No. He was staying here. He’d need advice about Earthside investments. Money was an antidote to prejudice, wasn’t it?
“I’ll be back — well, maybe not till tomorrow,” he said. “Thanks again. Good night.”
“Good night, son.”
Kenri returned to the living room, paused to give his mother a hug, and went out into the darkness of Earth.
At first neither had been impressed. Captain Seralpin had told Kenri:
“We’ll have a passenger, going back to Sol. She’s on Morgana. Take a boat and fetch her.”
“Sir?” asked astonishment. “A passenger? Have we ever carried any?” “Rarely. Last was before you were born. Nearly always a round trip, of course. Who’d want to spend ten, twenty, fifty years waiting for a return connection? This is a special case.” “Does the captain wish to explain?”
“I’d better. At ease. Sit down.” Seralpin gestured. Kenri took a chair facing the desk. They were groundside on Main. The Kith maintained offices in Landfall, the planet’s principal town. Sunlight streamed in through an open window, together with subarctic warmth and a cinnamonlike odor from a stand of native silvercane.
“After I got the word, naturally I searched out everything I could about her,” Seralpin said. “She’s the Freelady Nivala Tersis from Canda. An ancestor of hers acquired large holdings on Morgana in pioneering days. The family still draws a fair amount of income from the property, though she’s the first of them to visit it since then. Evidently she — or rather, no doubt, an agent of hers — made inquiries at Kith Town and learned what the current arrangements, schedules, were for 61 Virginis.”
“Current” is not exactly the word, passed through Kenri. We’re talking about a span of several centuries. But no, that’s by cosmic time. To Kithfolk, not very many years. And “schedule” is pretty vague, too, the more so when fewer ships ply the lanes now than once did.
“You can see how it worked out,” Seralpin went on. “Given the existing agreement on trade circuits, she could take Eagle here, knowing Polaris and Fleetwing would call within about a year of her arrival before proceeding to Sol. Fleetwing happened to make port first, and she’s ready to go, so we’ll take her.” Seralpin paused. “I can’t say I’m overjoyed. However, she’ll pay well, and you don’t refuse a person of that status. Not if you want to stay in business at Earth.”
“Why would anybody like that ever come, sir?”
Seralpin shrugged. “Officially, to inspect the holdings and collect data, with a view to possible improvement of operations. Actually, I imagine, for the thrill and glory. How many in her circle have gone beyond the Solar System? She’ll be a glamour figure for a while, till the next fad comes along.”
“Um, uh, maybe she’s serious, sir. At least partly. She’s taking some risk and making some sacrifice. She can’t be sure what things will be like when she returns, except that everybody she knew will be aging or dead.”
“So much the better,” replied Seralpin cynically. “New fashions, new amusements, and new young people. Liberation from boredom. She spent her time on this planet till lately, and only then popped over to Morgana. Now she wants back, though she knows we won’t leave for weeks.”
“Well, sir, Morgana’s not humanly habitable. Those valuable biochemicals can be repulsive-looking, or dangerous, in their native state.”
Seralpin grinned. “That’s why I picked you to fetch her. You’re an idealist who wants to believe the best about his fellow human beings. You should get along with her and not have to swallow as much rage as most of us would.” He turned solemn. “Make sure you do get along. Be super-respectful and obliging. She’s not ordinary upper class, she’s a Star-Free.”
Thus it came about that Kenri Shaun piloted a boat to the neighbor planet. At the present configuration, a one-gravity boost took four days. He spent some of the time rigging a private section for the guest, though it left scant room for him, and arranging the minor luxuries that his mother had suggested he lay in. Afterward he was largely at the reader screen, continuing his study of Murinn’s General Cosmology. He couldn’t win promotions if he didn’t have that material firmly in his head.