“You are correct, Mr. Fortune. They are not necessary—but they do make life here easier. Eventually we will need the aid of some Tran. Corfu and his fellow citizens will provide that for us.”
“It has all been very carefully explained to me by the scholar.” Corfu indicated the diminutive Bamaputra. “It is very simple. Even a fool could see it.” No one in his audience, human or Tran, accepted the bait. He was forced to continue, slightly disappointed.
“I—through the good offices of the emperor, of course”—and he smiled sufficiently to show who stood where in the local Tran hierarchy—“saw to it that information and labor were supplied to the skypeople to help with their project. In addition we have served as scouts, recruiting new citizens for our growing city, co-opting the curious and educating them about the nature of the Divine Plan, driving off those who appeared unsuitable for participation.”
When he said the last Ethan glanced at Grurwelk Seesfar. She was staring intently at Corfu but said nothing.
“We did not expect to capture so fine a prize as a great ship crewed by both humans and Tran, but as you saw we were equipped to deal with any eventuality.”
Are you? Ethan thought. Do you really realize what’s going to happen to you and to your world if this little maniac is allowed to continue his work here? Does Bamaputra really have it worked out so precisely? Playing around with a world’s weather isn’t quite like building a new castle or fighting a rival clan.
“Mayhap you can fool the skypeople,” Elfa said sharply, “but you cannot darken our eyelids so easily. There is more to it than that.”
“Oh, there will be changes,” Corfu murmured with a smile. “Many changes.”
“Indeed.” This explanation didn’t seem to interest Bamaputra as much as his previous one. “As the sea level rises and the Tran abandon their city-states to migrate here they will initially be dependent on those Tran already securely established on the continents. That is where Massul’s people come in. My successors and I won’t have the time to deal with local matters. Someone else will have to take care of allotting land, setting up and administering refugee stations, and generally running the new unified government. Emperor Massul will by then be well prepared for coping with the increased migratory influx to the southern continent.”
“And my family,” said Corfu, “my despised and degraded family will be in charge of all commerce, supplies and clothing, tools and housing, homes, and local transportation. All at a price. This I may not live to enjoy, but my children will. The name of Corfu ren-Arhaveg will be resurrected, and all Tran will do it homage!”
“My financial backers have already agreed to a long-term commercial arrangement with Massul and Corfu. It will assist in accelerating the integration of the Tran. They will be compelled to unite in the face of a common problem. Those who insist on trying to retain their feudal independence will drown or starve. Those who survive and work together will bring about a new age on Tran-ky-ky.” He spread his hands and a trickle of real emotion seeped through the carefully controlled visage.
“Don’t you see? We’re not engaged in anything unnatural here. All we’re doing is speeding up something that’s going to take place anyway. We’re giving the Tran a ten thousand-year head start. Everything we’re trying to accomplish: the melting of the oceans, the warming of the climate, the physical transformations—those are all going to come about sooner or later. Why not sooner?”
“Now we know what’s in it for him.” September jerked a thumb in Corfu’s direction. “We still don’t know what’s in it for you and your ‘financial backers.’ ”
“Me?” Bamaputra drew himself up to his full height. “I am ‘in it’ because I am a scientist. Because I want to help these people achieve their potential. Because I wish to see certain theories of mine come to pass.” He relaxed slightly. “Of course my triumph will be a private one. There will be no public acclaim, no honors or honorary degrees. Since this is highly illegal, my name and that of everyone else involved in the actual work will have to be kept secret.” He looked thoughtful.
“Perhaps after I am dead, as Corfu says of his offspring, some relatives of mine may seek proper enshrinement for my name. In my lifetime, I know I must be satisfied with internal contentment alone.”
“I am confused.” Ta-hoding looked at his human friends. “This all sounds very much akin to what you have been doing for us.”
“This isn’t the way to go about it, Ta-hoding,” Ethan responded. “You don’t unify people by threatening them with drowning and starvation. You don’t bring them closer together by forcing them from their homes, destroying their existing culture, and interfering with the natural order of things.”
Bamaputra’s lower lip pushed forward. “When the oceans melt of natural causes many die. Perhaps more than would die without us here to aid them.”
“The Commonwealth will be around to help the Tran in ten thousand years or it won’t be worth joining,” Ethan shot back.
“Why should these people have to wait that long?” Bamaputra looked shrewdly at Hunnar and Elfa.
Hunnar didn’t reply immediately. He eyed this peculiar little human warily, fond neither of his accent nor his attitude. In the almost two years he’d lived and traveled across the world in the company of Ethan, Skua, and Milliken Williams, he’d learned much about the ways of skypeople. Some his friends had explained to him. Other things he had learned from quiet observation. Something about this Shiva person disturbed him.
Not his treatment of Tran. This Corfu creature he treated well. There was a distance in him, a deliberate if silent barrier erected between himself and those he spoke with. Not contempt. It was almost as if he believed himself to be the only person in the room. Instead of humans and Tran he might as well have been speaking to machines. Was that because he thought of others as nothing more than machines or because he was so machinelike himself? Hunnar wasn’t intimately familiar with sophisticated machinery, but he had observed enough of it in action at the human outpost of Brass Monkey to gain some idea of its characteristics.
“What are you talking about?”
“In coming to this place you have demonstrated courage and resources beyond the Tran norm.” Bamaputra’s expression of false jollity didn’t fool Hunnar in the least. “Now you know what is going to happen to your world. While our facilities for receiving large numbers of migrants are not yet in place, you could still return home and inform your people of what is forthcoming. But for those already living in Yingyapin you could be the first. You could partake of relevant advantages by moving here and helping us in our work before the real changes begin.”
“A moment.” Corfu was more than slightly taken aback by this unexpected offer from his human ally. “We could not possibly cope with…”
Bamaputra cut him off. “There are ways. We could manage. I will talk with my backers. When all is explained to them I am sure they will be able to find a way to come up with the requisite additional funds to commence settlement by outsiders, particularly as energetic and advanced a group as this. Development on the continental plateau could begin ahead of schedule.” He turned his attention back to Hunnar.
“You see, my friend, you and your people could dominate. In time you could rule Tran-ky-ky.”
“What about the line of your emperor?” Elfa asked sarcastically.
“Massul fel-Stuovic’s family is small. Over a period of time, who is to say which group would emerge as the most powerful? That is up to you. Internecine conflicts among your kind do not interest me. I am willing to work with whoever is on top at the time. So are my backers.” He looked over at an obviously upset Corfu.