The Price of Shadow
Part 1
A rivulet of sweat curled around her right shoulder blade and skittered down her
spine, puddling up and soaking into the fabric of her shirt just at the point
where the rope cinched it close to her waist. The slender woman tested the
tension on the lifeline again and dug her boots, one by one, into firmer spots
in the sandy soil. Convinced that the harness would hold, she removed one
gloved hand from the tether and used a forearm to wipe the salty beads from her
face. The leather of the gauntlet gave off its musk as she exercised cramped
fingers. Deep in ancient centers in her brain, the animal scent stirred a
primitive sense of danger. She glanced around her, even as she felt
embarrassment prickle at her cheeks. It would scarcely do for a scientist of
her training to be given to irrational impulses and urges. They were alone, she
knew, not only because the spot was remote and unattractive to tourists, but
also because only fools and archeologists would be out on the Kalahari in the
noonday sun.
Despite that searing heat, a shiver creased the skin on the back of Saada
Akirai's neck. Her body trembled slightly, perhaps chilled by an unexpected
breeze, perhaps shaking off an unexplained dread. Her hands found slack in the
rope, and fighting panic, drew back on the tether. A long sigh escaped her when
she felt tension, the sound of the exhalation startlingly loud on the silent
savanna. Aiyanna was making her way back up finally.
As she gathered in her partner's safety line, Saada wondered if their roles were
oddly reversed. Her life had been devoted to the study of xenoarcheology;
Aiyanna's studies were in planetary history and galactic civilizations. Somehow
the archeologist always seemed to wind up in the base camp, record keeping,
while the historian rigged up and went spelunking to find the next dig site.
Still, they had been friends since childhood, roommates at university, and their
lives at times seemed so intertwined as to be indistinguishable.
Two soles appeared in the entry to the tiny crevice, and Saada smiled at her
mental word play. Setting aside the coiled rope, she reached past the well-worn
climber's boots to grab hold of the safety harness and extricate her friend from
the narrow passage.
"You never can pick the easy ones, can you?" she teased, as the grimy body of
Aiyanna Trudeau sprawled back across the clay of the pan.
"Just be glad I'm not claustrophobic," the red-haired beauty gasped. She paused
a moment to quiet her breathing then pushed herself to her feet.
"So," Saada asked, rising with her, "what's it look like in there?"
Slowly, silently, a luminous smile spread across Aiyanna's face. "It's amazing,
Saa. Not a hundred feet in, the passage widens. I could crawl, almost stand in
some places. And then the tunnel ends."
"Ends? As in dead-end?"
"As in sheer cliff face drop, several hundred feet, straight down." She
flinched at the memory, a giggle squashing the fear. "But, Saa, down there,
there's something down there. Structures..."
"Rock formations."
"No, structures. Constructions, not accretions. There are signs of a
civilization down there. We have to dig."
"Aiyanna, don't be ridiculous. It's too far from the main site. Do you have
any idea what kind of funding we'd need to move camp here and start all over
again? There's no credible reason to believe we should begin a whole new
excavation out here."
Trudeau dipped long, slender fingers into the breast pocket of her shirt,
drawing back her hand with a graceful twist of the wrist. On her upturned palm
was a fragment of stone, its contours too complex to have been carved by nature,
its markings alien and inscribed. "How about this?" Aiyanna asked.
"You found it in there?"
The woman nodded. "There are more, Saa, lots more. I couldn't carry and crawl
back out, but that cavern is marked all up and down with this script, and so are
the structures below."
The young archeologist lifted the specimen gingerly, turning it over, examining
the markings. She had never seen their like.
"We need to go back to the university," she murmured.
"Good," Aiyanna replied, "that will make your brother happy." She climbed into
the ground car. "Let's go, woman! We've got work to do."
==========
Aiyanna navigated the ground car back to the main dig site at a pace that seemed
calculated to engender terror. It was almost enough to distract Saada from the
piece in her hand. Its runic markings had been carefully carved, their edges as
straight and clean as if cut by laser. The characters themselves were jagged,
asymmetric gashes with spiky embellishments. Studying them, she felt an
irritation stirring in her, a defensive annoyance without obvious cause. She
closed her hand around the rock and shook off her discomfort as the jeep jounced
to a halt.
There were things to be done if she was to leave the dig site for more than a
few hours. She concerned herself with delegating responsibility and giving
instructions, leaving it to Aiyanna to gather what belongings they needed to
take with them. She made no statements about the length of her absence or about
the reason for it. The runes on the stone fragment left imprints on the palm of
her hand as she kept it tightly concealed there.
The jeep was running by the time she finished with business. Aiyanna had thrown
two daypacks and a couple of canteens in the back and was waiting behind the
wheel. Saada had scarcely hoisted herself into the seat when the vehicle
lurched into motion.
"So, do we go straight to Mitchell to do a funding pitch?" Aiyanna asked when
they had cleared the outskirts of the camp.
"Are you joking? We can't begin to pitch this. We've got to research these
markings, check back through the records for other digs at or near this site,
scour the history books - your department, I might add - for some indication of
what civilizations were in this area and when. We've got a lot of homework to
do before we can talk to anyone about this."
"May I point out to you that we did most of that research before we started this
dig? The markings, yes, we need to check out, but if you don't recognize them,
and I don't recognize them..."
"Yes, fine. I don't think we're going to find these markings in any reference.
But we're talking about asking the university to authorize and fund another dig.
We've got to have our ducks in a row before we approach them or we'll get
laughed right out of the office."
"Hold it. We're not talking about a new dig. We're talking about moving the
dig. Yes, that will take some additional funding, and we're going to have to go
down deeper, obviously, which will mean heavy equipment."
"And you know that trying to run any tech out here is a problem and problems
cost. And we're not just moving the dig. We may be able to relocate the
workers and the equipment, but this isn't a related excavation, Yani. This
isn't related to anything." Her voice dropped as the last sentence escaped, and
though she knew her partner was looking over at her, she did not raise her eyes
from the object in her hand.
"Saa? Are you OK?"
A shudder ran through the dark beauty before she raised her head again. The
landscape of the savanna stretched on all sides of them, behind them the dusty
browns of the desert, here beside them, the honey and gold of dried grassland,
and off ahead the hints of green that signaled that the land grew capable of
supporting life. And over it all, the orange orb glared. The sun would be long
gone by the time they reached their destination; they could not yet even see the
city on the horizon.
"We've got a long ride, Yani." Saada reached back for her daypack and wrestled
out a pad and pen. "Tell me more about what you saw down there."
For several hours, Aiyanna recounted her observations while Saada recorded,
sketching maps of the crevice and the structures her friend described. She
prodded the conversation with questions, pushing for clarification, for detail,
as far as patience would allow. When Aiyanna's story was exhausted, Saada
continued to sketch, copying the runes on the stone in her hand, imagining what
strokes had carved them and what they might mean. Only when light failed did
she put away her pad. The stone she kept on the flat of her hand, as if some
mottled creature slept there.
The city was quiet when they reached their flat, the only activity in dreams and
shadows. They spoke in hushed voices of sleep, but Saada could not rest.
Abandoning her bed for her desk chair, she ordered a computer search of ancient
languages. How could she narrow this search when she did not know where to
begin? She decided, arbitrarily she knew, that this was not an alphabet but
rather a hieroglyphic system of communication. She called up known systems,
looking for resemblance. Nothing. She abandoned her hypothesis and searched
for alphabets, but there were so many and it was so late. Saada slept with her
head on her desk.
==========
When dawn roused her, she showered and dressed quickly. There was no reason to
leave a note for Aiyanna; she would know where Saada had gone, where Saada
always went when she had a puzzle to solve. With each footfall on the marble
steps that led to the university library, she mentally ticked off one step in
her plan of attack. She needed to date this thing, and determine how these
markings were carved. If they did prove to be related to a known language, she
would probably need help from a linguistics expert to get them translated. She
had to plan the dig, budget it, write up her proposals. Backing. She would
need to have support from others in the department, others whose opinions and
reputations carried more weight with the university than hers did. She halted
under the dome of the lobby. From the ground up. Geology first, she thought,
turning left.
She found her favorite table, and the one beside it, occupied. Two different
screens flickered in the library's subdued light, each reporting a different
computer search. Books - the old, print versions - lay here and there on the
tables, some open, their yellowed pages fluttering, others closed, stacked atop
one another or serving as paperweights. Spread across every available surface
were maps, huge, unwieldy, highly detailed representations of what even a quick
glance told her was not Earth. In the midst of it, a slender figure adjusted
oversized glasses and mumbled to himself.
"You're in my seat." It took a moment for Saada's remark to provoke any
reaction from Kijana Akirai and a moment more before he recognized the speaker
as his sister. The radiance of his smile embraced her even before he rose, long
arms spread wide to enfold her, moving round the table to greet her, upsetting
piles of papers along the way.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as she helped him collect the scattered
documents. "I thought you were on a dig?"
"I was." She handed him the last few sheets and dropped into a chair. "And
what are you doing here in rock hound territory?" she asked, surveying the
clutter.
"Oh, research." He sighed. "I don't think you can say anything intelligent
about economics unless you understand the industries that build that economy."
"So, in order to write about the economy of..." She looked more closely at the
maps. "...of Mars, you need to understand geology?"
"Mining, actually, but you can't make sense of that without some geology. "
She swiveled a stack of books around to read the spines. "KJ, some of these
ought to be reclassified as history, possibly ancient history. Twenty first
century geological surveys?"
"Just trying to understand what got Earth interested in the first place." He
collected some of his materials, stacking and organizing them, clearing a space
for his sister's work. "And what about you? What's dragged you back into town?
Couldn't resist the invitation to the President's reception?"
She winced. "We will have to go to that now, won't we?"
Kijana looked up from the vid screen that had distracted him. "We? Yani came
with you?"
As Saa nodded, he repeated his question. "What brings you here?"
The tremble in her voice shocked her as she explained. "Aiyanna found a cave,
really just a crevice, about a mile from the dig site."
The interruption had a tone of mingled concern and irritation. "Saa! You
didn't let her go down. You know that sandy soil..."
An upraised hand silenced her brother. "Yani's fine," she said, addressing what
she knew was his primary concern. "I wouldn't have let her go if it had been
sandy, but it was in the pan. And yes, I know everything you're going to tell
me about clay, and yes, we took all possible precautions." Kijana scowled but
allowed her to continue. "She found something, KJ, something that could be
major." She drew a small bundle from her daypack and unwrapped the stone. "She
was only able to bring out one sample, but if what she tells me is anywhere near
accurate, it could be a major new find."
"Strange markings. What are they?" He adjusted his glasses for a better look
at the object.
"If there's an answer to that question, it's one of the things I need to find
today," she replied. "I don't think we've ever seen it before, KJ, and yet
there it was, just a day's trip from the city."
