Promised Land (4 page)

I don't believe in any brand of good, and I have dire suspicions about New Alexandria, and even direr ones about New Rome. It's not only generation ships which give rise to the Promised Land syndrome, and at least the children of the
Zodiac
would eventually be able to take a practical view of existence. I doubted that New Alexandria and New Rome would ever change. Sacred ideas are always more difficult to reify than sacred soil. I can't help thinking that New Alexandria might be the biggest cultural genocide machine of all time. No matter how sincere its concern for the alien races of the galaxy, its philosophy is unavoidably anthropocentric. Its precepts are human and its methods are human. It's some comment on the New Alexandrian Way that the much-vaunted synthesis of human and Khormon intellectual heritages resulted in a big step forward on
human
technology. No Khormon, so far as I knew, was flying a
Hooded Swan
. I didn't want to argue any of this with Charlot. I think my way, for me. We could never even have compared ideas on a sensible basis. But I knew that if he sent me down alone to the surface of Chao Phrya, I wouldn't be able to throw myself wholeheartedly into his mission. He knew it too. I just don't believe in
Homo galacticus
, much less in
Homo deus
. That's the way it is.

Meanwhile, back at the plot, Eve and I had both caught on to the dimensions of the problem by now. We could look forward to trouble just as much as Charlot.

‘What do they think of the colony, down there on Chao Phrya?' I asked.

‘They hate the very idea,' said Charlot.

‘So what reception are they likely to offer to the woman and the girl?'

‘I don't know,' he confessed. ‘I think they'd prefer to forget that the colony existed. They won't thank anyone for reminding them of it. They won't give the
White Fire
permission to land. There's no possibility of that.'

‘But that's not what worries you?' inserted Eve.

‘You think they'll go down anyway,' I amplified.

‘I hope not,' he said.

‘But it makes for a diplomatic mess if they do,' I said.

‘Obviously.'

But that wasn't what he was worried about, and I knew it.
His
worries had been betrayed by his insistence that I not let the
Zodiac
mob suspect that the whole weight of New Roman Law might not stamp them flat if they told us to buzz off. What frightened Charlot was the possibility that New Rome might have far more interest in preserving peace than in solving Titus Charlot's problems for him. He was afraid that the powers of New Rome might conveniently decide that the evidence of kidnap wasn't sufficient. Diplomatic trouble didn't bother him at all. But he thought that the ground might be cut right out from under his feet if we had to wait for a decision from New Rome and if the
Zodiac
people managed to put in a strong protest. I could see why he was willing to let me go down on my own, if there proved to be no other immediate alternative.

For once, he had more faith in me than in the Law of New Rome.

I was flattered. But not enthusiastic. Despite the fact that I had some slight personal involvement in the situation, I was happy to let things get along in their own sweet way.

The transfer at Chao Phrya, nineteen hours and no sleep later, was smooth and routine. Johnny's handling of the engine was getting better all the time. He'd never faced real difficulty, of course, but I could tell that he had some kind of sensitivity. Not the flair of a Rothgar, by any means, but he was an engineer of sorts.

I went into a conventional orbit and began to hail the port. At first, there was no answer at all, but I kept beeping. Eventually, my signal was recognised and a decidedly hostile voice invited me to go ahead.

‘This is the
Hooded Swan
,' I told him, and I reeled off our identification codes. I could imagine his hostility growing as he found that we were from New Alexandria. Assuming he could understand the codes, of course.

‘What do you want?' he demanded bluntly, before I'd quite finished.

I completed the legal requirements, and then turned away from the console. ‘Captain,' I called, in sweet and deadly tones, ‘I think you'd better take over.'

Eve moved to the duplicate communications panel in the rear of the control room. She didn't even glance at me.

‘What do I tell him?' she asked Charlot. At least, I thought, she didn't just let him take over. It was her job, and she was doing it.

‘Tell him the truth,' said Charlot. It seemed like an adventurous policy, but I knew that Charlot was talking about
his
brand of truth, which wasn't quite the same as mine.

‘The truth,' I muttered, exhibiting my disgust.

‘Keep out of this,' said Eve, with some asperity.

She identified herself formally to the man on the ground, and repeated her own codes.

‘What do you want?' repeated the waspish voice from the speaker.

‘In a matter of hours,' she said calmly, ‘the phaseshift yacht
White Fire
will arrive here. She is under charter to an Anacaon from the colony on New Alexandria. The woman is charged with the crime of kidnapping. Her victim is with her. We want to recover both of them. We ask permission to land, and to place the personnel on board the
White Fire
under arrest as soon as that ship lands.'

‘You aren't a police boat.'

‘We have the power of arrest. We have the owner aboard, and he has the full authority of the government of New Alexandria.'

The man on the ground should have asked for full identification, but he didn't. The mere mention of New Alexandria was enough to switch on his glands.

