Chapter Twenty-Eight

“…She appears rarely, but when she does, the people all fall to their knees and then prostate themselves, all calling out, ‘Glory to Starflower! Glory, glory!’ For some this is sincere devotion to the Power that protects them, but for others the only motivation is fear, for they know that her anger can be terrible and her retribution swift if her followers dare to disobey…"

– from the tales of Atheron the Storyteller

Sixteen wakes had passed since Geste put Thaddeus into the stasis field, and at long last all twenty-eight of the immortals resident on Denner's Wreck were gathered aboard the Skyland. Both of Thaddeus’ unconscious bodies were safely tucked away in storage, the original still in stasis and the clone's needs being supplied by symbiotes and life-support machines. The other twenty-seven Powers were gathered in the Skyler's main lounge. Cheerful music played in the background.

Bredon, there at the insistence of Geste, Imp, and several of the former captives, made himself as inconspicuous as possible in a back corner.

“All right, Geste,” Lady Haze demanded, “what are we doing here? What's so important we had to come in person?"

“I wanted you all here in person so that there won't be anyone refusing to abide by the majority decision,” Geste replied.

“What majority decision?” Gold the Delver asked.

“One that we haven't made yet, but that I hope we will."

“All right,” Lord Carlov said, “get on with it; what decision do you want?"

“I have a bit of a speech I want to make first. Bear with me."

Several people shifted uncomfortably.

“Get on with it,” Hsin of the River called.

“I will.” Geste stepped up onto a floating table and began, “We came to Denner's Wreck on a holiday, came to get away from the problems of life in the mainstream of civilization. We came, and we settled down, and we've had a good time here, all in all-but we've been irresponsible as hell about it, and we've made a mess of the planet."

Several people stirred, but no one protested aloud.

“Not only that, we've done an incredible amount of harm to the people who were here before us. Thaddeus killed hundreds of them; I know Rawl has killed several, as well, in his self-appointed role as judge, jury, and executioner…"

“Only four, Geste,” Rawl interrupted. “Four in four hundred years, and all four were murderers several times over."

“All right, four. And I'm sure some of the rest of you have killed people here, accidentally or otherwise-haven't you?"

Again, several people shifted uncomfortably, but no one spoke.

“You've killed people,” Geste repeated. “Not animals, or plants, or machines, but people, as conscious and genetically human as any of us. We don't have any right to do that."

Several people did start to speak this time, Rawl among them, but Geste held up a hand and silenced them.

“I know all the arguments-they're just short-lifers, they're only losing a few years, they're so primitive that their lives aren't worth living, they deserve it. That's crap. They're people, and we have no business interfering with them."

“It's hard to avoid them, if we're going to live here at all,” Brenner remarked.

“Not that hard,” Geste replied. “The Skyler's avoided them all, and Shadowdark, and Arn and Hollingsworth don't see them very often, I'm sure."

“I don't, either,” commented Lady Haze.

Lord Hollingsworth mumbled, “Never hurt any when I did see them, either."

“Furthermore,” Geste went on, “even when we haven't killed them or messed up their lives directly, we've done it indirectly, just by being here and allowing ourselves to be seen."

“If you're talking about messing up lives, Geste…” Starflower began.

He held up a hand. “I know, I know, I've been guilty of plenty of interference myself-not up to your level, Starflower, but enough. No, too much. But let me finish. To these people, we're practically gods. They call us the Powers-you all know that. They credit Lady Sheila with controlling the weather and bringing the seasons; did you know that? Did you know that the Nymph is considered the goddess of erotic love? That Gold is lord of the underworld? That Sunlight is responsible for every flower that ever blooms? And Starflower here, who correctly admonishes me for my pranks, has been actively accepting their worship. We have completely screwed up the culture these people had when we arrived by allowing them to misinterpret us like this!"

“We didn't ask for this,” Starflower retorted.

“It's none of our business,” Lady Haze added.

“But it is our business, and at least one of us, Starflower, did ask for it-or do you claim that you never encouraged those ceremonies honoring you? We are responsible,” Geste insisted. “When we came here, we took a vote on whether or not to introduce modern technology to these people, whether to make any of them immortal or establish interstellar commerce, and we voted not to do any of that. Why? Because we had no right to interfere in their culture-that was what we said. Do you remember that?"

He glared around at them all, then continued, “That was what we said, but what we meant was that it wasn't our problem, that it was more fun to play demi-god and not worry about the poor savages. We interfered in their culture anyway. Hell, we didn't just interfere, we practically ruined it. We played God all over the place-and I was as bad as almost any of you, I admit it. We played at being gods while we preached noninterference. It's time to stop, now. It's gotten serious. One of us went berserk and killed hundreds of innocent people, and of all the rest of us, only three did anything-and even those three only got involved when Thaddeus threatened other immortals. He could have gone on killing people forever if he hadn't started interfering with us, couldn't he?"

He paused, and several people shifted uncomfortably. The Skyler's expression shifted from self-satisfaction, as she heard herself included in those who had helped, to uncertainty as she remembered how she had backed out toward the end.

“Well, it's time to stop the fun and games, people. Imp and Aulden and Sheila and I intend to take Mother and go back home, to get Thaddeus some psychological repair work-repairs that should have been done centuries ago, but which nobody wanted to get involved in. And when we get there, we're going to tell whatever authorities are concerned with this sort of thing that there's a planet here full of short-lifers who deserve better, and we're going to see that a proper development company is sent out here to Denner's Wreck to clean up our mess. Now, the rules of this little organization say that we need a majority vote to leave. We intend to get that majority vote right here and now, one way or the other."

The Skyler asked, “Do you expect all of us to go back?"

Geste looked at her, surprised not by the question, but by the source.

“Not necessarily,” he said. “You can stay if you like, but the terms will be a bit different. Mother won't be up there in orbit any more, to help out with long-range communications. And you had better not screw around with the locals any more, because starting right now, you'll be held accountable when we get some proper authority out here. These people have rights, and we'll see that they're protected. Which brings up another thing-I think it's high time that we started providing these people with some of the benefits of our presence, as well as the inconveniences. It's time we started giving them a little basic technology, improving their agriculture, their medicine, and so forth. Anyone who stays should plan on doing what he or she can to assist the short-lifers in the area."