Decision at Doona

“It was so kind of you to come, Mr. Chaminade,” Pat began obsequiously as the Codep man, followed by his delegation, strode in. “My husband is in a good deal of . . .”

“That's enough, Pat,” Ken interrupted her sharply. His wife wasn't going to suck up to Chaminade either.

I received your message, Chaminade said acidly, brushing by Pat as if she didn't exist. His little eyes, narrowed in his fat face, glittered with a dangerous intensity. The others ranged themselves behind him, every one of them socially scrawny. Then Landreau entered, standing slightly to one side of the Codep contingent, his face expressionless save for his mocking eyes.

Hu Shih and Lawrence came in next, their faces set. They nodded to Pat as they took positions behind Ken's couch, facing the officials. Outside the cabin, quiet in the twilight, the rest of the adult colonists stood about anxiously.

“Won't you sit?” Pat suggested in an inane attempt to restore social behavior.

“We shan't stay long,” Chaminade said. “We have already delayed our departure, waiting for the return of Mister Reeve. Where did you disappear to, Mister Reeve?”

“I went to the village,” Ken replied evenly.

''Village!" Chaminade contemptuously dismissed that with a flip of his pudgy hand.

“Yes, the village,” Ken repeated firmly. “My son, Todd, was visiting the Hrrubans today.”

“I have had enough of your son and your village . . .”

“And enough of our reptiles?” Ken interrupted coolly.

Chaminade exploded. “That's enough from you, young man . . .”

"And that's quite enough from you, old man," Ken retorted in a loud firm voice. He got to his feet, cursing the awkwardness of his sore body. "Now, you listen to me, Chaminade. Because we've been listening to you, listening until I'm nauseated by the sounds you make as you blame us for the Hrrubans, the reptiles, the whole smelly mess. But we're not at fault and all the official double talk you can dream up ca

"What in hell were we supposed to have done when we found Hrrubans? Ignore them because that Godalmighty report said they didn't exist? Ignore the reptiles too, until we get eaten by them? Or is that what you really want, Chaminade? Yes, there's your solution to the whole fiasco.

"We're just twenty-two adults, Chaminade, and a handful of quiet kids. You can write us off completely. Just leave us here. Forget about Doona. Write it off as inimical to human life. Then you can forget about Hrrubans that don't exist and reptiles that shouldn't be. You won't be embarrassed by the Doona predicament and the insolent, recalcitrant behavior of its indigenous perso

“Forget us. But don't patronize us. Don't call us liars. Don't rob us. Get off our backs and get off this planet.”

“Are you quite finished, Reeve?” Chaminade asked in a deadly cold voice, his emotions now sealed behind his small white mask of a face. He even managed to look a trifle bored.

“No, I haven't heard your ship take off. Oh, and as you go, return McKee's sapphire. We won't ask questions but the Poldep back on Earth certainly will.”

A flicker in the watchful eyes told Ken that the theft was news to Chaminade. But at this point Hu Shih stepped forward, gripping Reeve firmly by the elbow.

“If it were not for the Principle of Non-Cohabitation, Mr. Chaminade, I could in all conscience second Ken's solution.” Hu Shih's voice, firm and loud, was polite, without trace of apology or appeal. “However, in my capacity as leader of these people who are all conscientious citizens of Terra, I must deny us that dearest wish of remaining here. I demand that you provide us transportation away from Doona so that we do not abrogate the Principle which has dictated our actions from the begi

“You'll get your transport all right,” Landreau interjected, his sharp eyes never leaving Ken's face.

"See here, Landreau, Codep is quite able to take care of its own problems,'' Chaminade assured him crisply, the pose of the bored official abandoned.

“Yeah, you've sure proved that with this bunch of fake-outs!”

With an angry curse, Ken leaped toward Landreau and knocked him to the floor with a savage and well-placed blow.

“There's a place for social incorrigibles like you, Reeve,” Landreau snarled, wiping blood from his split lip as he got to his feet. “And that's where Spacedep is taking you. All of you!” He lurched out of the house, barging through the watching colonists.

“We'll see about that, Landreau,” Chaminade shouted after him. Chaminade spared the colonists one more fierce look before he beckoned his delegation to follow him into the night.

The colonists crowded into the Reeves's living room, speechless but anxious.

“What did Landreau mean?” someone asked in a tight voice. “Where would Spacedep take us?”

“To one of the mine planets, probably,” Lawrence replied, shrugging indifferently.

“I'm sorry, Shih, Lawrence, all of you,” Ken said, suddenly cognizant of the likely repercussions. “I was speaking for myself . . .”

“Hu Shih spoke for all of us, Ken,” Moody interrupted him and gestured around as tense, grave faces echoed the agreement. “None of us had the guts to say it not even when we knew one of those pompous farts had stolen Mace's sapphire.”

"Well, if I get the sapphire back, maybe it'll buy us all some extras in the mines,'' McKee remarked.

“Could they really send us to the mines?” Pat asked tremulously. “Could they? We've done nothing wrong”

There was no answer.

“Say, what did Landreau mean by calling us a bunch of fake outs?” Lawrence suddenly demanded.

Reeve let out a bark of laughter. “He thinks we faked evidence of natives because we're afraid to stay on Doona, it's too much for us. In short, we're cowards, agoraphobes, Terraphiles, social slobs who want to get back to safe lives on Earth.”

The colonists burst out with angry, indignant denials, releasing some of the terrible tension that had been, building up all day. Reeve let them rant for a while before he quieted them.

"You've all realized by now that the Hrrubans are not natives; not when they can disappear instantly without a trace.

"Hey, nothing passed Landreau's sentinels, Ken. I know the type he used, so they – they – " Gaynor hesitated, perplexed. "Well, how the hell did they disappear?"

“Matter transmitters,” Ken replied.

“Teleportation makes just as much sense,” Lawrence suggested slyly.

“Ah, come on, you guys!” Gaynor groaned.

“Just because our scientists haven't been able to develop matter transmitters, it doesn't mean some other culture hasn't,” Ken told the skeptical engineer.

“I prefer matter transmitters to teleportation,” Hu Shih said solemnly. “Logically speaking, that psychic ability is coupled with telepathy of which we have had little evidence.”

“What kind of evidence do you need?” Lawrence asked, his eyes dancing.

"Well – " Shih floundered a moment.

“Let's stick to the point,” Gaynor suggested sarcastically. “Our futures are at stake. So they use matter transmitters, Reeve? Then why the hell do they live in forest villages, using the most rudimentary tools and no mechanical equipment at all? That doesn't jibe.”

“But it supports my theory of teleportation,” Lawrence chuckled.

“How can I know the why's or wherefore's?” Reeve said quickly, forestalling an angry rebuttal from Gaynor. “Let's assume, until we know better, that the Hrrubans are as alien to this planet as we are. Then neither Spacedep or Codep have any further authority over us. Alreldep does!”