Gardens of the Sun (39 page)

‘I can’t do my job if you won’t let me do my job,’ Macy said.

‘Do as they do,’ Sada said. ‘Talk to them. Work with them. Play with them. How they react and interact with the famous defector from Greater Brazil will tell us a lot more than a few subjective opinions.’

So that was how it was. The Ghosts didn’t really want Macy to be an observer after all; they wanted to use her as a stalking-horse. The revelation didn’t especially anger or upset her because she’d been expecting some kind of trickery, but her frustration mounted as the days passed and she failed to discover what lay beneath the PacCom diplomats’ boundless enthusiasm, or to determine whether they genuinely hoped to reach some kind of reconciliation between the TPA and the Outers. And while she picked up hints that the diplomats and the Ghosts were talking about trading the secrets of the Brazilian fusion motor for refined metals and other raw materials in short supply in the Neptune System, she was kept out of the loop by both sides, and so was Idriss Barr.

Idriss was sanguine about it, telling Macy that it was only to be expected. ‘The Ghosts did a lot of hard work to entice the Pacific Community out here,’ he said. ‘We shouldn’t expect to be given a free ride. But if they enter into any kind of an agreement with the Ghosts, then we will benefit by association. And I’ve had some useful conversations with the representatives. It’s far too early to trust them, but the signs are very hopeful. We will have much to talk about when this is over. And everyone will want to know what you think.’

The problem was, Macy didn’t know what to think. All she knew for certain was that she wasn’t cut out for diplomacy. Dealing with two sets of people who spent all their time lit up with fake friendliness, pretending to be straightforward and candid while sharpening knives behind their smiles, was exhausting and depressing.

About the only person she had time for was the leader of the PacCom delegation, Tommy Tabagee. A grandfatherly fellow, dignified and witty, with black skin and a mass of dreadlocked grey hair, he behaved as if the negotiations were an amusing bit of theatre especially devised for his benefit, entertained Macy with an endless fund of anecdotes and cautionary tales about the rewilding of Australia, and pumped her for stories about her adventures in the Outer System. He told her that the Pacific Community had taken part in the Quiet War because the consequences of allowing Greater Brazil and the European Union free rein in the Jupiter and Saturn systems would have been disastrous for the rest of Earth as well as for the Outers, and explained that his people had very quickly come to an accommodation with the inhabitants of Iapetus by taxing them very lightly, occupying only a small part of the moon, and otherwise allowing them to get on with their lives.

‘Of course, we want what the Brazilians and Europeans want, namely access to the technology and expertise of your adopted people. But unlike the Brazilians and Europeans, we prefer trade and cooperation to full-scale looting. It’s more expensive, to be sure, but the benefits amply repay the investment. We are, you see, a pragmatic and practical people. We share with the Brazilians and Europeans a desire to repair the damage done to Gaia by the industrial age, and to live lightly on the land. We’ve done our very best to make Australia an exemplar of our intentions, and to return the land to the Dreamtime. A very serious and costly enterprise! And yet we’ve been accused by radical greens in the European Union and Greater Brazil of failing to be true to Gaia because we embrace technologies they would like to ban for no other reason than misguided fanaticism. Perhaps one day, when all this foolishness and bad blood is settled, you could visit Australia, and I’ll walk with you along one of the Songlines of my people, and I can show you exactly what I mean.’

Macy thanked him for his invitation and told him that she wished she could take him up on it, but it was more likely that she would be heading further out than returning to Earth.

‘Then perhaps I can visit you, on Pluto or Charon or whichever worldlet you choose to make your home,’ Tommy Tabagee said. ‘Every world has its own Songlines, you know. That’s one of the things we learned from the good people of Iapetus. A good example of how cooperation benefits both sides.’

‘Is it really cooperation? I mean, the Iapetans didn’t ask you to take over their moon.’

‘Nor have we. Well, no more than a very small portion of it. A small footprint in a wide wilderness. As on Earth, so here. And if you spoke to the Iapetans, I bet they’d tell you they’re happy for us to be there, rather than the Brazilians or the Europeans. The point is, Macy, we believe that winning the peace is far more important than winning the war. And that’s what we’re trying to do. That’s why we’re here.’

