There is an additional problem with humans and non-invasive intercession. As a species they are so varied, from individual to individual, that a transmission package cannot be designed with broad applicability. A set of signals that might result in a positive behavior modification for one human will almost certainly have no impact on anyone else. Experiments with different types of intercession processes are currently being conducted, but it may well be that humans belong to that small group of spacefarers who are immune to noninvasive intercession.
In the south of the spacecraft, the octospiders (#2 666) continue to thrive in a colony almost indistinguishable from any of their other isolated colonies in space.
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The full range of possible biological expression remains latent, primarily because of restricted territorial resources and no true competition. However, they are carrying with them the significant potential for expansion that has characterized their several successful transfers from one star system to another.
Until the humans probed through the wall of their own habitat and broke the seal on their enclosure, the octospiders paid very little attention to the other two species in the spacecraft. Since the humans began to explore, however, the octospiders have watched the events in the north with increasing interest. Their existence is still unknown to the humans, but the octospiders have already started formulating a contingency plan to cover a possible interaction with their aggressive neighbors.
The potential loss of the entire avian/sessile community greatly reduces the value of the mission. It is possible that the only sessile and avian survivors of the voyage will be those in the small octospider zoo and, perhaps, those raised by the human on the island. Even irrevocable loss of a single species does not call for a stage-two alert; nevertheless, the continued unpredictable and life-negative behavior of the current human leaders provides an unmitigated worry that the mission may suffer additional serious losses. Intercessionary activity in the near future will be focused on those humans who both oppose the present leaders and have indicated, by their behavior, growth beyond territoriality and aggression.
8
M
Iy country was called Thailand. It had a king, whose name was also Rama, like our spaceship. Your grandmother and grandfather—my mother and father— probably still live there, in a town called Lamphun. . . . Here it is.”
Nai pointed at a spot on the faded map. The boys’ attention had started to wander. They’re still too young, she thought. Even for bright children it’s too much to expect at four.
“All right, now,” she said, folding up the map’, “you can go outside and play.”
Galileo and Kepler put on their heavy jackets, picked up a ball, and raced out the door into the street. Within seconds they were engaged in a one-on-one soccer match. Oh, Kenjif Nai thought, watching the boys from the en-tryway. How they have missed you. There’s just no way one parent can be both mother and father.
She had begun the geography lesson, as she always did, by reminding the boys that all of the colonists in New Eden had come originally from a planet called Earth. Nai
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had then shown the boys a world map for their home planet, first discussing the basic concept of continents and oceans, and then identifying Japan, their father’s native country. The activity had made Nai both homesick and lonely.
Maybe these lessons aren’t for you at all, she thought, still watching the soccer game under the dim streetlights of Avalon. Galileo dribbled around Kepler and fired at an imaginary goal. Maybe they’re really for me.
Eponine was coming down the street in their direction. She picked up the ball and threw it back to the boys. Nai smiled at her friend. “What a delight to see you,” she said. “I can definitely use a happy face today,”
“What’s the matter, Nai?” Eponine asked. “Life in Avalon getting you down? … At least it’s a Sunday. You’re not working in the gun factory and the boys aren’t over at the center.”
The two women walked inside. “And certainly your living conditions cannot be the cause of your despair.” Eponine waved her arm at the room. “After all, you have a large room for the three of you, half a toilet, and a bath you share with five other families. What more could you want?”
Nai laughed and hugged Eponine. “You’re a big help,” she said.
“Mommy, Mommy.” Kepler was standing in the door-way a moment later. “Come quickly,” the little boy said. “He’s back . . . and he’s talking to Galileo.”
Nai and Eponine returned to the door. A man with a severely disfigured face was kneeling down in the dirt next to Galileo. The boy was obviously frightened. The man was holding a sheet of paper in his gloved hand. On it a large human face with long hair and a full beard had been carefully drawn.
“You know this face, don’t you?” the man said insistently. “It’s Mr. Richard Wakefield, isn’t it?”
Nai and Eponine approached the man cautiously. “We told you last time,” Nai said firmly, “not to bother the boys anymore. Now go back to the ward or we will call the police.”
The man’s eyes were wild. “I saw him again last
488 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
night,” he said. “He looked like Jesus, but he was Richard Wakefield all right. I started to shoot him and they attacked me. Five of them. They tore my face apart. …” The man started to weep.
An orderly came running down the street. He grabbed the man. “I saw him,” the wild man shouted as he was led away. “I know I did. Please believe me.”
Galileo was crying. Nai bent down to comfort her son. “Mama,” the boy said, “do you think that man really saw Mr. Wakefield?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. Nai glanced at Eponine. “But some of us would like to believe it.”
The boys had finally fallen asleep in their beds in the comer. Nai and Eponine sat next to each other in the two chairs. “The rumor is she’s very ill,” Eponine said quietly. “They hardly feed her at all. They make her suffer in every possible way.”
“Nicole will never give up,” Nai said proudly. “I wish I had her strength and courage.”
“Neither Ellie nor Robert has been allowed to see her for over six months. . . . Nicole doesn’t even know she has a granddaughter.”
“Ellie told me last week that she has filed another petition with Nakamura to visit her mother,” Nai said. “I worry about ElJie. She continues to push very, very hard.”
Eponine smiled. “Ellie is so wonderful, even if she is incredibly naive. She insists that if she obeys all the colony laws, Nakamura will leave her alone.”
“That’s not surprising . . . especially when you consider that Ellie still thinks her father is alive,” Nai said. “She has talked with every one of the people who claim to have seen Richard since he disappeared.”
“All the stories about Richard give her hope,” Eponine said. “We can still use a dosage of hope from time to time. …”
There was a momentary lull in the conversation. “What about you, Eponine?” Nai asked. “Do you allow yourself—”
“No,” Eponine interrupted. “I am always honest with myself. … I am going to die soon; I just don’t know
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when. Besides, why should I fight to keep living? Conditions here in Avalon are far worse than they were even in the detention camp at Bourges. If it weren’t for the few children in the school—”
They both heard the noise outside the door at the same time. Nai and Eponine sat completely still. If their conversation had been recorded by one of Nakamura’s roving biots, then—
The door suddenly swung open. The two women nearly jumped out of their skins. Max Puckett stumbled in, grinning. “You’re under arrest,” he said, “for engaging in seditious conversation.”
Max was carrying a large wooden box. The two women helped him place it in the corner. Max took off his heavy jacket. “Sorry to show up so late, ladies, but I couldn’t help it.”
“Another food run to the troops?” Nai asked in a soft voice. She pointed at the sleeping twins.
Max nodded. “The king Jap,” he said in a lower voice, “always reminds me that an army travels on its stomach.”
“That was one of Napoleon’s maxims.” Eponine looked at Max with a sarcastic smile. “I don’t suppose you ever heard of him out there in Arkansas.”
“Uh-oh,” Max replied. “The lovely lady teacher is in a smartass mood tonight.” He pulled an unopened pack of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket. “Maybe I should just keep her gift for myself.”
Eponine laughed and jumped up to grab the cigarettes. After a short mock struggle, Max surrendered them to her. “Thanks, Max,” Eponine said in a genuine manner. ‘ “There aren’t many pleasures allowed to those of us—”
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