“The point, then, my impatient friend, is that no break down has occurred. Unless one counts evolutionary development of a quite extraordinary nature as breakdown.” Whittaker said the last triumphantly, and Yana saw some of the Petaybean contingent nodding in agreement and looking relieved.
“Am I missing something here?” Ball demanded. “Have you found a way to extract the minerals we require after all? Or located the missing members of the teams?”
“No, but one surviving team member, who has made quite a spectacular recovery, is sitting here in this room. Dr. Metaxos?”
“Secretary-General Ball.” Francisco Metaxos nodded to the screen. Metaxos’s hair was now spectacularly white, but otherwise he looked much younger than he had when he was first found, closer to his true age of forty-some-odd years. When Yana had first seen him, she’d thought him a man of seventy or so. The only change that hadn’t reversed was the hair. It had been, when he landed, as black as his son’s, or so Diego had said.
Marmion Algemeine suddenly smiled. “Frank! We heard you were . .”
“I was,” Metaxos said, returning her smile. “But as happens with many maladies, once the cause of mine was made clear, the appropriate treatment was administered and I’m fine now.”
“Why is everybody talking in riddles?” Ball asked, almost plaintively.
“If you’ll allow me, sir,” Torkel cut in, I think I have the explanation. It seems that all of us, myself included, have been under some sort of massively induced hypnotic illusion. It is quite strong, quite realseeming. Under this illusion, one becomes certain that this terraformed rock on which we stand is actually a sentient being. That is, of course, impossible, a bit of superstitious nonsense, but I assure you the quality of the illusion is exceptional. I feel that it is induced primarily through two of the inhabitants of this area, the woman called Clodagh and this man, Dr. Sean Shongili. Even our own Intergal agent, Major Maddock here, has fallen under their influence and”
“None so blind as the man who will not see, son,” Whittaker Fiske said sadly.
“Even my father has been taken in, sir.”
“Excuse me,” Yana said. “I thought we were here to present evidence, to talk over solutions. There is the evidence of Lavelle Maloney. The autopsy report is objective enough. There were physiological changes in Lavelle’s body that the doctors couldn’t explain. Dr. Shongili here can. Whether or not the company accepts the explanation is another matter but you should at least hear Dr. Shongili out.”
Ball waved a dismissive hand. “We’ve seen the reports and the treatise he sent in with its highly imaginative explanation of Petaybean adaptation. Still smacks of obstructionism. Besides, Shongili is one of the ringleaders down there, if certain parties are to be believed.”
The Petaybeans cast resentful eyes on Torkel Fiske, who smiled, a wronged man vindicated.
The elegant Marmion spoke again in her slow, considered way. Tell me, Doctor Shongili, Ms. Senungatuk, are your perceptions that the planet is sentient shared by other Petaybeans, planet wide?”
Clodagh nodded, but Sean looked dubious. “We aren’t in direct contact with the southern land mass,” he said.
“Not directly,” Clodagh said, shrugging. “But they know.”
“You seem so sure.”
“How could they not know a thing like that! Clodagh asked. Yana had the distinct impression that Clodagh was hedging, unwilling, for some good reason, to divulge more just then. Knowing Clodagh, that would not be out of character. The woman was like the planet: round, subtly active, and full of mysteries. In Yana’s experience, they were mostly comfortable, benign mysteries, but mysterious nonetheless.
Marmion let that drop for the moment, but another member of the committee, whose balding, ponytailed head had been turned to the comm screen, turned to face them. His eyes were a beautiful celestial blue, but his mouth was a thin hard line, the upper lip beaking over the lower like a snapping turtle’s.
“We must ask them, certainly,” he said. “We must conduct a survey all over TBeta and inquire of its inhabitants what their beliefs are concerning the planet and what experiences they have had there. It is a study long over due.” His speech contained a slight lisp and an odd intonation, an accent perhaps, mostly erased.