Dark Ararat - Brian Stableford [156]
“They were close enough to know when we arrived,” Matthew pointed out. “They didn’t have to trek across half a continent to get here, and no matter how scared they are they won’t run away that far. We’re lucky they found so much to steal, luckier still that they had the courage and intelligence to steal it, and luckiest of all that Dulcie caught a glimpse of them while she was in a reckless mood. If they were interested in us before, they’re absolutely fascinated by us now. If we’re really lucky, they’ll come to us again—but if we have to go looking for them, we can be sure they’ll eventually let us find them, because that’s what they’ve already done. Whatever they’ve done with Dulcie, their tactics are already on show. Sex or no sex, in every respect that really matters, they’re just like us.”
“That’s way too many assumptions,” Lynn complained. “And whatever else you’ve achieved, you’ve certainly set up a context of expectation. When your cameras get here, you’d better have something to put out. You’ve promised breaking news, and you’ll have to deliver. Have you even paused to consider what this will do to the argument about whether we can and ought to stay here? You do realize that the entire future of the colony may hang on what happens next?”
“I’ve been stuck in a basket halfway down a cliff for a day and a half,” Matthew reminded her. “I’ve done nothing but pause for consideration. I know exactly what hangs on what happens next—and I certainly wouldn’t trust anyone but me to report it responsibly. Would you?”
“Less than a fortnight ago,” she pointed out, “you were still in the solar system, so far as subjective time is concerned. Do you really think you’re the man best qualified to put an informed and considered commentary together?”
“Yes I do,” Matthew said. “If not me, who? If not now, when?”
“It should have been Bernal,” Ike put in.
“Maybe it should,” Matthew retorted, “but Dulcie killed him in a fit of rage, because he couldn’t respond to her need the same way twice, so I’m here instead. Would you rather have Tang Dinh Quan telling the world and the microworld alike that this is final proof of the fact that we need to let the world alone for a hundred or a thousand years, and maybe forever, lest we interfere with the indigenes’ right of self-determination?”
That threw Lynn slightly. “Is that what you’re going to say on air?” she asked. “In that tone of voice?”
“Of course not,” he told her. “I’m going to be sweet reason itself.”
“But which end of the argument are you going to support?”
“How do I know, until I find out more?”
She wasn’t buying that. “Don’t pretend to be any better than the rest of us, Matthew. You know full well that almost everyone else is in a better position to make an informed judgment. I know you’ve already made up your mind. You’re grabbing the platform before anyone else does because you never could be content to wait in the wings. I want to know, Matthew. I want to know how you intend to play it.”
“This is a complete waste of time,” Ike told her. “Matthew’s right about one thing—we have work to do. We have to put the boat together, and put the cargo in the boat, and make the whole thing safe from attack or pilferage. We have to do it now, before we have another plague of worms to deal with, or an army of purple people. His bad arm and your bad ankle will make it difficult enough, without falling out with one another. We have to take this one step at a time.”
Lynn backed down easily enough. “Maybe we all need a pause for consideration,” she said. “This really has changed everything, hasn’t it?”
“For the better,” Matthew told her. “Yesterday, we were still alone in