‘Wait,' he said. ‘Maintain your orbit. I'll refer your request to the proper authorities.' I could almost
feel
the sneer in his voice.

He closed the circuit.

‘Nice man,' I commented.

We waited. It was a long wait. Either the
Zodiac
people were holding a big debate or the little guy was having a lot of trouble finding his proper authorities. It was well over an hour later when our circuit beeped again. I let Eve answer it.

They didn't waste time on any formalities.

‘Permission to land is refused,' said a deep voice. It wasn't the same man we'd spoken to before, unless he was trying to sound more important.

I could see Charlot's teeth gritting.

‘Why?' asked Eve.

‘We do not acknowledge any New Alexandrian authority,' said the voice firmly, as if all argument would be useless.

‘Tell him the law insists we be recognised,' said Charlot quietly.

‘The law...,' began Eve, before the voice cut the circuit.

She began beeping him instantly.

He switched back on and said, ‘The law is a matter for the officers of the law. We will discuss the matter only with a duly constituted authority.'

‘We have such authority,' said Eve coldly. ‘If you care to check the codes which we gave you, you will find that we are recognised by New Rome.' She meant, of course, that Charlot was so important New Rome would back him to the hilt. The plain fact was that we
weren't
cops, and they had every right to wait for the cops to arrive. Which would be a long time after the
White Fire
.

‘We should have brought Denton,' I said.

‘It wouldn't make any difference,' said Charlot. ‘They're just as obliged to accept the request from us as they are from anybody else. Tell them they'll be accessories to the crime if they don't comply with our request.'

Eve told them. They weren't impressed.

‘The ship to which you refer,' said the deep voice, ‘will be refused permission to land. You will both remain in orbit until an authority capable of dealing with the situation arrives.'

Charlot took the mike from Eve. ‘Don't be a fool,' he said. ‘You can't leave this problem up here in space. The
White Fire
won't ask permission. We demand to be allowed to follow her down and effect an arrest.'

‘That is not legal,' said the man on the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Charlot's fingernails digging into his palms.

‘Will you arrest the crew and passengers aboard the
White Fire
if that ship lands on Chao Phrya?' asked Charlot, holding his temper in.

‘Depends where they land, doesn't it?' said the man with the deep voice, with insulting carelessness. ‘We don't have anything capable of circumnavigating the planet in a matter of minutes. If he comes down a couple of thousand miles away, there's nothing we can do about it, is there?'

‘
We
can!' said Charlot.

‘You have no authority so to do,' returned the man on the ground. ‘You must maintain orbit.'

And he switched off again.

This time, nobody bothered to try and recall him. We'd heard what he had to say. There was no point in arguing until we had something to argue about. We could reopen negotiations if and when we had a fait accompli to present them with. There was nothing we could do but wait for the
White Fire
and hope against hope that her captain wouldn't be anticipating trouble and would go down to the port, or at least to where some member of the
Zodiac
police force could get to her.

I didn't really feel lucky.

About ten minutes before
the
White Fire
was due to show, Eve told me to get back inside the hood and fuse my eyesight with the
Swan
's perceptors so that I could report what happened. I obeyed without a word.

Nobody can see spaceships with the naked eye, except at point-blank range, but the
Swan
had much better eyes than the feeble ones we carry in our heads. She was so sensitive she could pick up a pea at ninety million miles (though the images she got from distant objects were necessarily a bit behind the times) and her computers could run a fast sort which could separate irrelevant lumps of rock from interesting items in a matter of microseconds. All the relevant information registered automatically with the organometallic synapses in the console, and were made available inside the hood at a direct sensory level. There's no way to explain what things look like or feel like inside an ordinary ship's hood, let alone the
Hooded Swan
's. It's an experience like no other. The outcome of the whole process was that I was able to ‘see' the
White Fire
as soon as she passed the orbit of the fifth planet (Chao Phrya was the second) and I watched her come all the way in. She'd made transfer to zero-phase a long way out, and she was in no hurry.

I could see her, and she could see me. I think her captain must have guessed what ship we were.

She was dead on schedule, allowing a few minutes for the distant p-shift. It was no surprise—she'd come along pretty much the same groove we had and there was nothing in the way but hard vacuum.

‘She's coming in right now,' I said. ‘Do you want me to hail her or move the
Swan
into her way?'

‘Hail her,' said Charlot.

I beamed a beep at her. ‘Do you want me to identify myself if and when she answers?' I asked him.

‘Might as well,' he said. ‘He'd be a fool if he didn't know.'

When the beep elicited no immediate response I stepped up the power and gave it a full frequency register so that he couldn't tune it out. I didn't see any reason not to be rude.

He answered, and said, ‘Hello.'

‘This is the
Hooded Swan
...,' I began.

‘Surprise, surprise,' he said.