Macy knew that he was spinning her a neat line of propaganda, but she didn’t mind because she knew that he knew she knew. It was all part of the game.

One day, when she was feeling especially bruised after Sada Selene had intercepted her in the refectory and asked her to eat elsewhere because the Ghosts and the PacCom diplomats had become embroiled in a confidential bit of business, Tommy Tabagee found her sitting alone in a niche at the waist of one of the big spherical spaces. Open tiers stepped away below. Work spaces, dormitories, communal areas, all white and bright and clean, displayed like a section through an architectural model. Voices and the small change of human activity rising in the cold air. Tommy Tabagee sat beside Macy, dangling his feet out over the void, and said that if it had been up to him she would have been quite welcome to sit in on the talks.

‘We’re all in this together and we all more or less want the same thing, after all.’

‘Really? What’s that?’

‘Why, some kind of reconciliation, of course. Some way of patching up the differences between Earth and the Outer System.’

‘So it isn’t just about getting hold of the secrets behind the fast-fusion motor. That is what they’re talking about back there, isn’t it?’

Macy had been building up towards asking him about that for some time. Her anger encouraged her to forget all caution and just go ahead and do it.

Tommy Tabagee’s smile didn’t waver. ‘I figured you would have heard about that by now. And I don’t blame you for being angry. I know you have a proprietorial interest, because you and your partner stole the specifications from the Brazilians in the first place. I heard how you saved Avernus, too, and helped to make a fool of Professor Doctor Sri Hong-Owen. Did I ever tell you that I met her? An interesting woman. Frighteningly clever, but barely human, if you ask me. A curiously vulnerable mixture of arrogance and naivety.’

‘Are you changing the subject, Mr Tabagee?’

‘I do tend to ramble, don’t I? All right, I’ll try to be as straight as possible: of course we want the bloody fusion motor. Without it, we’re very badly disadvantaged out here. I should know, having spent so long in hibernation on the voyage from Saturn to Neptune. If we had the same capability as our allies, it would give us more influence. We might just be able to push history in the right direction. Towards peace and reconciliation. Otherwise there may well be some sorrowful days ahead.’ Tommy Tabagee said this with some passion. He was very serious, for once. ‘And besides all that, information wants to be free. As I’ve told our hosts, my job is to hasten the inevitable. If they won’t give us what we need, we’ll get it another way.’

Macy looked at him. ‘Are you making me an offer? If you are, you must know that the Ghosts are listening to us. They listen to everything.’

‘I hope I’m giving you something to think about. Them too, if they’re eavesdropping,’ Tommy Tabagee said, raising his voice. ‘I don’t have anything to hide.’

‘And I don’t have anything to give you, Mr Tabagee.’

‘Don’t underestimate yourself, Macy. I may have known you for only a brief time, but I’m sure you can handle the responsibility of making a hard and difficult decision like this.’

‘It isn’t mine to take.’

‘I don’t see why we should involve anyone else in this. After all, you stole the specs in the first place. I reckon that gives you the right to make an independent deal.’

‘My partner and I stole the specs. And we gave them away to our friends. So before we could even consider giving or trading them to you, we’d have to discuss it with our friends. And I hope very much that they wouldn’t agree to it.’

‘Because you’re afraid of what the Ghosts might do?’

‘They outnumber and outgun us, so that’s definitely a consideration. Also, we can’t trust you.’

‘Of course you can’t. But you can think about this little conversation. And talk about it with your friends.’

‘They’ll say no, Mr Tabagee. No amount of talk will change that.’

‘Then what harm will talking about it do?’

 

Two days later, the negotiations broke up with nothing settled. The Pacific Community diplomats returned to their ship, and it quit its orbit around Triton to begin its long, slow journey back to Saturn; Macy and Idriss returned to Proteus. Macy carried a data needle that Tommy Tabagee had passed to her when they’d said goodbye. ‘It contains a military-grade encryption key,’ he’d said. ‘You can use it to talk to me without worrying about the Ghosts listening in. I know you’ll have to talk to your friends about it first. That’s fine. Take your time. I have a long voyage ahead of me, and I’ll be spending most of it asleep. When I wake up, I hope to hear what you have to say.’

