Part 26 (2/2)
”That's all we know to be,” the Dean spat.
”I have a woman working for me. She's been a teacher most of her life. Now she's having a ball helping us decide where to investigate nature. Have you ever considered doing research? Studying why people do what they do?”
”We know all that.”
”So you say. Sure you haven't been studying the same data so long you've forgotten what the real thing looks like?”
”It doesn't matter, you won't work with us. You are just as afraid of us and our power as we are of you and yours.”
”That's where trust comes in. Look, I'm working with the guy who almost blew my planet out of existence last year. It doesn't mean he no longer has that power. It does mean we're having more fun working together than against each other.”
”But we're not human.”
”A year ago, I wasn't giving Green Earthy Symps credit for much humanity. All I wanted was to kill 'em. h.e.l.l, man, the woman that broke my back was pus.h.i.+ng pills at me to help me get well before your treatments or medicines or whatever did the job for her. We humans change. Why can't you?”
”You have no use for us even if we did.”
”You're kidding. You have all the knowledge of the Three, the ones who built the jump points. We stumbled through one and got out into the galaxy hardly three hundred years ago. We don't understand jumps, we just use them. If I came back to Wardhaven with the likes of you, ready to help us rediscover all the stuff of the Three, there'd be one h.e.l.l of a parade.”
”You'd want us for...”
”Consultants, guides, fellow pilgrims on the way. Equals in the search, not superiors telling us not to touch. And yes, as teachers for our young, also.”
”Because you do not trust us, you are willing to shatter the planet we share. If you could trust us, you would be willing to take us out among the stars you walk.” The Dean spoke the words with slowly dawning eagerness.
”That's the way we do things. We can let fear drive us to kill, or we can trust. With trust, we can build on each other's strengths. Back home, we build things. The strongest building material is made up of many components, working together.”
”That was what the Three said. Together they were greater than the sum of their individual parts.”
”When you're just one big mind, there is a certain strength. Now you're many,” Ray said. ”You can hunt for the power of the many, or wipe yourselves out, trying to return to oneness.”
”Once again, after our talks, I must think on your words.”
”One more thing,” Ray said. ”Where is the thing that can scramble the molecules of my cells? That is the power you have that I fear the most. What line of thought controls it? Where is it? I could throw the vanis.h.i.+ng box into a very deep hole if you tore that puppy apart. Rebuild it once we've gotten some trust built up. But right now it scares me and mine.”
The Dean retreated deep into his chair. ”That is something I will have to think upon long and hard, talk to others. I see your point. I see what you are offering us.”
”It's been good talking to you,” Ray said.
”Quite surprisingly, I, too, have found it good.”
THIRTEEN.
RAY FOUND HE rather enjoyed the quiet time. As a string of peaceful days turned into a week, Matt bounced in and out of the system at increasing accelerations and longer intervals. By the time the weeks were long enough to grow into a month, Second Chance had unwound itself into two-gee accelerations and was spending four and five days turning around from each jump.
Mary was having herself a ball, hiking mineral production from the new southern mines, running a base and most of a planet's economy. As people went back to work in New Haven, the bosses of Refuge's factories came, hat in hand, asking to be included in the distribution. That was a real kick for Mary, and left her wondering aloud to Ray if Santa Maria wouldn't be a great place to settle down.
Doc Isaacs had to be dragged out of his lab for meals. He wouldn't tell Ray anything specific, but he hinted with a broad grin that he might be getting a handle on this place. Even though the vanis.h.i.+ng box was still missing, on the average, things were not too bad; one might even call them normal.
Then Ray heard the padre praying, and normal went to h.e.l.l.
Ray went into town to ask the padre's help with the search down South. Jeff was about to come through the commlink at Ray, demanding they do something about Annie. The padre was finis.h.i.+ng morning Ma.s.s as Ray slipped into the church, but no one was in a hurry to leave. On their knees, they prayed to saints with every name Ray knew, and a few he'd never heard of. After each name came the same request: ”Pray for sun.” Ray listened, then waited as people filed out. Every face looked worried.
”What was that all about?” he asked the priest when his people had scattered to their work.
The padre looked up, eyeing the cloudy sky. ”We need a week of sun and warmth to bring the crop in.”
”I thought farmers were all the time praying for rain.”
”Shows what you know. Without water, the crops don't grow. Without sun, they don't grow either. We need all in their proper balance. We've had too much rain and clouds this month.”
”The Weather Proctor,” Ray breathed.
”You think this is no accident?” the priest said.
”Maybe. Probably not. Will you be in the rectory?”
”Yes.”
”Leave me for a few minutes.” As the priest's footsteps faded, Ray returned to his pew, leaned back, slowed his breathing. Relaxed, though that Was the last thing he felt like.
”Well, h.e.l.lo,” the Dean said cheerfully. ”Interesting place to find you.”
”You'll find humans most everywhere,” he answered. ”What's with the weather?”
”The weather?”
”Yeah, isn't it awfully cloudy? Doesn't that affect your solar cells?”
”Yes. It's just part of the goings-on. By the way, your idea of a second career is attractive to many of us. Not the ones fighting, but a lot of us on the periphery.”
”I'm glad to hear that, but I've got a problem. We eat food. Our food needs sunlight. We aren't getting enough of it this late summer to bring in our crops. If we don't get some good, solid suns.h.i.+ne, we may all be very hungry.”
”Don't you have some kind of storage system?”
”Yes, but not enough. What can you do about it?”
”I'll put in a word with the Weather Proctor. I'm not sure whose side he's on. He seems to be running his own show.”
”Please talk to him and get back to me quick.”
”I'll try. You know, I like this place. Quiet, soothing. Ought to spend more time here.”
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