‘You're under arrest,' I said, cutting out the formalities, and trying to sound like Denton.

‘Don't get in my way,' he said. ‘You may be fast and slick, but you can't stop me. Just don't try.'

I put my hand over the mike.

‘More whiz-kids,' I commented to Charlot, with a hint of bitterness. ‘What do you want me to do?'

‘What did you expect?' he replied. ‘It takes a real lunatic to accept a criminal run out of New Alexandria. He's no real spaceman.' I didn't bother reacting to that, though I'd known a good many real spacemen in my time who'd have relished the thought of a bent run out of New Alexandria. While I couldn't say that most of my best friends had been kidnappers, not a lot of them would have turned up their nose at big money.

‘What shall I do?' I demanded to know.

‘Watch him,' said Charlot.

‘You don't want me to crowd him?'

‘No.'

I watched him. There wasn't much to watch. I knew pretty much what was going to happen, and it happened.

‘He's going in,' I reported. ‘He hasn't even paused to beep the ground.'

‘Where's he going to land?' asked Charlot. I could feel the anger in his voice.

‘I can't tell,' I said. ‘He's going the wrong way around. I'll have to turn to watch him down. Otherwise the planet'll be between us'

‘Well, turn, then,' snapped Charlot.

I took the
Swan
out of orbit and followed the
White Fire
along her decaying trajectory.

‘Do you want me to land?' I asked.

There was a pause. It was a difficult decision. He settled for the legal way.

‘No,' he said. ‘Note her position. Then get back to the orbit. Then get me that fool on the ground.'

I complied.

Embarrassing minutes dragged by while I beeped the spaceport. I was afraid I'd have to pull the same trick that I'd pulled on the captain of the
White Fire
to force an acknowledgement out of them. But they knew what was happening as well as we did. They knew they had to reopen talks.

‘Come on,' muttered Charlot—a most unusual gesture of impatience.

‘They're probably still tracking the
White Fire
,' I said. ‘It'll take them longer to work out her position than it took us. They have inferior equipment.'

‘Even
they
can track a ship,' snarled Charlot. ‘How far away from them is she?'

‘She's a hell of a long way from the ground signal,' I said. ‘Maybe sixteen hundred miles, in an area of uniform green that must be eight hundred miles across. Rain forest. Must be.'

Charlot was at my elbow by now, peering at the console. I couldn't see him, because I had the hood on, but I knew he was there.

Ground opened up the circuit.

‘Thanks a lot,' I said. ‘This is the
Hooded Swan
again.'

‘I know who it is,' said the deep voice. ‘What do you want now?'

‘You know bloody well what we want,' I said. ‘The
White Fire
just went down.'

‘That's our problem,' he said.

I knew that Charlot wanted to take over, so I peeled the hood off and waved him to go ahead.

‘Identify yourself,' demanded Charlot. ‘Give your rank and name.'

‘This is Lieutenant Delgado of the
Zodiac
crew,' came the reply.

‘Well, you listen to me,
Lieutenant
,' he said. ‘This is Titus Charlot of New Alexandria, and you'd better find me someone with a whole lot more authority to talk to. If you don't know what my name means I suggest that you check with the embassy from New Rome. I want the captain, but if you can't get him in a hurry get me whoever you can. I want to talk to someone
now
who can get something
done
. And when you've got him, get the New Rome authority and someone from the families as well. This is something you can't handle and you'd better believe that.'

That's the sort of approach which almost invariably works when dealing with military types. The Lieutenant wasn't real military, of course, but rank is rank and the
Zodiac
crew still functioned like a crew.

‘The proper authorities have been informed,' said Delgado serenely. ‘Representatives from New Rome are being consulted. You will be informed in due course of the decision which has been taken.'

‘Now just you wait a minute, Delgado,' said Charlot, drawing a deep breath.

‘Careful, Titus,' I murmured. ‘Your humanity is showing.'

He ignored me. ‘You are toying with the future of your people,' he said to Delgado. It seemed a bit strong to me, but Charlot was pulling all the stops out. Half measures weren't going to get a look-in. He was determined to carry this one by simple bluster. ‘If you don't know that a kidnapper using your planet as a refuge spells big trouble then you have no right to be at the other end of this circuit,' he said. ‘You have refused us permission to apprehend a known criminal, and you have failed to do so yourselves. The
White Fire
will lift inside five minutes, and that makes you the accessory to a crime. With your co-operation we could have ended this whole affair, but you've contrived to turn it into a diplomatic incident. We demand your co-operation now in tracking down the kidnapper and the victim. Now get off this circuit and give me someone who's empowered to give me that co-operation.'

Strong stuff.

A new voice issued from the speaker.

