“Well, take your pick,” said D’Jevier. “Die in a quake or invite COW in and die anyhow.”
“You think the Council of Worlds would really kill us all?”
“In the first place, they’d send the Questioner. The Questioner doesn’t even need council approval anymore, hasn’t for at least a century. And what the Questioner would do would be worse than merely killing us all.”
“If she comes here, she would see … what she would see.”
“She’d turn right around and make examples of us, for the edification of the galaxy.”
“So we’re trapped.”
“Trapped ourselves.”
“We didn’t. Not you and me.”
“Well, Hags did. And Men of Business.”
A long silence. D’Jevier tipped her glass and pretended to be concentrating upon the light reflected in its depths as she said, “We might ask … them. Maybe they know something that would help.”
“Jewy! You wouldn’t dare!”
The other woman grinned mirthlessly, shaking her head. “Every day I get closer to daring. If it gets worse, yes, I’ll dare.”
Both fell silent, thinking long, hard thoughts that they had already gone over a thousand times. Decisions made centuries ago that could not now be unmade. Roads taken that allowed no possibility of return. An hour later they were still there, their glasses long since empty, still staring wordlessly at the world-wound upon the height, livid ash and bleeding fire. They and their world were at the mercy of the mountain, and they could think of nothing at all that would be helpful.
14—A Diversion of Dancers
“It’s really very simple.” The planetary compliance worker smiled fleetingly at Ellin across the shining width of her authority surface. “Do pay attention.”
“The Questioner is a device of the Council of Worlds. The Questioner moves about among the worlds assessing mankind-occupied worlds for conformity to the edicts of Haraldson. While doing assessments, the Questioner likes to take along a person or persons from a similar developmental stage as the world being assessed. One of the planets to be assessed, for example, is Bandat, where society has achieved what the Absolute Correct Ones call their preholiness phase. Another world is Chirry-chirry-dim-dim, which the Butterfly-Boys identify as being in the caterpillar stage prior to planetary pupation. You will visit Newholme, which is in the incipient industrial stage.”
Ellin Voy, Nordic-Quota 2980-4653, shifted uneasily. After a long moment of silence, she cleared her throat and asked, “Am I here because I play a part in History House and have some knowledge of preindustrial society?”
“Honorable Ellin, from Old Earth America, you are here partly for that reason, but more because you are a dancer. Also going to Newholme will be Honorable Gandro Bao, who is a character in History House of the tenth Asian Urbopolis.” The woman in blue nodded gently in the direction of a lean, olive-skinned man in the chair nearest Ellin. “Honorable Gandro Bao works in Old Earth, Asia: Heritage of the Arts. He is an actor-dancer of the fifteen to nineteen hundreds, Kabuki style, authentic female impersonator. Honorable Ellin is a dancer of western classical style. Among this variety of background, some skill should be found to assist the Questioner in assessing the planet Newholme.”
“We are assessing it for what?” asked the man identified as Gandro Bao. “I am not understanding the role of dancers.”
The woman in blue put her face in censorious mode, one of the seven official government expressions Ellin had been able to identify over the years: kindliness with smile and/or chuckle, businesslike with tight lips, censorious with narrowed eyes, threatening with mouth distended, rage with red face, forgiveness with nod and gesture of benediction, and pity with sorrowful mouth and dropped eyes and chin. Conversations invariably began with kindly or businesslike, though they might end with any of the seven.
“Were you not educated, Honorable Gandro Bao?” challenged the PCO.
He nodded, seeming in no whit embarrassed. “I am recognizing what is the Questioner. I am recalling function of Questioner in examining planets. I am not understanding why dancer is wanted.”
“Ah.” Her expression switched to forgiveness, the requisite smile flickering in and out of existence so quickly as to be almost subliminal. “Questioner is allowed total discretion in determining how investigation is done. Questioner has asked for dancers. Therefore, we send dancers. Questioner does not say why. We do not ask.”