She had given in on the grounds of Settlement security, but she had intended to fight Pitt privately, to bring up points of argument. She had rehearsed them in her own mind till they were foolproof and irrefutable and then, somehow, she never presented them.
Always - always - he took the initiative.
Pitt said to her, early on, ‘Now remember, Eugenia, you discovered the companion star more or less by accident, and one of your colleagues may do so as well.’
‘It's not likely-’ she began.
‘No, Eugenia, we're not going to depend on unlikelihood. We're going to make certain. You're going to see to it that no-one looks in that direction, that no-one wants to study the particular computer sheets that would give away the location of Nemesis.’
‘How can I possibly do that?’
‘Very easily. I have spoken to the Commissioner and, as of now, you are in complete charge of the Far Probe research.’
‘But that would mean I've been moved over the head-’
‘Yes. It means an advance in responsibility, in pay, in social stature. To which of these do you object?’
‘I don't object to any of this,’ said Insigna, her heart beginning to pound.
‘I'm sure you can fulfill the job of Chief Astronomer more than adequately, but your chief aim will be to see to it that the work done can be of the highest quality and significance, provided that what is done has nothing to do with Nemesis.’
‘But, Janus, you can't keep it completely secret for ever.’
‘I don't intend to. Once we move out of the Solar System, we will all know where we're going. Till then, as few as possible will know, and those few will learn as late as possible.’
Her promotion, Insigna noted with a little shame, cooled her objections.
On another occasion, Pitt said to her, ‘What about your husband?’
‘What about my husband?’ Insigna was immediately on the defensive.
‘He is an Earthman, I understand.’
Insigna's lips pressed together. ‘He is of Earth origin, but he is a Rotorian citizen.’
‘I understand. I assume you have told him nothing of Nemesis.’
‘Absolutely nothing.’
‘Has this husband of yours ever told you why he left Earth and worked so hard to become a Rotorian citizen?’
‘No, he hasn't. And I haven't asked him.’
‘But don't you ever wonder?’
Insigna hesitated and then told the truth. ‘Yes, I have, sometimes.’
Pitt smiled. ‘I should tell you, perhaps.’
And he did, little by little. Never in any overly obtrusive manner. It was never a bludgeon, it was rather the dripping of water at every conversation. It brought her out of her intellectual shell. To live on Rotor, after all, made it entirely too easy to consider only things Rotorian.
But thanks to Pitt, to what he told her, to the films he suggested she view, she became aware of Earth and its billions, of its endemic starvation and violence, its drugs and alienation. She began to understand it as an abysmal pit of misery, something to flee from. She did not wonder any longer why Crile Fisher had left. She wondered why so few Earthmen followed his example.
Nor were the Settlements so much better off. She became aware of how they closed in on themselves, how people were prevented from moving freely from one to another. No Settlement wanted the microscopic flora and fauna of any other. Trade dwindled slowly, and was increasingly carried on by automated vessels with carefully sterilized loads.
The Settlements quarreled and found each other hateful. The circum-Martian Settlements were almost as bad. Only in the asteroid zone were the Settlements multiplying freely, and even those were growing suspicious of all the inner Settlements.
Insigna could feel herself begin to agree with Pitt, even to grow enthusiastic over a flight from intolerable misery and the beginning of a system of worlds where the seeds of suffering had been eradicated. A new start, a new chance.
And then she found that a baby was on the way and her enthusiasm began to wither. To risk herself and Crile on the long journey seemed worthwhile. To risk an infant, a child-
Pitt was unperturbed. He congratulated her. ‘It will be born here and you will have a little time to accustom yourself to the situation. It will be at least a year and a half before we're ready to go. And by then you will realize how fortunate you will be not to have to wait any longer. The child will have no memory of the misery of a ruined planet and a desperately divided humanity. It will know only a new world with a cultural understanding among its members. Lucky child. Fortunate child. My son and daughter are already grown, already marked.’
And again Insigna began to think in that fashion, and by the time Marlene was born, she had indeed begun to dread delay, to fear that before they left, the child would be imprinted with the crowded failure that was the Solar System.
She was entirely on Pitt's side by this time.
Fisher seemed fascinated by Marlene, to Insigna's great relief. She had not thought that he would make much of a father. Yet he hovered over Marlene and took on his share of the duties involved in bringing her up. He seemed actually to grow cheerful as a result.
During the time Marlene was approaching her first birthday, rumors grew throughout the Solar System that Rotor intended to leave. It produced what was almost a system-wide crisis, and Pitt, who was now clearly in line for Commissionerhood, was grimly amused.
‘Well, what can they do?’ he said. ‘There's no way they can stop us, and all the outcries of disloyalty, together with their own display of Solar System chauvinism, will only serve to inhibit their investigations into hyper-assistance, which will serve us well.’
Insigna said, ‘But how did it get out, I wonder, Janus?’
‘I saw to it that it did.’ He smiled. ‘At this point, I don't any longer object to their learning the fact of our leaving, as long as they don't know our destination. It would, after all, be impossible to hide our leaving for much longer. We must take a vote on the matter, you know, and once all Rotorians know of our leaving, all the rest of the system will know, in any case.’
‘A vote?’
‘Why, of course. Think it through. We can't take off with a Settlement-load of people who are too fearful or too homesick for their own Sun. We'd never make it. We want only those with us who are willing, even eager.’
He was completely right. The campaign to win approval for leaving the Solar System began almost at once and the fact that the news had already leaked out served as a cushion to ease the reaction outside Rotor - and within it as well.
Some Rotorians were excited at the prospect; some were afraid.
Fisher reacted with thunderous brow, and one day he said, ‘This is crazy.’
‘It's inevitable,’ said Insigna with careful neutrality.
‘Why? There's no reason to start wandering among the stars. Where would we go? There's nothing out there.’
‘There are billions of stars out there.’
‘How many planets? We don't know of any habitable planets anywhere, and very few of any other kind. Our Solar System is the only home we know.’
‘Exploration is in the blood of humanity.’ It was one of Pitt's phrases.
‘That's romantic nonsense. Does anyone think that people are actually going to vote to separate themselves from humanity and vanish into space?’
Insigna said, ‘My understanding, Crile, is that sentiment on Rotor is rather in favor of it.’
‘That's just Council propaganda. You think people will vote to leave the Earth? Leave the Sun? Never. If it comes to that, we'll be going to Earth.’
She felt something clutch at her heart. She said, ‘Oh no. Do you want one of those simoons, or blizzards, or mistrals, or whatever you call them? Do you want lumps of ice and falling water and blowing, whistling air?’
He lifted his eyebrows at her. ‘It's not that bad. There are storms occasionally, but they can be predicted. Actually, they're interesting - when they're not too bad. It's fascinating - a little cold, a little heat, a little precipitation. It makes for variation. It keeps you alive. And then, think of the variety of cuisines.’
‘Cuisines? How can you say that? Most people on Earth are starving. We're always collecting food shipments to send to Earth.’
‘Some people go hungry. It's not universal.’