Marlene shrank back, ‘No.’
A look of hope crossed Insigna's face. ‘Why not, Marlene?’
‘Because when Uncle Siever said that - he was suddenly much more uncertain.’
Genarr said, ‘No, that's not-’ He stopped himself, lifted his arms, and let them drop helplessly. ‘Why do I bother? Marlene, dear, if I seemed suddenly concerned, it's because we need as detailed a brain scan as possible to serve as a standard of mental normality. Then, if you are exposed to Erythro and suffer even the slightest mental distortion as a result, it can be detected by brain scan even when no-one can tell by simply looking at you or talking to you. Well, as soon as I mention a detailed brain scan, I think of the possibility of detecting an otherwise indetectable mental change - and the thought itself sparks an automatic concern. That's what you detect. Come, Marlene, how much uncertainty do you detect? Be quantitative.’
But Marlene said, ‘Not much, but it's there. The trouble is, I can only tell you're uncertain. I can't tell why. Maybe this special brain scan is dangerous.’
‘How can it be? It has been used so - Marlene, you know Erythro won't hurt you. Don't you also know that the brain scan won't hurt you?’
‘No, I don't.’
‘Do you know that it will hurt you?’
A pause and then Marlene said reluctantly, ‘No.’
‘But how can you be sure about Erythro and not sure about the brain scan?’
‘I don't know. I just know that Erythro won't hurt me, but I don't know that the brain scan won't. Or will.’
A smile crossed Genarr's face. It did not take unusual abilities to see that he was enormously relieved.
Marlene said, ‘Why does that make you feel good, Uncle Siever?’
Genarr said, ‘Because if you were making up your intuitional feelings - out of a desire to be important, or out of general romanticism, or out of some sort of self-delusion - you would apply it to everything. But you don't. You pick and choose. Some things you know and some things you don't know. That makes me far more inclined to believe you when you claim to be sure Erythro won't hurt you and I no longer in the least fear that the brain scan will reveal anything disturbing.’
Marlene turned to her mother. ‘He's right, Mother. He feels much better and so I feel much better. It's so obvious. Can't you see it, too?’
‘It doesn't matter what I see,’ said Insigna. ‘I don't feel better.’
‘Oh, Mother,’ murmured Marlene. Then, more loudly to Genarr, ‘I'll take the scan.’
46‘This is not surprising,’ murmured Siever Genarr.
He was watching the computer graphics in their intricate, almost floral patterns, as they moved slowly in and out in false color. Eugenia Insigna, at his side, stared at it keenly, but understood nothing.
‘What is not surprising, Siever?’ she asked.
‘I can't tell you properly because I don't have their jargon down pat. And if Ranay D'Aubisson, who's our local guru on this, were to explain it, neither you nor I would understand her. However, she did point this out to me-’
‘It looks like a snail shell.’
‘The color makes it stand out. It's a measure of complexity rather than a direct indication of physical form, Ranay says. This part is atypical. We don't find it in brains generally.’
Insigna's lip trembled. ‘You mean she's already affected?’
‘No, of course not. I said atypical, not abnormal. Surely I don't have to explain that to an experienced scientific observer. You'll have to admit that Marlene is different. In a way, I'm glad that the snail shell is there. If her brain were completely typical, we'd have to wonder why she seems to be what she is; where the perceptivity is coming from. Is she cleverly faking it, or are we fools?’
‘But how do you know it isn't something - something-’
‘Diseased? How can that be? We have all of the brain scans collected over her lifetime from infancy. That atypicality was always there.’
‘It was never reported to me. No-one ever remarked on it.’
‘Of course not. Those early brain scans were the usual fairly primitive type and it wouldn't show, at least not so that it would hit you in the face. But, once we have this proper brain scan and can see the detail clearly, we can go back to the early ones and make it out. Ranay has already done so. I tell you, Eugenia, this advanced brain scanning technique ought to be standard on Rotor. Pitt's suppression of it is one of his most foolish moves. It's expensive, of course.’
‘I'll pay,’ murmured Insigna.
‘Don't be silly. I'm putting this one on the Dome budget. After all, this may be helpful in solving the Plague mystery. At least, that's what I'll claim if it's ever questioned. Well, there you are. Marlene's brain is recorded in greater complexity than ever before. If she should be even slightly affected, it will show on the screen.’
‘You have no idea how frightening this is,’ said Insigna.
‘I don't blame you, you know. But she is so confident that I can't help going along with her. I'm convinced that this solid sense of security has meaning behind it.’
‘How can it?’
Genarr pointed to the snail shell. ‘You don't have that, and I don't have it, so neither of us is in a position to tell where and how she gets her sense of security. But she has it, so we must let her out on the surface.’
‘Why must we risk her? Can you possibly explain to me why we must risk her?’
‘Two reasons. First, she does seem determined, and I have the feeling that she'll get whatever she's determined to get - sooner or later. In that case, we might as well be cheerful about it and send her off, since we won't be able to stop her for very long. Secondly, it's possible we'll learn something about the Plague as a result. What that might be, I can't say, but anything, however small, that will yield additional information concerning the Plague is worth a great deal.’
‘Not my daughter's mind.’
‘It won't come to that. For one thing, even though I have faith in Marlene and believe there's no risk, I will do what I can to minimize it for your sake. In the first place, we'll not let her out on to the surface itself for a while. I may take her out on a flight over Erythro, for instance. She'll see lakes and plains, hills, canyons. We might even go as far as the edge of the sea. It all has a stark beauty - I saw it once - but it is barren. There is no life anywhere that she can see - only the prokaryotes in the water, which are invisible, of course. It's possible that the uniform barrenness may repel her and she may lose interest in the outside altogether.
‘If, however, she is still keen on going out, on feeling the soil of Erythro under her feet, we will see to it that she wears an E-suit.’
‘What is an E-suit?’
‘An Erythro-suit. It's a straightforward affair - like a spacesuit, except that it doesn't have to hold in air pressure against a vacuum. It's an impermeable combination of plastic and textile that's very light and doesn't impede motion. The helmet with its infrared shielding is somewhat more substantial and there is an artificial air supply and ventilation. What it amounts to is that the person in an E-suit is not subjected to the Erythro environment. And on top of that, there'll be someone with her.’
‘Who? I would trust no-one with her but myself.’
Genarr smiled. ‘I couldn't imagine a less suitable companion. You know nothing about Erythro, really, and you're frightened of it. I wouldn't dare let you out there. Look, the only person we can trust is not you, but me.’
‘You?’ Insigna stared at him, open-mouthed.
‘Why not? No-one here knows Erythro better than I do, and if Marlene is immune to the Plague, so am I. In ten years on Erythro, I haven't been affected in the slightest. What's more, I can fly an aircraft, which means we won't need a pilot. And then, too, if I go out with Marlene, I can watch her closely. If she does anything abnormal, no matter how slightly, I'll have her back in the Dome and under the brain scan faster than light.’