Quiet Invasion (50 page)

“I know,” she said. “It’s pretty much a disaster.” She reached up and pulled her veil off, picking out the pins and dropping them into her lap. “Maybe the smart thing is to leave it to the disaster makers.”

Josh’s mouth quirked up. “You don’t mean that.”

She shrugged. “Not really.” She wound the scarf through her fingers. It was real silk, a blazing paisley pattern. Amber, her next-to-youngest sister had bought it for her, for some birthday or the other. “What’s going on here, it’s stupid. If I can stop it, I have to.”

“Because it’s stupid?” he said quizzically. “Not because it’s right, or wrong, but because it’s stupid?”

He looked incredulous, and she supposed she couldn’t blame him. It sounded hard, even to her. She searched herself for an explanation. “You know why I do my act? My Vee-the-Temperamental-Artiste act?”

“I have a few ideas.” Josh leaned back on both hands. “Most of them have to do with getting attention.”

Vee waved his words away with the end of her scarf. “When I hit college, the beauty fads had cycled back around to tall, skinny, and pale.” She spread her arms wide. “Ta-daa. Suddenly, and for the first time in my life, I was it. I was the ideal. As a result, I had people sidling up to me and saying”—Vee leaned forward and gave an imaginary person a confidential nudge—“‘My dear, wherever did you get yourself done?’ I’d say I’d never been ‘done.’ This”—she gestured at her torso—“was just me. They’d look smug or sour, and not one of them would believe me. So”—she shrugged—“I started telling this long story about this bod shaper in the Republic of Manhattan and how much physical therapy I had to go through after he added ten centimeters to my height, and how he’d died last year in a boating accident, and I was just devastated because what if I needed to get short again….” She dropped her voice back to normal. “Nobody with a brain believed me for a second, but the ones without a brain….” She tightened her hands around the scarf. “Right and wrong can be difficult, but stupidity is easy to spot, and this situation is brimming with stupidity.”

The corner of Josh’s mouth twitched. “Must be a nice view from up there.”

“Maybe.” Vee looked at the door. It remained closed. “Will you help anyway?”

Josh dropped his gaze. A dozen different kinds of indecision played across his face, one after another. Did he have family on Earth? Vee wondered. She didn’t know. She’d never asked. She’d accepted the appearance of a bachelor researcher, without ties to bind or to anchor. The realization hit Vee hard. She’d become so used to being judged by her surface appearance, she’d somewhere started doing the same with other people.

And here was the one person of unquestioned substance in this whole gigantic mess, and he might be about to slide through her fingers.

Josh sighed, interrupting her thoughts. “I will help. I think we’d better start by talking to Michael Lum. He’s the steadiest member of the governing board, and has the fewest political interests.”

Gratitude rushed through Vee. “Thank you,” she breathed.

Josh studied her, looking for what she had not said. Maybe he found it. She hoped he did. She hoped there’d be a chance to say it later. “You’re welcome.” His smile was small, but it reached his eyes. “What do we do now?”

Vee considered. Much to her relief, ideas sparked quickly to life. “You need to go out there and make obeisance. Make sure she knows you’re still on her side so you can keep working on the mobile com drone. We may need to be able to talk to the people without interference.” She gave him a wry grin. “Nobody’s got you down as a troublemaker yet. You’ll be able to work the system more easily than I can.”

“All right.” Josh uncrossed his legs. “While I’m working behind the scenes, what are you going to do?”

Vee grinned at him. “Make trouble.”

“Ambassador Helen has with her own words condemned the New People’s distant family as insane.” D’seun flew with the Law Meet over the New People’s transports and his words were heavy with assurance. “They would hold back the spread of life if they could. Do we permit New Home to grow in the presence of this threat? Do we refuse to do our best to help this life with which we now share our new world?”
This life which cannot survive without its distant family, unless they turn to us, and then we will have the control we need. Yes, all could still be made right.

“Do we know that this is the best?” countered bloated K’ptai, overflying him without regard to rank. D’seun might be younger, but he had been an ambassador longer than she. “Our understanding is still incomplete.”

