He had come close enough finally to the first of the parked ships—a wide-bodied transport—to hit its metal skin with a spot communicator beam of light.
"Sea of Summer!" he said into his phone grille. "Sea of Summer, this is Hal Mayne of the Final Encyclopedia, en route from the Encyclopedia by skidder to the Olof's Own. I'm transmitting my personal image for identification. Repeat, this is Hal Mayne. Can you direct me to Olof's Own? I ask, can you direct me—"
His screen lit up suddenly with a lean-faced young man wearing a ship's officer's jacket, who seemed to peer at him through the screen.
"Hal Mayne?" he said. He glanced briefly off-screen then back at Hal. "I'm third officer, duty shift. Mika Moyne. Want to identify yourself by telling me where you last outvisited on the Dorsai?"
"Foralie Town, Mika Moyne," said Hal. "Honored."
"The honor's mine." The lean face grinned. "Hal Mayne, the Olof's Own was the next to the last arrival last time I checked. We're going through Fleet Locator now… all right, she's now in Station 103—not far down the line at all."
"Thank you, Mika Moyne."
"My pleasure, Hal Mayne."
He signed off and went on. Fourteen hundred kilometers down the line, he found the Olof's Own, identified himself and was invited aboard.
"I understand one of your passengers is Miriam Songhai," he said, when he was inside. "I'd like to talk to her for a moment if she wouldn't mind."
"We'll find her and ask," said the Olof's Own captain. "Do you want to wait in the Officer's Duty Lounge? It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to find her for you."
He took Hal into the Duty Lounge. Less than ten minutes later, Miriam Songhai pushed open the door of the lounge and stepped in. Hal and the captain stood up from the floats on which they had been seated.
"Excuse me," said the captain. "I've got to get back to the control area."
He left them in the empty lounge.
"It's good of you to see me," said Hal. "Honored."
"Nonsense," said Miriam Songhai. "I was only twiddling my thumbs, anyway, and I'm the one who's honored. What did you want to see me about?"
She sat down and Hal reseated himself.
"I've been watching for Amanda Morgan to turn up," he said. "So far I haven't found anyone who knows when she'll be coming. I've talked to a few of the Foralie area people, but they say she's been spending all her time in Omalu these last weeks—which makes sense. She mentioned once that you, too, had duties that put you in Omalu, a lot. So I thought I'd ask you if you knew anything."
Miriam shook her head.
"I haven't seen her for a couple of weeks, at least," she said, "and then only to talk business about ways and means of getting official records packed and shipped. I've no idea when she was leaving. But the responsibilities of most of us in Omalu are over, now that the ships are actually lifting. She ought to be along any time now."
"I hope so," said Hal, and smiled.
He stood up. She stood up, also.
"Well, thank you," he said. "It was a long shot—but I appreciate being able to ask you."
"Nonsense, again," she said. "I'm just sorry I didn't have anything definite to tell you. But, as I say, she'll be along."
They went to the door of the lounge together. As it slid back automatically for them both, they stepped through; and just outside, she stopped—and checked him also with a hand that closed on his arm. He felt a strange shock go through him at her touch, as if a powerful electricity charged her. Her blunt, dark fingers held his arm strongly.
"Don't worry," Miriam Songhai said, firmly. Her gaze was direct and unyielding. "She'll be all right."
"Thank you," he said.
She released him; and he watched her go off down the corridor toward the aft section of the ship. He turned back into the control area and was greeted by the captain.
"Had your talk?" said the captain. "Anything else we can do for you, Hal Mayne?"
"No. Thanks very much," said Hal. "I'd better be starting back for the Encyclopedia."
Once more in the little skidder, he increased his acceleration to shorten the trip back. But when he finally reentered his suite, it was almost time for the conference he had called—and Ajela was waiting for him there in one of the non-float chairs, which, like Tam, she favored.
"That's interesting," he said, closing the door behind him. "Can you let yourself into anyone's living quarters whether they're home or not?"
"I can to yours," she said. "Because you're the Director; and I'm Special Assistant to the Director; and in case of emergency I have to have access to any place the Director might be."
She stared at him.
"—And as a matter fact, yes," she went on, "I could let myself into the quarters of anyone here at the Encyclopedia, only I wouldn't."
"Only into the Director's quarters?"
"That's right."
He sat down opposite her and looked at her critically.
"How much sleep did you get?"
"An hour—an hour and a half. Never mind that," she said. "What's this conference you'd have had me miss out on?"
He shook his head at her.
"The most important topic for discussion," he said, "is undoubtedly going to be my announcement that I'll be insisting on being a free agent; so I can do my own work in my own carrel, here. The rest of them are going to have to run matters without my looking over their shoulders. But this is something you already know about. The others are going to find it something of a shock, I think."
"That—and what else."
"That and a few other things. The most important of those is that Bleys is coming secretly to have a talk with me."
She sat up suddenly in the arm chair.
"What about?"
"I'll find out when he gets here."
The door annunicator spoke with the voice of Rourke di Facino.
"Hal, I'm here."
