D’Jevier crossed to the window and stared outward. “That’s the enigma, Marool. They weren’t here when we came, but they didn’t come after we came. They couldn’t have. Council of Worlds traffic monitors hang in orbit around all occupied worlds from the moment of first settlement, recording every arrival and departure. Nothing has landed on this planet since we came except the supply and trade ships we all know about. By dint of much effort, we keep Timmys away from the port. The staff there is made up of both Hags and Men of Business, and we can say unequivocally the Timmys did not arrive here; they were already here even though no one knew it.”
“Now seems late to worry over it,” grumbled Marool.
Onsofruct said, “We thought we’d done our worrying long since, when we first adopted our conventions vis-a-vis the Timmys: not speaking to them, not looking at them. We worried about it by shutting them away in particular places where they could not be seen. They have become to us, in accordance with custom, invisible. We could argue that they do not exist, to us.”
D’Jevier nodded. “Now, however, the Questioner comes. Do we confess to generations, centuries, of untruth? Do we pretend to her that these creatures are indeed invisible? She is unlikely to agree. Do not suggest that we pack up our families and our baggage and leave the planet, for unfortunately, that is no longer an option. There are certain limits on the evacuation of planetary populations, and we are now too numerous for that choice. A century ago we could have departed, perhaps, but not now. Do we volunteer to restrict ourselves to a small part of Newholme and eschew any contact with the Timmys? A similar offer was made by mankind on Bayor’s world when they discovered a native population living on a single island where they had been for millennia. The Questioner said it wasn’t good enough and acted against the entire mankind population. That was only fifteen years ago, and I remember vividly the consequences of that decision.”
Marool was astonished. “I had not heard of this!”
“Few of us here on Newholme read the reports of the COW, a few of us Hags, a librarian or two, a few Men of Business. The Men of Business have some understanding of the situation, for they invited us to house the Questioner at the Fortress of Vanished Men, obviously because it has no Timmy staff. As though that would be enough! The Questioner isn’t blind, or deaf. Even though Timmys don’t exist in the fortress—or at your mansion, Marool—she would not be fooled by that alone. No. Total banishment is necessary. The Questioner must neither hear nor see a single Timmy while she—it is here.”
A long silence, during which Marool ground her teeth, finally erupting with: “How are you going to make them go?”
“They hear us. They understand us. We’ve said enough that they know what the stake is. Either they disappear, or we may all die.”
Marool snorted. “You’re assuming that all this circumspection will be easier to manage if I invite the Questioner to Mantelby House?”
“It is more hope than assumption,” Onsofruct murmured. “Once the Timmys have been sent away, if they will understand enough to go away, there’ll be a period of adjustment in human behavior. New habits, however, take time to form and old ones are hard to break. Presumably your house servants do not have the habit of addressing thin air with orders for the nearest Timmy to wash the dishes or milk the cows.”
Marool mused, stroking her massive jaw. “True, which makes it all well and good inside my walls, but the Questioner won’t sit still, will she? We can’t depend on her squatting at my place all day and all night while she’s here.”
“This may be true. The plan is not foolproof, but we have no alternative to suggest. We do know the Questioner has various aides, assistants, deputies, and functionaries, and we can make it a point to accompany these ancillaries during their investigations, interpreting what they may or may not see or hear.”
Marool moved restlessly to the small barred window that looked out over the avenue, the wide steps, the parade of women climbing toward and descending from the Temple. “I will have to get rid of my Timmy gardeners and stable workers.”