“Where we have to go is uncharted territory. It’s a long way from this Poyolavomaar you describe in your report. We don’t know the natives or their ways.”
“Why not just wait for your new satellite instrumentation? Then you can get all the answers you need from the safety and comfort of your offices.”
“It’s not our safety and comfort that concerns us at the moment,” Hwang told him. “It’s the safety of the natives, the Tran. You see, while we don’t share your unique experiences we do interact with the natives here in Brass Monkey. We know many of them by name and we’ve come, as you have, to like and admire them. We don’t want to see anything happen to them.”
“Now hold on a minute.” September looked confused. “We’ve been talking about an unexplained localized meteorological phenomenon affecting a part of the southern continent. Nobody’s said anything about a possible planet-wide disaster.”
“It’s difficult to speak in such terms without hard evidence,” said another of the scientists. “That’s why we’re so anxious to go and see what’s happening for ourselves. We hope no disaster is in the offing—planetary or even continental—but we need to go there and find out. And we need to do it as soon as possible. We can’t wait for answers on advanced imaging equipment that might or might not ever arrive. We’re probably overreacting, but we need to know what’s going on out there, Mr. September.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Ethan fought to keep a grip on his emotions. “Unless you hire an ice ship to take you to Poyolavomaar and then try to proceed south from there you won’t find out. Because there’s no other way to reach the region you’re talking about. You just ran through all the options yourself. It’s too far for ice cycles and there’s no skimmer or aircraft available.”
“What of the remarkable ice ship you built?” Hwang asked him.
“We didn’t build anything,” Ethan told her, more sharply than he intended. “The Tran built every meter of it themselves.”
“Excuse me. The ice ship you designed. It’s far sturdier and faster than anything we’ve observed locally. And it’s a proven long-distance traveler. If we could…”
“Out of the question.” It struck him then that the main purpose of the meeting had been to obtain the use of the Slanderscree. He and Skua were incidentals. “The Slanderscree’s going one way—and that’s west. Not east, southeast, or anywhere in that vicinity. It’s going to take a long time for it to get home because it’s going to have to tack into the wind.
“Its crew has been away from home for over a year. They may have membranes between their wrist and waist, they may have vertical pupils instead of round ones, but they’re people. They’ve been away from their families, their friends, and their lives for much too long, just because of us. They want to get back home as badly as Skua does.”
“We’re aware of their concerns.” Hwang made placating gestures as she spoke. “We sympathize with them just as we do with you and Mr. September. We’ve read everything you wrote about Sir Hunnar Redbeard and his people. But this matter concerns them more than it does us. This is their world that may be in danger. You must convince them to help us.”
Ethan shook his head. “It wouldn’t matter if we went to them stark naked and did tricks and somersaults until we froze in midair. Hunnar is now heir to the throne of Wannome. He has political as well as personal reasons for returning home. They’re our friends but we’re still aliens and they’re still Tran. They don’t owe us a thing. Quite the contrary—Skua and Milliken and I owe them for keeping us alive. No amount of talk on our part is going to convince them to put off their journey homeward for another six months or whatever in order to help you resolve a dispute about some variance in the weather hundreds of kilometers southeast of Arsudun.”
Hwang’s eyes dropped to the floor. “I understand. You must also understand that we had to ask. Milliken said it would be difficult.”
This is crazy, Ethan thought. Why do I stand here listening to this? What difference does it make what is causing the rise in temperature far to the south? They’ve already admitted it was probably due to volcanism.
But if it wasn’t due to volcanism, what was responsible?
It was none of his business. He was a trader, a man of commerce, not a scientist. It wasn’t his business to intercede with the Tran on behalf of Cheela Hwang and her associates. He had enough problems of his own to worry about.
She wasn’t finished. “We have neither the right nor the power to compel you. We know that you and Mr. September have endured a great deal these past months. We won’t impose on you any further. But we had to ask.” She spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “We had to ask because we had no other choice.”
What a terrific way to begin his relationship with the rest of the outpost’s permanent staff, Ethan thought. Not that he was likely to ever need their help. If only they wouldn’t be so damn gracious in defeat! Why didn’t they yell a little and curse him? What the hell did they expect? Even if he did confess to temporary insanity and agree to go off with them, didn’t they understand there was just no way he could convince Hunnar and Captain Ta-hoding and the rest of the Slanderscree’s crew to do likewise?
Because Hunnar and his friends had to return home. Even if Hunnar was in no hurry to assume the mantle of Landgrave’s heir and even if he and his people were interested in exploring still another unvisited region of their world, he was technically on his honeymoon. Did Tran have honeymoons? Maybe newlyweds were expected to go out and butcher a Droom or something equally adventurous.
It made no difference. They had to return to Sofold if only to inform their friends and relations of their continued existence. For all Elfa Kurdagh-Vlata’s father knew his daughter was dead and the crew of the icerigger with her, the great ship destroyed, the bones of her crew gnawed by scavengers. Regardless of how they might respond personally to Cheela Hwang’s request they were obligated to return home if only to convey news of their survival. The citizens of Sofold were unaware they were now members of a great and growing union of city-states. Hunnar and Balavere Longax were obligated to inform them of their future. There were relationships to be renewed, songs to be sung, deeds to be told. No choice in the matter.
He said as much to Cheela Hwang and her colleagues, hoping it would satisfy them and put the matter to rest in a manner which would preclude any need for future defensive recriminations on his part. He forgot he was dealing with people who were used to extracting answers from meager data. Blanchard found one before Ethan could excuse himself.
“What you’re saying, then, is that if you could convince them to take us, they’d be prohibited from doing so because of their need to report back home.”
Ethan nodded vigorously. “Circumstances beyond my control, or Skua’s, or anyone else’s.”
Blanchard looked gratified. “Not necessarily. What’s the minimum crew for a ship like your icerigger?”
“I don’t know,” said Ethan, taken aback. “I never really thought about it. I was just a passenger. If you’re talking about sailing, you don’t need near as many as the Slanderscree normally carries. If you’re talking about exploring a new part of the planet and defending yourself while you’re doing it, that’s something else again.”
“This would be a journey purely for research,” Blanchard argued. “We don’t anticipate any fighting.”
“You never do,” Ethan told him, “but Tran-ky-ky isn’t exactly a benign world. There’s plenty of hostile fauna around besides uncontacted Tran.”