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unarmed, but it's an important part of the philosophy of the mission."
40 Vonda N. Mcintyre
"I meant response to an attack from earth, or on earth. If you were
armed suppose somebody attacked the U.S. or
Canada. What could you do?"
"Not much. Even if we were armed, Slarfarer's in a lousy strategic orbit. It's
too far from earth to be of use as a defen-
sive or offensive outpost. Any of the O'Neill colonies would be more
effective. And nobody is talking about making them into military bases."
"Yet," Feral said.
"Yeah," Victoria said. "Yet."
"You're pretty emphatic about Slarfarer in relation to solv-
ing earth's problems. Or not solving them."
Victoria frowned. "I hoped you were on our side."
"I'm not on anybody's side! It's my job to ask questions."
"All right. People want the expedition to promise to go out and find easy,
quick solutions. We can't."
"Promise it, or do it?"
"Either- We already know how to solve a lot of our prob-
lems. Take food. I don't know the exact numbers my part-
ner Satoshi could tell you but if we stopped the expansion of a couple of
deserts for one year, we'd gain more arable land than ten Starfarers. If the
U.S. hadn't opposed family planning in the 1990s "
"There's not much we can do about that," Feral said.
"After all."
"But don't you see? We act in stupid and shortsighted ways and then we behave
as if we didn't have any responsibility for those actions. Somehow that
justifies our continuing to behave in the same shortsighted ways. Instead of
trying to change, we hope it works better this time."
"Do you see the expedition as a change?"
"Yes. I hope it is."
"You use the word 'hope' a lot," Feral said.
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"I guess I do."
"What do you hope for the expedition?"
"I'm the head of the alien contact department," Victoria said. "That should
give you an idea of what I hope for."
Nearby, a nondescript passenger listened to the unguarded conversation.
Griffith, of the General Accounting Office, had hidden himself so deeply
within his objectivity that he would not permit the comments of Victoria
MacKenzie to anger him. He filed them away, along with the opinions of the
jour-
nalist, for future reference and use.
He wished he had the observation room to himself, so he could look at the
stars in silence and solitude. He envied the early space explorers, who had
put their lives on the line. He wished he had been one of the Apollo
astronauts. Not the ones who landed on the lunar surface: the one who remained
in the capsule, orbiting all alone, completely cut off from every other human
being, from every other life form, out of contact even by radio during the
transit behind the moon.
But those times were long over. Nowadays, traveling into space meant a few
minutes of discomforting acceleration and a few hours or days of
weightlessness. He had already heard several people complaining about the
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trip: complaining of boredom' The journey from low earth orbit to Starfarer's
li-
bration point took too much time for them; they were bored and restless and a
few even complained about the lack of gravity.
They've seen too many mo"ies, Griffith thought. They don't understand anything
about the way things work. Why did they come up here? If they wanted
earth-normal gravity, they should have stayed on earth. These are the people
who think
41
42 vonda N. Mdntyre they know how to use space. Researchers. An old woman. A
writer. An alien contact specialist, for God's sake!
In disgust, he left the observation room and floated through the cramped
corridors of the transport. If he had anything to say about it, this would be
the last transport taking civilian personnel to Starfarer.
He wished he had pulled some rank and seniority in order to demand a larger
private compartment. But that would have been as suspicious as getting into an
argument with Mac-
Kenzie and the journalist about the proper function of Star-
farer. Griffith of the General Accounting Office could reasonably expect only
the same sleeping closet as any reg-
ular passenger.
He made another circuit of the transport's corridors.
Though he tried returning to the observation room, all the conversations he
heard angered him with the self-centered shortsightedness of their
participants.
Having failed to tire himself, he sought out his cubicle,
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s.txt wrapped himself in the restraint blanket, and made himself fall
immediately asleep. He would keep himself asleep until the transport reached
the starship.
J.D. sailed slowly through the corridor, trying to keep her-
self an even distance from alt four walls. In some ways free-
fall was easier than diving; in some ways more difficult.
Everything happened faster, so her reactions needed some retraining.
She passed one of the other passengers, going the other direction.
"Hello," she said.
He passed her without speaking, without acknowledging her presence- The second
time they passed, she respected his privacy. After that, he disappeared.
J.D. had begun to reaccustom herself to what she thought of as the real world.
She felt both more crowded and lonelier.
Since returning from the wilderness, she had touched no one more closely than
a handshake. Several times she had to re-
mind herself not to hug someone, or stroke their arm, or pat their shoulder.
In this world such behavior was unacceptable.
With the divers it was expected. Perhaps it was necessary.
STARFARERS 43
The wilderness had begun to feel like a dream, yet a dream of such intensity
that she could bring it back in vivid memory.
Three orcas breached, one after the other, bursting free, turning, splashing
hard and disappearing beneath the slate-
blue water. A moment later they leaped again, heading the opposite direction.
The white spring sunlight glazed their black flanks and the stark white
patches on their sides.
Walking down the path to her cabin, J.D. watched the beautiful, elegant
creatures, and wondered how she could even consider leaving them.
The three half-grown orcas swam to the mouth of the har-
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bor, cutting the choppy surface with their sharp dorsal fins.
They joined a larger group of whales. Without her binoculars, J.D. could no
longer tell which three had leaped and played.
The whole pod swam toward shore. Five or six divers, sleek in the water, swam
with them.
J.D. expected Zev to clamber out and greet her, but orcas and divers alike
swam to where the beach shelved off into deeper water. There, they stopped.
One of the divers she thought it might be Zev waved and gestured to her.
She sent a signal to her metabolic enhancer and scrambled down the bank. A
rush of heat radiated from beneath the small scar on her side. The enhancer
kicked her metabolism into high gear. Stripping off her clothes, she left them
in a pile on the rocks and waded into the frigid water. She gasped when the
water reached the level of her nipples. She hesi-
tated, shivering, then plunged underwater.
When she surfaced, Zev bobbed in front of her. A wave
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s.txt slapped her face, reminding her that she was in an alien el- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]