"Open," said Hal to the door; and Rourke walked in to take a seat with them.
"Nonne's on her way. So is Jason," Rourke said. "I haven't seen Amid."
He looked penetratingly at Ajela.
"You need rest," he said.
"Later," she answered.
"Then close your eyes and lean back until the rest get here," said Rourke. "You won't think it's helping, but it will."
She opened her mouth to answer him, then smiled a little and did as he had just suggested. Almost immediately, her breathing slowed and deepened.
Hal and Rourke looked at each other and said nothing by mutual consent. Hal got up, walked to the door and set it wide open. As the others he had called in appeared at it, one by one, he held his fingers to his lips and beckoned them in. Finally, however, they were all there—including Amid; and it was not possible to put off conversation any longer.
"We've just got time," said Hal, "to go over a few things before I go on general broadcast to the Earth to announce I've taken over as Director up here and introduce Rukh."
He looked across the seated circle of their gathering at Rukh, who returned his gaze calmly. The few days of rest for her here at the Encyclopedia had been absolute, simply because there was no means by which news that might disturb or rouse her could reach her without the active cooperation of the Encyclopedia's Communications Center, which Hal had refused to allow. Roget had all but danced in the corridors at the results that now showed. She was still as thin and fragile in appearance as she had been when Hal had seen her down at the hotel beside Lake Qattara. But the look of transparency had vanished from her. She was fully alive once more; and the aura of personal strength that had always been part of her was back.
He paused to look over at Ajela; but she had not woken at the sound of his voice. She continued to slumber, half-curled up with her head tucked into the angle between one of the wings and the back of the chair.
"I want to make sure you all understand fully what that appointment is going to mean, both for me and for the rest of you," Hal went on. "To begin with, I take it I
don't have to explain why there's no question of my refusing it? There's no one else; and Tam isn't up to continuing other than under ordinary conditions. If Ajela was awake, she'd tell you that Tam first spoke to me about taking over here eventually some years ago; and both of us knew it had to happen eventually."
He looked around at them for possible comment. No one said anything, although Nonne's face was absolutely expressionless.
"Why you, especially, Hal?" asked Rukh.
"I'm sorry," he answered. "With all else that's been going on, I took it for granted Ajela or someone else might have told you. They didn't? But they did take you all past the Transit Point as you came in here the first time?"
All other heads, except Ajela's, shook.
"I didn't know that," Hal said. "There's a spot in the Encyclopedia at its centerpoint. I invite you all to ask one of the staff to show you where it is and go and stand there for a second. If you hear any voices speaking, get in touch with me at once; because it means you've also got one of the qualifications that's needed in whoever takes over the Encyclopedia. In all the years since it became operative, everyone who's come here's been led past that centerpoint; and I apologize for the system breaking down now. You all should have been tested as a matter of routine. In nearly a century only Mark Torre, Tam Olyn and myself have heard voices at that spot."
"You heard voices" said Nonne. "When, if you don't mind my asking?"
"The first time I came here, when I was not quite seventeen years old," said Hal.
"And not since?"
"Yes." Hal smiled at her. "I went back and stood there for a moment, as soon as I could get off by myself after Tam announced I'd be succeeding him."
"And the voices were still there?"
"Still there," said Hal.
Nonne's expressionlessness of face did not change.
"And this is supposed to mean… what?"
"That the Encyclopedia was meant to be something more than a supremely effective library and research mechanism," he answered. "Mark Torre, who planned and built it, had a conception of something greater; a tool for the innate improvement of mankind. He built the Encyclopedia on the faith of that idea and nothing more; but the faith was justified when Tam also heard the voices. Until then Mark Torre had kept quiet about his reasons for running everyone who came through the centerpoint. After that he spoke up. It was the one proof that came in his lifetime, that there was a greater purpose and use for the Encyclopedia than anyone else had believed; a purpose and use we can't see clearly even yet, but that send out signals of its possibilities in something more than ordinary physical terms."
"And you'd like to be the one who puts it to that greater purpose?" Nonne asked.
"Nonne," said Rukh. "It strikes me at this point that Ajela'd have a question for you. Since she's still sleeping, I'll ask it for her. Amid—"
She glanced across at the older Exotic.
"You told me Nonne'd been one of those Exotics who'd originally been against Hal being trusted and backed by your people. From what I've been told by Ajela, so far, and from what I've seen in the short time I've known you, Nonne, you seem to have gone from having reservations about everything Hal's done to an outright antagonism toward him. Maybe it's time you tell the rest of us why."
Nonne's expressionlessness vanished. A little color tinted the smooth skin over her cheekbones.
"I didn't approve of Hal being given a blank check by my people, no," she said. "Amid was the one who did, as you say. As a result, it was decided by the rest of us studying the matter that since Amid was in the best position to act as liaison for us with Hal, he ought to be counterbalanced by someone who had an opposite point of view to his. You might call him the supportive angel and me the critical one—"
"That'd be the Exotic way," said Rourke, dryly.
Nonne turned on him.
