A freshly sculpted planet, Cade recalled. Unique in its biological vigor and stunning geology among the planets the Hyadeans had spread to. So finally, he had gotten to the bottom of it. That was what was really going on.
“So what happens to the people who live there?” he asked Marie in one of their ongoing debates between games of bézique, rummy, napoleon, and taking in the news and a few movies.
“The old story,” she replied. “Obviously, if you want to take over their land, they have to go. So you call them bandits and send in the gunships.”
“I never realized.”
“Most people don’t. It’s been a long time since there was any genuinely free reporting.”
Cade thought about his conversation with Vrel and Krossig when they were out on the yacht. “I’m not sure it’s all that different for the average Hyadean,” he said. “They think they’re here to protect Earth from itself and introduce it to the benefits of a superior system. This is supposed to be an outpost to protect us from the Querl. It’s kind of crazy, isn’t it?”
Marie snorted. “I don’t recall hearing anything about us ever asking for protection. From what? We don’t even know who the Querl are. What have you been able to make of them?”
“Supposedly, they’re too unruly and ideologically misguided to make the Hyadean system work,” Cade replied. “So one day they’ll try and take what they need.” He showed his hands and shrugged. “But I’ve even heard Hyadeans questioning that line.”
“You amaze me. I didn’t think they were capable of questioning anything.”
“I’m beginning to think the Querl are something like their version of our bandits. They want to get away from the glorious Hyadean system.”
“Which means they can’t really be the big threat that we’re told, can they?” Marie said. “So why do the Hyadeans need a military capability?”
Cade could see only one answer. “To keep their system together. They talk about orderliness, but the truth is it has to be held in place by force too. Just the same as ours have always had to be.”
“My, you really have been doing some thinking. Is this really the same Roland?”
“Don’t be patronizing. Or is it matronizing?”
“But seriously, the aim is to gain control of the U.S. as the focal point of global affairs. That’s what the AANS nations are resisting, and why we support them.”
“You think that terrorizing people over here is the right way?”
For the first time, Marie’s manner became short. “That’s pure propaganda. The people’s own government has become the terrorists. We’re trying to wake the people up!”
“But you’d take it to an open struggle, maybe eventually involving Terrans and Hyadeans directly.”
Marie spread her hands. “Look at what’s happening. You’ve got us on the verge of a civil war here, right now.”
Cade looked hard at her, as if trying to gauge how serious she really was. “Training programs in the mountains and rhetoric are one thing,” he said. “But can you really condone it: firing on American defense forces?”
“Hell, Roland. What kind of defense? They’re mounting military assaults on American citizens already!”
* * *
The next day, John delivered a reply from Dee. Vrel was anxious to learn whatever it was that Cade wanted to convey. Not knowing where Cade was or his situation, he had arranged in his official capacity as observer to visit a U.S. military base near St. Louis and report on the activities of a Hyadean contingent sent there as technical advisers. That, of course, left the question of how Cade and Marie were to get to St. Louis, since with violent incidents escalating nationwide, all modes of travel were subject to routine checks and searches.
The answer came in the form of two nameless people who arrived the same evening to dye and restyle Cade’s hair, stain a distinctive birthmark onto his forehead, and then photograph, fingerprint, and voiceprint him for a false set of ID documents, according to which he was now “Professor Wintner,” described as a political scientist. Marie was similarly transformed into a social psychologist called “Dr. Armley.” Cade doubted if it was mere coincidence that the professions fitted so well with Vrel’s official work. The document forgers obviously knew their business, and came across as being intimately familiar with the official records systems. But those systems were interconnected, which meant that for the false IDs to work, appropriate data profiling the personas would need to be in there. Could it really be that thorough? Cade was intrigued.