Bat sat alone in darkness for many hours, brooding on unanswerable questions. He had the feeling that forces he sensed only dimly were gradually coming closer.

15

ABOARD THE OSL ACHILLES

Mars, for Janeed at least, promised to be at best an anticlimax. At worst it might turn out to be a disaster. For starters, no one aboard the Achilles would be allowed to land. The ship would go no closer to the planet than synchronous orbit, seventeen thousand kilometers above the surface, and sit there and wait for a couple of days. They had detoured to Mars, so far as Jan could tell, for three unrelated reasons: to permit an official inspection of the engines; to collect another eight passengers outward bound for the Jovian system; and, the one that worried Jan, to pick up Dr. Bloom.

Why did Valnia Bloom want more meetings with Sebastian? You would think that with all the examinations, mental and physical, performed down on Earth and in orbit around Earth, everything that could be tested had been tested. Also, what did Dr. Bloom want with her? Jan had learned, only a couple of hours ago, that she too was scheduled for another session with the head of the Ganymede department of scientific research.

From that moment Jan had been in hold mode. Now she was staring down at the surface of the planet and simply waiting. The exhilaration that she had felt since leaving Earth was draining away, minute by minute. Valnia Bloom had boarded, and Sebastian was already meeting with her. Was there any way that, having come so far, Jan and Sebastian might be rejected and returned to Earth? She had wandered the ship, hoping to see Paul Marr and perhaps receive some reassurance that acceptance aboard the Achilles meant final approval for outbound colonists. He was nowhere to be found. She assumed that he was with the inspection engineers behind the bulkhead with its red-lettered no passengers sign.

The view of Mars offered no relief. The planet was enduring one of its periodic months-long dust storms, clouding the ruddy face almost to the poles. It was mid-morning down there, and Jan could make out — or imagine that she made out — the great crack of Valles Marineris. That was all. Mars had struggled back close to its prewar population of seventeen million people, but no one, seeing the world from Jan’s vantage point, would discern any evidence of their existence.

Suddenly, after waiting for what seemed like forever, she felt a touch on her elbow. It was Sebastian, moving, as usual, as silently as a cat. He dismissed the view from the port with a summary glance — No clouds! — and said, “Your turn.”

“With Dr. Bloom? What did she say to you? What did she want? How did everything go?”

“It was fine.” Sebastian smiled. “It was good.”

That was probably the best that Jan could get. She nodded, turned, and headed at maximum speed for the cabin where Valnia Bloom had set up a temporary office. When she came to the door, she hesitated. She didn’t want to seem worried or nervous. She smoothed her hair, waited for five seconds, then knocked and went in.

Valnia Bloom seemed as intense and anorexic as ever. She nodded to Jan, waved her to a chair, and said, “This shouldn’t take long.”

Probably she thought she was being reassuring. Her expression was anything but. Her next words were worse. “Janeed Jannex, you said in our earlier meeting that you had known Sebastian Birch for more than thirty years, since you were small children. To your knowledge, was he ever placed for any reason in an institution?”

“No!” The word burst out of Jan. All her life she had defended Sebastian, arguing that he was normal, covering for him when he did something especially weird, explaining away his lack of interest in conventional learning. And now, just when she thought all that was past, here it came again.

“He’s a little slow to catch on, that’s all,” she said. “But once he understands an idea, he has it forever.”

“I can very well believe that.” Valnia Bloom was studying a display, but it was tilted so that Jan could not see what was on it. “Did he ever have any form of brain surgery?”

“No.” Jan’s mind instantly popped up tumor. “He’s all right, isn’t he?”

“Physically, he is in very good shape. He would otherwise not be here on this ship. His brain scans, however, are unusual and show very lopsided mental activities. In addition to the odd neurotransmitter activity noted by Christa Matloff, there is extra tissue in one of the sulci. The functions of that tissue remain a mystery. And so far as his mental abilities are concerned, they too are unusual. There are elements of the classical idiot savant, although he does not fit easily into that category. His innate understanding of the complex dynamics of weather systems is, so far as I can tell, unprecedented. He says he can see, inside his head, how storms on Jupiter and Saturn are born and develop. More so, oddly enough, than the weather patterns on Earth.”

She frowned at the display for a long time, while Jan shivered inside and wondered, Why is she telling me all this?

“Nothing like an epileptic fit?” Valnia Bloom said at last. “No loss of physical control, or violent outbursts?”

“Never.” Jan wanted to laugh, the idea of violence from Sebastian was so preposterous. “He’s the best-natured man you’ll ever meet.”

“He is certainly the most phlegmatic.” Valnia Bloom was nodding, more to herself than to Jan. “I wanted to be sure that you were not in some way shielding Sebastian in ways that you preferred not to mention. I have a reason why this is important. I know that the two of you insist on being considered as a team, which is very unusual in people who are not sexual partners.”

“We’re not.”

“I know that.”

“We never have been. He’s like my brother.”

“Which is why I wanted to meet with you before taking any action. You came as a team. I understand and appreciate that. But would you accept it if I were to, so to speak, take Sebastian under my wing for awhile?”

“You mean — what do you mean?”

“I would like to work with him, and try to understand why he is different from other people. He would become one of my personal research projects. Oh, you two would still be together as much as you like, and see each other whenever you want. But you might not — almost certainly would not — be working side by side on a day-by-day basis. You would no longer be a team. I want to know, is this acceptable to you?”

It was, in a way, Jan’s oldest and dearest dream: a Sebastian who was valued for what he could do, rather than needing protection for what was strange or incomprehensible to him. But because Jan had filled her role for so long, she had to ask. “If ever Sebastian seems to be having difficulties—”

“You will be the first to know, and the first person called upon to help.”

“Then, yes. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity. Dr. Bloom, when you get to know him you’ll find that he’s the sweetest, most uncomplaining person on Earth — not just Earth, anywhere. I’m absolutely thrilled for Sebastian that this is happening. And thank you for what you are doing.”

Jan wanted to lean over and hug the stern, narrow-shouldered woman sitting across from her. She didn’t think that was likely to be appreciated. Instead, she had to be content with a smile that probably reached her ears.

“Don’t thank me.” Valnia Bloom reached forward and with an air of finality stabbed with one thin digit a key on the hidden display. Then she looked up, and actually smiled an answering smile. “Before you leave, Janeed Jannex, I want you to know that I am doing this not because, unlike Sebastian, I am the sweetest person on Earth, or anywhere in the System. I am doing this for my own selfish motives. I am as keen to study Sebastian Birch as you are to make sure that no one harms him. That is all.”