"Actually, I find those not from Mara or Kultis often seem to tend to consider me rather untypical as an Exotic," she said. "However, that's a mistake on their part. My point of view represents one rather more common among our people than most of you realize. It's just one non-Exotics don't often see."
"You haven't explained this antagonism of yours," said Rukh, "only confirmed it."
"Very well," said Nonne. She looked back to Hal. "I'd have expected Hal to ask me about this, rather than one of you. But it doesn't matter. I'm not convinced you know what you're doing, Hal. You said essentially, the last time I questioned you about something, that you and Bleys were like master chess players, too skilled to make the wrong move, and only liable to the danger of making the right move either too early or too late."
"That's what I said." Hal nodded.
"Then I have to say I've seen no evidence of that level of competence, on your side at least, Hal. All I've seen is the Dorsai uprooted and brought en masse to fight for a world that doesn't even know they're coming; my own people—"
There was a momentary, almost unnoticeable catch in her voice.
"—stripped of everything they ever earned and accomplished and then abandoned, Earth turned into a walled fortress without being asked for its permission, and its people expected to commit themselves to a possibly endless war with an enemy that has all the strength, all the wealth, all the materiel and all the advantage—when only a minority of those Earth people ever showed any understanding of the situation with the enemy, or a will to fight him in the first place—"
"You forget," Jason broke in, "how they've been educated, and their opinion changed, since Rukh and our other truth-speakers started telling their own personal stories of how it's been for us all on Harmony and Association. You forget how they've reacted down there, these last few days since news of her nearly being assassinated got out. I hear from our speakers daily. They're all being overwhelmed now with people who want to hear more of what they have to say. We've got a majority of opinion down below in favor of Hal's actions, now, not a minority!"
"Hardly in favor of Hal's actions," said Nonne. "They don't know about his actions. Emotionally, for Rukh and your people and mine, certainly—but that's a fire that can go out as quickly as it's been lit, the minute they find out their own lives and their own world have been thrown into the table stakes. Meanwhile, with all the population and resources of nine other worlds, Bleys goes on growing stronger daily; and I come to this suite now, only to hear Hal tell us he's seriously planning to split his energies even further by adding the Encyclopedia to his responsibilities."
She looked at Hal.
"Besides," she said, "it was none of the rest of you I've been waiting to hear some answers from. It's from Hal. Tell me, then, Hal. How do you justify adding something like the Encyclopedia to everything else you're supposed to be taking care of?"
"That's a question at a good time," said Hal, "because one of the things I was about to tell you was that my work with the Encyclopedia here is going to have to take priority over anything else, in the days and years to come. In other words, the defense of Earth is now set up. I'm going to be leaving it to the rest of you to handle."
Nonne stared at him.
"This is insane!" she said, finally.
"No," said Hal. He found himself feeling suddenly weary. "It's what's necessary. This battle between the Others and ourselves isn't going to be won with weapons at a shield-wall, or even on the face of any of the inhabited worlds. The only place it's ever going to be won is in the hearts and minds of men and women, on all the worlds; and the only source of the means to win that non-physical war lies here, in the potential of the Final Encyclopedia. This is where the meaningful battle is going to be fought, and won or lost; and this is where I'm going to have to do my real work."
Nonne still stared at him.
"Think," he said to her. "What else, or what thing different, could have been done to give us any chance at all before the inevitable growth of the Others to an overwhelming power that could threaten to make us prisoners of their philosophy? The only hope we ever had to resist them, and the worlds
they owned, was for this planet and the other ones we still owned to combine their forces at one strongpoint. Because, unlike us, the only way the Others can win is to win utterly. And I explained to you once, I think, that the numbers of Earth's population and its existing physical resources made it the only reasonable choice for a citadel world, a world to garrison against the force that's going to be brought against us. How could we have asked in advance for Earth's permission to do this, making the possibility a matter of public debate for years, at least, without giving Bleys and his people the opportunity to move in while discussion was going on, and defeat us within at the same time as they were marshalling to take us over from without? As it was, Bleys saw the move we've just made, but moved to defend against it too late—the fault I explained to you earlier, Nonne. And so, we've stolen a march on him."
She opened her mouth as if to reply, but he went on without stopping.
"So tell me," he said, "given those imperatives, how could anything else have been done? Simply, from the beginning we've all been called upon to give whatever we had to give. The Dorsai, their strength; you Exotics, your wealth and information; Earth, its resources of people and material; and the Friendlies, their unyielding faith in an ultimate victory to hold all the rest of us together. Called upon that way, what could we have done differently? Give me the alternatives."
He paused again. But she had closed her mouth again and now sat silent.
"Your argument," he went on after a moment, more gently, "isn't with me, Nonne. It's with the forces of history—the movements of people that cause further movements; and so on, and on, until we finally have a situation like this that can only be dealt with in a single way. The choices have all now been either raised up and answered, or ignored. This is a final confrontation in the terms of our present moment; but every generation in its own time has had an equivalent confrontation, in its own terms. People have followed me in this, not because of what I say, or who I am, but because this is the only way things seem to have a chance of working out. There's no other path visible. Can you see one? If so, tell me what it is."