~~~
Life went on awhile in the Gordon household. The Colonel worked in the barn, found missions for me, trained Kuma, and sent her and me on combined missions.
When I wasn't sabotaging advanced technology, I was doing Girl Scout activities, going to church, and studying. Although the Colonel had assured me of his having enough money to put me through any school to which I earned admission, I hoped to win a National Merit Scholarship. College and a career seemed possible to me then.
Neighbors remarked on how well the Colonel and I were taking Mom's death. Neither he nor I were given to being outwardly emotional, but I suspect that neither of us knew peace inside. I think that he and I carried on partly because neither of us wanted the other to say, "Your mother/Mom would've wanted us to do this."
Over time, the Colonel grew more reflective. He spoke less of what I should do, or even of why I should do it; rather, he spoke of a big picture of which I glimpsed but pieces.
One night, one of the last nights that he'd share with me, he waxed philosophical, talking of constellations wheeling overhead. (As it was early summer, Orion wasn't among them.) Dala, Kuma, and Lona, who were with me, showed scant interest, though, in star lore. Kuma asked the Colonel the by now age-old question, "Where are the boys, sir?"
He gave her a warm smile. "Safe at home, I hope."
I sighed. "I hate to make a pest of myself, sir, but where is home?"
He chuckled. "Belle, I'd worry about you if you stopped being a pest. I hope that you'd worry about me if I gave in to your persistence. As part of the Work, you girls will have to do many tasks harder than finding the boys. Think of it as a test, one that you'll surely pass."
Even in his philosophical phase, he hewed to the party line. I was frustrated. "Will the boys be able to play their parts in the Work?"
He nodded. "Each of you, boy or girl, is developing skills that may be useful to it. I've trained you, Belle, for combat operations, as these will regrettably be necessary. Camille has shown aptitude for these, too, as has the boy whom you've begun to call the Scourge of Jesse James Country.
"I can't predict what course the Work will take. It may -- and I hope that it does -- require for its completion skills other than combat skills. It'll be the Kan Tan's task to weave the skills of all of you Tani together to complete the work successfully."
"By the Kan Tan, you mean Par-On, I suppose," I said. "Will he be ready for the Work?"
"He's getting training appropriate to his task, and doing quite well at his training."
I think that all four of us girls knew that the Colonel would say no more of Par that night. Dala turned talk to another topic. "Sir, I keep hearing that the Work will start when the Message comes. What does the Message say, and what effect will it have on the world?"
"I don't know specifically what the Message will say," the Colonel said slowly. He was fudging, as I'd learn all too soon. "How much it says, and how long it lasts, depends on how much time Belle's grandfather had to keep the speaking-crystals working after you children were launched.
"How the Message will affect the world, too, is unpredictable. It'll affect each person who hears it according to his or her nature. Some persons the Message will fill with awe; some, with hope; some, with fear. I can predict only that it'll profoundly shake the world's society, and fill it with debate and conflict in which you children will have a window of opportunity to move."
"The night before Kan Tan Sor-On sent me here," I said, "he told me to ensure that the Message gets heard. What did he mean, sir?"
The Colonel looked sad. "This world needs to hear a message from another world, a dying world. Do whatever it takes, short of getting caught, to ensure that the Message gets heard. Shout warnings from rooftops, flood public squares with fliers, fill mailboxes with spam -- you children have imaginations; use them! Just be sure to tell the world to have radio telescopes pointed at Wolf 1061 in the time frame when the Message will start."
I see on some of your faces blank looks that I guess have to do with the phrase "time frame." I know the exact earth-date on which the Message began on Ul, but astronomers don't know the precise distance between Ul-that-was and the earth. Thus, the best that we Tani can tell the astronomers is a range of dates within which they should listen to Wolf 1061. Astronomy, like the rest of life, is filled with uncertainty.
But to our tale. Lona said, "Sir, what must we do when the Message comes?"
"Strike from the shadows and communicate from the shadows as long as you need to."
Dala blinked with what I took as misgivings. "Don't you mean, 'till the Work is done,' sir?"
The Colonel looked solemn. "When will you be done remembering the Homeworld, perpetuating the Tan, and saving the earth?"
Dala and Lona exchanged looks of worry. Kuma looked determined. "Surely, sir, there must be a point at which we'll be able to declare victory."
The Colonel gave me his warm smile. "Belle, what would you see as victory?"
I pondered a moment. "We'll have victory when the earth-humans become our willing partners in the Work."
Dala looked hopeful. "Do you mean that we Tani will be able to live among them openly as their friends?"
Lona sniffed. "We'd hardly want to rear children in endless wartime."
Dala wore a far look. "What kind of world would we and the earth-humans share? A simple world, like Ul before the great crystals?"
Kuma looked disgusted. "Can't we ever return to the stars?"
The Colonel sighed. "You girls are asking me questions that I can't answer. It'll be you Tani who shape the world to come, for better or for worse. I've taught you techniques that'll be useful in the Work, but what'll be most useful is learning to plan, execute, and evaluate, as you'll someday soon have to determine your future on your own.
"I do have two pieces of hope for you. The first is that what Dor-Sad discovered, the secret of shaping and using the great crystals, can be rediscovered. The second piece of hope is that the great crystals endanger the earth only if you shape and use them on its surface. If you and the earth-humans can someday set up facilities to manufacture the great crystals in deep space, the universe will be open to you all.
"Now, I've told you all that I can tell you. I'm glad to have been able to leave you with hope."
When he said "leave" that night, I thought that he meant only that we girls should get to bed. From the vantage of the present, though, I suspect that he meant "leave" permanently, as indeed he would soon do.