Ronan must have seen a spaceport before, or he wouldn’t have been flying a darter. Perhaps his absolute stillness and concentration came from the fact that he hadn’t visited a human city since early childhood. Cynara had heard that shaauri cities were hardly cities at all, but sprawling residences surrounded by parkland, inhabited not by many unrelated families and individuals but single kinship groups.
“Your port seems underutilized,” Ronan said, glancing at the empty berths and the unoccupied expanse of the field.
“We maintain a small fleet of ships for in-system mining and a few for trade among the Nine Worlds, but most of them are constantly in use. There’s been much debate over what remains of the Dharman space program. Some feel it’s a waste of resources, like educating girls.”
“This is foolish, even for humans.”
“I’m glad you agree.”
“Where do we go now, Aho’Va?”
‘To my Uncle Jesper. I’ll have to report to the Council, and Janek has certainly made sure they know all about you. He’ll see to it that you’re summoned for questioning. However, I’ve received a message that suggests my uncle has managed to delay the debriefing. He’s to meet us in the city.”
“This is good news,” he said.
“So far. While we travel, I advise that you remain quiet and pretend you’re a regular member of the crew. Many Dharmans speak Standard—it was fashionable to learn it years ago, especially among those who aspired to bettering their positions in society.”
Ronan nodded, preoccupied. A few minutes later Lizbet hurried down the ramp. She wore a veil, as she always did on Dharma.
Cynara flagged a runabout and the three of them rode it to the port offices, where she called a cab. Motorized vehicles were still not commonplace on Elsinore’s narrow streets; they remained very much a mark of privilege and wealth. She could have summoned a D’Accorso vehicle and driver, but she was loath to call attention to Ronan until he was safely under Uncle Jesper’s wing.
The cab driver stared at Cynara’s unveiled face until he recognized who she was, and then became considerably more respectful. He offered Cynara a seat in the front, but she refused and slid into the back seat with Ronan and Lizbet to either side.
No one spoke until they were behind the privacy screen of the cab. The vehicle’s large windows gave all three of them an excellent view of the scenery, the rolling ocher hills and sun-warmed vegetation of what had once been called a “Mediterranean” climate. Through the trees one could see the ocean, stretching like azure velvet to the horizon.
Whatever Ronan thought of Novaterra remained a mystery until the cab approached Elsinore’s outermost gate. At the foot of the great stone wall huddled the city’s poorest dwellings, cobbled together of every sort of material. Before Jesper’s arrival and his influence on Casnar D’Accorso, the barrio had been far worse. But change on Dharma was slow.
“These are your ne’li?” Ronan asked.
“Not in the sense you mean… but yes. Elsinore is a city of three gates. The people who live outside First Gate are those who have no steady work or source of income.”
“Ne’li,” he repeated. “How do they survive?”
“My father and uncle began a charitable foundation some years ago. Children are encouraged to attend free schools to learn professions, and are provided with medical care. But we haven’t gone far enough. Much more must be done to truly civilize this world.”
The cab passed through First Gate and into the small but slightly more prosperous Low Town. Here were all the features of a city in miniature, shops and residences and inns catering to the working poor. Trees were few and far between, and the air smelled of fish and coal. Clothing tended toward the drab with little flashes of color in scarves or caps, and not every woman went veiled.
Lizbet pressed closer to the tinted glass. This was her town, her place of birth; she hated and loved it at the same time. She had worked hard to overcome all traces of a Low Town accent and to develop the talents and intelligence Uncle Jesper had found in her. Cynara knew better than to ask if she wanted to stop.