Kingdom of Cages(20)

“So,” Elle sighed, “you will design a new race of people that simply cannot become ill.” She sucked on her teeth for a moment. “It will mean implanting genetically modified fetuses into women’s wombs. It will also mean that the current generation is still pretty much lost to the ashes, as this is not the sort of massive alteration you can work on an adult.” She shrugged. “Well, I suppose by now most of the Called are desperate enough to take such a chance.” Her voice and gaze grew hard. “It is that bad, isn’t it?”

Tam nodded in absent agreement. Commander Beleraja Poulos’s latest transmission from Athena Station had been terse and spare, as if she didn’t want to waste extra words on bad news. “We are going to have to tell Athena to stop accepting incoming passengers. Apparently there’s a rumor going around that the Diversity Crisis hasn’t reached here yet and that the hothouse engineers have managed to keep our people clean and healthy.”

“Ah.” Elle raised one finger and her eyes narrowed shrewdly. “You’re afraid of an influx of frightened, angry immigrants.”

“Yes,” said Tam, ignoring her sarcasm. “Aren’t you?”

Elle shook her head and drained her mug. “There is a balance to be maintained, and the hothousers are required to maintain it, but if you’ll forgive me for saying so, Tam, this world is not a shrine. It could support millions, and both ecology and humans could still be managed.”

Tam’s mouth tightened, but the words came out anyway. “Pandora must be protected.”

“To be sure,” said Elle agreeably. “But you know, one day Pandora might rebel against all the little things you and your people have done to protect her.”

“Something has to be done,” Tam grumbled. “Human activity has to be tempered by understanding and some regulation. Humans keep saying their worlds can support millions, and they keep tearing those same worlds apart and proving it isn’t so.” If left to themselves, humans would do to all the worlds of the Called exactly what they had done to Old Earth. At least, this was what Tam’s ancestors had believed when they had taken Pandora under their protection.

Tam told himself he did not truly believe that. He really was above and beyond the protectiveness nurtured toward the world of Pandora. But the reflexes were all there, and, evidently, in working order.

Elle stood and walked back over to her stove. With the care of someone who knew the worth of each drop, she ladled more tea into her mug. “There won’t be enough humans to tear anything apart if something is not done soon.”

“Now you sound like Beleraja.”

“There are worse things.” She settled herself back into her chair.

“There are better.” What is that smell? Mold? Either Elle is brewing penicillin or the implant has decided subtlety is not working. “Beleraja has been in the thick of things for too long. I don’t know all the things she’s done, and I don’t want to.”

“Soft heart,” said Elle again, sipping her fresh tea. “So, what of the Trusts?”

Tam sighed. Yes, what of them? Could Helice Trust have any idea what she had done by coming here? By bringing the possibilities she carried inside her so close to those who needed them so badly? “If you can, I’d like you to cultivate the oldest girl. She’s, what, thirteen?”

“With all the vinegar and attitude of the age,” Elle said, not without a certain amount of admiration.

Tam pushed his empty mug away. “I’d like her to know she can trust you. That she can go to you when she’s in trouble.”

“Me?” Elle laid a hand on her chest. “Not the ever-efficient, ever-smiling, official liaison Madra?”

“I would prefer she trust someone who did not actively hate me for being born under the dome.”

“You won’t hire me a stupid constable, but you will play shuffle and hide with your own liaison.” Elle snorted.

Tam’s laugh was soft, and devoid of humor. “It’s so much easier to explain inside the complex, don’t you see.”

“Perfectly, thank you,” answered Elle. She took another drink from her mug of tea and rolled it around her sunken mouth for a long moment before swallowing. “I believe the girl can be reached. She’ll be warned of me soon, of course, but there’s spark back of those eyes. She won’t take a because-I-told-you-so answer. She’s also been down far enough and long enough that she might not automatically believe what an official tells her.”

Tam quirked his eyebrows. “How did you make that deduction, if I may ask?”