Over the years he had learned enough Tahirian psychology to know that that would not appear unreasonable. The mere presence of an opponent was an emotional and semantic distraction: if nothing else, by involuntary scent emissions, which had the effect of loud heckling or even of interference that distorted the meaning of an utterance. It could rouse anger that might in time go out of control. No wonder the culture set such a high value on consensus.
“(I can arrange new, separate quarters for them, if all five of you tell Nansen you desire it,)” Brent went on. “(Simon is busy with Sundaram, and Cleland, our ally, will keep Emil engaged, so neither ought to feel offended or deprived. Nansen cannot forbid you to think and speak freely under the conditions that best suit you.)” Besides, that idea wouldn’t likely occur to the captain.
Ivan made a sound and gesture that apparently corresponded to a human “Hmm.” En stood for a while, thoughtful, before saying, with a possible touch of humor, “(Furthermore, settled together apart from the rest of us, they may well develop a mating urge, which would keep them still more preoccupied.)”
Peter expressed an objection in Cambiante. “(No young should be born out here.)”
“(Absolutely not,)” Leo agreed. “(All the more reason to hasten our return.)”
Ivan moved a pace closer to Brent. “(Tell us your proposal,)” en said.
With Sundaram and Simon already there, Dayan and Nansen crowded the workroom. Ventilation overburdened, the air quickly grew thick and hot. Necks craned, eyes squinted at the enigmas on the screen. But the physicist needed to see as well as be told, and she had insisted that the captain deserved to share the revelation. As it burst upon them, discomfort fled from their awareness.
“Yes, you are not merely welcome on this team, Hanny, you are vital,” Sundaram assured her. “Communication has been progressing incredibly fast. We have reached a point where the computer programs are no longer adequate to deduce meanings. I believe you alone can modify them, as well as make a unique personal contribution.”
Pressed against Nansen, she trembled. “I’ve gathered you’re starting to … hear . . . what the beings are?” she asked rather than said.
“Yes. I do apologize for not keeping everyone au courant, but we are overwhelmed with input and — I have sufficient physics background to see that what is being described to us is not molecular, atomic, or — I think — nuclear, not any kind of material configuration, but sets of quantum states. Beyond that, Simon and I are lost.”
“Quantum states of what?” wondered Nansen. “The plasma in the accretion disk?”
“That doesn’t sound likely,” Dayan replied. “Unless it has more structure, more complexity, than I expect is possible. If only Colin were here! Two ways of looking at reality, two different concepts of it —”
His hand touched hers. “Don’t underrate yourself, Hanny.”
Gazing at the symbols, sight sinking into the depths of the screen, she murmured, “I have speculated a little lately, since you dropped a few hints, Ajit. Quantum states in the vacuum, the sea of virtual particles . . . under the conditions of convoluted, changeable space-time near the black hole…. A quantum state can hold and carry information as well as matter can. Maybe better. . . . What is life if not information?. . . But how strange are we to them?”
“Perhaps not entirely strange.” Nansen’s voice shook. “Perhaps we will discover not just what they are, but what we are. Dios mio, what this could mean! Surely now everyone aboard will want to see it through.”
The machine shop was spacious but well filled; its equipment, mostly robotic, some nanotechnic, might have to make a variety of things. An area offside was reserved for handwork. Brent sat on a stool at a bench, fitting together items that had been produced for him. Electronic parts from stock lay waiting. A computer displayed the diagram that guided his hands.
Chancing to have an errand there, Yu spied light beyond the big shapes. She wove her way between lathe, drill press, and drop hammer to see what it meant. Brent heard her and looked around.