"One stone, Saa." He shook his head skeptically. "It could be a couple of kids
with a secret code, or..." In answer, she slapped her notebook into his hand and
watched with a mischievous delight while he scanned the notes and sketches. A
long, low whistle was his only answer.
"I've got to get funding to go in there, Kijana."
"The university will never go for it. You're among the elite as it is because
they haven't pulled your current funding out from under you."
"I have to make them go for it, KJ. We have to get in there."
"You'd have more luck with commercial funding."
"Oh, no. I'm not handing the find of a lifetime over to IPX. This is mine."
He closed the notebook. "I would suggest, then, that you get to work on your
research. You're going to need to have answers to every question the finance
committee will ask and six they haven't thought of yet. You're going to need
more than one artifact and the account of a hallucinatory girl to convince
them."
"I'm telling Yani you said that."
"Tell my beloved anything you like. No matter how much we love her and trust
her, no matter how certain we are that she's an excellent, accurate reporter,
the committee will dismiss her account. I suggest you try to get back in there
and bring out some more hard evidence. And I also suggest," he said, tapping
the notebook against her knee, "that you take precautions to protect your
research, or you're likely to see your discovery turned into a tourist
attraction."
==========
"These are volatile times, Captain. Practicality is more important than
principles, if lives are to be saved. I'll expect to hear from you soon."
Captain John Sheridan waited for the image of Senator Elise Voudreau to
disappear from the Babcom screen before he allowed himself a scowl. He linked
through to Michael Garibaldi and asked the Security Chief to report to his
office. With a sullen sigh, he poured a fresh cup of coffee, but it did nothing
to wash away the bad taste that woman had left with him.
"You wanted to see me, Captain?" The voice from the doorway startled him.
Garibaldi always managed to do that, somehow, as though he was always lurking
around the corner, in the shadows.
"Thank you, Mr. Garibaldi, come in. Coffee?"
"Don't mind if I do, sir. Thanks."
Sheridan installed himself behind the desk and motioned Garibaldi to a chair.
"Michael, how much do you know about Mars?"
"We talking astronomically?" He didn't wait to see if Sheridan would smile.
"That's a rather open-ended question, Captain. I lived there, worked there, but
then, at least for a while, so did you. I became far too well acquainted with
far too many bars scattered under those domes, but I don't think you're looking
for a recommendation on the best Jovian sunspot. What is it you want to know,
Captain?"
Sheridan nodded. "Michael, I just had a call from Senator Voudreau." He pushed
on to quiet the annoyance in Garibaldi's face. "I don't like her either, and I
don't mind telling you I didn't like the content of the call. Still, if there's
any possibility of truth in what she says, we ought to check it out. I want
current information on the Mars Conglomerate, and on Future Corp."
"You want an economist, Captain. I'm a security specialist."
"You're an information specialist, Mr. Garibaldi. I've learned that much
already, and I've learned not to question how you come by that information."
Sheridan rose from his chair and moved around the desk. "What I want isn't
profit and loss sheets. Mars conglomerate, Future Corp, and the Free Mars
group. Give me a full report on all of them, and particularly any connections
Taro Isogi or Amanda Carter may have with them."
"Beggin' your pardon, Captain," Garibaldi said as he stood to face his
commanding officer, "but am I furnishing this information to you or to Senator
Voudreau?"
Sheridan smiled. "You do get right to it, don't you, Mr. Garibaldi?" He was
silent for a moment. "No, I'll have to say something to the Senator, but we'll
decide what's appropriate to share with her later. This stays here, Michael, on
Babylon 5."
"Yes, sir." The chirp of his link cut off further comment. "Garibaldi, go."
"Chief, we have a report of an assault, possible fatality. Blue seven. Med
team is scrambling. Ms. Winters was a witness."
"I'm on my way," Garibaldi replied, exchanging glances with Sheridan.
==========
"I hate this!" Saada Akirai's declaration lacked the vehemence to be more than
a plaintive wail.
"Don't whine, Saa." Aiyanna leaned closer to the bathroom mirror to apply her
mascara. "No one has ever died from formal wear."
The other woman sneered while trying to find her balance in high-heeled pumps.
"Tell me again why going to this reception is a good idea?"
"You're going to schmooze the people you need to back you on the new project.
I'm going to network for a job in a field I actually know something about. And
we're going to keep your brother out of those idealistic political arguments he
gets into at these things." At the sound of a chime, Aiyanna spun gracefully
away from the mirror and glided toward the door. "And that would be him now.
I'll get it. You almost ready?"
Saada only sighed. She examined herself in the mirror, fussed with a bit of
makeup until her patience evaporated, and declared herself done. Slowly,
carefully, she made her way to the living room.
"Ah! I shall have a beauty on each arm," Kijana teased on seeing her. She
envied the ease with which her brother carried off these social rituals. She
was far more comfortable in climbing boots and khaki.
The reception at the President's residence was a semi-annual event and something
of a command performance for any scholar who was hoping to have the university
fund research. Since that eliminated a very few independently wealthy Ph.D.s,
the crowd was thick by the time they arrived. Kijana introduced Saada and
Aiyanna to Mrs. Mitchell at the door, then pushed his way through the crowd to
find the bar. Their hostess, by now inured to compliments on a home that
belonged more to the university than to her, soon moved on to greet the next set
of arrivals. With no sign of Kijana, Saada scanned the crowd for a familiar
face.
"Doctor Akirai! Saada!" Her eyes followed the voice to a figure at the patio
door. "Over here."
She smiled and returned the wave from Emil Hutcheson. "Aiyanna, I've just
spotted Professor Hutcheson out on the patio," she whispered. "I'll be out
there, if KJ ever reappears." Her friend, already engaged in meeting and
greeting, nodded distractedly. It took several minutes to slither through the
clumps of people that separated her from Hutcheson, a trip punctuated by
greetings from faces she recognized but didn't remember.
"Well, now, we'd almost given up hope for you," Hutcheson joked as his raised
his glass to her. The cool night air on her face made her aware how flushed she
was, though whether from the exertion of fighting her way out here or from her
general discomfort at these affairs, she wasn't sure.
Hutcheson extended an arm to draw her into the group around him. She exchanged
greetings with several of the university's would-be celebrities before her old
professor began. "Senator, this is the young genius I've been telling you
about." As the gentle flush in her cheeks grew bright red, Saada followed his
glance to a slim brunette. "Saada Akirai, Senator Elise Voudreau." The
introduction was, from Saada's perspective at least, altogether unnecessary.
Elise Voudreau rarely let a week go by without finding a way to claim a sound
byte on the evening news.
"It's an honor to meet you, Senator," Saada lied as she accepted Voudreau's
handshake.
Her best politician's smile firmly in place, Voudreau gushed, "Emil has spent
the entire evening telling us how proud he is of his latest protégé. It's clear
you're going to set the field of xenoarcheology on fire."
"From your lips to God's ears," Saada replied, though she was fairly certain
that the Senator and God were not on speaking terms.
"Dr. Akirai has a regrettable streak of modesty that will cause her to dismiss
my superlatives," Hutcheson explained, "but she is one of the most talented
young scholars our department has seen in quite some time."
Saada tried to smile. "I do hope you'll remember that the next time we talk
about funding."
There was good-natured laughter all around before Hutcheson continued. "I'm not
a money man, thank goodness. I'd be crazed if I had to play that game. You
know I'll go to bat for you though, Saada, for whatever that's worth." He
turned to the senator. "She has an astonishing instinct, an intuition for the
work that's a gift, plain and simple. And she backs up her work with thorough
scholarship, in our own field and the supporting disciplines. I think that's
what impressed me most. Dr. Akirai has a multifaceted intelligence. She could
be a star in any field she chose. We're just lucky she chose ours."
The voice came from behind them. "Professor! And here I thought I was your
favorite student!" Saada was not convinced that the speaker was joking, but
Emil Hutcheson turned and greeted the stylishly dressed man with much the same
enthusiasm he had shown for her.
"Well, for heaven's sake! When did you get back to Earth? Last I heard you
were gallivanting all over the galaxy!" The dark-haired stranger offered no
response other than a thin smile, and his gaze never left Saada's face. "Come,
let me introduce you!" Hutcheson presented the man to Senator Voudreau, and
implicitly to the others, as Dr. Morden, a former student, one it was clear had
impressed the old man.
"It's a pleasure, Senator." Morden managed to nod to everyone in the group
without seeming to take his eyes from Voudreau's. "The professor is right. I
haven't been back planetside very long, but I must say I'm already well aware of
the wonderful work you've been doing." The practiced smile did not slip from
Elise Voudreau's face, but a shimmer of relaxation in her shoulders let Saada
know that Morden's flattery had successfully massaged the senator's ego.
"I suppose I should be annoyed that he left academia," Hutcheson explained,
"but Morden has done such brilliant work since he left us for IPX that I can't
hold a grudge. You two should get acquainted," he continued, waving his glass
between Morden and Saada. "Now, that would be a team!"
"Team? Are we choosing up sides?" Kijana appeared in the doorway, an angel
sent to save her from another uncomfortable situation. Aiyanna was with him,
and perhaps the greatest mercy, they had brought her a drink, some of which she
actually got to consume, since Hutcheson took over introductions.
"I warn you, Senator," Hutcheson concluded, "Dr. Akirai has a reputation around
campus as a most persuasive debater. Give him half a chance and he'll have you
joining Free Mars." There were polite, if nervous, titters.
"Well, I'm sure your rhetoric is impressive, Doctor, but I doubt that will be
happening. I am fascinated by your field of study, however, Ms. Trudeau.
Galactic civilizations?"
Aiyanna laughed charmingly. "In another era, it might have been called
anthropology, Senator, but as humans came to understand that they were not alone
in the universe, the field became much wider and the name no longer fit."
"And do you have an area of concentration within the field or do you literally
study the entire galaxy?" There were sputters of laughter from several in the
group, and Voudreau cast an irritated glance around her.
"I'm sorry, Senator," Aiyanna explained, "it's not you. There's an old joke in
the field about doing your concentration in Vorlon, because, of course, there's
nothing to do. Actually, I did concentrate my studies on Minbar, although I
confess we don't have a great deal more there than with the Vorlons. It is my
hope that with the new relationships being forged with both the Minbari
Federation and the Vorlon Empire through the Babylon Project, there may be new
opportunities for research, perhaps even a scholar exchange program."
"Would you seriously want to live among the Minbari?" Voudreau inquired.
"The best way to understand a people is to live among them, speak their
language, learn their customs," Aiyanna said. Voudreau's eyes narrowed in what
Saada thought might be anger or cunning.
"At least you can breathe their atmosphere," Hutcheson interjected. "Didn't I
hear that the Vorlons are methane breathers?"
Voudreau took the opportunity to lighten the mood. "Have your hearing checked,
Emil. I said the Vorlons were mean creatures not methane breathers." The
obligatory chuckles were interrupted by an officious male voice.
