"It is late, Ariel," R. Jennie said. "You have an early appointment in the morning."
"Are you telling me I'm up past my bedtime, Jennie?"
"You do usually retire before eleven in the evening if you do not have guests staying over."
Ariel looked at the robot. R. Jennie wore her humaniform mask tonight, a pleasant, beige-colored face with bluish eyes and the suggestion of a smile. The features did not move, giving it an antique flavor, but it was better than the medieval machine mask Ariel had it wear when Earthers came to visit. The revulsion of Earthers to humaniform robots struck her as their most perverse trait, but she accepted it as part of life here and did her best not to aggravate the problem.
Which made it all the more irritating when Spacer vendors circumvented the rules and sold humaniforms anyway, like that fool Udal. Imports were controlled, so how had he even gotten them? And then to have the gall to come to her and demand action against the vandals… she needed to inspect his warehouses, squeeze him a little to see if she could find the leak. Just now the last thing any of them needed was a black market import scandal.
Ariel shook her head. "Can't sleep, Jennie. Too much on my mind."
"Would you like a soporific?"
"No. Why don't you shut down for the night, Jennie? I'll go to bed soon."
"Very well, Ariel. Good night."
She barely heard R. Jennie pad away to her niche.
Ariel yawned and stretched. She went to the window, glass in hand. Somewhere out there was the ocean, the Atlantic. Aurora had nothing like it, just a series of big lakes and artesian springs, underground rivers. Of all the features of Earth only the oceans disturbed her, the only natural force that seemed to match the lemming irrationality of Earth's people.
She did not tell Jonis the rest of her conversation with Guviya, grand matron of Auroran business. She wondered if she ever would, even though it bore directly on her decision to be alone tonight. It had been a brief exchange. After Guviya's pronouncement on Earth's sickness, Ariel had said, "Perhaps. But when your brother or sister falls ill, you help them. You don't turn your back on them or throw them away."
"Of course not," Guviya had replied, "but we don't allow them to become ill in the first place."
Ariel had wanted to reach through the link and slap her for hypocrisy. No, heaven forbid a Spacer become ill, what might that say about the culture? Perhaps Ariel expected too much to hope that Guviya would understand her point. Guviya did not know that turned backs and disposal had been precisely the treatment Ariel had received from her fellow Aurorans, many years ago and a lifetime away. Or did she?
Her com chimed and she moaned.
"I said no more calls."
Another chime. She took her drink and crossed the room to the panel.
"Accept, voice only."
"My apologies, Ariel," came Hofton's voice over the com. "I didn't wake you?"
"No, but I wish you had. That would mean I'd gotten some sleep tonight."
"I thought this couldn't wait. The surviving members of the Auroran legation are demanding immediate transport back up to Kopernik Station."
"Survivors… how many are there?"
"Four. I'll forward their bios."
"Wait, Hofton, I don't understand. What am I supposed to do? Shouldn't Lys handle-oh." Ariel felt foolish. Lys was dead. Who else had gone down from the embassy? They had been fortunate that Setaris had refrained from attending, but the rest of her key staff had gone. "Sony, that's a silly question. But this isn't really my job."
"It seems to be now-they were all forwarded to this office. I'm sure it's only temporary, Ariel. Besides, I thought perhaps you might regard their departure as something of a problem in light of all the damage control we did today. The legation itself leaving…?"
"Of course, but hasn't Setaris talked to them?"
"I would assume so, but…"
"I can't blame them for wanting out. No one we talked to today had been shot at." Ariel turned her glass, letting the ice rattle. "Maybe one of them could stay… All right, I'll make one more call. Who's in authority now?"
"I'm not exactly clear on that," Hofton replied. "Either Benen Yarick or Tro Aspil, but I gather there's an internal dispute of some kind."
"Fine, I'll talk to-" Ariel's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Tro Aspil?"
"Do you know him?"
"Slightly. I didn't realize he'd risen to this level. He was just an intern at the Institute last time we spoke. I'll call him first. Thank you, Hofton."
"I'll try not to disturb you for the rest of the evening."
"Thanks," Ariel said wryly. Her buffer indicated receipt of Hofton's profiles. The connection ended and she accessed the files, then placed her first call.
Tro Aspil did not answer. Benen Yarick accepted her call promptly.
"This is Ariel Burgess, commerce liaison, from the embassy. I hope this isn't an inconvenient time."
"No, not at all. No more inconvenient than anything else since we've been here," Yarick said, her voice uneven and strained.
"I understand that you've all requested immediate transport back to Kopernick-"
"Oh, yes. And from there directly back to Aurora on the first available ship, yes. We are all… overwhelmed. Well, most of us are. We can't function in our present condition. Perhaps another legation will come later, after…"
"I understand your state of mind, believe me," Ariel said. "But… please understand, normally I'm not the one you need to talk to about this-Ambassador Setaris should be the one-but I'm grateful for a chance to talk to you about it and I'll do what I can to help. I deal with those Aurorans who come here to live, do business, have interests on Earth. That ends up with me acting as a very complex kind of interpreter between Terran and Auroran-"
"You have my sympathy," Yarick said.
"It's not all bad. After today I expect the rest of the year will be easy. But right now I'm trying to keep a panic from destroying everything we've built here. Humadros's mission would have made my life-well, not easier, but at least more hopeful. 'As it is, everything could fall apart."
"As I said, you have my sympathy. How does that concern us?"
"It's a question of appearances. I'd like you to reconsider your departure. Delay it, at least until the local authorities can make arrests. It would mean a great deal to the resident Aurorans to see the surviving members of Humadros's legation-"
"I'm sure it would, and I'm sure you mean well, and maybe you even shared Galiel's vision of a stronger tie with this planet, but frankly I could care less right now," Yarick interjected. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I watched people I loved and admired die today from an act that made even less sense than the actions these people usually make."
Yarick closed her eyes briefly and seemed to gather herself. "I'm quite honestly afraid, Ms. Burgess. The only reason we're talking-well, there is no reason we're talking, only blind chance. Humadros died right in front of me. Then Carset, then Shoal. They were the heart, mind, and spirit of this mission. Then all the others-Vorin, Janilen, Aspil, all dead right in front of me, and the wounded, Kitch, Moreg, Vanloonis, Graw… No, I want out. I'm just as glad Setaris forwarded me to you because I don't want to talk to Ambassador Setaris. When she has the time, she'll do her level best to talk us out of it, and she can be very persuasive."
Yarick shook her head emphatically. "I don't want to be persuaded, and I don't need any added guilt. I want these arrangements made quickly and with the least fuss. Everyone else on the embassy staff will be in sympathy with Setaris. I want a full escort to the shuttle. I won't begin to feel safe until I'm on a liner back to Aurora. I'm sorry I feel that way, Ms. Burgess, but I do and I can't stop shaking. I'm frightened of this place. If I stayed, what good could I do, hiding here in the embassy? Because I won't set foot on a Terran street! They even killed their own representative!"