CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Slowly, millimeter by millimeter, Olivia Ferranti’s eyes were opening. A thin line of white had appeared behind the long false eyelashes. It broadened, to become a slender crescent. The lids crept apart, at last, to reveal dilated pupils and the luminous brown irises, flecked with gold.

“That’s it,” said Peron finally. “She’s in S-space. At last. There’s no way that anyone could fake an awakening like that. Let’s get back to the chamber and talk.”

Every one of the six had known that a discussion was urgently needed; but the urge to watch Olivia Ferranti had been irresistible and tacitly admitted by all. They had gathered around the great tank as she prepared to enter. They watched in silence while she, impressively calm, went inside. And as soon as the heavy casket door slid into sealed position she lay back, stared up at them through the transparent upper surface, and gave a little wave of her fingertips. Then she reached for the interior control panel and hit the key sequence to initiate her return to S-space.

After a few seconds, clusters of contact sprays moved to drift a fine fluid vapor over her limbs and body, while delicate catheters snaked from the casket walls and insinuated themselves gently into the orifices of her head and trunk. A dense yellow-green vapor filled the interior of the tank, rising after a few minutes to hide Olivia Ferranti’s still form in a soft-edged shroud. There was little to see after that, but they had stood waiting for almost two hours, exchanging brief phrases in hushed tones. Only when the air in the casket finally cleared and Olivia Ferranti began to stir again to slow consciousness were they able to think of other matters.

And now, watching her eyes creep open, they all felt a renewed and ridiculous sense of urgency. Logic said that another day or two of their thought and discussion would pass unnoticed to Rinker and the others in S-space, but the sense of haste went beyond logic. That feeling dimmed a little as they moved back to the computer chamber, and found the control settings and service robots exactly as they had left them.

“So what do you think?” said Peron abruptly, as they settled down in a close circle by the gently flickering displays of the main computer console. “I believe her,” said Rosanne at once.

“I don’t,” Sy added promptly. “She was lying to us.”

“Lum?”

“Some of each.” Lum massaged his full cheeks with one hand, and furrowed his brow. “Mostly I believe her. She kept pretty close to the truth, but I think she exercised selective memory. She left some things out.”

“She sure did.” Sy’s thin face wore a scowl. “Things she didn’t tell us. I could list ten of them. What happens if we reject their suggestion? Who makes the rules that decide what we ought to know, and when? What’s supposed to happen if a Planetfest winner doesn’t swallow the party line? Where do they go? One thing’s for sure, they don’t go back home to Pentecost. I wonder if they have convenient ‘accidents’ in the Cass system — we know there’s ample scope for that around the Fifty Worlds.”

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves,” said Lum. He wriggled uncomfortably inside his jacket, a brown garment too tight in the chest and short in the sleeves. “Let’s take Ferranti’s story one piece at a time, and see what we agree on. Anything?”

“I thought her history lesson sounded genuine,” volunteered Elissa. “So did I,” said Peron.

“More to the point,” said Lum, “I can’t see what advantage she would gain by lying. And I believe her when she says that we are now on our way to their headquarters. But some of her other statements struck me as false. For one thing, I don’t really believe that we’re a danger to the ship and to ourselves, just because we’re strangers here and in normal space. We didn’t get through the Planetfest trials without learning caution. We know how to be careful, and we look before we leap. I think she said we were in danger because they want us in S-space, where they can keep an eye on us. They want to be in control. Well, we can’t afford that. Sy, how’s the reprogramming going for the service robots?” “Done. They’ll obey our voice commands now. But Kallen and I have a question. Do we want it so the computer will activate the service robots in response to our voices, and no one else’s? Or should we leave it working for Ferranti and the others, too?”

“Must it be one or the other?” said Lum. “Couldn’t you set a trigger, so that we can cut people out if we choose to, based on our voice command? Then we’d be quite safe.”

Sy raised his eyebrows inquiringly at Kallen, who pursed his lips and massaged his scarred throat.

“Think so,” he said after a moment. “I’ll try it.”

“All right.” Lum nodded. “Before you do that, let’s think a bit more about what we were told by Ferranti. What about their headquarters? According to her, it’s about a light-year away from Pentecost. But why put it there? If the rest of her story is true, there are fewer colonies near the Cass system than anywhere else. It would make more sense to locate Immortal Headquarters near Tau Ceti, or some other star with more habitable planets.”

“I can answer that,” said Peron. “When I was first awakened, Ferranti referred to Sector Headquarters. That means there ought to be others, in other systems. Remember, according to Ferranti all the colonies are twenty light-years or less away from Sol. For S-space travel, that’s only at most a five-week trip. I’ll bet there are several Sector Headquarters, one near each stellar system that was colonized.”

“So where is General Headquarters?” asked Elissa. “Is there one?” “I’ll bet there is,” said Lum. “Even the Immortals would need some sort of overall organization of resources. And didn’t you get the feeling that at the headquarters we are headed for most of the rules are followed, not made?” “So where is the central one?” repeated Elissa. “Where’s main headquarters?” Lum put his hands up to his head and rubbed at his thick shock of mousy-brown hair. “Lord knows. We have to rethink everything, if travel to the stars is so easy for them. Headquarters could be a hundred light-years away from here. That’s only six months trip in S-space. But it wouldn’t make much sense. Even in S-space, it would be hard to manage an organization where messages take weeks to get around the system.”

“You’re making it hard,” said Sy softly. “Think simple.”

“You mean Sector Headquarters is the only one?”

“No. Think Sol.”

The others looked at him, then at each other.

“He’s right, as usual,” said Peron. “All the ships started from Earth. It was the center of the sphere of expansion, so it’s still the natural hub for coordinating colonies and sector headquarters. Main Headquarters ought to be Earth.”

There was another silence.

“Earth!” said Rosanne at last. Her voice was hushed, and the word came from her lips like a benediction. “If General Headquarters is back on Earth, maybe we can go there…”

“Not actually on Earth,” said Lum. “We know you can’t go down to a planet’s surface if you live in S-space.”

Kallen was shaking his head. “No. Can’t live on planet. We could visit.” He looked greatly excited.

“He’s quite right, you know,” said Sy. “We all agree that anyone in S-space wouldn’t be able to keep their balance in anything more than a micro-gravity field. But perception and physical tolerance are nothing to do with each other. Your body could stand gravity all right. You’d have to be supported and restrained, but you could visit the surface of Earth — or of Pentecost — living in S-space.”

“That would be enough,” said Rosanne suddenly. “Even a short visit, in S-space or in normal space. I want to go to Earth, see where everything began. We’ve talked about it and thought about it so much. Can you imagine flying down through the atmosphere, and walking on Earth’s surface?”