"Actually, all that we know is that the Babylon station was required to provide
quarters for the Vorlon ambassador which supported a methane-rich atmosphere.
We do not know if in fact the Vorlon respiratory system requires methane. The
ambassador has only been seen in an encounter suit, which may contain some sort
of breathing apparatus. We of course do not know what the Ambassador may do in
the privacy of his quarters."
"But I'll bet we've got a department somewhere working on that," Kijana quipped.
"Wesley, it's a party," Voudreau admonished the newcomer. "Try to pretend
you're off-duty." To the rest of the group, she said, "Have you met
Commissioner Paoletti?" The rigid little man nodded unsmilingly at each in
turn. "Wesley is part of the start-up team for the Ministry of Peace."
"Ministry of Peace?" Kijana asked, his brow furrowed.
"The objective of the Ministry of Peace," Paoletti explained, " is to help
humans find peace with themselves, so it will be easier to attain peace with
other planets. We will have a number of new programs beginning shortly toward
that end."
"I always thought helping people find peace with themselves was the job of
religion. Please don't tell me EarthGov is going into that business now too?"
Saada could tell from the stutter in her brother's voice that Aiyanna had just
elbowed him a warning.
Voudreau gave the silence just time enough to become awkward. "Wesley," she
said finally, "Ms. Trudeau has an interesting background. She sounds rather
like the kind of person your office is looking for." Most of the world would
not have seen any change in Kijana Akirai's expression, but his sister
recognized the little tremor in his jaw that meant he was not happy with this
turn of events.
"Is that so, Ms. Trudeau? Perhaps we could chat a bit." Wesley Paoletti's new
found charm was slippery enough to make Saada share her brother's concern. The
senator moved quickly to divert Kijana's attention from his fiancée, and
Hutcheson, seeing greener social fields in which to browse, wandered off,
leaving Saada alone with Morden.
She cast about for small talk. "I take it you were a student of Professor
Hutcheson, Dr. Morden?" Gradually they worked their way from the incredibly
obvious to the merely obvious things they had in common: favorite professors,
areas of specialization, years in academia. All the while she could hear
snippets of KJ's conversation with the senator. They spoke of Kijana's latest
research, which naturally led to debate about Martian independence initiatives.
While she tried to respond coherently to Dr. Morden's questions about her
research, she listened for any sign that her brother's conversation might be
growing heated. By the time she managed to frame a question about Morden's
work, the Senator's voice had grown strident.
Clumps of people around them grew silent as Voudreau accused Akirai of fomenting
terrorism. "I beg your pardon, Senator?" Akirai's question was hushed, the
barest impression of sound on breath.
"It is precisely this sort of glorification that feeds the blood lust of the
Free Mars faction." Wesley Paoletti moved quietly to the senator's left elbow,
leaving Aiyanna standing alone studying Kijana's face. "The very notion that
the agitation of these guerillas represents a movement serious enough to warrant
academic investigation is an insult to the patriots who gave their lives to
build Mars Colony."
Kijana was skilled at capitalizing on the dramatic moment, Saada knew, but the
pause he took now was several beats longer than she found comfortable. "I'm
sorry you feel that way, Senator," he said finally, his voice even. His body
was still, even the tiniest muscles frozen with control. "Personally, I believe
that as a free society we must have the right to investigate all the components
of our society, since it is only when we understand something that we can make
an intelligent judgment about its worth. It should be noted that the Free Mars
faction is only one manifestation of the call for an independent Mars, a call
that has been heard almost as long as there has been a Mars colony." He moved
an arm now, finally, and Saada felt herself relax with him. On the other side
of the patio, Aiyanna breathed again.
"Experience has shown, Doctor, that moving speeches about freedom often come
from the mouths of subversives." A slight turn of the head and a slow blink
were the only indication Akirai gave that the remark had come from Wesley
Paoletti. He returned his gaze to Senator Voudreau before responding.
"Humanity's progress has been fueled by the quest for freedom. And experience
has shown..." He waited a beat. "... that when we would rather label a speaker
than listen to his words, both peace and freedom are in jeopardy."
There was more to this argument, Saada knew. Paoletti's mouth was open to
respond but Voudreau laid a hand on his arm. Her stare lingered on Akirai a
moment, then wordlessly she crossed to the patio door where Kenneth Mitchell had
just appeared. Slowly, the groups scattered here and there on the patio
returned to quiet conversation. Mitchell and Voudreau vanished, and Aiyanna
moved to join Kijana.
Paoletti, off his leash, could not resist a parting shot. "The Ministry of
Peace exists to ensure that humans are free to live in peace. If you endanger
that peace, Doctor, all your rhetoric will not save you."
==========
Kijana Akirai pushed his glasses up and rubbed at his eyes. The bounce and bump
of the tube car's motion made it impossible for him to do the kind of close
reading he had planned in preparation for this meeting. He snapped the computer
off to save the power cell, and tipped his head back. Muscles in his neck
argued loudly with that decision, drowned out only by the scream of friction as
the car rounded a curve. Obviously, he would not sleep either.
It was clear to him by now that this line of the tube system did not rate the
new-technology, high-speed, low-noise bullet cars that zipped around the main
domes. That was probably fair, since the line served only as a shuttle to a
cluster of mining colonies. Daily traffic was minimal, evidenced by his current
isolation in the car. He guessed it got some use on the weekends when miners
went looking for strong drink and gentle company.
Now it carried a weary researcher to a series of pre-arranged meetings with site
managers and Mining Guild representatives. He smiled as he heard the echo of
Saada's exasperated challenge. She was probably right; what he needed to know
probably was in some database, or could be elicited in an interview over com
channels. But he couldn't help himself. Even as a child, he had needed to
understand things from the inside out, to experience them, not just read about
them. It was a peculiar frame of mind for an academic, and one that had driven
his teachers mad.
It was not that he didn't trust what he read. He had always loved to lose
himself in the ideas he found in his reading, fiction or philosophy, poetry or
politics. He would, if pressed, confess a fondness for print media, however
archaic it might seem. There was something about the weight of a book in your
hand, the dry crackle of the pages, the smell of the lifetimes of dust, and the
scribblings and dog-ears of those who had read before, that made the ideas feel
that much more real. Aiyanna would say too real.
His face darkened as he remembered their last conversation. She was furious
that he would pursue this line of research after the confrontation with Voudreau
and Paoletti, and his attempts to point out that he had not yet written his
paper and thus no one actually knew his thoughts on the matter did nothing to
defuse her anger. She was, he knew, simply worried about him, so in the end he
had tabled all he might have said about academic freedom and freedom in general,
and simply held her close.
He shook his head as if to clear away a dream when the grinding metal of the
brake system signaled the terminal. A short walk through the decrepit terminal
and down increasingly dingy streets led him to his first appointment. The
bustling Martian economy certainly wasn't bestowing its benefits on this area.
That realization Akirai mentally filed away for another investigation. He had
other questions right now.
The questions he put to the first site manager were factual ones about the
stages in the mining operation, the ore brought out, and the refining process.
They talked at some length about the problems of adapting earth processes to the
Martian environment and the advantages and disadvantages of the lower Martian
gravity. Akirai inquired about the competition among the various mining sites
both for resources and for market.
"That's one of the strange things about Mars, Doctor," explained the brawny man
across from him. "I started out in the mines on Earth. I was a digger, moved
up to foreman and then manager, before I transferred out here. On Earth, the
worst thing that can happen is to have a competing company try to work the same
territory. Everybody makes their stake, and except for a couple of bad boys,
everybody stays in their own backyard.
"Up here, it's like the Promised Land. You pull it out of the ground, and Mars
Conglomerate buys it. It's almost silly to use words like competition and
market. Anybody who wants to dig this planet is welcome, and you can sell as
much as you dig."
"Doesn't that depress prices?" Kijana's head tipped toward his shoulder as he
tried to determine if he was being sold a bill of goods.
"Price is set between Mars Conglomerate and the home office," the man explained.
"Doesn't change whether we just make quota or we double it."
"Who sets quota? And how, under those circumstances?"
"The smart boys in the home office wave their figures and formulas and charts
and graphs around, but for what I know, they could pull the number out of a hat.
I just know what my people can reasonably do. I figure my job is to take care
of them. There aren't a lot of people looking out for the miners, Doctor, but I
came up through the ranks and I know that if your people don't trust you, they
won't produce for you."
Kijana remembered the rundown character of the buildings he had passed, and for
a moment, he considered asking the manager about that, but he had other
appointments to get to, and this man had work to do. Akirai thanked him and
took his leave.
As he spoke with other site managers over the rest of the day, Akirai tested the
story he had heard that morning. One after another, the managers gave the same
report. Mars Conglomerate would buy as much as they could produce, standard
price, no questions.
"And this is true for all of your production? Not just for certain more
valuable minerals?"
"There's nothing particularly exotic in what we're bringing up, Doctor. Iron,
copper, selenium, tellurium, osbornite, antimony, arsenic."
"Arsenic?" Akirai's eyes widened.
The site manager laughed. "Yes, doctor, it is poisonous, but so are a great
many common substances. You read all those old murder mysteries as a kid,
didn't you?" Kijana acknowledged with an embarrassed smile. "Well, I wouldn't
worry about the arsenic, Doctor. Nowadays, if you want to poison someone you'd
look for one of the crazy cocktails the lab folk whip up. Designer drugs,
designer poisons."
Akirai thanked the man for his help, although it was an unsettling ending. In
the tube car on the way back to the hotel he tried to take stock of what he had
learned. More about the actual process of mining than he probably wanted to
know. A breakdown of the minerals Martian mining operations produced. Not as
much as he had hoped about the bankrolling of the operations. Questions that
needed to be asked about why the profits from this industry weren't showing up
in the workers' living conditions. And the clear message that the Martian
mining industry violated the common understanding of supply and demand.
All the managers had told him their production was purchased by Mars
Conglomerate. Perhaps the single buyer was causing the system to behave in ways
that resembled a monopoly rather than a free market. Still, a monolithic force
in the market would drive prices to its advantage, and didn't seem to be the
case.
Akirai flipped open his computer and made a note to call the offices of the Mars
Conglomerate. He needed to see the mining industry from their point of view.
Words triggered memory and memory triggered a smile. His own little
conglomerate would like him to understand their point of view. He made a note
to call Aiyanna and Saada.
==========
The concussion sent an explosion of sound echoing through the vault of the
reading room. On all sides, heads lifted and swiveled toward the source of the
crash, and near the door, the librarian on duty rose from his seat. Saada
Akirai, her face warm with anger and embarrassment, mouthed an apology and sank
into a chair. She slid the briefcase that had collided with the tabletop to one
side, braced her forearms on the table, and dropped her head down onto her arms.
