"Perhaps you haven't heard the new rules," Geraid said.
"Dr. Thanthavong, I'm sorry to come twice in one day bearing unwelcome news—"
"We heard the damned rules. Gerald—ow!" Stephen
Thomas winced when Victoria elbowed him, too late to shut
him up.
Gerald scowled. "Haven't you any loyalty to anything?
You've all put me in an unpleasant position."
"I've about had it with you accusing me of treason every time I disagree with you!" Stephen Thomas said.
* He rose, but Victoria put one hand gently on his arm and
] drew him down again.
Gerald backed one fast step into the hall. "I can hardly •-, pretend I never saw you."
"You could," Stephen Thomas said, sounding calmer than he looked. "But you won't."
"Bloody right," Gerald said. "You have a great deal to leam about conspiracy. Perhaps you might close the door next time." He hurried away.
"As laws of conspiracy go," Feral said, "closing the door is a good one to start with."
Victoria buried her face in her hands, laughing. Satoshi 194 vonda N. Mclntyre
started to chuckle, too, and soon everyone but J.D. was laughing. J.D. saw nothing funny about being reported to whoever represented the law on Starfarer.
"What's he going to do?" J.D. asked.
"Write a memo," Stephen Thomas said.
"You aren't taking this very seriously."
"Bloody right," Stephen Thomas said in exactly the same lone of voice Gerald had used.
"You could have let him lecture us, Stephen Thomas, instead of insulting him," Thanthavong said. "We could have thanked him sincerely for correcting us. That way we would have a few more hours before it became obvious that we intend to defy the orders,"
Stephen Thomas looked abashed. Then he smiled, and J.D. wondered how anyone could see that smile and not let him get away with anything he wanted.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just that Gerald asks for it, and
I can't resist."
"It is not necessary," Thanthavong said, unmoved, "to take advantage of every opportunity with which one is presented."
"D(? we intend to defy the order?" J.D. wished her voice did not sound so thin and scared-
They looked at each other.
"You are all young," Thanthavong said. "You have your achievements ahead of you. If we defy the order and fail, you will find that you have made Hfe difficult for yourselves. No one could blame you if you acceded to what may become inevitable."
"Is that what you plan to do?" Victoria sounded shocked.
"No," Thanthavong said. "On Starfarer, I have been able
to work—to do real work, the work I spent my life preparing for—for the first time in many years. I cannot go back to notoriety and promoting good causes- Nor will I pervert my science to war. My cause is the expedition."
"You aren't alone," Victoria said.
"No," Satoshi said. "You're not." A display formed over the desk. "J.D. had a great idea. There's my report."
He had sent a single sentence to Arachne:
"My research has no defense applications."
STARFARERS 195
Despite their defiance, the group in Stephen Thomas's office could not help but be affected by the orders. They left the genetics building one by one: Thanthavong, then Satoshi, looking overly casual; Iphigenie, and Victoria close behind her. Feral hesitated by the doorway, both anxious and excited.
As the office emptied, J.D. contacted Arachne for an update on the divers- Nothing further had appeared on the public news services: no statement by Lykos, no confirmation of the rumors Feral had heard, no message from Zev. Until the divers spoke out, J.D. felt she should remain silent about what she knew. She wished she had remained silent about them from the beginning. Then none of this would have happened.
She should have seen this coming. It was herjob to make connections between apparently disparate events. She should have realized, as Feral had, that the effect of the divers* night could spread to the expedition.
I let myself get too close, J.D. thought. I got sidetracked into . . . personal considerations.
As she was about to break the link, Arachne signaled her with a message.
It was from Lykos.
J.D. hesitated before accepting it.
Why am I so frightened? she thought. They got away, they're safe, and I said nothing that could have put them in more danger.
She traced her reaction deeper: she was afraid some observer might violate privacy laws, record her communication with the divers, and brand her a troublemaker.
But she had already crossed that line.
J.D. accepted the communication.
"J.D. Sauvage: where is Zev? His family has had no word from him since he stayed behind to join your expedition. We are concerned."
The message ended. J.D. looked up blankly. Nearby, Ste-
phen Thomas and Feral talked together. Feral glanced across at her and grinned.
"I think it's safe out there," he said. "Everybody else has slunk off like spies."
196 Vonda N. Mdntyre
Stephen Thomas looked over his shoulder, also smiling, but his smile vanished as soon as he saw her.
"Good god, J.D., what's the matter?"
"A friend of mine has disappeared."
Searching for the connections she had failed to see earlier, she told Stephen Thomas and Feral what had happened.
"I don't see that there's anything to be worried about,"
Stephen Thomas said. "So he went off by himself and didn't tell his mother. How old is he?"
"Seventeen or eighteen, I guess."
Stephen Thomas shrugged. "Sounds normal to me. He's growing up."
"But that isn't how divers act." ~
"That isn't how most divers act. But you've just said most of the divers went to Canada. He stayed behind. So he isn't 'most divers.' Q.E.D."
"He wouldn't scare Lykos."
"Not deliberately. Maybe he forgot."
"I guess it's possible ..." But she did not believe it. She could not make herself believe that Zev forgot to tell Lykos he was all right, forgot to ask if his family had made it to Canada, forgot to tell J.D. he was going to try to join the expedition, even forgot to check his mail.
"No," she said. "It sounds perfectly sensible when you say it. but it couldn't have happened that way."
"If he tried to apply to the expedition, and he's only eighteen, they turned him down," Stephen Thomas said. "So he's probably on his way to join his family."
J.D. made connections she wished she could have overlooked. "Or he applied, and they realized if they kept him, they'd have a hold on the other divers. And what about Chandra?"
"The artist? What does she have to do with this?"
"She disappeared too. At the same time. She was supposed to meet me at my cabin, but I'd already left. Feral, you remember, you reminded me about her on the transport the other day. I tried to call her, I left a message. She never replied, but I didn't think anything of it. Now . . ."
"We've got enough to worry about without adding conspiracy theories!"
STARFARERS 197
"If the diver is being held," Feral said, "if Chandra saw something she wasn't supposed to . . ."
"Where are they?" J.D. cried. "How am I going to find them?"
"If your friend wanted to join the expedition," Stephen Thomas said, "why the heil didn't he wait till he got asylum in Canada, and apply from there?"
"I don't know. He probably didn't realize there was any danger. It's a long swim to Canada, and he was probably in a hurry. Maybe he came ashore to catch the bus into town!
And somebody was waiting for him."
She looked at Feral for confirmation. He shrugged unhappily.
"It could have happened that way."
J.D. rose.
"What are you going to do?"
"Find him, of course. Feral, will you help me?"
"I'll try," he said. He looked troubled.