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“How interesting,” Gallow said.
“I’m told,” Bushka said, “that when you recovered the Redoubt’s data base … I mean …” He coughed.
“Our historians work full-time,” Gallow said. “After the Disaster, everything, including the material from the Redoubt, was subjected to exhaustive analysis.”
“I would still like to see the material,” Bushka said. He cursed himself silently. His voice sounded so plaintive.
“Tell me, Bushka,” Gallow said, “what would be your response if this material revealed that Ship was an artifact made by human beings and not God at all?”
Bushka pursed his lips. “The Artifact Heresy? Hasn’t that been …” “You haven’t answered my question,” Gallow said.
“I would have to see the material and judge for myself,” Bushka said. He held himself quite still. No Islander had ever been granted access to Redoubt data. But what Gallow hinted … explosive!
“I should be most interested to hear what an Islander historian has to say about the Redoubt accounts,” Gallow said. He glanced at Ale. “Do you see any reason why we shouldn’t grant his request, Kareen?”
She shrugged and turned away, an expression on her face that Bushka could not interpret. Disgust?
Gallow directed that measuring smile toward Bushka. “I quite understand that the Redoubt has mystical implications for Islanders. I hesitate to feed superstitions.”
Mystical? Bushka thought. Land that once had protruded from the sea. A place built on a continent, a mass of exposed land that did not drift, the last inundated in the Disaster. Mystical? Was Gallow merely toying with him?
“I’m a qualified historian,” Bushka said.
“But you said hobby …” Gallow shook his head. “Was everything recovered intact from the Redoubt?” Bushka ventured.
“It was sealed off,” Ale said, turning once more to face Bushka. “Our ancestors put an air-bell on it before cutting through the plasteel.”
“Everything was found just as it was left when they abandoned the place,” Gallow said.
“Then it’s true,” Bushka breathed. “But would you reinforce Islander superstitions?” Gallow insisted.
Bushka drew himself up stiffly. “I am a scientist. I would reinforce nothing but the truth.”
“Why this sudden interest in the Redoubt?” Ale asked.
“Sudden?” Bushka stared at her in amazement. “We’ve always wanted to share in the Redoubt’s data base. The people who left it there were our ancestors, too.”
“In a manner of speaking,” Gallow said.
Bushka felt the hot flush of blood in his cheeks. Most Mermen believed that only Clones and mutants had populated the drifting Islands. Did Gallow really accept that nonsense?
“Perhaps I should’ve said why the renewed interest?” Ale corrected herself.
“We’ve heard stories, you see, about the Guemes Movement,” Gallow said.
Bushka nodded. WorShip was, indeed, on the increase among Islanders.
“There have been reports of unidentified things seen in the sky,” Bushka said. “Some believe that Ship already has returned and is concealed from us in space.”
“Do you believe this?” Gallow asked.
“It’s possible,” Bushka admitted. “All I really know for certain is that the C/P is kept busy examining people who claim to have seen visions.”
Gallow chuckled. “Oh, my!”
Bushka once more felt frustration. They were toying with him! This was all a cruel Merman game! “What is so amusing?” he demanded.
“GeLaar, stop this!” Ale said.
Gallow held up an admonitory hand. “Kareen, look with care upon Islander Bushka. Could he not pass as one of us?”
Ale swept a swift glance across Bushka’s face and returned her attention to Gallow. “What’re you doing, GeLaar?”
Bushka inhaled deeply and held his breath.
Gallow studied Bushka a moment, then: “What would be your response, Bushka, if I were to offer you a place in Merman society?”
Bushka exhaled slowly, inhaled. “I … I would accept. Gratefully, of course.”
“Of course,” Gallow echoed. He smiled at Ale. “Then, since Bushka will be one of us, there’s no harm in telling him what amuses me.”
“It’s on your head, GeLaar,” Ale said.
A movement at the Sonde Control console caught Bushka’s attention. Panille was no longer looking at him, but the set of his shoulders told Bushka the man was listening intently. Ship save them! Was the Artifact Heresy true, after all? Was that the great Merman secret?
“These visions causing so much trouble for our beloved C/P,” Gallow said. “They are Merman rockets, Bushka.”
Bushka opened his mouth and closed it without speaking. “Ship was not God, is not God,” Gallow said. “The Redoubt records …”
“Are open to several interpretations,” Ale said.
“Only to fools!” Gallow snapped. “We are sending up rockets. Bushka, because we are preparing to recover the hyb tanks from orbit. Ship was an artifact made by our ancestors. Other artifacts and things have been left in space for us to recover.”
The matter-of-fact way Gallow said this made Bushka catch his breath. Stories about the mysterious hyb tanks permeated Islander society. What might be stored in those containers that orbited Pandora? Recovering those tanks, and really seeing what they contained, was worth anything—even destruction of the Ship-God belief that sustained so many people.
“You are shocked,” Gallow said.
“I’m … I’m awed,” Bushka replied.
“We were all raised on the Transition Stories.” Gallow pointed upward. “Life awaits us up there.”
Bushka nodded. “The tanks are supposed to contain countless life forms from … from Earth.”
“Fish, animals, plants,” Gallow said. “And even some humans.” He grinned. “Normal humans.” He waved a hand to encompass the occupants of Sonde Control. “Like us.”
Bushka inhaled a trembling breath. Yes, the historical accounts said the hyb tanks held humans who had never been touched by the bioengineering machinations of Jesus Lewis. There would be people in those tanks who had gone to sleep in another star system, who had no idea of this nightmare world that awaited their awakening.
“And now you know,” Gallow said.
Bushka cleared his throat. “We never suspected. I mean … the C/P has never said a word about …”
“The C/P does not know of this,” Ale said. There was a warning note in her voice.
Bushka glanced at the plaz porthole with its view of the LTA tube. “She knows about that, of course,” Ale said.
“An innocuous thing,” Gallow said.
“There has been no blessing of our rockets,” Ale said.
Bushka continued to stare out the porthole. He had never counted himself a deeply religious person, but these Merman revelations left him profoundly disturbed. Ale obviously doubted Gallow’s interpretation of the Redoubt material, but still … a blessing would be only common sense … just in case …
“What is your response, Merman Bushka?” Gallow asked.