Her morning had been spent with the finance committee, trying to convince them
to authorize the funding to move her current dig to the new location. It was
clear, even before she mentioned the heavy equipment that would be needed
because of the depth of the excavation, that she did not have a receptive
audience. She had done her homework, and had taken to heart KJ's admonition
that she needed more physical evidence to make her case. Unlike Aiyanna, she
was a bit claustrophobic, and a shudder ran through her again as she remembered
shimmying into that crevice. True to Aiyanna's account, the passage did widen,
however, and the contents were as astonishing as she had described, and more.
There were indeed structures and the suggestion that at least some of them might
be mechanized. The civilization they had stumbled on might be even more
advanced than they had originally thought.
The committee, however, cared about none of that. Anger prickled along her
spine and pulled her upright as she remembered the infuriating session. They
had scarcely looked at the artifacts she brought. Her written analysis sat
unopened on the table before them. The chair refused to allow her to present
visual materials to support her research and interrupted her in the middle of
her presentation. Professor Hutcheson had attended, as promised, but her hopes
that he might act as an advocate for her were misplaced. Her jaw tightened as
she remembered her mentor sitting in silence, refusing even to make eye contact
with her.
Clearly, the committee's negative response had been decided before she ever
began. She wasn't sure if she was angrier because they had refused to hear her
out or because she had wasted all that time in preparation when the subject was
already closed. Now here she was with no money and a briefcase full of rocks.
Saada shook herself physically to cast off the unpleasant daydream. Her left
hand slid across the leather of her briefcase. She had her rocks and she had
her research. Somewhere there was a funding source that would appreciate what
she had here. She snapped on the computer and set to finding it.
==========
"Dr. Akirai?" The voice pulled her gaze up from the vid screen. She squeezed
her eyes shut against the gritty burn of unvarying focus and unshed tears, then
opened them slowly to find a dark figure over her, silhouetted by the skylight
above. Saada rose quickly, less in courtesy than in defense. As the change in
their relative positions eliminated the backlighting, she recognized the man
from the president's reception.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Morden," she said. The automatic 'nice to see you again'
got trapped in the clawing discomfort in her gut and never made it out.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your work, Doctor, but I wonder if there is a time that
we might talk?" Saada hesitated. "About your latest project?"
"My project, Doctor Morden?"
"I hope you won't think he was betraying a secret, Doctor, but Professor
Hutcheson told me you have an interesting new find. He indicated that you were
seeking funding for what could be an exciting new dig."
Skepticism and anger mingled to leave a sour taste in Saada's mouth. She forced
a swallow and then spoke. "Well, it looks like that project is going nowhere
fast, Doctor." As her hand caressed the computer, she looked down to rub away
an imaginary smudge. "The university will not fund me," she said, straightening
her shoulders and meeting his glance squarely, "and I've exhausted just about
every source of funds without success."
"Not every source, Doctor. That's why I'm here. I believe my associates and I
may be able to help you find the funding you need."
Saada's next breath jumped from her lungs, a snort of thinly veiled disgust.
"With all due respect, Doctor, I'm not ready to turn this over to IPX. This is
still a research excavation, not a commercial salvage."
A specter of a smile slid up Morden's face and crinkled his eyes. "I understand
your reluctance, Doctor. The corporation has at times been, shall we say,
overeager. I'm not suggesting Interplanetary Expeditions as a source of
funding. They would want to control the operation, and I'm certain that was not
what you had in mind.
"No, Doctor, I'm suggesting more of a private investment situation. My
associates would be willing to provide seed money, enough support to set up the
preliminary dig and determine if extended excavation is warranted."
"Who decides that?"
"Obviously, my associates would determine whether they were willing to commit
further funds, but if they chose not to do so, you could, of course, then seek
other funding."
"And the materials taken from the site during that preliminary dig? To whom do
they belong?"
"I would hope that eventually any materials of value would become the property
of a reputable museum." His smile chilled her. "But in the shorter term, they
would be yours, of course."
"You do realize that even a preliminary excavation is going to have to be a deep
dig. We'll need heavy machinery, engineering..."
"I'm certain that your budget will be adequate, Doctor. Do I take it that you
are interested?"
Saada's galloping brain balked, sending her imagination somersaulting over her
conscious mind. Her eyes searched Morden's face as though some clarification
might be found there.
"Do you have a proposal, Doctor?" Morden went on without waiting for her reply.
"Something I might show my associates?"
Startled out of her paralysis, Saada glanced to the briefcase still bulging with
documents for the morning's presentation. "I do, Doctor. But tell me a bit
more about your associates."
"Private investors, as I said, Doctor, and they prefer to remain in the
background. Silent partners, if you will."
"You use the plural, Doctor Morden. You represent more than one individual?"
"Yes. A consortium, you might call it."
"Earth based?"
Morden's head pulsed to the left, his eyes leaving hers for the first time. A
rapid, almost imperceptible movement, it might have passed as a nervous tic in a
man less unctuous. "My associates are spread all over known space, Doctor.
They have, as a group, no allegiance to any of the known races, and so no bias -
positive or negative - in choosing worthwhile investments."
"May I ask where else they've made investments, Doctor? And why you think they
would be interested in my work?"
The tic again. "Most recently, on Centauri Prime, Doctor, but you must
understand that in order to maintain their privacy, I'm not at liberty to give
full details." He waited for her to force the expected smile before continuing.
"As for your work, that is why they retain me. My associates put great faith in
my recommendations, Doctor. Please understand that the proposal is a mere
formality. You have your funding."
Saada Akirai rummaged in her briefcase and extracted a copy of the proposal,
which Morden accepted with thanks. He left her there in the library, but not
before assuring her again that she had the funding she needed. Alone, Saada
dropped into her chair. As she watched Morden depart, the air around him seemed
to shimmer, like the heat mirages out on the savanna. She rubbed at tired eyes,
snapped off the computer, and wondered what had happened to her enthusiasm.
==========
"How can I help you, Doctor?" The bureaucrat who greeted Kijana Akirai managed
to put an edge of contempt on the title. Akirai took a long breath to quiet his
defensiveness.
"Thank you for seeing me, Mister Conrad. I'll try not to take too much of your
time." Conrad had no comment. "I'm trying to understand the dynamics of the
Martian mining industry," Kijana explained, filling the silence. "This is part
of a larger piece of research, and I just have a couple of questions." Nothing.
"I understand that Mars Conglomerate buys the output of all the mining
operations on the planet." A nod. Progress. "And is it true that the
conglomerate purchases all the ore produced, regardless of the amount?"
"Yes." Conrad exhibited a stillness that Akirai thought should only be possible
under meditation or medication.
"Is the ... How is conglomerate able to process all the ore that's produced?"
Avoid yes/no questions.
"Resources are limited here on Mars, Doctor. We're grateful for whatever can be
found."
Stock answer. "So then the processed minerals are used here on Mars?"
"No, not all of them."
"Which are used here, Mister Conrad, and which are sent off-planet? And, if I
may ask, where do they go?" Wear yourself out, Conrad.
"The ore is processed here on Mars. Companies within the conglomerate refine
the ore into seven distinct mineral elements: iron, copper, selenium, tellurium,
osbornite, antimony, and arsenic. Each of the elements finds its way into the
production of manufactured goods that improve the quality of life here on Mars,
at home on Earth, and on other colonies."
Akirai was certain he had read those exact words in one of the brochures in the
waiting room. "Could you be a bit more specific, Mr. Conrad? Are there certain
minerals that stay here on Mars and others that are exported? Or do you export
your surplus in all categories?"
"I beg your pardon?"
Check the teleprompter, Conrad. It wasn't that hard a question. "Is it
directed processing?" Akirai clarified. "Does all the selenium, say, go to
earth, and the arsenic to Proxima? Or does Mars take what it needs and then
sell off the rest?"
"It would not be appropriate for me to reveal the conglomerate's accountings,
Doctor."
"I'm not asking for the numbers, Mr. Conrad, just an idea of the game plan.
Let's take, I don't know, osbornite. Is it earmarked in advance for export?"
"Why do you ask?" Kijana's explanation froze somewhere between brain and
tongue. Conrad wasn't just obtuse; he was deliberately avoiding the question.
Passivity was giving way to rigidity in Conrad's demeanor, and forcing the issue
would yield nothing.
"No reason. On another subject, Mr. Conrad, could you give me a breakdown of
the individual companies within the conglomerate?" That question was apparently
in the man's script. Conrad set off on a romp through a well-practiced PR
recitation about each of the Mars Conglomerate members. Pulling out his
notepad, Akirai mimed intense interest.
"You mentioned Demeter & VerDien, Mr. Conrad. Am I correct that they run the
largest refinery here on Mars?" Conrad responded affirmatively. "Would it be
reasonable to think then that a great deal of the refining of ore from the
Martian mines is done by D & V?" Akirai waited while Conrad did another
promotional recitation for D & V. "Do they process the arsenic?"
Conrad looked startled. "Why, yes."
"You'll have to forgive me, Mr. Conrad. I'm like a little boy sometimes. But
when I was growing up I read a lot of old mystery stories in which arsenic was
used to poison people - illegally, of course." He smiled, but Conrad did not
join him. "I've always wondered. What is arsenic used for, legally, I mean?"
"Actually," Conrad said, with the faintest trace of a smug smile, "the principle
uses of arsenic in our era are in the production of pharmaceuticals."
Akirai consulted his notes. "That would be Edgars Industries then?" He waited
while Conrad did his recitation on Edgars. "So Edgars gets all the arsenic?"
He waited for the nod. "But what did you tell me about the copper?" He paged
through non-existent notes. "Does that go to Edgars too?"
"No, no. Earth is the principal consumer of copper."
"So arsenic to Edgars, copper to earth, and tellurium is divided, am I right on
that?" Another nod. "I think I have this now. Oh, I did have one other
question, if I may?"
Conrad's tranquility returned. Akirai decided he had seen a nod and pressed on.
"In a market where Mars Conglomerate is the only buyer, Mr. Conrad, why is the
conglomerate willing to pay the same rate at all times? Why create a situation
of unlimited demand? And having created it, why not allow the price to float
with supply?"
A true smile spread across Conrad's face, the kind of smile that a seasoned
bureaucrat reserved for those moments of perfect beauty when he could pass the
buck. "You will have to speak with EarthGov about that, Doctor. Rates are
reviewed by a commission every five years. We have no say in that."
Recognizing his cue, Akirai rose to take his leave. He gathered up his
briefcase, tucking it under his left arm. With his pad still clutched in one
hand, he gripped his pen with his teeth, freeing a hand long enough to balance
his coat over one shoulder. "Fank you," he pulled the pen from his mouth,
"thank you, Mr. Conrad. This has been so helpful." He rustled through the
notebook as Conrad escorted him to the outer office. "Arsenic to Edgars, copper
to earth. And where did we say osbornite went?"
"Good day, Doctor. If you'll excuse me, I have another appointment."
