He paused to look over at Ajela; but she had not woken at the sound of his voice. She continued to slumber, half-curled up with her head tucked into the angle between one of the wings and the back of the chair.
"I want to make sure you all understand fully what that appointment is going to mean, both for me and for the rest of you," Hal went on. "To begin with, I take it I don't have to explain why there's no question of my refusing it? There's no one else; and Tam isn't up to continuing other than under ordinary conditions. If Ajela was awake, she'd tell you that Tam first spoke to me about taking over here eventually some years ago; and both of us knew it had to happen eventually."
He looked around at them for possible comment. No one said anything, although Nonne's face was absolutely expressionless.
"Why you, especially, Hal?" asked Rukh.
"I'm sorry," he answered. "With all else that's been going on, I took it for granted Ajela or someone else might have told you. They didn't? But they did take you all past the Transit Point as you came in here the first time?"
All other heads, except Ajela's, shook.
"I didn't know that," Hal said. "There's a spot in the Encyclopedia at its centerpoint. I invite you all to ask one of the staff to show you where it is and go and stand there for a second. If you hear any voices speaking, get in touch with me at once; because it means you've also got one of the qualifications that's needed in whoever takes over the Encyclopedia. In all the years since it became operative, everyone who's come here's been led past that centerpoint; and I apologize for the system breaking down now. You all should have been tested as a matter of routine. In nearly a century only Mark Torre, Tam Olyn and myself have heard voices at that spot."
"You heard voices" said Nonne. "When, if you don't mind my asking?"
"The first time I came here, when I was not quite seventeen years old," said Hal.
"And not since?"
"Yes." Hal smiled at her. "I went back and stood there for a moment, as soon as I could get off by myself after Tam announced I'd be succeeding him."
"And the voices were still there?"
"Still there," said Hal.
Nonne's expressionlessness of face did not change.
"And this is supposed to mean… what?"
"That the Encyclopedia was meant to be something more than a supremely effective library and research mechanism," he answered. "Mark Torre, who planned and built it, had a conception of something greater; a tool for the innate improvement of mankind. He built the Encyclopedia on the faith of that idea and nothing more; but the faith was justified when Tam also heard the voices. Until then Mark Torre had kept quiet about his reasons for running everyone who came through the centerpoint. After that he spoke up. It was the one proof that came in his lifetime, that there was a greater purpose and use for the Encyclopedia than anyone else had believed; a purpose and use we can't see clearly even yet, but that send out signals of its possibilities in something more than ordinary physical terms."
"And you'd like to be the one who puts it to that greater purpose?" Nonne asked.
"Nonne," said Rukh. "It strikes me at this point that Ajela'd have a question for you. Since she's still sleeping, I'll ask it for her. Amid - "
She glanced across at the older Exotic.
"You told me Nonne'd been one of those Exotics who'd originally been against Hal being trusted and backed by your people. From what I've been told by Ajela, so far, and from what I've seen in the short time I've known you, Nonne, you seem to have gone from having reservations about everything Hal's done to an outright antagonism toward him. Maybe it's time you tell the rest of us why."
Nonne's expressionlessness vanished. A little color tinted the smooth skin over her cheekbones.
"I didn't approve of Hal being given a blank check by my people, no," she said. "Amid was the one who did, as you say. As a result, it was decided by the rest of us studying the matter that since Amid was in the best position to act as liaison for us with Hal, he ought to be counterbalanced by someone who had an opposite point of view to his. You might call him the supportive angel and me the critical one - "
"That'd be the Exotic way," said Rourke, dryly.
Nonne turned on him.
"Actually, I find those not from Mara or Kultis often seem to tend to consider me rather untypical as an Exotic," she said. "However, that's a mistake on their part. My point of view represents one rather more common among our people than most of you realize. It's just one non-Exotics don't often see."
"You haven't explained this antagonism of yours," said Rukh, "only confirmed it."
"Very well," said Nonne. She looked back to Hal. "I'd have expected Hal to ask me about this, rather than one of you. But it doesn't matter. I'm not convinced you know what you're doing, Hal. You said essentially, the last time I questioned you about something, that you and Bleys were like master chess players, too skilled to make the wrong move, and only liable to the danger of making the right move either too early or too late."
"That's what I said." Hal nodded.
"Then I have to say I've seen no evidence of that level of competence, on your side at least, Hal. All I've seen is the Dorsai uprooted and brought en masse to fight for a world that doesn't even know they're coming; my own people - "
There was a momentary, almost unnoticeable catch in her voice.
" - stripped of everything they ever earned and accomplished and then abandoned, Earth turned into a walled fortress without being asked for its permission, and its people expected to commit themselves to a possibly endless war with an enemy that has all the strength, all the wealth, all the materiel and all the advantage - when only a minority of those Earth people ever showed any understanding of the situation with the enemy, or a will to fight him in the first place - "
"You forget," Jason broke in, "how they've been educated, and their opinion changed, since Rukh and our other truth-speakers started telling their own personal stories of how it's been for us all on Harmony and Association. You forget how they've reacted down there, these last few days since news of her nearly being assassinated got out. I hear from our speakers daily. They're all being overwhelmed now with people who want to hear more of what they have to say. We've got a majority of opinion down below in favor of Hal's actions, now, not a minority!"
"Hardly in favor of Hal's actions," said Nonne. "They don't know about his actions. Emotionally, for Rukh and your people and mine, certainly - but that's a fire that can go out as quickly as it's been lit, the minute they find out their own lives and their own world have been thrown into the table stakes. Meanwhile, with all the population and resources of nine other worlds, Bleys goes on growing stronger daily; and I come to this suite now, only to hear Hal tell us he's seriously planning to split his energies even further by adding the Encyclopedia to his responsibilities."
She looked at Hal.
"Besides," she said, "it was none of the rest of you I've been waiting to hear some answers from. It's from Hal. Tell me, then, Hal. How do you justify adding something like the Encyclopedia to everything else you're supposed to be taking care of?"
"That's a question at a good time," said Hal, "because one of the things I was about to tell you was that my work with the Encyclopedia here is going to have to take priority over anything else, in the days and years to come. In other words, the defense of Earth is now set up. I'm going to be leaving it to the rest of you to handle."