Only Taj had been sufficiently brave, or foolish, to ask why the crew’s appearance was so important.
“To prove that they have arrived and are safe,” Kateel said. His whole manner suggested that he was not used to making explanations. “Most of all, we want them to address the Revenant business.”
That, at least, Taj understood. During the Brahma-Destiny mission he had been forced to accept the bizarre notion that a dead human being could not only be resurrected—but could have his or her soul somehow located and extracted from the universe at large to be recombined with a new version of the person’s body.
The simple notion that human souls persisted beyond death was, to Taj’s mind, the most important discovery in human history.
Yet it had been relegated to second place because it occurred the same week in which humans learned that there were indeed other intelligent races in the universe.
And that our encounters with other races were not fated to be benign.
It was only after returning to Earth that Taj had truly begun to appreciate the enormity of the Revenant discovery. He had not decided what he thought of it yet; it was one of those matters that a true philosopher could spend several lifetimes contemplating, and he was not a philosopher.
He had noticed, however, that the discovery led to a sharp rise in religious fervor among both Hindis and Muslims. He had half-expected the proof of life after death to lead to a rise in martyrdom—how many more suicide bombers could be recruited from fanatics who knew for certain that part of them would definitely survive past the moment of detonation? But Taj had not seen this. Of course, given the Big Brother state that India had become, it wasn’t likely he would have—
“This Revenant matter has led to rumors that have evolved and darkened for twenty years,” Kateel was saying. “We require the appearance of normality.”
There had been no discussion of a truly open press conference. Only that a small group of screened and selected reporters, using equipment provided to them by the Signals Intelligence Directorate, would be allowed to quiz Adventure’s crew for an hour, if that, using a list of questions approved by Kateel himself.
So it was that, shortly after Taj’s exhausting presentation on the Aggregates, four men and two women were admitted to the conference along with a camera crew of two.
Rachel, Pav, Yahvi, and Xavier were seated at the head of the table where formerly Taj and Mrs. Remilla had been. It was Mrs. Remilla who made the brief introduction, explaining in the most general and uninformative way that Adventure traveler Sanjay Bhat was “indisposed.” This was followed by a silence that was almost comical, as if the anointed reporters had misplaced their script.
The alien Sentry named Zeds? “Zeds will not be available for this event,” Mrs. Remilla said. The imagery on the conference room view screen had changed from strategic global data to an image of Adventure on the ground at Yelahanka. The window showing Zeds had been closed. Taj wondered if the Sentry could still access the room. He was not a reporter and had no love for the profession, but surely the chance to question a living, breathing, articulate alien was exciting beyond measure—the thing you dreamed about doing!
This group of reporters had clearly been cowed by Kateel or the intelligence services, because they accepted Remilla’s bland restrictions with no visible protest.
Finally, these reporters began to ask the expected questions. To Rachel and Pav, about life on Keanu, what they missed, what they didn’t miss. How long they planned to stay. “As long as you’ll have us,” Pav said, smiling in what his father thought was a forced manner.
Interesting questions, from Taj’s point of view: How long will Keanu remain in Earth orbit? Have you returned permanently?
And here Rachel offered a dazzling smile and said, “That answer is the same,” which told no one anything.
Are you in contact with Keanu? “Yes,” Rachel said. Can the rest of us contact them? “Very soon,” Rachel said.
Speaking of travel—the ship you traveled in, how did you manage to build it? “Oh, we found it lying around,” Pav said, a lighter moment that seemed to play well with the reporters. He went on to reveal that Adventure had indeed been “found,” that it had been built by the Sentries “a really long time ago” and then refurbished.
Can it take off again?
“Once it’s refueled,” Pav said. Taj wasn’t so sure about that, unless Adventure was powered by a truly exotic motor; no chemical rocket known to human physics could be that small (and carry that little fuel) and still reach escape velocity.
But Taj had no idea what kind of rocket motor Adventure possessed. Or, come to think of it, what cargo it carried.
Nor did he expect to learn the answers here. What troubled him was that he was not sure he would learn the answers from his son, not without considerable effort.
The questions to Yahvi troubled Taj with their triviality—it was like listening to paparazzi chasing a pop star back in the early 2000s—but his mild disgust soon gave way to outrage when he heard his granddaughter’s answers. Sexually active! At age fourteen!
Now he was eager to know more about life in the human habitat on Keanu. It sounded like some libertine fantasy, free of all standards of decency.
His face no doubt showing his displeasure, Taj caught Pav’s eye and saw only passive acceptance.
His posture must have stiffened, because he felt Tea’s hands on his shoulders. “Steady, Grandpa,” she whispered.
“Did you hear that?”
She slid into the chair next to him. “Yes, terrible stuff,” she said. “The questions—”
“The answers.”
Tea looked amused. “I realize this is something I should probably have told you on our wedding night, but I was sexually active at the same age. In Nebraska, USA.”
“And your point is?”
“Their life”—she nodded to Rachel, Pav, Yahvi, and Xavier at the other end of the room—“has been incredibly difficult. Remember what that place was like when we left. Imagine what it was like when a hundred and eighty-seven very unhappy people got dumped there.
“They had nothing! They were on a different planet! They had to make it up as they went along! It’s a miracle they didn’t just starve in the first month. They made a home in an alien environment! They kicked out the Reivers—”
“And sent them here.”
“I don’t think they sent them, darling. And now look,” she said. “They came back here to help us! Six of them against a hundred million Reivers and quite a few humans who want to do them harm.
“And you’re upset that teenagers fuck? Come on, Taj.”
All he could do at that point was hope that his silence served as an apology, and turned back to the reporters.
There were almost no questions for Xavier. He was asked what he missed most and snapped, “Sunsets, I guess,” which discouraged additional queries.
Finally one reporter dared to ask the question Kateel had wanted. “What can you tell us about the Revenants? Do people die on Keanu, then come back to life?”
Pav said, “No—” But Rachel swiftly intervened, placing her hand on Pav’s arm. “That is a very complex subject,” she said. “And a press conference isn’t really the best place to discuss it. Let’s save that for another day, when we’ve had more time to adjust and be helpful with our answers.”
There was some grumbling. Clearly Kateel wasn’t the only one who wanted to learn the secrets of life beyond death.
But not today. The press conference ended; Mrs. Remilla took charge of getting the reporters out of the hospital.