Part 1
A rivulet of sweat curled around her right shoulder blade and skittered down her
spine, puddling up and soaking into the fabric of her shirt just at the point
where the rope cinched it close to her waist. The slender woman tested the
tension on the lifeline again and dug her boots, one by one, into firmer spots
in the sandy soil. Convinced that the harness would hold, she removed one
gloved hand from the tether and used a forearm to wipe the salty beads from her
face. The leather of the gauntlet gave off its musk as she exercised cramped
fingers. Deep in ancient centers in her brain, the animal scent stirred a
primitive sense of danger. She glanced around her, even as she felt
embarrassment prickle at her cheeks. It would scarcely do for a scientist of
her training to be given to irrational impulses and urges. They were alone, she
knew, not only because the spot was remote and unattractive to tourists, but
also because only fools and archeologists would be out on the Kalahari in the
noonday sun.
Despite that searing heat, a shiver creased the skin on the back of Saada
Akirai's neck. Her body trembled slightly, perhaps chilled by an unexpected
breeze, perhaps shaking off an unexplained dread. Her hands found slack in the
rope, and fighting panic, drew back on the tether. A long sigh escaped her when
she felt tension, the sound of the exhalation startlingly loud on the silent
savanna. Aiyanna was making her way back up finally.
As she gathered in her partner's safety line, Saada wondered if their roles were
oddly reversed. Her life had been devoted to the study of xenoarcheology;
Aiyanna's studies were in planetary history and galactic civilizations. Somehow
the archeologist always seemed to wind up in the base camp, record keeping,
while the historian rigged up and went spelunking to find the next dig site.
Still, they had been friends since childhood, roommates at university, and their
lives at times seemed so intertwined as to be indistinguishable.
Two soles appeared in the entry to the tiny crevice, and Saada smiled at her
mental word play. Setting aside the coiled rope, she reached past the well-worn
climber's boots to grab hold of the safety harness and extricate her friend from
the narrow passage.
"You never can pick the easy ones, can you?" she teased, as the grimy body of
Aiyanna Trudeau sprawled back across the clay of the pan.
"Just be glad I'm not claustrophobic," the red-haired beauty gasped. She paused
a moment to quiet her breathing then pushed herself to her feet.
"So," Saada asked, rising with her, "what's it look like in there?"
Slowly, silently, a luminous smile spread across Aiyanna's face. "It's amazing,
Saa. Not a hundred feet in, the passage widens. I could crawl, almost stand in
some places. And then the tunnel ends."
"Ends? As in dead-end?"
"As in sheer cliff face drop, several hundred feet, straight down." She
flinched at the memory, a giggle squashing the fear. "But, Saa, down there,
there's something down there. Structures..."
"Rock formations."
"No, structures. Constructions, not accretions. There are signs of a
civilization down there. We have to dig."
"Aiyanna, don't be ridiculous. It's too far from the main site. Do you have
any idea what kind of funding we'd need to move camp here and start all over
again? There's no credible reason to believe we should begin a whole new
excavation out here."
Trudeau dipped long, slender fingers into the breast pocket of her shirt,
drawing back her hand with a graceful twist of the wrist. On her upturned palm
was a fragment of stone, its contours too complex to have been carved by nature,
its markings alien and inscribed. "How about this?" Aiyanna asked.
"You found it in there?"
The woman nodded. "There are more, Saa, lots more. I couldn't carry and crawl
back out, but that cavern is marked all up and down with this script, and so are
the structures below."
The young archeologist lifted the specimen gingerly, turning it over, examining
the markings. She had never seen their like.
"We need to go back to the university," she murmured.
"Good," Aiyanna replied, "that will make your brother happy." She climbed into
the ground car. "Let's go, woman! We've got work to do."
==========
Aiyanna navigated the ground car back to the main dig site at a pace that seemed
calculated to engender terror. It was almost enough to distract Saada from the
piece in her hand. Its runic markings had been carefully carved, their edges as
straight and clean as if cut by laser. The characters themselves were jagged,
asymmetric gashes with spiky embellishments. Studying them, she felt an
irritation stirring in her, a defensive annoyance without obvious cause. She
closed her hand around the rock and shook off her discomfort as the jeep jounced
to a halt.
There were things to be done if she was to leave the dig site for more than a
few hours. She concerned herself with delegating responsibility and giving
instructions, leaving it to Aiyanna to gather what belongings they needed to
take with them. She made no statements about the length of her absence or about
the reason for it. The runes on the stone fragment left imprints on the palm of
her hand as she kept it tightly concealed there.
The jeep was running by the time she finished with business. Aiyanna had thrown
two daypacks and a couple of canteens in the back and was waiting behind the
wheel. Saada had scarcely hoisted herself into the seat when the vehicle
lurched into motion.
"So, do we go straight to Mitchell to do a funding pitch?" Aiyanna asked when
they had cleared the outskirts of the camp.
"Are you joking? We can't begin to pitch this. We've got to research these
markings, check back through the records for other digs at or near this site,
scour the history books - your department, I might add - for some indication of
what civilizations were in this area and when. We've got a lot of homework to
do before we can talk to anyone about this."
"May I point out to you that we did most of that research before we started this
dig? The markings, yes, we need to check out, but if you don't recognize them,
and I don't recognize them..."
"Yes, fine. I don't think we're going to find these markings in any reference.
But we're talking about asking the university to authorize and fund another dig.
We've got to have our ducks in a row before we approach them or we'll get
laughed right out of the office."
"Hold it. We're not talking about a new dig. We're talking about moving the
dig. Yes, that will take some additional funding, and we're going to have to go
down deeper, obviously, which will mean heavy equipment."
"And you know that trying to run any tech out here is a problem and problems
cost. And we're not just moving the dig. We may be able to relocate the
workers and the equipment, but this isn't a related excavation, Yani. This
isn't related to anything." Her voice dropped as the last sentence escaped, and
though she knew her partner was looking over at her, she did not raise her eyes
from the object in her hand.
"Saa? Are you OK?"
A shudder ran through the dark beauty before she raised her head again. The
landscape of the savanna stretched on all sides of them, behind them the dusty
browns of the desert, here beside them, the honey and gold of dried grassland,
and off ahead the hints of green that signaled that the land grew capable of
supporting life. And over it all, the orange orb glared. The sun would be long
gone by the time they reached their destination; they could not yet even see the
city on the horizon.
"We've got a long ride, Yani." Saada reached back for her daypack and wrestled
out a pad and pen. "Tell me more about what you saw down there."
For several hours, Aiyanna recounted her observations while Saada recorded,
sketching maps of the crevice and the structures her friend described. She
prodded the conversation with questions, pushing for clarification, for detail,
as far as patience would allow. When Aiyanna's story was exhausted, Saada
continued to sketch, copying the runes on the stone in her hand, imagining what
strokes had carved them and what they might mean. Only when light failed did
she put away her pad. The stone she kept on the flat of her hand, as if some
mottled creature slept there.
The city was quiet when they reached their flat, the only activity in dreams and
shadows. They spoke in hushed voices of sleep, but Saada could not rest.
Abandoning her bed for her desk chair, she ordered a computer search of ancient
languages. How could she narrow this search when she did not know where to
begin? She decided, arbitrarily she knew, that this was not an alphabet but
rather a hieroglyphic system of communication. She called up known systems,
looking for resemblance. Nothing. She abandoned her hypothesis and searched
for alphabets, but there were so many and it was so late. Saada slept with her
head on her desk.
==========
When dawn roused her, she showered and dressed quickly. There was no reason to
leave a note for Aiyanna; she would know where Saada had gone, where Saada
always went when she had a puzzle to solve. With each footfall on the marble
steps that led to the university library, she mentally ticked off one step in
her plan of attack. She needed to date this thing, and determine how these
markings were carved. If they did prove to be related to a known language, she
would probably need help from a linguistics expert to get them translated. She
had to plan the dig, budget it, write up her proposals. Backing. She would
need to have support from others in the department, others whose opinions and
reputations carried more weight with the university than hers did. She halted
under the dome of the lobby. From the ground up. Geology first, she thought,
turning left.
She found her favorite table, and the one beside it, occupied. Two different
screens flickered in the library's subdued light, each reporting a different
computer search. Books - the old, print versions - lay here and there on the
tables, some open, their yellowed pages fluttering, others closed, stacked atop
one another or serving as paperweights. Spread across every available surface
were maps, huge, unwieldy, highly detailed representations of what even a quick
glance told her was not Earth. In the midst of it, a slender figure adjusted
oversized glasses and mumbled to himself.
"You're in my seat." It took a moment for Saada's remark to provoke any
reaction from Kijana Akirai and a moment more before he recognized the speaker
as his sister. The radiance of his smile embraced her even before he rose, long
arms spread wide to enfold her, moving round the table to greet her, upsetting
piles of papers along the way.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as she helped him collect the scattered
documents. "I thought you were on a dig?"
"I was." She handed him the last few sheets and dropped into a chair. "And
what are you doing here in rock hound territory?" she asked, surveying the
clutter.
"Oh, research." He sighed. "I don't think you can say anything intelligent
about economics unless you understand the industries that build that economy."
"So, in order to write about the economy of..." She looked more closely at the
maps. "...of Mars, you need to understand geology?"
"Mining, actually, but you can't make sense of that without some geology. "
She swiveled a stack of books around to read the spines. "KJ, some of these
ought to be reclassified as history, possibly ancient history. Twenty first
century geological surveys?"
"Just trying to understand what got Earth interested in the first place." He
collected some of his materials, stacking and organizing them, clearing a space
for his sister's work. "And what about you? What's dragged you back into town?
Couldn't resist the invitation to the President's reception?"
She winced. "We will have to go to that now, won't we?"
Kijana looked up from the vid screen that had distracted him. "We? Yani came
with you?"
As Saa nodded, he repeated his question. "What brings you here?"
The tremble in her voice shocked her as she explained. "Aiyanna found a cave,
really just a crevice, about a mile from the dig site."
The interruption had a tone of mingled concern and irritation. "Saa! You
didn't let her go down. You know that sandy soil..."
An upraised hand silenced her brother. "Yani's fine," she said, addressing what
she knew was his primary concern. "I wouldn't have let her go if it had been
sandy, but it was in the pan. And yes, I know everything you're going to tell
me about clay, and yes, we took all possible precautions." Kijana scowled but
allowed her to continue. "She found something, KJ, something that could be
major." She drew a small bundle from her daypack and unwrapped the stone. "She
was only able to bring out one sample, but if what she tells me is anywhere near
accurate, it could be a major new find."
"Strange markings. What are they?" He adjusted his glasses for a better look
at the object.
"If there's an answer to that question, it's one of the things I need to find
today," she replied. "I don't think we've ever seen it before, KJ, and yet
there it was, just a day's trip from the city."