Macy told the other Free Outers about Tommy Tabagee’s overtures during the long meeting in which she and Idriss Barr gave accounts of their talks with the Ghosts and the PacCom representatives. Idriss was cautiously optimistic. The PacCom diplomats had left empty-handed because they had failed to reach any kind of agreement with the Ghosts, and the Free Outers now had the chance of opening a separate line of communication with the Pacific Community. It would not commit them to anything - certainly not to trading the specifications of the fast-fusion motor for vague promises about a future alliance. But simply showing that they were willing to talk might give them some influence; perhaps even some protection.

A minority, led by Mary Jeanrenaud, disagreed loudly and vehemently. They wanted nothing further to do with the Pacific Community because it was too dangerous: if the Ghosts discovered that the Free Outers were talking with the Pacific Community, they might decide to put an end to the Free Outers’ independence. Macy was happy to sit back and let Idriss deal with these points, and with many other suggestions and objections. He loved debates like this, was lively and eloquent, and radiated charm and good humour; a good deal of his persuasive power stemmed from the fact that it was very hard to dislike him. In the end, the Free Outers could only agree that they disagreed. They would not reach out to the Pacific Community, but they would not reject out of hand the possibility of beginning a conversation if the Pacific Community reached out to them.

Idriss and Macy had been gone for twenty days, and she’d been out of contact with Newt and the twins for all that time because the Ghosts had refused to allow what they called unnecessary use of their communications system. After the meeting broke up, she and Newt took a long rambling walk along the terraces of their habitat, led by Han and Hannah. She saw with pride and nostalgia that while she’d been away the children had changed in a hundred tiny and marvellous ways. They were eager to show Macy the new rows of tree seedlings they had planted, extending the line of the new forest along the edge of a vibrant meadow. Han had appropriated a watering can and pretended to douse the feet of his favourite trees and talked to them in soothing tones as if they were pets. Hannah held Macy’s fingers in her hot little fist, naming the trees by species, explaining how much they had grown and how tall they would soon be.

The children had already forgotten that she had been away, and didn’t question what she had been doing. She was happy to wander with them wherever they chose, luxuriating in their artless talk, chasing after them and allowing herself to be chased. The spare copses of spindly trees and the soft green swathes of clover and catch grass might be poor imitations of forests and meadows on Earth, but it seemed to Macy that she had come home for the first time.

Later, after they had fed the twins and put them to bed and Newt had told them another episode of one of his pirate stories, after he and Macy had made love, quick and hungry, another homecoming, they lay in each other’s arms and she told him about the offer that Sada had made just before Macy and Idriss had left. To tweak Macy’s eggs so that they would be compatible with Outer sperm. So that she and Newt could have children of their own.

She watched him while he thought about this. Their faces centimetres apart, his gaze sharpening as he said, ‘Did you say no straight away? Or did you say you’d think about it?’

‘I said that I’d have to talk to you. And I asked her how she knew about our problem. She refused to tell me, of course.’

‘It was probably one of the defectors,’ Newt said.

‘Or Mary Jeanrenaud. She loves gossip, and she hates me.’

‘Gossip is the glue that holds us together,’ Newt said. ‘And she doesn’t exactly hate you.’

‘Well, I don’t know what else to call it.’

‘Sada could have made this offer at any time,’ Newt said. ‘Why make it now?’

Macy felt as if a cramped muscle had relaxed. Newt understood. He saw the problem, just as she did. She said, ‘She knew that Tommy Tabagee asked me about the fusion motor, but she never even mentioned it.’

‘Because she knows you turned him down.’

‘Because she knew I would have to talk to the rest of the Free Outers about it, and she knew they would turn it down.’

‘As they did.’

‘As they did. But she must be wondering what else he might have asked or offered me. I doubt if she expects us to tell her, even if we accept her offer, but she hopes that it will keep us close.’