“Wait a minute.” Philip got to his feet. “Figuring out the mechanics, this is good; we’ll need that, but this is not something we can do alone up here. This is not your decision. We need to contact the C.A.C. immediately and let them inform the Secretaries-General what has happened.”
“What do you want us to do, Mr. Bowerman?” asked Dr. Godwin. “Let the aliens sit and twiddle their thumbs for weeks until the S.G.s decide which end’s up?”
“That’s not my decision.” Philip planted one hand on the tabletop. “And it’s not yours.”
“Yes, it is ours,” said Dr. Godwin. “This is our home, not yours.”
Philip’s face tightened. “This involves all of humanity, not just Venus.”
“We owe it to all of humanity to give them an accurate picture,” said Dr. Lum quietly. “If it is proven the Discovery is a fraud, then we already screwed up once, and look what we started. We can’t risk doing that again.”
“I appreciate your scientific rigor—”
“It’s not science, it’s survival,” said Dr. Lum. “We are not talking about a few holes in the ground anymore. We are talking about living beings with who knows what capabilities and who knows what reasons for being here. Before we panic the entire range of humanity, we have to know what they can and cannot do and why they’re doing it.” Dr. Lum let his gaze sweep the entire gathering. “If we don’t have some answers when people ask ‘what do they want,’ we’re going to have an upheaval like nothing we’ve seen since the twentieth century.”
“One week,” said Dr. Failia. “Dr. Hatch said she can make contact within a week. We will then at least see how they react to our attempts to talk. We can take that to the U.N. It will be better than nothing.”
Philip shook his head. “It’s unacceptable. This is not your decision.”
“Unfortunately, it is,” said Dr. Failia. “We’re here and so are they. We have to decide what to do about that. Here it is.”
Philip said nothing. Vee didn’t miss the struggle on his face, though. He was going to try to contact his superiors again as soon as he left the meeting. The board certainly knew it. Despite his determination, however, he was also obviously aware he was a long, long way from any kind of backup.
“Dr. Hatch.” Dr. Failia turned to Vee. “I need an honest assessment. Do you believe you can initiate some kind of contact with…our neighbors in one week?”
“Yes,” said Vee without hesitation. “I’ll need Dr. Kenyon’s help, but we can do it.”
“Please proceed after the meeting then,” said Dr. Failia. Vee nodded.
“And for those of us who don’t agree with the one week holding period?” asked Robert coolly.
“All outgoing communications are being monitored,” said Dr. Lum. “Nothing will be released without authorization.”
“I see,” said Philip. He looked at Godwin. “It’s nice to see separatist principles being applied evenly as always. The U.N. tries to regulate your communication, you howl at the unfairness of it all. But you regulating the U.N.’s, that’s just fine.”
“You are not the U.N.,” said Dr. Godwin softly, but his satisfaction with the statement was unmistakable.
“I am a U.N. employee, just like every other Terran member at this table. What you are doing is not legal and not acceptable.” Philip stood and walked out the door.
“You’ll excuse us as well,” Terry also got up and left, followed by Robert.
As the door swished shut, Dr. Lum woke up the tabletop screen in front of him and touched a few command keys. Vee itched to know what they were, but there was no way to ask.
Dr. Failia sighed as if resigning herself to something unpleasant and focused on her remaining audience.
“Josh, if you could tell us what you know about the accident and what happened afterwards, please.”
Josh glanced around the table and then at the door. “For the record, I don’t agree at all with censoring communication. That said”—he sighed and folded his arms—“this is what I saw.”
They each talked in turn. Four versions of the same experience made a collage that mostly resolved into a single story. By the end of it, Vee had heard the experience repeated so many times it began to feel a little dreamlike. But all she had to do was think about the bodies on the airlock floor and it hit her all over again—the waiting, the fear, the cries of pain. Oh yeah, it was real.
And nothing would ever be the same again. Vee pictured the person hovering in front of her on golden wings and felt herself start to smile again.