"One stone, Saa." He shook his head skeptically. "It could be a couple of kids
with a secret code, or..." In answer, she slapped her notebook into his hand and
watched with a mischievous delight while he scanned the notes and sketches. A
long, low whistle was his only answer.
"I've got to get funding to go in there, Kijana."
"The university will never go for it. You're among the elite as it is because
they haven't pulled your current funding out from under you."
"I have to make them go for it, KJ. We have to get in there."
"You'd have more luck with commercial funding."
"Oh, no. I'm not handing the find of a lifetime over to IPX. This is mine."
He closed the notebook. "I would suggest, then, that you get to work on your
research. You're going to need to have answers to every question the finance
committee will ask and six they haven't thought of yet. You're going to need
more than one artifact and the account of a hallucinatory girl to convince
them."
"I'm telling Yani you said that."
"Tell my beloved anything you like. No matter how much we love her and trust
her, no matter how certain we are that she's an excellent, accurate reporter,
the committee will dismiss her account. I suggest you try to get back in there
and bring out some more hard evidence. And I also suggest," he said, tapping
the notebook against her knee, "that you take precautions to protect your
research, or you're likely to see your discovery turned into a tourist
attraction."
==========
"These are volatile times, Captain. Practicality is more important than
principles, if lives are to be saved. I'll expect to hear from you soon."
Captain John Sheridan waited for the image of Senator Elise Voudreau to
disappear from the Babcom screen before he allowed himself a scowl. He linked
through to Michael Garibaldi and asked the Security Chief to report to his
office. With a sullen sigh, he poured a fresh cup of coffee, but it did nothing
to wash away the bad taste that woman had left with him.
"You wanted to see me, Captain?" The voice from the doorway startled him.
Garibaldi always managed to do that, somehow, as though he was always lurking
around the corner, in the shadows.
"Thank you, Mr. Garibaldi, come in. Coffee?"
"Don't mind if I do, sir. Thanks."
Sheridan installed himself behind the desk and motioned Garibaldi to a chair.
"Michael, how much do you know about Mars?"
"We talking astronomically?" He didn't wait to see if Sheridan would smile.
"That's a rather open-ended question, Captain. I lived there, worked there, but
then, at least for a while, so did you. I became far too well acquainted with
far too many bars scattered under those domes, but I don't think you're looking
for a recommendation on the best Jovian sunspot. What is it you want to know,
Captain?"
Sheridan nodded. "Michael, I just had a call from Senator Voudreau." He pushed
on to quiet the annoyance in Garibaldi's face. "I don't like her either, and I
don't mind telling you I didn't like the content of the call. Still, if there's
any possibility of truth in what she says, we ought to check it out. I want
current information on the Mars Conglomerate, and on Future Corp."
"You want an economist, Captain. I'm a security specialist."
"You're an information specialist, Mr. Garibaldi. I've learned that much
already, and I've learned not to question how you come by that information."
Sheridan rose from his chair and moved around the desk. "What I want isn't
profit and loss sheets. Mars conglomerate, Future Corp, and the Free Mars
group. Give me a full report on all of them, and particularly any connections
Taro Isogi or Amanda Carter may have with them."
"Beggin' your pardon, Captain," Garibaldi said as he stood to face his
commanding officer, "but am I furnishing this information to you or to Senator
Voudreau?"
Sheridan smiled. "You do get right to it, don't you, Mr. Garibaldi?" He was
silent for a moment. "No, I'll have to say something to the Senator, but we'll
decide what's appropriate to share with her later. This stays here, Michael, on
Babylon 5."
"Yes, sir." The chirp of his link cut off further comment. "Garibaldi, go."
"Chief, we have a report of an assault, possible fatality. Blue seven. Med
team is scrambling. Ms. Winters was a witness."
"I'm on my way," Garibaldi replied, exchanging glances with Sheridan.
==========
"I hate this!" Saada Akirai's declaration lacked the vehemence to be more than
a plaintive wail.
"Don't whine, Saa." Aiyanna leaned closer to the bathroom mirror to apply her
mascara. "No one has ever died from formal wear."
The other woman sneered while trying to find her balance in high-heeled pumps.
"Tell me again why going to this reception is a good idea?"
"You're going to schmooze the people you need to back you on the new project.
I'm going to network for a job in a field I actually know something about. And
we're going to keep your brother out of those idealistic political arguments he
gets into at these things." At the sound of a chime, Aiyanna spun gracefully
away from the mirror and glided toward the door. "And that would be him now.
I'll get it. You almost ready?"
Saada only sighed. She examined herself in the mirror, fussed with a bit of
makeup until her patience evaporated, and declared herself done. Slowly,
carefully, she made her way to the living room.
"Ah! I shall have a beauty on each arm," Kijana teased on seeing her. She
envied the ease with which her brother carried off these social rituals. She
was far more comfortable in climbing boots and khaki.
The reception at the President's residence was a semi-annual event and something
of a command performance for any scholar who was hoping to have the university
fund research. Since that eliminated a very few independently wealthy Ph.D.s,
the crowd was thick by the time they arrived. Kijana introduced Saada and
Aiyanna to Mrs. Mitchell at the door, then pushed his way through the crowd to
find the bar. Their hostess, by now inured to compliments on a home that
belonged more to the university than to her, soon moved on to greet the next set
of arrivals. With no sign of Kijana, Saada scanned the crowd for a familiar
face.
"Doctor Akirai! Saada!" Her eyes followed the voice to a figure at the patio
door. "Over here."
She smiled and returned the wave from Emil Hutcheson. "Aiyanna, I've just
spotted Professor Hutcheson out on the patio," she whispered. "I'll be out
there, if KJ ever reappears." Her friend, already engaged in meeting and
greeting, nodded distractedly. It took several minutes to slither through the
clumps of people that separated her from Hutcheson, a trip punctuated by
greetings from faces she recognized but didn't remember.
"Well, now, we'd almost given up hope for you," Hutcheson joked as his raised
his glass to her. The cool night air on her face made her aware how flushed she
was, though whether from the exertion of fighting her way out here or from her
general discomfort at these affairs, she wasn't sure.
Hutcheson extended an arm to draw her into the group around him. She exchanged
greetings with several of the university's would-be celebrities before her old
professor began. "Senator, this is the young genius I've been telling you
about." As the gentle flush in her cheeks grew bright red, Saada followed his
glance to a slim brunette. "Saada Akirai, Senator Elise Voudreau." The
introduction was, from Saada's perspective at least, altogether unnecessary.
Elise Voudreau rarely let a week go by without finding a way to claim a sound
byte on the evening news.
"It's an honor to meet you, Senator," Saada lied as she accepted Voudreau's
handshake.
Her best politician's smile firmly in place, Voudreau gushed, "Emil has spent
the entire evening telling us how proud he is of his latest protégé. It's clear
you're going to set the field of xenoarcheology on fire."
"From your lips to God's ears," Saada replied, though she was fairly certain
that the Senator and God were not on speaking terms.
"Dr. Akirai has a regrettable streak of modesty that will cause her to dismiss
my superlatives," Hutcheson explained, "but she is one of the most talented
young scholars our department has seen in quite some time."
Saada tried to smile. "I do hope you'll remember that the next time we talk
about funding."
There was good-natured laughter all around before Hutcheson continued. "I'm not
a money man, thank goodness. I'd be crazed if I had to play that game. You
know I'll go to bat for you though, Saada, for whatever that's worth." He
turned to the senator. "She has an astonishing instinct, an intuition for the
work that's a gift, plain and simple. And she backs up her work with thorough
scholarship, in our own field and the supporting disciplines. I think that's
what impressed me most. Dr. Akirai has a multifaceted intelligence. She could
be a star in any field she chose. We're just lucky she chose ours."
The voice came from behind them. "Professor! And here I thought I was your
favorite student!" Saada was not convinced that the speaker was joking, but
Emil Hutcheson turned and greeted the stylishly dressed man with much the same
enthusiasm he had shown for her.
"Well, for heaven's sake! When did you get back to Earth? Last I heard you
were gallivanting all over the galaxy!" The dark-haired stranger offered no
response other than a thin smile, and his gaze never left Saada's face. "Come,
let me introduce you!" Hutcheson presented the man to Senator Voudreau, and
implicitly to the others, as Dr. Morden, a former student, one it was clear had
impressed the old man.
"It's a pleasure, Senator." Morden managed to nod to everyone in the group
without seeming to take his eyes from Voudreau's. "The professor is right. I
haven't been back planetside very long, but I must say I'm already well aware of
the wonderful work you've been doing." The practiced smile did not slip from
Elise Voudreau's face, but a shimmer of relaxation in her shoulders let Saada
know that Morden's flattery had successfully massaged the senator's ego.
"I suppose I should be annoyed that he left academia," Hutcheson explained,
"but Morden has done such brilliant work since he left us for IPX that I can't
hold a grudge. You two should get acquainted," he continued, waving his glass
between Morden and Saada. "Now, that would be a team!"
"Team? Are we choosing up sides?" Kijana appeared in the doorway, an angel
sent to save her from another uncomfortable situation. Aiyanna was with him,
and perhaps the greatest mercy, they had brought her a drink, some of which she
actually got to consume, since Hutcheson took over introductions.
"I warn you, Senator," Hutcheson concluded, "Dr. Akirai has a reputation around
campus as a most persuasive debater. Give him half a chance and he'll have you
joining Free Mars." There were polite, if nervous, titters.
"Well, I'm sure your rhetoric is impressive, Doctor, but I doubt that will be
happening. I am fascinated by your field of study, however, Ms. Trudeau.
Galactic civilizations?"
Aiyanna laughed charmingly. "In another era, it might have been called
anthropology, Senator, but as humans came to understand that they were not alone
in the universe, the field became much wider and the name no longer fit."
"And do you have an area of concentration within the field or do you literally
study the entire galaxy?" There were sputters of laughter from several in the
group, and Voudreau cast an irritated glance around her.
"I'm sorry, Senator," Aiyanna explained, "it's not you. There's an old joke in
the field about doing your concentration in Vorlon, because, of course, there's
nothing to do. Actually, I did concentrate my studies on Minbar, although I
confess we don't have a great deal more there than with the Vorlons. It is my
hope that with the new relationships being forged with both the Minbari
Federation and the Vorlon Empire through the Babylon Project, there may be new
opportunities for research, perhaps even a scholar exchange program."
"Would you seriously want to live among the Minbari?" Voudreau inquired.
"The best way to understand a people is to live among them, speak their
language, learn their customs," Aiyanna said. Voudreau's eyes narrowed in what
Saada thought might be anger or cunning.
"At least you can breathe their atmosphere," Hutcheson interjected. "Didn't I
hear that the Vorlons are methane breathers?"
Voudreau took the opportunity to lighten the mood. "Have your hearing checked,
Emil. I said the Vorlons were mean creatures not methane breathers." The
obligatory chuckles were interrupted by an officious male voice.
