‘Yes? You've noticed that, have you?’
‘And she bothers you. She reminds you every once in a while about matters that she feels strongly about, and you don't want to hear about, and so you refuse to see her, and you wish she'd go away. You can send her away, Commissioner.’
‘Indeed? We've got one other Settlement. Shall I send her to New Rotor?’
‘No, Commissioner. Send her to Erythro.’
‘Erythro? But why should I send her there? Just because I want to get rid of her?’
‘That would be your reason. Yes, Commissioner. It would not be my reason, though. I want her on Erythro because she can't really work at the Observatory. The instruments always seem to be in use and she feels she's being watched all the time. She feels your annoyance. And besides, Rotor isn't a good base for delicate measurements. It turns too rapidly and too unevenly for good measurements.’
‘You have it all at your fingertips. Did your mother explain this to you? No, you don't have to tell me. She didn't tell you directly, did she? Only indirectly.’
‘Yes, Commissioner. And there's my computer.’
‘The one you have friendly relations with?’
‘Yes, Commissioner.’
‘And so you think she will be able to work better on Erythro.’
‘Yes, Commissioner. It will be a stabler base, and she might make the kind of measurements that will convince her that the Solar System will survive. Even if she finds out otherwise, it will take a long time for her to be sure of that and for that time, at least, you'll be rid of her.’
‘I see that you want to be rid of her, too, is that it?’
‘Not at all, Commissioner,’ said Marlene with composure. ‘I would go with her. You'd be rid of me, too, which would please you even more than being rid of her.’
‘What makes you think I want to get rid of you, too?’
Marlene fixed her gaze on him, somber, unblinking. ‘Now you do, Commissioner, since you now know that I have no trouble in interpreting your inner feelings.’
Suddenly, Pitt found himself desperately wanting to get rid of this monster. He said, ‘Let me think about this,’ and turned his head. He felt that he was being childish in looking away, but he did not want this horrible youngster to read his face like the open book it was.
It was, after all, the truth. He did now want to get rid of mother and daughter alike. Where the mother was concerned, he had indeed thought, on several occasions, of exiling her to Erythro. But since she would scarcely have wanted to go, there would have been a most unappetizing fuss and he had no stomach for that. Now, though, her daughter had given him a reason why she might indeed want to go to Erythro, and that, of course, changed things.
He said slowly, ‘If your mother really wants this-’
‘She really does, Commissioner. She hasn't mentioned it to me, and it may be she hasn't even thought of it yet, but she will want to go. I know that. Trust me.’
‘Do I have a choice? And do you want to go?’
‘Very much, Commissioner.’
‘Then I will arrange for it at once. Does that satisfy you?’
‘Yes, it does, Commissioner.’
‘Then shall we now consider the interview at an end?’
Marlene rose and ducked her head in a graceless bow, presumably one that was intended to be respectful. ‘Thank you, Commissioner.’
She turned and left, and it wasn't till she had been gone for several minutes that Pitt dared unclench the grip that had kept his face in place till it was aching,
He dared not have allowed her to deduce from anything he said or did or seemed, the final item that he, and only one other person, knew about Erythro.
11. Orbit
Pitt's quiet time was over, but he did not wish it to be over. Quite arbitrarily, he canceled his afternoon appointments. He wanted more thinking time.
Specifically, he wanted to think about Marlene.
Her mother, Eugenia Insigna Fisher, was a problem, and had, in fact, grown to be more of one over the last dozen years. She was emotional and jumped far ahead of anything reason would allow. Yet she was a human being; she could be led and controlled; she could be pent-up within the comfortable walls of logic; and though she might be restless at times, she could be made to remain there.
Not so with this Marlene. Pitt had no doubt that she was a monster, and he could only be grateful that she had foolishly revealed herself in order to help her mother on so trivial an occasion. But then she was inexperienced and lacked the wisdom to have kept her abilities hidden until she could use them in a truly devastating fashion.
But she would only grow more dangerous as she grew older, so she would have to be stopped now. And she would be stopped by that other monster, Erythro.
Pitt gave himself credit. He had recognized Erythro as a monster from the start. It had its own expression to read - the reflection of the bloody light of its star, an expression that was ominous and menacing.
When they had reached the asteroid belt, a hundred million miles outside the orbit in which Megas and Erythro circled Nemesis, Pitt had said, with full confidence, ‘This is the place.’
He had expected no difficulty. The rational view admitted nothing else. Among the asteroids, Nemesis cast little heat and light. The loss of natural heat and light was nothing, since Rotor had fully functional micro-fusion. In fact, it was actually a benefit. With its red light dimmed to almost nothing, it did not weigh down the heart, darken the mind, and shiver the soul.
Then, too, a base in the asteroidal belt would place them in an area where the gravitational effects of Nemesis and Megas would be weak, and where maneuverability would, in consequence, be less energy-expensive. The asteroids would be more easily mined, and considering the feeble light of Nemesis, there should be plenty of volatiles on those little bodies.
Ideal!
And yet the people of Rotor made it clear that, by an overwhelming majority, they wanted to move the Settlement into orbit around Erythro. Pitt labored to point out that they would be bathed in angrily depressing red light, that they would be held firmly in the grip of Megas as well as Erythro, and that they might still have to go to the asteroids for raw materials.
Pitt discussed it angrily with Tambor Brossen, the ex-Commissioner, to whose post he had succeeded. The rather weary Brossen openly enjoyed his new role as elder statesman far more than he had ever enjoyed being Commissioner. (He had been known to say that he lacked Pitt's pleasure in making decisions.)
Brossen had laughed at Pitt's concern over the matter of Settlement location - not outright, to be sure, but gently, with his eyes. He said, ‘There's no need, Janus, to feel that you must educate Rotor into absolute agreement with you. Let the Settlement have its own way once in a while; they will be all the readier to let you have your way at other times. If they want to orbit Erythro, let them orbit Erythro.’
‘But it makes no sense, Tambor. Don't you understand that?’
‘Of course I understand that. I also understand that Rotor has been in orbit around a sizable world all its existence. That's what seems right to Rotorians and that's what they want to have again.’
‘We were in orbit about Earth. Erythro is not Earth; it is nothing like Earth.’
‘It is a world and is about the same size as Earth. It has land and sea. It has an atmosphere with oxygen in it. We could travel thousands of light-years before finding a world this much like Earth. I tell you again. Let the people have it.’
Pitt had followed Brossen's advice, though something within him muttered dissension every step of the way. New Rotor was also in orbit around Erythro and so were the two others in process of construction. Of course, Settlements in the asteroid belt were on the drawing boards, but the public clearly lacked eagerness to put them through.