President Newton scowled disdainfully. “Don’t try to con me, Felicia. We both know that those twelve people don’t expect any help from us. They volunteered for their mission, knowing they’d be completely on their own.”
“But we owe it to them—”
“Owe? We owe them?” the president fairly shouted. “What about the people of Honolulu? What about the people of Hawaii? What about my family, my mother and three sisters? They’re all missing!”
“I didn’t know,” Ionescu admitted, her voice low.
President Newton closed his eyes and pulled in a deep, calming breath. It was a technique he had used many times: give a visitor the impression that you are struggling masterfully to control yourself.
“What do the Chinese say about this backup mission?” he asked.
Ionescu squirmed slightly in her chair in front of the president’s desk. “They … they haven’t committed themselves, as yet. I believe they are waiting to see what the United States will do.”
“And Chiang? As head of the World Council he must have considerable influence on the people in Beijing. They wouldn’t hang him out to dry; it would be a terrible loss of face for one of their own.”
“Chairman Chiang is … reluctant to commit himself.”
“Ah! So there you are.”
“I thought,” Ionescu said haltingly. “I thought … that if America announces it will support the mission … if America would lead the way…” Her voice trailed off.
The president shook his head. “Impossible. We can’t take money away from reconstruction and recovery projects to send another gaggle of scientists out there.”
“But—”
“Maybe when the people already there send in their reports about what they’ve found,” the president offered.
“We won’t receive any word from them for eight years,” Ionescu said.
The president spread his hands and almost smiled. “All right, eight years. Maybe by then the climate situation will have calmed down somewhat. Maybe by then we can think about sending out another mission. Especially if the news from New Earth is interesting enough.”
What the president did not say was that by then, eight years into the unguessable future, he would be safely retired and some other person would have to face the responsibility of paying for another mission to New Earth.
DISCOVERIES
Whatever nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge.
Turnabout
The following morning, as Jordan left his cubicle and headed for the camp’s dining hall, Brandon fell in step beside him.
“Good morning, Jordy.”
“Morning, Bran.”
“Going to the city this morning?”
“That’s my intention.”
Brandon said, “I was talking with Thornberry and Meek last night. They think it would be a good idea if you kept your phone on, so we can record what Adri and the others say to you.”
Jordan felt his brows knit. “Record…?”
“I think it’s a good idea.”
“Do you?”
Brandon broke into one of his boyish smiles. “Oh, you can turn it off when you’re alone with Aditi.”
Jordan did not smile back at him.
As he walked the trail through the forest toward the city, Jordan felt the phone in his shirt pocket weighing like a guilty conscience.
Bran’s right, he told himself. We should be recording everything. Still, he felt it was somehow a sneaky thing to do, a betrayal of trust.
Then he saw Aditi standing on the stone walkway that circled the city, smiling warmly at him, and he forgot about the phone.
“Good morning,” he called, hurrying his steps toward her.
“Good morning to you,” she called back. And all Jordan’s doubts and fears about these aliens and their intentions melted away in the warmth of her greeting.
He resisted the urge to take her in his arms. Instead he simply extended his hand. She took it in her own.
“Adri told me about his physical examination,” she said as they began to walk down the city’s broad central avenue. The street was busy with men and women, some strolling idly, others striding purposefully, as if on some important business. Aditi’s pet feline was nowhere in sight.
“Today it’s my turn to be poked and prodded,” Jordan said, trying to make it sound light, pleasant.
Very seriously, Aditi replied, “No one is going to touch you. All the tests are noninvasive.”
“Of course,” he said. The irony in his voice was lost on her.
“I will be in charge of your examination,” Aditi said, rather proudly.
Somewhat surprised, Jordan asked, “You’re a medical technician, as well as a teacher?”
She hesitated, then replied, “I’ve had the training. All of us are capable of many tasks.”
They were heading for the main building, Jordan saw. Behind it was the dormitory where he and Brandon had been housed.
As if she could read his mind, Aditi asked, “Will you be staying here tonight?”
“I’d like to,” he admitted. “I’ll have to call back and tell the others first.”
“Of course,” she said.
As they neared the main building’s stately flight of entrance steps, Jordan asked, “And Adri, what tasks is he trained for?”
Again that little hesitation, as if she were checking through her memory for the correct answer. Or waiting for instructions. At last Aditi said, “Adri is our … historian. I think that is the best way to describe his duties.”
“Historian?”
“He deals with the past,” she said. Then she added, “And the future.”
“I don’t understand.”
Her lovely face puckered into an almost troubled frown, as if she were struggling to find the right words to explain it to him.
“I think that’s the best way to describe it,” Aditi said. “Adri studies the past of our people, and yours, and makes projections of what the future might be like.”
“The future of my people?”
“Yes. Naturally.”
“I’d like to see what he has to say about that,” Jordan said.
“I’m sure he’d be happy to discuss it with you.”
They walked the rest of the way in thoughtful silence. As they started up the stairs of the main building, Jordan asked, “How far back does your history go?”
“Millions of years,” Aditi answered. “Our years. We have existed for a very long time.”
“Back on Earth we wonder how long the human race can survive. You give me hope.”
“An intelligent race can survive almost indefinitely. Especially if it is intelligent enough to adapt to changing environments.”
“Ah,” said Jordan. “That’s the key, then, isn’t it? How intelligent are we?”
Very seriously, Aditi said, “The key is the ability to give up outworn concepts, modes of behavior that no longer work for survival.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Your people back on Earth have survived ice ages and pandemic plagues and your own aggressive, xenophobic nature. The question before you now is whether the strengths that have helped you to survive have become countersurvival in the face of new dangers.”
“You mean the greenhouse climate shift?”
“That’s part of the problem you face. You seem to have overcome the move toward authoritative governments—dictatorships. But there are new challenges that face you.”