New Earth (33 page)

Jordan turned back to Elyse. “You could ask their astronomers to show you the evidence they have of the gamma burst.”

“Perhaps,” she granted.

Zadar, sitting on Hazzard’s other side, said, “They can’t have any evidence from here. The gamma burst is still two thousand light-years away. If what they told you is true, it won’t arrive in
this vicinity for two thousand years.”

“And when it does it will kill us all,” Jordan said.

“They must have records of the observations they made from closer in,” Elyse mused. “They said they’re from the Perseus arm of the galaxy, twelve thousand light-years closer to the galactic core.”

“Evidence can be faked,” Meek sniffed.

Jordan held on to his temper, barely. There are none so blind, he
reminded himself, as those who will not see.

Carefully keeping his voice steady, even, Jordan said, “Adri told me that his people will gladly share all they know with us.”

“All they want us to know,” said Longyear. Several others seated around the table nodded agreement.

Coldly, as emotionlessly as he could manage, Jordan said, “Could we try a little logic here? Must we be ruled by our fears?”

“What are you ruled by, Jordy?” Brandon challenged.

“By a different emotion.”

“I’ll bet you are.”

“I meant hope,” Jordan snapped. Scanning their disbelieving faces again, he pleaded, “Can’t we look at this thing logically? We can go back to the city and ask them to provide proof of what they say.”

“I could work with their astronomers,” Elyse granted.

Turning to Thornberry, Jordan said, “Mitch,
we can get them to show you how their energy shields work.”

“Now that’s something I’d like to see, b’god.”

“Paul, they’ll show you how their biolab works, how they genetically engineer their animals.”

“And their people,” the biologist retorted.

Undeterred, Jordan turned to de Falla. “Silvio, they’ll show you how they constructed this planet.” To his brother, Jordan added, “That ought to be
of some interest to a planetary astronomer, don’t you think, Bran?”

Meek objected. “They’ll show each of us what we want to see. So what? It’s merely a ploy to lull us, to get us to accept them.”

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Jordan agreed. “But can’t you see that—”

“What are they after?” Meek demanded. “What’s behind all this?”

Jordan thought of the UFO conspiracy theorists. The more the government
opened their files to show there’s no evidence that UFOs exist, the more the faithful insisted that the government was covering up the
real
truth. But then he remembered that the UFOs were real. Adri’s Predecessors had visited Earth many times.

Still seething inwardly at Brandon’s low blow, Jordan turned back to his brother. “Bran, you’re in charge here. I’m going back to the city tomorrow. What
do you propose to do?”

Brandon’s easygoing smile was nowhere in sight. He looked somber, stern, as if he’d just realized the responsibilities that had settled on his shoulders.

“I … I’d like to hear what the rest of us have to say,” Brandon temporized. “Mitch, what about you?”

“I’ll go into the city with Jordan, I will. I want to learn about their energy shields.”

Longyear raised his hand.
“I’ll go, too. I want to see how their biolab works, how they created people from DNA samples they snitched from Earth.”

“And their astronomers,” Elyse added. “I want to see the evidence they have for this gamma blast.”

Brandon turned to Meek. “Harmon, what about you?”

“I’ll stay right here, thank you,” Meek replied primly. “We shouldn’t all put ourselves in the lion’s mouth.”

From the screen
Hazzard said, “For what it’s worth, all the ship’s systems check out fine. We can light up and leave whenever we want to.”

Jordan shook his head. Maybe you can, Geoff, he said silently. But if you try to, I don’t think you’ll be able to get away.

SUSPICION

The meeting broke up. The eight men and women got up from the table and left the dining area in groups of two or three, talking among themselves. The display screen went dark. Meek drew himself up to his full height, cast Jordan a scornful look, and walked out alone.

That’s a good sign, Jordan thought. Neither Longyear nor anyone else is going with him.

As Brandon and Elyse passed
him, heading for the doorway, Jordan jabbed a finger against his brother’s shoulder. Hard. Brandon wheeled toward him, scowling.

“I didn’t expect that from you, Bran,” Jordan said, his voice halfway between a whisper and a growl.

Brandon’s face flashed surprise, then disdain. “Tell the truth, Jordy, how much of the story they fed you would you have accepted if you weren’t sleeping with Aditi?”

