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Genley stood, a careful straightening, his Patterning‑effort abandoned. “I’m Genley,” he said to the Stygians.
“Jin,” said the youth.
“The one who gives orders on the Styx.”
“That Jin. Yes.” The youth set his hands on hips, walked carelessly off to riverward, walked back again a few paces. The calibans had all stood up. “Genley.”
“McGee,” McGee said tautly. “He’s Ma
“ MaGee. Yes.” Another few paces, not looking at them, and then a look at Genley. “This place is ours.”
“We came to meet you in it,” said Genley. “To talk.”
The young man looked about him, casually curious, walking back to his companions.
This is an insult, McGee suspected without any means to be sure. He’s provoking us. But the young face never changed.
“Jin,” McGee said aloud and deliberately, and Jin looked straight at her, his face hard. “You want something?” McGee asked.
“I have it,” Jin said, and ignored her to look at Genley and Ma
No, McGee thought, sensing that civility was the wrong tack to take with this youth. “Not interested,” she said. “Genley, Ma
The others did not move. “We’ll talk,” Genley said.
McGee walked off, back to the camp. It was all she had left herself to do.
She did not look back. But Genley was hard on her heels before she had gotten to the tent.
“McGee!”
She looked about, at anger congested in Genley’s face. At anger in Ma
“He walked off, did he?” she asked.
xvi
189 CR, day 27
Main Base, the Director’s office
She expected the summons, stood there weary and dirty as she was, hands folded. She had come back to Base with three of the security perso
There was no offer. The Director stared at her hard‑eyed from behind his desk. “Botched contact,” he said. “What was it, McGee, sabotage? Could you carry it that far?”
“No, sir. I did the right thing.”
“Sit down.”
She pulled the chair over, sank down and caught her breath.
“Well?”
“He was laughing at us. At Genley. He was provoking Genley and Genley was blind to all of it. He was getting points off us.”
“The sound tape doesn’t show it. It shows rather that he knows you.”
“Maybe he does. Rumors doubtless travel.”
“And you picked this up too, of course.”
“Absolutely.”
“You lowered Genley’s credibility.”
“Genley didn’t need help in that. This Jin is dangerous.”
“Might there be some bias, McGee?”
“No. Not on my side.”
There was silence. The Director sat glaring, twisting a stylus in his hands. Behind him was the window, the concrete buildings of the Base. Safety behind the wire. Beneath them detectors protected the underground, listened for undermining. Man on Gehe
“You’ve created a situation,” the Director said.
“In my professional judgement, sir, it had to be done. If the Styx doesn’t respect us–”
“Do you think respect has to matter, one way or another? We’re not in this for points, McGee, or personal pride.”
“I know we’ve got a mission out there on the Styx with their lives riding on that respect. I think maybe I made them doubt their calculations about us. I hope it’s good enough to keep Genley alive out there.”
“You keep assuming hostility exists.”
“Based on what the Cloudsiders think.”
“On a ten year old girl’s opinion.”
“This Jin–every move he made was a provocation. That Caliban of his, the way it was set, everything was aggression.”
“Theories, McGee.”
“I’d like to renew the Cloudside contact. Pursue it for all it’s worth.”
“The same way you turned your back on the Styxsiders?”
“It’s the same gesture, yes, sir.”
“What about your concern for the Styxside mission? Aren’t you afraid that would precipitate some trouble?”
“If Genley’s right, it won’t. If I’m right, it would send a wrong signal not to. Not doing it might signal that we’re weak. And that could equally well endanger Genley.”
“You seriously think these Styxsiders could look at this Base and think we’re without resources.”
“This base has fallen before. Despite all its resources. I think it could be a very reasonable conclusion on their part. But I wouldn’t venture to say just what they think. Their minds are at an angle to ours. And there’s the possibility that we’re not dealing just with human instinct.”
“Calibans again.”
“The Gehe
“Your proposal?”
“What I said. To take all our avenues.”
The Director frowned, leaned forward and pushed a button on the recorder.
xvii
Report from field: R. Genley
The Stygians remain, watching us as we watch them. Today there was at least a minor breakthrough: one of the Stygians approached our shelter and looked us over quite openly. When we came toward him he walked off at a leisurely pace. We reciprocated and were ignored.
xviii
Styxside
“Sit,” said Jin; and Genley did so, carefully, in the firelit circle. They took the chance, he and Ma
Genley drank first, trying not to taste it. It was something like beer, but it numbed the mouth. He passed the wooden cup on to Ma
“Good,” said Jin–a figure that belonged in firelight, a figure out of human past, leather‑clad, his young face sweating in the light and smoke, his eyes shining with small firesparks. “Good. Genley. Ma
“Jin.”
The face broke into a grin. The eyes danced. Jin took the cup again. “You want to talk to me.”
“Yes,” Genley said.
“On what?”
“There’s a lot of things.” Whatever was in the drink numbed the fingers. Distantly Genley was afraid. “Like what this drink is?”
“Beer,” Jin said, amused. “You think something else, Gen‑ley?” He drank from the same cup, and the next man filled it again. They were all men, twelve of them, all told. Three fiftyish. Most young, but none so young as Jin. “Could be bluefish in a cup. You die that way. But you walk in here, you bring no guns.”
“The Base wants to talk. About a lot of things.”
“What do you pay?”
“Maybe it’s just good for everyone, that you and the Base know each other.”
“Maybe it’s not.”
“We’ve been here a long time,” Ma
“Yes,” said Jin.
“Things look a lot better for the Styx recently.”
Jin’s shoulders straightened. He looked at Ma
“Why not?” Genley asked.
“I speak for the Styx,” Jin said.
“We’d like to come and go in safety,” Genley said.
“Where?”
“Around the river. To talk to your people. To be friends.”
Jin thought this over. Perhaps, Genley thought, sweating, the whole line of approach had been wrong.
“Friends,” Jin said, seeming to taste the word. He looked at them askance. “With starmen.” He held out his hand for the cup, a line between his brows as he studied them. “We talk about talking,” Jin said.
189 CR, day 30
Message, R. Genley to Base Director
I have finally secured a face to face meeting with the Stygians. After consistently refusing all approach since the incident with Dr. McGee, Jin has permitted the entry of Dr. Ma