curious to study Nemesis and see exactly where it was going? You would have to be.’
‘I was, but it's not as easy as you think. The Observatory is in constant use. You have to wait your turn to use the instruments. Even if I'm the head, I can't use them freely. Then, too, when someone does use them, there no secret about it. We know what it's being used for and why. There was very little chance I would be able to develop a really detailed spectrum of Nemesis and of the Sun, or to use the Observatory computer on the necessary calculations, without people knowing at once what I was doing. I suspect that Pitt had a few people in the Observatory watching me, too. If I had stepped out of line, he would have known at once.’
‘He couldn't do anything to you about it, could he?’
‘He couldn't have me shot for treason if that's what you mean - not that he'd dream of doing such a thing - but he could relieve me of my Observatory duties and put me to work in the farms. I wouldn't want that. It wasn't long after I'd had that little talk with Pitt that we discovered that Nemesis had a planet - or a companion star. To this day, we're not sure what to call it. They were only separated by a distance of four million kilometers and the companion object didn't radiate in visible light at all.’
‘You're talking about Megas, aren't you, Mother?’
‘Yes, I am. It's an old word meaning “big” and, for a planet, it's very big, considerably bigger than the Solar System's largest planet, Jupiter. But it's very small for a star. Some think of Megas as a brown dwarf.’ She broke off and eyed her daughter narrowly, as though suddenly uncertain as to her capacity to absorb matters. ‘Do you know what a brown dwarf is, Molly?’
‘Marlene is my name, Mother.’
Insigna flushed slightly. ‘Yes. I'm sorry if I forget now and then. I can't help it, you know. I had a very dear little girl once whose name was Molly.’