At least something is. Keep your focus, Su. This is not about Edmund; this is about Venera.
Helen’s image spoke. “We have asked members of the U.N. investigative team to establish communication with the People.” Helen had her hands folded together in front of her. Su tried not to notice her white knuckles. The statement was only a minor stretch. Dr. Hatch was a team member, and Dr. Kenyon was not really a Veneran. “The People seem quite willing to talk.”
Secretary Kent looked down her long nose at Helen. “Has it been made quite clear that no one on Venera has any power to negotiate any kind of treaty?”
When that question reached her, Helen answered with forced patience. “Yes, Secretary Kent. Everyone is aware of this.”
Su minutely adjusted the table microphone. “Dr. Failia decided to address the C.A.C. immediately because Venera lacks trained mediators, linguists, or diplomats at this time. A new team needs to be assembled as soon as possible.” Several of the committee members nodded in approval, but everyone else seemed to be waiting for the word from on high. The faces of the Secretaries were not revealing.
“It is very clear we need a new team,” said Secretary Sun. He looked like a young, vigorous man with a full head of black hair, a round, open face, and eyes that rivaled Secretary Kent’s for their size. Su had once heard an estimate of his yearly bill for med-trips and body-mod. There were counties in North America that didn’t make that much in a year. “What we want to establish here is that Venera Base has not overstepped its bounds.” Secretary Sun looked directly at Helen. “Why are you still allowing your people contact with the aliens?”
More waiting. Su’s fists tightened until her nails pressed painfully into her palms. Too much waiting. It was stretching her thin. She had waited for Helen to contact her, even after she had found out there were aliens. She had waited for Mr. Hourani’s answers to all the questions raised by the shipyard bombing. She had waited for each and every one of her questions to reach Helen sitting up there alone in her Throne Room as they tried to work out a strategy for coping with a miracle so huge that Su’s mind shied away from contemplating it.
“The people establishing contact with the aliens are not my people,” said Helen. The gaze from her image met the gaze of Secretary Sun’s image without hesitation. “They’re yours. The optical specialist you sent us, Dr. Veronica Hatch, has taken charge of the communication project.”
Su wondered what Dr. Hatch was going to say when she heard how Helen worded that particular fact.
“She did this without your permission?” Like Secretary Kent, Secretary Sun had perfected the art of looking down his nose. Su supposed it was something that came with high office.
Images stared at each other while their physical bodies shifted in offices continents apart. And here we sit with these illusions, waiting to pass judgment on each other. Stop it, Su. You’re being ridiculous.
Helen’s image spread its hands. “I was directed by the C.A.C. to cooperate fully with their team in all matters pertaining to the Discovery. Communicating with the People to determine if they built the Discovery and for what purpose it was built, seemed pertinent to the Discovery.”
Silence, except for a few coughs and the rustling of fabric and screen rolls. Su suppressed a smile. They’d scored a touch with that one, but it was a long way from a telling blow.
“Forgive my ignorance, Dr. Failia,” Jasmine Latimer glanced at her colleagues and the Secretaries, as if seeking permission to speak. “But how is an optical specialist helping to communicate with the aliens?”
Helen cocked her head, looking intelligently interested, an expression Su had seen her use at a hundred cocktail parties.
The question reached Helen, and her answer returned. “We have so far been unable to establish whether the People can hear on frequencies we use or whether they hear at all. They do, however, have eyes that are similar in construction to human eyes. Because of this, Dr. Hatch speculated that we might be able to communicate visually.”
“So,” said Jasmine. “Dr. Hatch is teaching them English?”
Helen held her interested pose. The question went out, the answer came back. “We’ve had to teach them very little.”
The words were out of Helen’s mouth before Su could do anything. They had already been spoken six minutes ago. There was no way to censor them or talk over them. They were spoken.
“We are perfecting the communication hardware,” Helen’s image went on. “Dr. Hatch is working on a holography display that will give us both mobility and a full range of communications options.”