‘This is Commander Hawke of the
Zodiac
,' it said. ‘Your official request is noted. We have no evidence that any crime has been committed. We had not, and have not, any grounds for apprehending the
White Fire
. The ship had no permission to land, but that is entirely our affair and we intend taking no action. When we have been approached by the proper authorities we will consider your request for assistance in this matter. Permission to land is refused.'

Sock it to 'em, son, I thought. Don't be railroaded. Stick up for your rights. I didn't say a word out loud lest my loyalties be questioned.

‘This is Titus Charlot of New Alexandria,' said Charlot. ‘I am the administrator of the Anacaon colony on New Alexandria. The security of that colony is my sole responsibility. I have the legal right to demand that you give me all possible assistance in carrying out my responsibilities toward the members of that colony. One of them has been kidnapped and the kidnapper is currently at large on your world. This situation is due entirely to your lack of co-operation. If you do not immediately review your position and give us all the help we need I will request official intervention by the Law Enforcement Agencies of New Rome.'

As he stopped, he glanced at me, and I could see the glitter in his eye. He thought he was winning.

I thought he was winning, too, unless Hawke could come back just as strong.

But Hawke had faltered. He was thinking instead of holding fast.

‘Can you give us proof of what you say?' he demanded.

‘It can be proven,' said Charlot.

‘Then prove it.'

‘We are in possession of a warrant for the arrest of the Anacaon woman known as Lenah, late of the New Alexandrian colony.'

‘The warrant comes from New Rome?' Hawke queried, knowing damn well it didn't.

‘The warrant was issued in full accordance with the Law of New Rome,' said Charlot firmly.

There was another pregnant pause. ‘The woman will be arrested,' said Hawke finally.

‘When?'

‘As soon as possible.'

‘That's not good enough. A girl has been kidnapped. A child. We demand the immediate mounting of a search party, and we further demand that our personnel should accompany that party. We demand that all possible resources be brought to bear.'

‘They will be,' said Hawke, offhandedly. ‘But we cannot accede to your request to land.'

‘You'd better,' said Charlot, unpleasantly and succinctly, ‘or I'll have a New Roman cruiser here with six hundred troops.'

That was a big lie, and I knew it. But did Hawke? And what would the New Roman Embassy have to say about the magnitude of such a threat, coming, as it did, from an administrator of the Library?

‘You'll have to wait,' said Hawke sharply.

‘How long?' said Charlot, reluctant to let it go.

‘You'll have your answer within the hour,' he said.

‘Make it twenty minutes,' said Charlot.

‘One hour,' said Hawke. ‘You are ordered to wait.' He put a faint but definite stress on the word ‘ordered.'

The circuit snapped shut.

‘I don't think you handled that very well,' I told Charlot

‘I don't care what you think,' he replied. He was still mad.

‘I could have done it better myself,' I remarked, trying to needle him. I'd probably never have another opportunity.

But he shut up tight. The long wait began again.

I was tired.

Better not lean on him, counselled the wind. All kinds of things might happen yet. If this doesn't come off, the last thing you want is for him to blame you.

He can't blame me, I said.

Just don't give him the chance, he said. Remember just who has to look after Charlot's end on the planet, if you ever
do
get down. He won't be doing any legwork in the jungle himself, no matter how important this issue is to him.

That, of course, was true.

Ah, I said, we'll never get down there. They aren't going to fall for the gunboat threat.

They don't know any better, he said.

And he was right about that, too.

I continued to talk to him, to while away the time, but we didn't have anything of vital importance to discuss. I was just trying to keep my attention alive against the declining effect of my last stimshot. I didn't know whether I ought to take another or not. Whether we landed within the hour or were condemned to stay up forever, the chances of getting to sleep soon looked reasonably good.

The conversation drifted away from the issue at hand to other less memorable and less relevant affairs. The conversation was not unpleasant, but it is perhaps more important to record that it was not purposeful. It was idle chatter, nothing more. That's some measure of the bonhomie which we'd cultivated of late. The constant stress and strife of the caves of Rhapsody had been left behind in those caves, along with the infernal darkness. It no longer seemed to matter quite so much that the wind was by no means impotent in physical terms. It had seemed a matter of tremendous importance while we'd been in the caves, but it didn't seem tremendous now. I was coming round to measuring him by what he said and what he did rather than by what he was potentially capable of doing. I was reasonably sure that he posed no meaningful threat to my beloved egocentricity and independence of spirit. There has to come a time when you stop fighting things and learn to live with them. It was getting to be that way with the wind. The transition from one attitude to the other had not been abrupt, but it had been considerable. I was forming the opinion that if the wind was changing me at all, then he was changing me for the better. The wind, of course, had told me so all along, but he was too polite to remind me now.

At the end of the hour, Commander Hawke came back on to the circuit and told us we could land. He also told us that we could have the full co-operation of the
Zodiac
crew in following up the matter of the illegal landing of the
White Fire
and its human cargo.