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Ellai‑Now‑Eldest reached beside her own chair and met the pebbly hide of her own great brown, Twig, which sat quite, quite alert, raising and lowering her collar. If Scar had felt no urge to die, then Scar should have come to her, driven Twig away and appropriated herself, the new eldest, First in First Tower. Her own Twig could not dominate this one. She knew. At that moment Ellai foresaw rivalry–that she would never wholly rule, because of this, so long as that u
He chose the child, as if Ellai in her reign over the Twelve Towers was to be inconsiderable, and the servants and the rulers of the other eleven Towers could see it when they came in the morning.
There was nothing that Ellai could do. She considered it from every side, and there was no way to undo it. Even murder crossed her mind, and infanticide: but this was her posterity, her own line, and she could not depend on another living heir, or tolerate the whispers, or dare the calibans. It had to be accepted as it was, and the child treated with tenderness. She was dangerous otherwise.
Children.
A child of eight sat in power on the distant Styx, Jin 12, with the old man dead. And Scar took to Elai. The Styx would stay quiet for at least a decade or so. And then–
A chill afflicted her. Her hand still stroked the plated scales of Twig’s beautiful skull.
Scar had simply bypassed her, this caliban whose occupation was conflict, as if all her reign was inconsequence, as if she were only preface. It portended peace, then, while children grew. A decade or so of peace. She would have that, and if she were wise, she would use it well, knowing what would come after her.
ii
184 CR, day 05
General Report, Gehe
…The situation has remained stable over the past half decade. The detente between the Styx settlement and the Cloud River settlements continues in effect. Contacts with both settlements continue in an unprecedented calm. A Stygian tower has risen on the perimeter of the Base. In accordance with established policy the Base has made no move to prohibit construction or movement.
…The two settlements are undergoing rapid expansion in which some see an indication that humanity on Gehe
iii
185 CR, day 200
Message, Alliance HQ to Gehe
…extend all cooperation to the Bureau agents arriving with this message, conducting extensive briefings and seminars on the Gehe
…While the Bureau concurs that conditions warrant direct observation and increased contact, the Bureau cautions the Mission that prohibitions against technological imports and trade continue. In all due consideration of humanitarian concerns, the Bureau reminds the Mission that the most benign of interventions may result in premature technological advances which may harm or misdirect the developing culture…
iv
185 CR, day 201
Gehe
“…meaning they’re more interested in the calibans than in human life,” Security said glumly.
“In the totality,” the Director said. “In the whole.”
“They want it preserved for study.”
“We could haul the Gehe
“We could do better for them than watch them.”
“Could we? It’s an old debate. The point is, we don’t know what we’d be doing. We take it slow. You newcomers, you’ll learn why. They’re different. You’ll learn that too.”
There were guarded looks down the table, sensitive outworlder faces.
“ Different, on Gehe
“We’ve studied the culture,” the incoming mission chief said. “We understand the strictures. We’re here to review them.”
“ Different,”the Director said again. “In ways you won’t understand by reading papers or getting tape.”
“The Bureau appreciates the facts behind the designation. Union…is interested. Surveillance is being tightened for that reason. The quarantine makes them nervous. They wonder. Doubtless they wonder. Perhaps they’ve begun to have apprehensions of something beyond their intentions here. There will be negotiations. We’ll be making recommendations in that regard too. This differencewill have its bearing on policy.”
“Union back on Gehe
“That won’t be within our recommendations. Release of data is another matter. A botched alien contact, happening in some other Union recklessness, might not limit its effects so conveniently to a single world. Release of the data is a possibility…educating Union to what they did here.”
There were frowns. The Director’s was deepest. “Our concern is human life here. Now. Our reason for the request–”
“We understand your reasons.”
“We have to do something with this generation or this settlement may take abrupt new directions.”
“Fears for your own security?”
“No. For what this is becoming.”
“The difference you noted.”
“There’s no time,” the Director said, “that I can see any assimilation of Gehe
“We understand that. That’s what we’re here to determine.”
“A handful of years,” the Director said, “may be all we have.”
v
188 CR, day 178
Cloud River Settlement
There was land across the saltwater and Elai dreamed of it–a pair of peaks lying hazily across the sea.
“What’s there?” she had asked Ellai‑Eldest. Ellai had shrugged and finally said mountains. Mountains in the sea.
“Who lives there?” Elai had asked. And, No one, Ellai had said. No one, unless the starships come there. Who else could cross the water?