“That’s got nothing to do with it!”

“Doesn’t it? For all you know, she was cooked up in that biolab of theirs just to snooker you into believing whatever they tell you.”

Jordan’s hands balled into fists. But before he swung at his brother, he saw Brandon reflexively flinch back and put up his hands to protect himself.

Elyse cried, “Jordan, don’t!”

Very deliberately, Jordan relaxed his hands.
Taking a deep breath, he said, “We shouldn’t be enemies, Bran. You’re my brother. We should be able to settle this as intelligent men, not street brawlers.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that,” Brandon agreed, shakily. But then he went on, “I still think that you’re prejudiced in their favor, though.”

“Perhaps I am,” Jordan admitted. “But if what they’re telling us is true, if only half of it is
true, the whole human race is in grave danger.”

Elyse said, “But they’ve promised to help us.”

“For a price,” said Brandon. “And I’m not sure we’ve heard what their
real
price is.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Jordan insisted.

“By going to the city,” Brandon muttered.

*   *   *

Early the next morning, Jordan, Thornberry, Longyear, de Falla, and Elyse Rudaki—with Brandon sitting hip
to hip beside her—piled into one of the buggies for the drive back to the city.

Longyear drove. As they started out, Jordan thought, Bran doesn’t like me sleeping with Aditi, but he’s practically welded to Elyse. Can’t say I blame him. Even in the drab once-piece jumpsuit she was wearing, Elyse’s generous figure was eye-catching.

As he expected, Adri was standing at the edge of the stone walkway
that circled the city, stroking his furball of a pet. The animal gazed at their approaching buggy with big, round, solemn eyes. Adri’s expression was almost the same, although as Longyear braked the buggy to a halt he broke into a warm smile.

“Welcome friends,” Adri said, slipping the pet into the folds of his robe.

As they piled out of the buggy Thornberry stepped up to Adri and asked, “Do
you truly consider us your friends, Adri?”

Blinking with astonishment, Adri answered, “Yes, of course.”

“All right, then. I want to know how those energy shields of yours work. I want the whole story, even the basic physics behind ’em.”

Adri nodded solemnly. “Of course.” Turning to Longyear, he said, “And you want to learn about our biology.” To de Falla, “Geology, I believe.” To Elyse, “Astronomy,
I know.”

Elyse said, “I want to see your evidence for the gamma burst you told Jordan about.”

“That can be easily arranged. For the rest of you, I’m afraid you’ll have to subject yourselves to a rather intense education.” And he turned and started to walk into the city.

Thornberry moved up alongside him, his bulky body more than twice Adri’s slim frame, although Adri was several centimeters
taller. As usual, Thornberry wore a rumpled shirt that hung over his loose, comfortable slacks. Jordan, trailing behind them, thought of Thornberry as a sloppy, overgrown child, Adri as an orderly, wise old grandfather.

“Intense education, is it?” Thornberry said. “How long will it take?”

“A few hours, perhaps a bit longer.”

Longyear, on Adri’s other side, gasped, “A few
hours
? How much can
we learn in a few hours?”

“Quite a lot, if the equipment functions properly. It always has, but then we’ve only used it on ourselves. You are genetically similar to us, of course, your brains are structurally and functionally similar. Yet—”

Jordan realized what he was trying to explain. “Adri, are you saying that you can download the information directly into our brains?”

“Yes, very much the
way you downloaded your own memories when you were revived from cryonic stasis.” Before anyone could say anything, Adri went on, “Or is it uploading? I’m afraid I get the two terms confused.”

“You can download a physics education into my brain? In a few hours?” Thornberry asked, incredulous.

“Yes,” Adri replied. “That’s the way we learn, through direct neural stimulation. You have similar systems.”

“They’re illegal,” said Thornberry.

Adri stopped walking and looked at Thornberry, clearly puzzled.

“But you used your ship’s computer to store your memories while you were in flight, and then downloaded them back into your brains.”

Jordan stepped between Adri and Thornberry. “What Mitchell is trying to explain is that on Earth such direct brain stimulation is forbidden.”

“But why?” Adri asked,
clearly perplexed.

