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Throughout these proceedings Reverend Castell stood mute, but as the zodiac dwindled in the distance he said, "Major, what is going on?"
At once I dismissed the faintest hint of pleading in his voice as a trick of my hearing.
"At ease," the major told his remaining soldier, who at once actually took out and smoked a cigar. To Reverend Castell, Lassitre said, "Haven's about to get quite a population boost, sir. We've got three thousand, nine hundred and eighty-three more Harmonies for you, sir, and another eight thousand and five miners, merchants, and the like."
"What?" I blurted, unable to assimilate the numbers he'd mentioned, let alone grasp their situation.
Glancing up at me, the major gri
"I'm at peace," came the rote reply, but I noticed how he made himself sound as if he were a real CD Marine, and not just a transport company officer.
"Of course," he said, tone neutral. "If you call it that."
During this exchange, Reverend Castell simply continued to stare at the major, as if neither he nor I had said anything.
Redirecting his attention to Castell, Lassitre tossed a thumb toward the sky, to indicate a transport in orbit. It would be over us again in a little under four hours, I knew, remembering our own few orbits. "I forgot how isolated you are here, you had no warning, did you?"
"Haven belongs to the Church of New Universal Harmony. My father purchased settlement rights just before he died." His hand went to his chest for a moment, then dropped. "My people have sacrificed everything Earthly to come here. Reverend Castell spoke quietly, as if reciting from the Writings. "We've no further need of Earthly things. The Harmonies are welcome, but the others-"
"There are families aboard, sir. Men, women, and children. Your church didn't have the funds for a second expedition, so shares were sold. We can't expect you to like it, but it's completely legal. And besides, isn't charity part of your pacifist creed? Or at least basic hospitality?"
Castell took a step back from Major Lassitre. His eyes widened. He took a deep breath, and I winced, expecting a loud sermon to begin. How dare this infidel remind our leader of his own creed's duties? Instead, though, Reverend Castell let his breath out slowly and said, in a conversational tone, "Was the trip hard on them?"
At once Major Lassitre's body language relaxed, and he smiled. "Some died, I won't lie to you. You've been in the transport ships, even converted liners; you know how it can be."
"Squalid," Castell said. He, too, smiled, but with no relief there, no shared referents.
For myself, I could not understand our leader's attitude, his sudden relaxing. Had he conceded the CoDo's right to usurp his authority on Haven? Had he acceded to their right to rescind all those costly permissions?
Was he faltering?
"You understand, of course," Castell told the major, "that we have neither the resources nor the desire to take care of anyone other than our own."
The major laughed. "They may take care of you, sir. They've brought virtually no supplies and precious little know-how, if I'm any judge." When no one joined in his laughter, he coughed and said, "Yes, well. Fact is, Reverend, there's nothing we can do. Ours is but to do or die, eh? Although your chain of command's a bit shorter than mine, huh?"
And as he laughed again, the zodiac returned and the sergeant reported, with a note of surprise, that the reverend hadn't lied, the island was indeed a better place to set up a control point.
The shuttle sloshed back from the wharf and surged to the island, but it was long before the reverend moved or stopped staring.
Behind us the entire settlement had erupted in a cacophony of discussion and disbelief. Almost four thousand more Harmonies; what news would they bring of Earth? Old friends and new would arrive within a few hours. Excitement roiled among us, while we acolytes attempted no calming, feeling only upset ourselves.
"You had not the slightest appreciation of the difficulty in what you asked of me," Reverend Castell said at last, under his breath. He turned and glared at me a moment, as if angry that I'd eavesdropped.
With a blush I lowered my gaze, but my mind, always the independent part of me, wondered if the reverend had been subvocalizing a conversation with his dead father. It seemed to me futile to argue with ghosts that haunt only memory.
When Reverend Castell strode away I did not follow as closely as usual. His glare had sent sour notes through me, clashing with our normal attunement.
Later, the other acolytes began asking me what we must do as our numbers swelled fourfold. "Strive for harmony," I said.
For the first time in as long as I could remember, I was uncertain exactly what that phrase might mean.
IV
A communal symphony convened. We made music and let it take us into complicated realms of certainty and doubt, where Pythagoras fought with numbers and found the octave and the twelve chromatic semitones, our disciples, from whence came spherical harmony, as from chaos and cacophony a symphony universal evolved.
My fingers manipulated the rhythm sticks automatically and I hummed in tune, even as my mind kicked and screamed at the onslaught now facing us. We'd done fine for an Earth-year or so, and anyone joining us would be interlopers, even if they shared our faith.
Reverend Castell let the Chosen pulse with rhythms and song for only a few rondeaux verses before appearing in the town square himself, in fresh robes bleached white. In the orange of Haven's day he seemed covered in fiery blood. Raising his hands, he commanded silence. His gaze sca
"My efforts," he said. Then he glanced down for an instant and started again. "Our efforts to live in harmony with all forces of the universe have been blessed until today. Many have been injured, and most of us continue to marvel at the sheer harshness of Haven's environment, but we're still here. We have not thrived, but we have gotten by.
"Now the CoDominium has followed us, and its decay is spread even unto our crisp air and unsullied waters. This is cause for resentment, perhaps, but such negative feelings create disharmony, which shall, if indulged, prove our nemesis.
"We must welcome not only other Harmonies, but also the pitiable families transported here by the CoDominium. They purchased a share in our world and no doubt harbor dreams of better lives. They are more akin to the Chosen than most others from that rotting planet whose name is a synonym for dirt.
"Haven was the name of Tycho Brahe's island where he brought together the best astonomers of his time to form Uraniborg, the Heavenly Castle, an estate of science and truth, a refuge from idiocy and Earthly corruptions, and Haven is our planet's name, chosen and bestowed by my father, and a haven it shall ever be, to all those who must be clean of Earth."
The Chosen murmured amongst themselves and milled about, and Reverend Castell glanced at me and smiled, perhaps in atonement for the earlier scowl. "They're big enough," he told me in a soft voice. "They can accommodate even this latest of added burdens."
I nodded and returned his smile, squaring my shoulders. If such was Reverend Castell's new course for Haven, then such would I support, for I trusted him to sense the resonance, the harmonics.
The fact that we had no choice may have helped us be gracious in our first greetings when, a few hours later, the first clumps of miners arrived.
Those of us with boats helped ferry people ashore, while the rest of us either got on with urgent tasks or stood gaping up as shuttle after shuttle arrived. I figured there were five shuttles in all, working in a chain. They soon had the new arrivals on the ground.