I can reach the children,’ Noah said. Then he put a hand on Chiku’s elbow. ‘Be careful, please.’
‘I will,’ she said, and made a mental note to the effect that from this day forward she would never once complain about having an uneventful life.
CHAPTER FIVE
Chiku and Namboze went to the nearest transit point and requested pod conveyance to Kappa. When the pod arrived, it brought four workers who would soon be suiting up and going outside. The workers disembarked and Chiku and Namboze boarded and took opposite facing seats. The pod gathered speed, smooth-bored rock rushing past its airtight canopy.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ Chiku told the younger woman.
‘Nor do you.’
‘I’m old enough to take some risks – and some responsibility. How old are you, Gonithi?’
‘Thirty-eight.’
‘In absolute years?’
‘Yes. I was born thirty-eight years ago.’
‘Then you’ve only ever known Zanzibar.’ Chiku shook her head as if this were some strange and miraculous condition, like the ability to part waves or turn base metals into gold. ‘No skipover intervals?’
‘I haven’t applied, and at my age I doubt there’d be any point.’
‘I still can’t get my head around the idea that there are grownup people walking around who’ve never lived anywhere but the holoship.’
Namboze produced a shrug. ‘It’s normal enough to me. This is my world, just as Crucible will be my world when we get there. What was all that about, by the way?’
‘All what?’
‘Well, two things. I wasn’t sure whose side to take when you started talking about Travertine.’
‘Travertine’s a pretty divisive figure. Ve’s a friend of mine – or was, I suppose. When ve was last in trouble, I was one of those who pushed for a lighter punishment. The issue split the assembly – Sou-Chun was among those who felt we needed to make a clearer example of ver, if only to keep the rest of the local caravan happy.’
Namboze brooded on this for a few seconds. ‘Weren’t you and Sou-Chun political allies at one time?’
‘We’re not exactly enemies, even now. I’ve known Sou-Chun for longer than you’ve been alive, and we have a lot in common. Sure, we had our differences over Travertine. And then there was that whole stupid business over what to do with the high-capacity lander – whether we should keep it or dismantle it and make room for something else. But it’s nothing, really.’ In her mind, she added: You’ll see how it is, when you’ve played at politics a little longer. Aloud, she said, ‘I still have a lot of respect for Sou-Chun.’
The pod swerved sharply into a different tunnel and Chiku’s stomach tingled. They were travelling against Zanzibar ’s spin, counteracting it to a degree.
‘What if this mess turns out to be something to do with Travertine?’
‘It won’t. Everything that went on in Kappa was under tight control. All the research programmes. Improved energy conversion and storage, better skipover protocols, more efficient recycling and repurification techniques. Rehearsal of methods that will serve us well when we land on Crucible. Agriculture, water management, low-impact terraforming. God, I sound like a politician, don’t I? But that kind of thing, anyway. Even simulations of what we can expect when we start hands-on investigation of Mandala.’
‘Nothing fundamental, then?’
‘After Pemba? Good grief, no. We’re not fools, Gonithi. I’ll argue to the death against stupid legislation, but some rules exist for a reason.’
Presently the pod slowed as it approached one of Kappa’s access stations. It was snug in the bedrock out of which the chamber had been hollowed, and provided its automatic pressure seals had closed, there was no further risk of exposure to vacuum.
Chiku and Namboze stepped out of the pod. The atrium was as busy as the docking station, but there was also a sense of subdued resignation, of people going through the motions. And indeed as Chiku
‘I will,’ she said, and made a mental note to the effect that from this day forward she would never once complain about having an uneventful life.
CHAPTER FIVE
Chiku and Namboze went to the nearest transit point and requested pod conveyance to Kappa. When the pod arrived, it brought four workers who would soon be suiting up and going outside. The workers disembarked and Chiku and Namboze boarded and took opposite facing seats. The pod gathered speed, smooth-bored rock rushing past its airtight canopy.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ Chiku told the younger woman.
‘Nor do you.’
‘I’m old enough to take some risks – and some responsibility. How old are you, Gonithi?’
‘Thirty-eight.’
‘In absolute years?’
‘Yes. I was born thirty-eight years ago.’
‘Then you’ve only ever known Zanzibar.’ Chiku shook her head as if this were some strange and miraculous condition, like the ability to part waves or turn base metals into gold. ‘No skipover intervals?’
‘I haven’t applied, and at my age I doubt there’d be any point.’
‘I still can’t get my head around the idea that there are grownup people walking around who’ve never lived anywhere but the holoship.’
Namboze produced a shrug. ‘It’s normal enough to me. This is my world, just as Crucible will be my world when we get there. What was all that about, by the way?’
‘All what?’
‘Well, two things. I wasn’t sure whose side to take when you started talking about Travertine.’
‘Travertine’s a pretty divisive figure. Ve’s a friend of mine – or was, I suppose. When ve was last in trouble, I was one of those who pushed for a lighter punishment. The issue split the assembly – Sou-Chun was among those who felt we needed to make a clearer example of ver, if only to keep the rest of the local caravan happy.’
Namboze brooded on this for a few seconds. ‘Weren’t you and Sou-Chun political allies at one time?’
‘We’re not exactly enemies, even now. I’ve known Sou-Chun for longer than you’ve been alive, and we have a lot in common. Sure, we had our differences over Travertine. And then there was that whole stupid business over what to do with the high-capacity lander – whether we should keep it or dismantle it and make room for something else. But it’s nothing, really.’ In her mind, she added: You’ll see how it is, when you’ve played at politics a little longer. Aloud, she said, ‘I still have a lot of respect for Sou-Chun.’
The pod swerved sharply into a different tunnel and Chiku’s stomach tingled. They were travelling against Zanzibar ’s spin, counteracting it to a degree.
‘What if this mess turns out to be something to do with Travertine?’
‘It won’t. Everything that went on in Kappa was under tight control. All the research programmes. Improved energy conversion and storage, better skipover protocols, more efficient recycling and repurification techniques. Rehearsal of methods that will serve us well when we land on Crucible. Agriculture, water management, low-impact terraforming. God, I sound like a politician, don’t I? But that kind of thing, anyway. Even simulations of what we can expect when we start hands-on investigation of Mandala.’
‘Nothing fundamental, then?’
‘After Pemba? Good grief, no. We’re not fools, Gonithi. I’ll argue to the death against stupid legislation, but some rules exist for a reason.’
Presently the pod slowed as it approached one of Kappa’s access stations. It was snug in the bedrock out of which the chamber had been hollowed, and provided its automatic pressure seals had closed, there was no further risk of exposure to vacuum.
Chiku and Namboze stepped out of the pod. The atrium was as busy as the docking station, but there was also a sense of subdued resignation, of people going through the motions. And indeed as Chiku
Similar Books