"Actually, all that we know is that the Babylon station was required to provide
quarters for the Vorlon ambassador which supported a methane-rich atmosphere.
We do not know if in fact the Vorlon respiratory system requires methane. The
ambassador has only been seen in an encounter suit, which may contain some sort
of breathing apparatus. We of course do not know what the Ambassador may do in
the privacy of his quarters."
"But I'll bet we've got a department somewhere working on that," Kijana quipped.
"Wesley, it's a party," Voudreau admonished the newcomer. "Try to pretend
you're off-duty." To the rest of the group, she said, "Have you met
Commissioner Paoletti?" The rigid little man nodded unsmilingly at each in
turn. "Wesley is part of the start-up team for the Ministry of Peace."
"Ministry of Peace?" Kijana asked, his brow furrowed.
"The objective of the Ministry of Peace," Paoletti explained, " is to help
humans find peace with themselves, so it will be easier to attain peace with
other planets. We will have a number of new programs beginning shortly toward
that end."
"I always thought helping people find peace with themselves was the job of
religion. Please don't tell me EarthGov is going into that business now too?"
Saada could tell from the stutter in her brother's voice that Aiyanna had just
elbowed him a warning.
Voudreau gave the silence just time enough to become awkward. "Wesley," she
said finally, "Ms. Trudeau has an interesting background. She sounds rather
like the kind of person your office is looking for." Most of the world would
not have seen any change in Kijana Akirai's expression, but his sister
recognized the little tremor in his jaw that meant he was not happy with this
turn of events.
"Is that so, Ms. Trudeau? Perhaps we could chat a bit." Wesley Paoletti's new
found charm was slippery enough to make Saada share her brother's concern. The
senator moved quickly to divert Kijana's attention from his fiancée, and
Hutcheson, seeing greener social fields in which to browse, wandered off,
leaving Saada alone with Morden.
She cast about for small talk. "I take it you were a student of Professor
Hutcheson, Dr. Morden?" Gradually they worked their way from the incredibly
obvious to the merely obvious things they had in common: favorite professors,
areas of specialization, years in academia. All the while she could hear
snippets of KJ's conversation with the senator. They spoke of Kijana's latest
research, which naturally led to debate about Martian independence initiatives.
While she tried to respond coherently to Dr. Morden's questions about her
research, she listened for any sign that her brother's conversation might be
growing heated. By the time she managed to frame a question about Morden's
work, the Senator's voice had grown strident.
Clumps of people around them grew silent as Voudreau accused Akirai of fomenting
terrorism. "I beg your pardon, Senator?" Akirai's question was hushed, the
barest impression of sound on breath.
"It is precisely this sort of glorification that feeds the blood lust of the
Free Mars faction." Wesley Paoletti moved quietly to the senator's left elbow,
leaving Aiyanna standing alone studying Kijana's face. "The very notion that
the agitation of these guerillas represents a movement serious enough to warrant
academic investigation is an insult to the patriots who gave their lives to
build Mars Colony."
Kijana was skilled at capitalizing on the dramatic moment, Saada knew, but the
pause he took now was several beats longer than she found comfortable. "I'm
sorry you feel that way, Senator," he said finally, his voice even. His body
was still, even the tiniest muscles frozen with control. "Personally, I believe
that as a free society we must have the right to investigate all the components
of our society, since it is only when we understand something that we can make
an intelligent judgment about its worth. It should be noted that the Free Mars
faction is only one manifestation of the call for an independent Mars, a call
that has been heard almost as long as there has been a Mars colony." He moved
an arm now, finally, and Saada felt herself relax with him. On the other side
of the patio, Aiyanna breathed again.
"Experience has shown, Doctor, that moving speeches about freedom often come
from the mouths of subversives." A slight turn of the head and a slow blink
were the only indication Akirai gave that the remark had come from Wesley
Paoletti. He returned his gaze to Senator Voudreau before responding.
"Humanity's progress has been fueled by the quest for freedom. And experience
has shown..." He waited a beat. "... that when we would rather label a speaker
than listen to his words, both peace and freedom are in jeopardy."
There was more to this argument, Saada knew. Paoletti's mouth was open to
respond but Voudreau laid a hand on his arm. Her stare lingered on Akirai a
moment, then wordlessly she crossed to the patio door where Kenneth Mitchell had
just appeared. Slowly, the groups scattered here and there on the patio
returned to quiet conversation. Mitchell and Voudreau vanished, and Aiyanna
moved to join Kijana.
Paoletti, off his leash, could not resist a parting shot. "The Ministry of
Peace exists to ensure that humans are free to live in peace. If you endanger
that peace, Doctor, all your rhetoric will not save you."
==========
Kijana Akirai pushed his glasses up and rubbed at his eyes. The bounce and bump
of the tube car's motion made it impossible for him to do the kind of close
reading he had planned in preparation for this meeting. He snapped the computer
off to save the power cell, and tipped his head back. Muscles in his neck
argued loudly with that decision, drowned out only by the scream of friction as
the car rounded a curve. Obviously, he would not sleep either.
It was clear to him by now that this line of the tube system did not rate the
new-technology, high-speed, low-noise bullet cars that zipped around the main
domes. That was probably fair, since the line served only as a shuttle to a
cluster of mining colonies. Daily traffic was minimal, evidenced by his current
isolation in the car. He guessed it got some use on the weekends when miners
went looking for strong drink and gentle company.
Now it carried a weary researcher to a series of pre-arranged meetings with site
managers and Mining Guild representatives. He smiled as he heard the echo of
Saada's exasperated challenge. She was probably right; what he needed to know
probably was in some database, or could be elicited in an interview over com
channels. But he couldn't help himself. Even as a child, he had needed to
understand things from the inside out, to experience them, not just read about
them. It was a peculiar frame of mind for an academic, and one that had driven
his teachers mad.
It was not that he didn't trust what he read. He had always loved to lose
himself in the ideas he found in his reading, fiction or philosophy, poetry or
politics. He would, if pressed, confess a fondness for print media, however
archaic it might seem. There was something about the weight of a book in your
hand, the dry crackle of the pages, the smell of the lifetimes of dust, and the
scribblings and dog-ears of those who had read before, that made the ideas feel
that much more real. Aiyanna would say too real.
His face darkened as he remembered their last conversation. She was furious
that he would pursue this line of research after the confrontation with Voudreau
and Paoletti, and his attempts to point out that he had not yet written his
paper and thus no one actually knew his thoughts on the matter did nothing to
defuse her anger. She was, he knew, simply worried about him, so in the end he
had tabled all he might have said about academic freedom and freedom in general,
and simply held her close.
He shook his head as if to clear away a dream when the grinding metal of the
brake system signaled the terminal. A short walk through the decrepit terminal
and down increasingly dingy streets led him to his first appointment. The
bustling Martian economy certainly wasn't bestowing its benefits on this area.
That realization Akirai mentally filed away for another investigation. He had
other questions right now.
The questions he put to the first site manager were factual ones about the
stages in the mining operation, the ore brought out, and the refining process.
They talked at some length about the problems of adapting earth processes to the
Martian environment and the advantages and disadvantages of the lower Martian
gravity. Akirai inquired about the competition among the various mining sites
both for resources and for market.
"That's one of the strange things about Mars, Doctor," explained the brawny man
across from him. "I started out in the mines on Earth. I was a digger, moved
up to foreman and then manager, before I transferred out here. On Earth, the
worst thing that can happen is to have a competing company try to work the same
territory. Everybody makes their stake, and except for a couple of bad boys,
everybody stays in their own backyard.
"Up here, it's like the Promised Land. You pull it out of the ground, and Mars
Conglomerate buys it. It's almost silly to use words like competition and
market. Anybody who wants to dig this planet is welcome, and you can sell as
much as you dig."
"Doesn't that depress prices?" Kijana's head tipped toward his shoulder as he
tried to determine if he was being sold a bill of goods.
"Price is set between Mars Conglomerate and the home office," the man explained.
"Doesn't change whether we just make quota or we double it."
"Who sets quota? And how, under those circumstances?"
"The smart boys in the home office wave their figures and formulas and charts
and graphs around, but for what I know, they could pull the number out of a hat.
I just know what my people can reasonably do. I figure my job is to take care
of them. There aren't a lot of people looking out for the miners, Doctor, but I
came up through the ranks and I know that if your people don't trust you, they
won't produce for you."
Kijana remembered the rundown character of the buildings he had passed, and for
a moment, he considered asking the manager about that, but he had other
appointments to get to, and this man had work to do. Akirai thanked him and
took his leave.
As he spoke with other site managers over the rest of the day, Akirai tested the
story he had heard that morning. One after another, the managers gave the same
report. Mars Conglomerate would buy as much as they could produce, standard
price, no questions.
"And this is true for all of your production? Not just for certain more
valuable minerals?"
"There's nothing particularly exotic in what we're bringing up, Doctor. Iron,
copper, selenium, tellurium, osbornite, antimony, arsenic."
"Arsenic?" Akirai's eyes widened.
The site manager laughed. "Yes, doctor, it is poisonous, but so are a great
many common substances. You read all those old murder mysteries as a kid,
didn't you?" Kijana acknowledged with an embarrassed smile. "Well, I wouldn't
worry about the arsenic, Doctor. Nowadays, if you want to poison someone you'd
look for one of the crazy cocktails the lab folk whip up. Designer drugs,
designer poisons."
Akirai thanked the man for his help, although it was an unsettling ending. In
the tube car on the way back to the hotel he tried to take stock of what he had
learned. More about the actual process of mining than he probably wanted to
know. A breakdown of the minerals Martian mining operations produced. Not as
much as he had hoped about the bankrolling of the operations. Questions that
needed to be asked about why the profits from this industry weren't showing up
in the workers' living conditions. And the clear message that the Martian
mining industry violated the common understanding of supply and demand.
All the managers had told him their production was purchased by Mars
Conglomerate. Perhaps the single buyer was causing the system to behave in ways
that resembled a monopoly rather than a free market. Still, a monolithic force
in the market would drive prices to its advantage, and didn't seem to be the
case.
Akirai flipped open his computer and made a note to call the offices of the Mars
Conglomerate. He needed to see the mining industry from their point of view.
Words triggered memory and memory triggered a smile. His own little
conglomerate would like him to understand their point of view. He made a note
to call Aiyanna and Saada.
==========
The concussion sent an explosion of sound echoing through the vault of the
reading room. On all sides, heads lifted and swiveled toward the source of the
crash, and near the door, the librarian on duty rose from his seat. Saada
Akirai, her face warm with anger and embarrassment, mouthed an apology and sank
into a chair. She slid the briefcase that had collided with the tabletop to one
side, braced her forearms on the table, and dropped her head down onto her arms.
