I got to my feet, murmuring thanks. My hands went into my pockets in imitation of my friend and superior.
Then I began talking desultorily about the need for an archaeological expedition to the Asadi pagoda. I mentioned that Chiyoko Yoshiba of the Museum of Indigenous Artifacts was probably the most likely person to head up such an expedition. Chiyoko was middle-aged and rather stout, that was all very true, but she had impeccable credentials, surprising stamina, and a skill at reconstruction and classification bordering on wizardry. Middle-aged, had I said? Shoot, she was only a year or two older than I. There was no reason Robards de Feo couldn’t find a substitute for her at the Museum and Chiyoko herself immediately undertake the mounting of—
‘Wait a minute,’ Moses put in, touching me. ‘The huri in the pagoda – beneath it, rather – constitute a possible obstacle to these plans. After Elegy left here this afternoon, I had Farber in Communications send a light-probe message to Kommthor. The message detailed what the two of you encountered in the Wild. It also outlined some of your speculations about the huri/Asadi relationship and its history.’
‘You’ve received a reply?’ I asked, my heart thudding.
‘Farber relayed it to me about an hour before you called.’
‘What?’ I demanded. ‘What did it say?’
Moses stopped rocking and removed his hand from his right pocket; he still didn’t look at me. ‘That if the huri did indeed once enslave and control the Asadi’s intelligent Ur’sadi forebears—’ He put his hands on the railing in front of him and grimaced as if trying to dislodge the tie in his left cheek.
‘Go on,’ I urged him impatiently.
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? Kommthor’s afraid the huri may pose a similar threat to humanity. They want the wilderness temple cordoned off and the entrance to the catacombs sealed. There won’t be any archaeological expeditions into the Wild. Moreover, Kommthor’s considering the desirability and the feasibility of depositing a nuclear device in the huri labyrinth.’
I stared at Moses in disbelief. ‘You’re kidding.’
‘No, I’m not.’
‘Has Elegy heard about this – this grandiose executive madness?’
‘No, she hasn’t. And, Ben, it’s no more mad than was the quarantining of the astronauts upon their return from extraterrestrial worlds. In the early days of the American space program, that was an eminently sane precautionary measure. Kommthor’s decree against archaeological expeditions is precautionary in the same way.’
I clomped off three or four meters, then clomped back. ‘That’s possible, that’s very possible – but Kommthor’s decision to nuke the huri would be a preemptive measure of the highest, humanity-first arrogance. Preemptive, not precautionary! God, Moses, it’s the diction and vocabulary of the Big Lie. Elegy and I don’t even know if our reconstructions of huri/Asadi evolution are in any way on target. Can we ever know? We’re talking about twelve million years of evolution, and we’re doing so as finite beings with a limited if occasionally rather breathtaking mental capacity and clairvoyance. I’d kill myself, Moses, if I thought Kommthor had actually annihilated an entire alien species solely on the basis of Elegy’s and my unverified speculations. I’d literally kill myself.’
‘I hope,’ said Moses wryly, ‘you’re not speaking for Civ Cather, too.’
‘She does that very well for herself, as you already know. And she wouldn’t kill herself – she’d mount a retaliatory strike on Kommthor headquarters, even if she had to muster her own goddamn Martial Arm to do it!’
Moses finally looked at me, spreading his hands in a gesture that clearly meant, So there you are.
‘She told you about her father?’ I asked, changing tacks.
‘Yes, she told me about Chaney.’
‘Everything?’
‘I believe so. It wasn’t easy for her, but she told me everything.’
‘Chaney’s failed metamorphosis is evidence we’re not susceptible to the motivational control of the huri, Moses. We’re simply not very likely victims of their peculiar brand of parasitism. Chaney himself kept saying we weren’t huri “saviors.”’
‘I understand that, Ben. I think even Kommthor understands that. But it may not always be so. Besides, Elegy told me that the huri immobilized you for a period, actually reached into your brain and jammed your own psychomotor equipment. That’s control, Ben, and it’s a frightening thing to contemplate on a planet-wide basis.’
‘They simply wanted to find out what I was. They cast my statue in order to get a grip on my identity.’
‘In order to see if you might not serve their purposes better than Chaney did, perhaps. But you were clearly the same sort of creature as Chaney and therefore of no current use to them as a host.’
I threw up my hands. ‘That’s exactly what I’m arguing, Moses. The huri pose no danger to us because we’re exactly the sort of creature Chaney was. Their experiment with him was apathetic failure.’
‘The key word is “current.” They may not pose any danger to us now, but ultimately – tomorrow or a few thousand years in the future – they may. They may be able to adapt their role of psychic parasitism – or whatever it is – to us, to humanity, even if they still haven’t managed to resubjugate the Asadi.’
‘Is that really what you think, Moses?’
‘I don’t see how you can rule out the possibility. But all I’m really trying to do is give you a basis for understanding Kommthor’s position. What I think is immaterial.’ He looked at me with a strange mixture of sympathy and disapproval. ‘Do you still want to leave BoskVeld, Ben?’
‘Yes – but I may stick around longer than a week.’
Moses smiled. ‘You do that. It would please me – it would really please me – if you did that.’ He sounded disarmingly sincere.
‘Where’s Kretzoi?’ I asked. It had taken me only a few minutes to walk to the hospital from Moses’s gaudily spotlit mansion, and Elegy met me at the door to her suite with an affectionate hug but no passion.
‘In surgery,’ she said. She wore loose khaki trousers and a lightweight grey pullover. The
