Now, all four Gha were staring at the Pilot. And it took no Gha subtlety to realize that they were all absolutely astonished.
“You are not the only people in the galaxy,” the Pilot said softly, “who mourn for what might have been.”
She shifted her footskirt, turning away from Fludenoc to face the other Gha. “I do not think you grasp the importance of those radio signals. The reason the Voivode was so indignant was because he understood that, if the data is accurate, it means that the Romans—or, at least, the human species which produced them—are no longer barbarians. They have reached industrial chain reaction.”
“What in Creation are radio?” demanded Oltomar. “And why is it important?”
The Pilot hesitated. Again, Fludenoc barked humor.
“He is not actually an ignoramus, Pilot, appearances to the contrary. It’s just that, like most Gha, his education was oriented toward practical matters. His knowledge of history is sadly deficient.”
Beyond a mildly irritated inhalation, Oltomar did not argue the point. Fludenoc made a gesturing motion to the Pilot. Continue.
“Radio is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum,” she explained. “Very far toward the low frequency end. Modern civilization doesn’t have any real use for those bands. But in the early stages of industrial chain reaction, it is always the first avenue by which rising civilizations conquer electromagnetism. For a short period of time, such planets project radio waves into the galaxy. The waves are very weak, of course, and undirected, so they are quickly lost in the galaxy’s background noise. If the Federation Meteorological Survey hadn’t been keeping that portion of the galaxy under close observation because of the Transit storm, those signals would never have been noticed.”
Uddumac interrupted. “You are saying that humans have achieved civilization?”
“Yes. There can be no natural explanation for such radio signals. And only a civilized species can project radio signals powerful enough to be picked up at interstellar distances.”
“What level of civilization?” demanded Oltomar. “Class One or Two? Or even—Doge?”
“There’s no way to tell without—”
“The distinction is critical!” Oltomar’s statement was almost a shout. “It’s absolutely critical.”
The Pilot froze. Fludenoc interposed himself between her and Oltomar. She was actually in no physical danger at all, but her species tended to panic quickly. His protective presence would enable her to relax.
“Stop bullying her, Oltomar,” he said quietly. “She has no way of answering your question—without us making the journey to that planet. Which is precisely what I propose to do.”
He gestured to the dead bodies of the Voivode and the Investigator. “Our journey, not theirs.”
Oltomar subsided, but Uddumac was still unsatisfied.
“This could easily be a complete waste of effort, Fludenoc. We need to find a suitable species which can claim Doge status. Legally. If the humans are already Class One—advanced Class One—we might be able to nudge them over the edge. As long as we could keep hidden the fact that their Transit capability was stolen from already established Doge technology. But if they’re only Class Two, there’s no way—”
He broke off, shivering his shoulders in that Gha gesture which corresponded to a human headshake.
Fludenoc hesitated before responding. Uddumac’s reservations, after all, were quite reasonable. In order for a species to claim Doge status under Federation law, they had to demonstrate a capacity for interstellar travel and commerce. In technological terms, Transit; in socio-political terms, a mercantile orientation. An independent capacity, developed by their own efforts, not simply a capacity acquired from already existing Doges.
Civilized species which lacked that capacity were considered Class One if they had managed to depart the confines of their own planet before being discovered by galactic civilization. Class Two, if they were a society still bound to their world of origin.
As Uddumac had rightly said, it might be possible to give humans a false Doge identity by surreptitiously handing them Transit technology. Transit technology, by its nature, was fairly invariant. All the existing Doge Species used essentially the same method. But the subterfuge would only work if humans had already achieved a very high level of Class One civilization. Nobody would believe that human Transit was self-developed if the species was still pulling wagons with draft animals.