“Helen is an ambassador.” Z’eth steered her path between D’seun and K’ptai. “We must agree that her words are more accurate than any engineer’s could be.”

“Ambassadors, Ambassadors.” P’eath lifted herself up until it seemed as if she would touch the clouds. “We are not children playing about the edges of our village. These are not appropriate questions for the open air. We must return to our debate chamber, crude as it is, and make proper consideration of all matters there. Our haste is unseemly. We have not examined all the evidence.” But D’seun did not miss the way she glanced up at Z’eth as she spoke, almost as if she were seeking permission to be reasonable.

“There is one question we might think on as we return, however,” said D’seun softly, lifting himself up so they would all feel his words. “The New People require raw material from the world they call
Earth
to maintain themselves. We have many records of this fact. The distant family is threatening to withhold this. Do we deny our neighbors access to the raw materials they need to survive and spread their own life because an insane family stands in their way?”

Silence spread across the wind. D’seun flapped his wings, taking himself outside the quieting circle of ambassadors and saw what he expected. They all looked to Z’eui. Could they all owe Z’eth? Had she brought every vote with her? And she had promised her vote to him.

If that was true, it was done. Even if T’sha returned this minute, she could not ruin what he grew here. The New People would be contained or destroyed. The health of New Home was assured.

D’seun swelled. All was finally well.

Helen watched the People filter into their dirigibles and depart. She felt empty, as if somehow drained of purpose.

Not surprising, I suppose. I just gave the world away.
She brushed her hair back behind her ears and tried not to hear Vee’s accusations ringing in her ears.

The radio crackled to life. “Scarab Ten, this is Venera Base,” came Tori’s voice.

Helen leaned forward and touched the Reply key. “This is Scarab Ten. Go ahead, Venera.”

“I’m glad we got you, Dr. Failia. There’s a message here incoming from Earth, and they won’t talk to anyone else on the governing board.”

Won’t talk to anyone else? Is it Su?
“Can you send it down?”

“It’ll be audio only, but yes, I can.”

Helen pushed herself up a little straighter in the chair on pure reflex. “Okay, Tori, put it through.”

“Everything okay up here, Dr. Failia?” Adrian’s head poked around the corner from the analysis nook.

“Fine.” She picked a coffee cup up out of its holder and stared at the dregs in the bottom. “It’s just the C.A.C. calling to tell me I’m in contempt, I’m sure.”
Or to find out what I think I’m doing, at the very least.
She tried to remember whether the cup was hers or not, and couldn’t. She put it back.

“Helen?” said the voice from the intercom. “This is Su. I have Secretary Kent with me. You’ve raised a great deal of concern with your…abrupt disconnection from the committee meeting.”

I’m sorry to have to drag you into this, Su.
“Good afternoon, Madame Secretary Su.”

Venus spread out in front of her. Beta Regio lifted itself out of the ragged plain. The plateau was the color of ashy coals in the twilight, but with bright ribbons of lava lacing its side from the volcano that forced itself up from the tableland’s edge. It steamed and smoked in the wavering air and would continue to for centuries to come.

Unless, of course, the People wanted to do something else to it. Could they stop a volcano? They could travel instantly across light-years, and they were talking about transforming an entire world. What was one volcano compared to all that?

“Dr. Failia,” came Secretary Kent’s voice. “I’m not going to turn this conversation into a total farce by informing you that you’ve been charged with contempt of a governmental committee.”

I’m so glad.

“What I am going to tell you is that in accordance with the articles of incorporation for Venera Base, you are being removed as head of the governing board.”

“By whom, Madame Secretary?” asked Helen.

The time delay dragged out. Helen watched the smoke of the burning mountain. She remembered her first glimpse of the volcano. She’d been dropped down with Gregory Schoma in a very crude version of what would become a scarab. Theirs was more like a cross between a turtle and the original lunar rover. It was cramped as hell, they were strapped in to the point of suffocation, and despite the shielding, despite the scrubbers, despite everything, the cabin still smelled strongly of rotten eggs.

