Maybe you got tired of being in his debt.
There was no debt. Youre still young, Jasmel, and you havent yet bonded, but soon you will, I know. There is no debt between people who are in love; there is only total forgiveness, and going forward.
People dont change, said Jasmel.
Yes, they do. I did. And your father knew that.
Jasmel was quiet for a long time, then: Who are you going to have speak for you this time?
Adikor had just ignored the question when it had been shouted at him by the Exhibitionists. But now he gave it serious thought. Lurt is the natural choice, he said. Shes a 145, old enough that the adjudicators should respect her. And she said shed do anything to help.
I hope said Jasmel. She continued again a moment later. I hope she does well for you.
Thank you. What are you going to do now?
Jasmel looked directly at Adikor. For nowfor right nowI just need to get away from here and from you.
She turned and walked out of the massive Council chamber, leaving Adikor all alone.
Chapter 30
Keyword(s): Neanderthal
An Islamic spiritual leader has denounced the so-called Neanderthal man as clearly the botched product of Western genetic-engineering experiments. The Wilayat al-Faqih in Iran is calling on the Canadian government to admit that Ponter Boddit is the product of a wickedly immoral recombinant-DNA procedure
Ottawa is being pressured to grant Canadian citizenship to Ponter Bodditand the request is coming from an unusual source. U.S. president George W. Bush today asked Prime Minister Jean Chretien to expedite the process by which the Neanderthal is made an official Canadian. Ponter Boddit has indicated that he was born in a location corresponding to Sudbury, Ontario, in his world. If he was born in Canada, says Bush, then hes a Canadian.
The U.S. president is pushing for Boddit to be issued a Canadian passport so the Neanderthal can travel freely to the United States once the quarantine is lifted, thereby ending the debate on Capitol Hill about whether he could be allowed through U.S. Customs.
Section 5, Paragraph 4, of the Canadian Citizenship Act gives broad discretion, which Bush is urging be invoked: In order to alleviate cases of special and unusual hardship or to reward services of an exceptional value to Canada, and notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Governor in Council may, in his discretion, direct the Minister to grant citizenship to any person
An Internet petition with more than 10,000 names gathered worldwide has been forwarded to Canadas Minister of Health, demanding that Ponter Boddit be permanently quarantined
Inco shares closed today at a fifty-two-week high
Its a media circus, said long-time Sudbury Rotarian Bernie Monks. Northern Ontario hasnt seen anything like this since the Dionne Quintuplets were born, back in 1934
Job offers continue to pour in for Ponter Boddit. Japans NTT Basic Research Laboratory has offered him a directorship of a new quantum-computing unit. Microsoft and IBM have also offered him contracts, with generous cash/stock packages. MIT, CalTech, and eight other universities have offered him faculty positions. The RAND Corporation has likewise made an overture to him, as has Greenpeace. No word yet from the Neanderthal about whether any of these positions appeal to him
A coalition of scientists in France has issued a statement saying that although Ponter Boddits arrival on this Earth did indeed take place on Canadian soil, he clearly was not born in that nation, and no Neanderthaler ever lived in North America. His citizenship, they contend, should therefore be French, since the youngest Neanderthal fossils are found in that country
Civil-rights advocates on both sides of the border are condemning the forced quarantine of the so-called Neanderthal man, saying there is no evidence he poses a medical threat to anyone
Blood test after blood test came back negative. Whatever Ponter had been suffering from seemed to have abated, and there was no evidence that he was carrying anything dangerous to the humans of this world. Still, the LCDC wasnt ready to cancel the quarantine yet.
Ponter was wearing his own shirt again today, the one hed had on when he arrived here. The RCMP had delivered a small wardrobe of additional clothes for him bought at the local Marks Work Wearhouse, but they really didnt fit very well; clothing didnt seem to come off the rack for a person who looked like a slightly squished version of Mr. Universe.
Pontersor HaksEnglish was getting remarkably good. The Companion didnt have the ee phoneme in its preprogrammed repertoire, but it had now recorded both Mary and Reuben saying that sound, and would play back the appropriate version as required to render English words it otherwise couldnt articulate. But it sounded funny hearing her name said as Mare-ee, half in one of Haks voices and half in either her own or Reubens, so Mary told the Companion not to bother; people periodically called her Mare, anyway, and it would be just fine for Hak to continue to do that, too. Louise likewise told Hak it was all right if the Companion went on referring to her as just Lou.
Finally, Hak announced that it had amassed a sufficient vocabulary for truly meaningful conversations. Yes, it said, there would be gaps and difficulties, but these could be worked out as they went along.
And so, while Reuben was busy going over more test results on the phone with other doctors, and while Louise, the night owl, was sleeping upstairs, having accepted Ponters offer to use the bed when he wasnt, Mary and Ponter sat in the living room and had their first real chat. Ponter spoke softly, making sounds in his own language, and Hak, using its male voice, provided an English translation: It is good to talk.
Mary made a small, nervous laugh. Shed been frustrated by her inability to communicate with Ponter, and now that they could talk, she didnt know what to say to him. Yes, she said. Its good to talk.
A beautiful day, said Ponters translated voice, looking out the living rooms rear window.
Mary laughed again; heartily, this time. Talking about the weathera pleasantry that transcended species boundaries. Yes, it is.
And then she realized that it wasnt that she didnt know what to say to Ponter. Rather, she had so many questions, she didnt know where to begin. Ponter was a scientist; he must have some sense of what his people knew about genetics, about the split between genus Homo and genus Pan, about
But no. No. Ponter was a personfirst and foremost, he was a person, and one who had gone through a harrowing ordeal. The science could wait. Right now, they would talk about him, about how he was doing. How do you feel? Mary asked.
I am fine, said the translated voice.
Mary smiled. I mean really. How are you really doing?
Ponter seemed to hesitate, and Mary wondered if Neanderthal men shared with males of her kind a reluctance to talk about feelings. But then he exhaled through his mouth, a long, shuddering sigh.
I am frightened, he said. And I miss my family.
Mary lifted her eyebrows. Your family?