‘A habitable planet circling a red dwarf star? Most unlikely.’
‘Nature has a way of fooling us and upsetting supposed certainties. Suppose there is a habitable planet there. Shouldn't it be carefully studied?’
Wendel said, ‘Ah, I'm beginning to get what you're driving at. You feel that the ship may come to the Neighbor Star, and find that there is some sort of planet there. We would then make a note of it, decide from a distance that it is uninhabited, and go on about our task of further exploration. You would want us to land and make a much more thorough search, so that we can at least try to find your daughter. But what if our neuronic detector finds no trace of intelligence anywhere within any planetary system the Neighbor Star may have? Must we still search the individual planets?’
Fisher hesitated. ‘Yes. If they show any signs of being habitable, we must study them, it seems to me. We must know all we can about any such planet. We may have to begin evacuating Earth soon, and we must know where to take our people. It's all very well for you to overlook that, since Settlements can just drift off without the necessity of evacua-’
‘Crile! Don't start treating me as the enemy! Don't start suddenly thinking of me as a Settler. I'm Tessa. If there is a planet, we'll investigate it as much as we can, I promise you. But if there is and if the Rotorians are occupying it, then- Well, you spent some years on Rotor, Crile. You must know Janus Pitt.’
‘I know of him. I never met him, but my wi - my ex-wife worked with him. According to her, he was a very capable man, very intelligent, very forceful.’
‘Very forceful. We knew of him on other Settlements, too. And we were not generally fond of him. If it was his plan to find a place for Rotor that was hidden from the rest of humanity, he could do no better than to go to the Neighbor Star, since it was so close and since its existence was not known by anyone outside Rotor at the time. And if, for any reason, he wanted a system all to himself, he would, being Janus Pitt, fear the possibility of being followed and having his monopoly upset. If he happened to find a useful planet that could be used by Rotor, he would be even more resentful of intrusion.’
‘What are you getting at?’ asked Fisher, who looked perturbed, as though he knew what she was getting at.
‘Why, tomorrow we take off, and in not too long a time, we'll be at the Neighbor Star. And if it does have a planet, as you seem to think it might, and if we find the Rotorians are occupying it, it's not going to be a matter of just going down to the surface and saying, “Hello! Surprise!” I'm afraid that at the first sight of us, he would give us his version of a “Hello” and blast us into oblivion.’
29. Enemy
Ranay D'Aubisson, like all the inhabitants of the Erythro Dome during their period of habitation, visited Rotor periodically. It was necessary - a touch of home, a return to the roots, a gathering of renewed strength.
This time, however, D'Aubisson, had ‘moved upward’ (the usual phrase for passing from Erythro to Rotor) a bit earlier than her schedule had called for. She had, indeed, been summoned by Commissioner Pitt.
She sat in Janus Pitt's office, noting with her skilled eyes the small signs of aging that had accumulated since she had last seen him several years before. She did not, in the ordinary course of her work, have frequent occasions to see him, of course.
His voice, however, was as strong as ever, his eyes as sharp, and she noted no decline in mental vigor.
Pitt said, ‘I have received your report on the incident outside the Dome, and I recognize the caution with which you approached your diagnosis of the situation. But now, off the record and unofficially, exactly what happened to Genarr? This room is shielded and you can talk freely.’
D'Aubisson said dryly, ‘I'm afraid that my report, cautious as it was, happens to be truthful and complete. We don't really know what happened to Commander Genarr. The brain scan showed changes, but these were extraordinarily small and did not correspond to anything in our past experience. And they were reversible, since they did, in fact, quickly reverse.’
‘But something did happen to him?’
‘Oh yes, but that's the point. We can't say anything more than “something”.’
‘Some form of the Plague, perhaps?’
‘None of the symptoms that have been detected in the past were found in this case.’
‘But in the old days of the Plague, brain scanning was still comparatively primitive. You would not have detected the symptoms you have detected now in the past, so it might still be a mild form of the Plague, might it not?’
‘We could say so, but we could not present real evidence to that effect, and, in any case, Genarr is now normal.’
‘He seems normal, I suppose, but we don't really know if there might not be a relapse.’
‘Neither is there any reason to suppose there might be.’
A fleeting look of impatience crossed the Commissioner's face. ‘You're sparring with me, D'Aubisson. You know perfectly well that Genarr's position is one of considerable importance. The situation in the Dome is always precarious, since we never know if and when the Plague will strike again. Genarr's value was that he seemed immune to it, but we can scarcely consider him immune now. Something happened, and we must be prepared to replace him.’
‘That is your decision to make, Commissioner. I am not suggesting replacement as a medical necessity.’
‘But you'll keep him under close observation, and you'll keep the possibility of such a necessity in mind, I hope.’
‘I would consider that part of my medical duties.’
‘Good. Especially since if there is to be a replacement, I have been considering you.’
‘Considering me?’ A small flash of excitement crossed her face before she could suppress it.
‘Yes, why not? It's well known that I've never been enthusiastic about the project of colonizing Erythro. I have always felt it necessary to retain the mobility of humanity and not to allow ourselves to be trapped into slavery to a large planet again. Nevertheless, it would be wise if we could colonize the planet not as a place intended primarily for population but as a vast resource - rather as we treated the Moon in the old Solar System. But we can't do that if the Plague hangs over our heads, can we?’
‘No, we can't, Commissioner.’
‘So our real task, to begin with, is to solve that problem. We never have. The Plague just died down and we have accepted that - but this latest incident shows us that the danger is not yet gone. Whether Genarr suffered a touch of the Plague or not, he certainly suffered something, and I want the matter now given top priority. You would be the natural person to head that project.’
‘I'd be glad to accept the responsibility. It would mean doing what I am, in any case, trying to do, but with greater authority. I hesitate at supposing that I ought to be the Erythro Dome Commander.’
‘As you said, that's for me to decide. I take it you would not refuse the post if it were offered to you?’
‘No, Commissioner. I would be greatly honored.’
‘Yes, I'm sure,’ said Pitt dryly. ‘And what happened to the girl?’
For a moment, D'Aubisson seemed taken aback by the sudden change in subject. She all but stammered as she repeated, ‘The girl?’
‘Yes, the girl who was outside the Dome with Genarr, the one who removed her protective suit.’
‘Marlene Fisher?’
‘Yes, that's her name. What happened to her?’
D'Aubisson hesitated. ‘Why, nothing, Commissioner.’
‘So it says in the report. But I'm asking you now. Nothing?’
‘Nothing detectable by brain scan or in any other way.’