Blue Remembered Earth

‘We’d know for sure if we went there,’ she said. ‘Take a couple of spades, maybe rent an excavator – how long do you think it would take us?’

‘With the Chinese breathing down our necks, wondering what we’re prospecting for? Exactly how long do you think it would be before word of that got back to the cousins?’

‘Going through official channels isn’t the way to do this,’ Jitendra said.

‘I have a suggestion,’ Chama said. He looked at his husband, Gleb giving only the tiniest of encouraging nods. Their drinks arrived. Chama made a point of swallowing a finger’s width from his before speaking again. ‘Whatever happens, this is going to be a possible arrest-and-detention scenario involving our good friends the Chinese. Now, while that’s not something either of us would rush into, it’s not like we don’t have prior experience in that area.’

‘Doesn’t mean they’ll let you go the next time,’ Geoffrey said.

‘It’s not like we’re trafficking. We’ll just be doing some digging on Chinese soil: hardly the crime of the century, is it?’ Gleb was speaking now. ‘The Initiative isn’t without influence in Chinese circles, and you’ve got June Wing in your corner. The right words, the right persuasion, we’ll be back on the street soon enough.’

‘Or not,’ Geoffrey said.

‘We’ll accept that risk.’ Chama leaned forwards, elbows on the table. ‘You find out what’s under that soil. We get something from you in return. How about it, elephant man?’

He shook his head. ‘We went over this already. I’m not getting involved.’

‘All we’d want in return,’ Gleb said, ‘is to offer you the chance to help with our dwarves.’

‘I’m already being emotionally blackmailed by my family, thanks – I don’t need another dose.’

‘It’s really nothing, what we’re asking,’ Chama said reasonably. He took another gulp of his beer and wiped foam onto the back of his hand. ‘The risk’s all on our side. No one else needs to know about your involvement.’

‘There’s still the small matter of ethical oversight,’ Geoffrey said.

‘Oh, screw that,’ Gleb said. ‘For a start, they’d have to learn of the existence of the dwarves – and we’re not ready to go public.’

Geoffrey looked relieved, as if he’d finally found an insuperable objection. ‘Then it can’t be done. Even if we got the neuromachinery communicating, someone, somewhere, will want to know why there’s so much ching traffic between my elephants and the Descrutinised Zone.’

‘We can get round that,’ Chama said. ‘The Initiative already has more than enough surplus quangle paths between Earth and the Moon. Not unbreakable, of course, but the next best thing.’

‘You’re going to have to work pretty hard to think of something they haven’t already covered,’ Sunday said.

‘Other than the fact that if I take part in this, that makes me a criminal as well.’

‘No one need know,’ Gleb countered. ‘Anyway, in the scheme of things you’d still have the moral high ground, wouldn’t you? You were just presented with a situation, a fait accompli, which you agreed to improve.’ He looked at his husband and said something that the earpieces didn’t pick up: some language or dialect too obscure for translation.

‘I’m sure there could be financial incentives as well,’ Chama said, after a few moments’ reflection. ‘No promises, but . . . it wouldn’t be out of the question. You’re reliant on handouts from your family right now, aren’t you?’

‘My funding flows from a number of sources,’ Geoffrey said, glaring at Sunday.

Chama shrugged. ‘But I’m sure more autonomy would always be welcome.’

Sunday saw her chance. ‘While we’re thrashing out terms, I’d like some access to your archives.’

‘What exactly are you after?’ Chama enquired.

Sunday hesitated before answering. ‘My grandmother knew your founder, Lin Wei. They went to the same school, in what used to be independent Tanzania, before the Federation. Here.’ And she cleared part of the table to voke her own image, which was of two girls of similar age. One was her grandmother. The other was Lin Wei.

Lin Wei wore a red dress, white stockings and black shoes.

Sunday glanced at her brother, nodded once. It was clear from the look in her eyes that she had also made the connection with the mysterious girl at the scattering, the stranger with the unresolvable ching bind.

‘Eunice knew the Prime Pan?’ Gleb asked, astonished. ‘How could this not have come to light before?’

‘I only discovered it recently myself,’ Sunday said, shifting on her seat. This was a lie, but in the scheme of things only a white one. Or perhaps off-white.

‘It’s a part of our family history that’s been swept under the carpet,’ she went on. ‘Same on your side, by the sound of things. They were good friends, and they ended up collaborating on the Mercury project. But Eunice abused Lin Wei’s trust somehow. I don’t know how much contact they had afterwards.’

‘Eunice only just died,’ Geoffrey said.

‘Mm, yes,’ Sunday said. ‘I had noticed.’

‘What I mean is, she wasn’t that old. Not by modern standards. So if she went to school with this Lin Wei person, what’s to say Lin Wei isn’t still alive? Never mind the archive, never mind the Pans – you could just ask her directly.’

‘I’m afraid not,’ Chama said sadly. ‘Lin Wei was the Prime Pan. She died decades ago.’

Sunday nodded. ‘That’s what I heard as well. I think she drowned, or something horrible like that.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

When Chama’s ching