Helen hadn’t cared. No one had ever been below the cloud layer before. Oh, they’d sent some probes down, but never a person. They were first, and they’d see…they’d see…

Then had come that moment when the blanket of clouds had parted and she looked down and saw what they’d been guessing at and arguing over for literally centuries. She saw the mountain lifting above the rugged tableland with lava running freely down its charcoal slope.

“It’s alive!” she had shouted to Greg, delight making her foolish. “It’s alive!”

“You can help keep this process as smooth and open as possible,” Su was saying.
Did they give you a script to read from, Su? This doesn’t sound like you.
“We will need to consult closely with your people about their experiences and the data they’ve gathered thus far on the aliens.”

“No,” said Helen.

Alive. Almost no one seemed to understand what that meant. This world still had a living heart. It wasn’t broken, like the Moon, or burned out, like Mars. It had fire, it had air, it had earth. There was even water, if only just a little in the heart of the clouds. It had all the ancient elements, the only world that did, aside from the home world herself. It was Earth’s neglected twin, but because they couldn’t mine it or build on it, no one cared.

“I beg your pardon?” came Secretary Kent’s astonished reply.

“Your people will not be consulting with my people. Your people will not be allowed to land.”

No one cared how beautiful this world was, how rich and vibrant, how much they could learn about the origins of their own home from this mysterious and fiery place. No one at all cared what she might have to offer.

Except the people in Venera, and now, the People.

“Helen. Be very sure you understand what’s going on here.” Su again, sounding much more like herself. “You are not being given a choice. The
Golden Willow
will be leaving in two days. It has a complement of C.A.C. diplomats and support staff, as well as a full company of peacekeepers to make sure that this transition goes smoothly and to advise in case the aliens become overtly threatening.” Su paused to let that sink in. “If you try to break your charter, all flights to Venus will be halted. There will be no transport of goods or people between Venera and Earth. All satellite support will be shut down. You will not be able to speak to any of the other worlds. You will be completely cut off.” She spoke the last words slowly, making sure Helen heard each and every one.

Su was trying hard. She was a good friend, and she genuinely cared. A sort of colonial mother hen was Yan Su.

“It doesn’t matter, Su,” sighed Helen. “This little call is just for show and we both know it. The Secretaries and the committee are going to do what they are going to do, and so am I.” She cut the connection.

Take good care of my world,
she thought toward the vanished aliens.
You’re all we have now.
She got to her feet. She didn’t want to have to shout at Adrian, but they needed to get back in the air. There was still Venera to consider, after all, and it looked like Venera was going to be put under siege.

M
ICHAEL GLANCED AT THE
clock on the living-room view screen. 4:05 a.m. Not a time anybody should have to know about. There should be a rule that everybody was allowed to sleep through four in the morning. Because when you were awake at four in the morning, you felt like the last person alive in the world. In any of the worlds.

He’d kissed the kids good night hours ago, running through the rituals of tooth care and story telling on autopilot and hating himself for it. Even Jolynn had gone to bed at last, not saying anything when he didn’t join her. He’d just he there, staring at the ceiling, all his thoughts running circles. They both knew it. They’d been there before, although not quite under these circumstances.

In four hours, Helen would be taking off from the surface to come back home. In less than that, every single person aboard Venera would have heard what happened between her and Secretary-General Kent Half of them already knew before they’d gone to bed. It was the only subject being talked about in the Mall, in the labs, up and down the staircases, and along the halls.

She’d come back tomorrow, and then what?

The lights would come up to full morning, and he’d still have Bowerman and Cleary trying to get into the base system and calling him a hypocrite. He still wouldn’t know who killed Derek and Kevin. He didn’t even know who sent that picture that Helen had decided was a direct attack against her and Venera.

Or rather, he might know. He just didn’t want to look.

What if it were Ben? Without Ben’s urging, she might give up this whole revolutionary idea. Maybe she was just grasping at the straws he held out. Without him, Michael could talk her out of this.

But he’d have to do it quickly. He’d have to have the evidence in hand when Helen got off the shuttle. He couldn’t give anybody time to think.