“There’s too much of a chance that unscrupulous people would use it to manipulate others, to plant false information in their minds, get them to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

“Unscrupulous people,” Adri murmured, as if it was a new concept to him.

“Salesmen, for example,” Jordan said.

“Politicians,” Thornberry added. “And religious zealots.”

Brandon pushed his
way into the discussion. “Our shipboard system is an exception to the law. We had to get approval from the World Council.”

“I see,” Adri said. “I understand.”

Brandon said, “I’m not sure that we should allow ourselves to be subjected to your direct brain stimulation.”

Adri’s seamed face eased into a bitter smile. “You are afraid that I might be one of those unscrupulous people.”

DECISION

As they walked through the city, Adri tried earnestly to convince Thornberry and the others that their fears were unfounded.

“I assure you, the neural stimulation will be restricted to the subjects you are interested in. Physics, for you, Dr. Thornberry.” Turning to Longyear, he continued, “Biology for you. And for Dr. de Falla—”

“Nothing for me,” de Falla snapped. “Not until we
can be sure that you’re not going to brainwash us.”

Adri seemed stunned. “You don’t trust us.”

Jordan said, “This is a new situation for us. We’ll have to talk it over amongst ourselves.”

“I understand,” said Adri. But Jordan thought he looked disappointed, hurt.

Adri led the little group around the administrative building, heading for the dormitory. “We have prepared quarters for you all.
Perhaps you can discuss the matter there.”

“Thank you,” said Jordan. “We will.” But he was thinking that Adri would be able to hear every word they said. The buildings are all monitored, he remembered. Then he wondered, Why did Aditi show me their monitoring system, then? Was she trying to warn me, or does she really think there’s no harm in it?

Keeping his thoughts to himself, Jordan followed
Adri into the dormitory building. His companions kept an uneasy silence as Adri showed them their rooms. Jordan saw that he and his brother would be housed in the same two-bedroom suite as before, the others in single rooms. Not that Elyse will use her room, he grumbled to himself.

They all came back to the sitting room of Jordan’s suite, and Adri left them to themselves.

“Until dinner,” he
said. To Jordan, he added, “Aditi will join us then.”

Adri hesitated at the door. Looking directly at Thornberry, he said, “I hope you decide to accept our education system. Its only function is to teach, not to manipulate you.”

Thornberry nodded unhappily. But Brandon replied, “Teaching is manipulation of a sort, isn’t it?”

Adri said nothing. He pulled his furry little pet from his robe and
left.

As soon as the door slid shut behind Adri’s departing back, Thornberry said, “I feel like Dr. Faustus.”

“Making a deal with the devil?” Longyear quipped.

“He’s making a damned tempting offer,” said Thornberry. “To learn how those energy screens work. I could go back to Earth and make a fortune!”

“Is that what you want?” Jordan asked.

Thornberry broke into a rueful grin. “I wouldn’t
refuse a fortune, you know. But what I really want is to
know
. To understand.”

“But they might brainwash you while you’re under their stimulator,” de Falla objected.

Glancing around the sitting room, Jordan suggested, “Why don’t we go into the plaza, outside, to continue this conversation?”

Brandon immediately caught his implication. “You think the rooms are bugged?”

“I know they are. Aditi
showed me the center where they monitor everything.”

“Everything?” Elyse asked.

Jordan almost smiled at the alarm on her face. “Almost everything,” he assured her. “Come on, let’s go outside. It’s a pleasant day and we have a major decision to make.”

The plaza was empty of other people. They’re giving us some privacy, Jordan thought. If they’re bugging us here they’d have to plant cameras in
the trees, I suppose, or up on the rooftops. He led the little group to the center of the plaza and sat down on the grass. The sun felt warm and good on his shoulders. The others sat, too, in a circle. Like a Neolithic band, Jordan thought. All we need is a campfire.

“So what do we do about this?” Thornberry asked.

Jordan replied, “Mitch, are you willing to be a guinea pig?”

“An experimental
animal?”

“Yes,” said Jordan. “We won’t be able to tell if Adri’s brain stimulator is nothing more than an educational tool or not unless one of us allows them to use it on him.”

Thornberry shrugged. Then he muttered, “To learn how those energy shields work…”

“Dr. Faustus,” Longyear reminded him.