Her morning had been spent with the finance committee, trying to convince them
to authorize the funding to move her current dig to the new location. It was
clear, even before she mentioned the heavy equipment that would be needed
because of the depth of the excavation, that she did not have a receptive
audience. She had done her homework, and had taken to heart KJ's admonition
that she needed more physical evidence to make her case. Unlike Aiyanna, she
was a bit claustrophobic, and a shudder ran through her again as she remembered
shimmying into that crevice. True to Aiyanna's account, the passage did widen,
however, and the contents were as astonishing as she had described, and more.
There were indeed structures and the suggestion that at least some of them might
be mechanized. The civilization they had stumbled on might be even more
advanced than they had originally thought.
The committee, however, cared about none of that. Anger prickled along her
spine and pulled her upright as she remembered the infuriating session. They
had scarcely looked at the artifacts she brought. Her written analysis sat
unopened on the table before them. The chair refused to allow her to present
visual materials to support her research and interrupted her in the middle of
her presentation. Professor Hutcheson had attended, as promised, but her hopes
that he might act as an advocate for her were misplaced. Her jaw tightened as
she remembered her mentor sitting in silence, refusing even to make eye contact
with her.
Clearly, the committee's negative response had been decided before she ever
began. She wasn't sure if she was angrier because they had refused to hear her
out or because she had wasted all that time in preparation when the subject was
already closed. Now here she was with no money and a briefcase full of rocks.
Saada shook herself physically to cast off the unpleasant daydream. Her left
hand slid across the leather of her briefcase. She had her rocks and she had
her research. Somewhere there was a funding source that would appreciate what
she had here. She snapped on the computer and set to finding it.
==========
"Dr. Akirai?" The voice pulled her gaze up from the vid screen. She squeezed
her eyes shut against the gritty burn of unvarying focus and unshed tears, then
opened them slowly to find a dark figure over her, silhouetted by the skylight
above. Saada rose quickly, less in courtesy than in defense. As the change in
their relative positions eliminated the backlighting, she recognized the man
from the president's reception.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Morden," she said. The automatic 'nice to see you again'
got trapped in the clawing discomfort in her gut and never made it out.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your work, Doctor, but I wonder if there is a time that
we might talk?" Saada hesitated. "About your latest project?"
"My project, Doctor Morden?"
"I hope you won't think he was betraying a secret, Doctor, but Professor
Hutcheson told me you have an interesting new find. He indicated that you were
seeking funding for what could be an exciting new dig."
Skepticism and anger mingled to leave a sour taste in Saada's mouth. She forced
a swallow and then spoke. "Well, it looks like that project is going nowhere
fast, Doctor." As her hand caressed the computer, she looked down to rub away
an imaginary smudge. "The university will not fund me," she said, straightening
her shoulders and meeting his glance squarely, "and I've exhausted just about
every source of funds without success."
"Not every source, Doctor. That's why I'm here. I believe my associates and I
may be able to help you find the funding you need."
Saada's next breath jumped from her lungs, a snort of thinly veiled disgust.
"With all due respect, Doctor, I'm not ready to turn this over to IPX. This is
still a research excavation, not a commercial salvage."
A specter of a smile slid up Morden's face and crinkled his eyes. "I understand
your reluctance, Doctor. The corporation has at times been, shall we say,
overeager. I'm not suggesting Interplanetary Expeditions as a source of
funding. They would want to control the operation, and I'm certain that was not
what you had in mind.
"No, Doctor, I'm suggesting more of a private investment situation. My
associates would be willing to provide seed money, enough support to set up the
preliminary dig and determine if extended excavation is warranted."
"Who decides that?"
"Obviously, my associates would determine whether they were willing to commit
further funds, but if they chose not to do so, you could, of course, then seek
other funding."
"And the materials taken from the site during that preliminary dig? To whom do
they belong?"
"I would hope that eventually any materials of value would become the property
of a reputable museum." His smile chilled her. "But in the shorter term, they
would be yours, of course."
"You do realize that even a preliminary excavation is going to have to be a deep
dig. We'll need heavy machinery, engineering..."
"I'm certain that your budget will be adequate, Doctor. Do I take it that you
are interested?"
Saada's galloping brain balked, sending her imagination somersaulting over her
conscious mind. Her eyes searched Morden's face as though some clarification
might be found there.
"Do you have a proposal, Doctor?" Morden went on without waiting for her reply.
"Something I might show my associates?"
Startled out of her paralysis, Saada glanced to the briefcase still bulging with
documents for the morning's presentation. "I do, Doctor. But tell me a bit
more about your associates."
"Private investors, as I said, Doctor, and they prefer to remain in the
background. Silent partners, if you will."
"You use the plural, Doctor Morden. You represent more than one individual?"
"Yes. A consortium, you might call it."
"Earth based?"
Morden's head pulsed to the left, his eyes leaving hers for the first time. A
rapid, almost imperceptible movement, it might have passed as a nervous tic in a
man less unctuous. "My associates are spread all over known space, Doctor.
They have, as a group, no allegiance to any of the known races, and so no bias -
positive or negative - in choosing worthwhile investments."
"May I ask where else they've made investments, Doctor? And why you think they
would be interested in my work?"
The tic again. "Most recently, on Centauri Prime, Doctor, but you must
understand that in order to maintain their privacy, I'm not at liberty to give
full details." He waited for her to force the expected smile before continuing.
"As for your work, that is why they retain me. My associates put great faith in
my recommendations, Doctor. Please understand that the proposal is a mere
formality. You have your funding."
Saada Akirai rummaged in her briefcase and extracted a copy of the proposal,
which Morden accepted with thanks. He left her there in the library, but not
before assuring her again that she had the funding she needed. Alone, Saada
dropped into her chair. As she watched Morden depart, the air around him seemed
to shimmer, like the heat mirages out on the savanna. She rubbed at tired eyes,
snapped off the computer, and wondered what had happened to her enthusiasm.
==========
"How can I help you, Doctor?" The bureaucrat who greeted Kijana Akirai managed
to put an edge of contempt on the title. Akirai took a long breath to quiet his
defensiveness.
"Thank you for seeing me, Mister Conrad. I'll try not to take too much of your
time." Conrad had no comment. "I'm trying to understand the dynamics of the
Martian mining industry," Kijana explained, filling the silence. "This is part
of a larger piece of research, and I just have a couple of questions." Nothing.
"I understand that Mars Conglomerate buys the output of all the mining
operations on the planet." A nod. Progress. "And is it true that the
conglomerate purchases all the ore produced, regardless of the amount?"
"Yes." Conrad exhibited a stillness that Akirai thought should only be possible
under meditation or medication.
"Is the ... How is conglomerate able to process all the ore that's produced?"
Avoid yes/no questions.
"Resources are limited here on Mars, Doctor. We're grateful for whatever can be
found."
Stock answer. "So then the processed minerals are used here on Mars?"
"No, not all of them."
"Which are used here, Mister Conrad, and which are sent off-planet? And, if I
may ask, where do they go?" Wear yourself out, Conrad.
"The ore is processed here on Mars. Companies within the conglomerate refine
the ore into seven distinct mineral elements: iron, copper, selenium, tellurium,
osbornite, antimony, and arsenic. Each of the elements finds its way into the
production of manufactured goods that improve the quality of life here on Mars,
at home on Earth, and on other colonies."
Akirai was certain he had read those exact words in one of the brochures in the
waiting room. "Could you be a bit more specific, Mr. Conrad? Are there certain
minerals that stay here on Mars and others that are exported? Or do you export
your surplus in all categories?"
"I beg your pardon?"
Check the teleprompter, Conrad. It wasn't that hard a question. "Is it
directed processing?" Akirai clarified. "Does all the selenium, say, go to
earth, and the arsenic to Proxima? Or does Mars take what it needs and then
sell off the rest?"
"It would not be appropriate for me to reveal the conglomerate's accountings,
Doctor."
"I'm not asking for the numbers, Mr. Conrad, just an idea of the game plan.
Let's take, I don't know, osbornite. Is it earmarked in advance for export?"
"Why do you ask?" Kijana's explanation froze somewhere between brain and
tongue. Conrad wasn't just obtuse; he was deliberately avoiding the question.
Passivity was giving way to rigidity in Conrad's demeanor, and forcing the issue
would yield nothing.
"No reason. On another subject, Mr. Conrad, could you give me a breakdown of
the individual companies within the conglomerate?" That question was apparently
in the man's script. Conrad set off on a romp through a well-practiced PR
recitation about each of the Mars Conglomerate members. Pulling out his
notepad, Akirai mimed intense interest.
"You mentioned Demeter & VerDien, Mr. Conrad. Am I correct that they run the
largest refinery here on Mars?" Conrad responded affirmatively. "Would it be
reasonable to think then that a great deal of the refining of ore from the
Martian mines is done by D & V?" Akirai waited while Conrad did another
promotional recitation for D & V. "Do they process the arsenic?"
Conrad looked startled. "Why, yes."
"You'll have to forgive me, Mr. Conrad. I'm like a little boy sometimes. But
when I was growing up I read a lot of old mystery stories in which arsenic was
used to poison people - illegally, of course." He smiled, but Conrad did not
join him. "I've always wondered. What is arsenic used for, legally, I mean?"
"Actually," Conrad said, with the faintest trace of a smug smile, "the principle
uses of arsenic in our era are in the production of pharmaceuticals."
Akirai consulted his notes. "That would be Edgars Industries then?" He waited
while Conrad did his recitation on Edgars. "So Edgars gets all the arsenic?"
He waited for the nod. "But what did you tell me about the copper?" He paged
through non-existent notes. "Does that go to Edgars too?"
"No, no. Earth is the principal consumer of copper."
"So arsenic to Edgars, copper to earth, and tellurium is divided, am I right on
that?" Another nod. "I think I have this now. Oh, I did have one other
question, if I may?"
Conrad's tranquility returned. Akirai decided he had seen a nod and pressed on.
"In a market where Mars Conglomerate is the only buyer, Mr. Conrad, why is the
conglomerate willing to pay the same rate at all times? Why create a situation
of unlimited demand? And having created it, why not allow the price to float
with supply?"
A true smile spread across Conrad's face, the kind of smile that a seasoned
bureaucrat reserved for those moments of perfect beauty when he could pass the
buck. "You will have to speak with EarthGov about that, Doctor. Rates are
reviewed by a commission every five years. We have no say in that."
Recognizing his cue, Akirai rose to take his leave. He gathered up his
briefcase, tucking it under his left arm. With his pad still clutched in one
hand, he gripped his pen with his teeth, freeing a hand long enough to balance
his coat over one shoulder. "Fank you," he pulled the pen from his mouth,
"thank you, Mr. Conrad. This has been so helpful." He rustled through the
notebook as Conrad escorted him to the outer office. "Arsenic to Edgars, copper
to earth. And where did we say osbornite went?"
"Good day, Doctor. If you'll excuse me, I have another appointment."