Power Play - Anne McCaffrey [116]
“Excuse me, Doctor,” one incredulous juror had asked. “But how exactly does it tell you that?”
“Six months ago, I understand, it would not have done, which is a sign of how remarkably fast it can respond to certain stimuli. With the current crises caused by the outside threat from the company and others seeking to utilize its resources before the planet has quite discovered them, the planet rapidly developed a direct means of communicating. Its mineral content contains the same substances used in storing sounds for reproduction in computer equipment. The planet has always absorbed the words of those who speak within its walls—it stores the words and, like a baby, regurgitates them as echoes at what it deems to be appropriate times. Sister Igneous Rock and I have been having daily prolonged conversations with the planet, and like any child, its vocabulary and communication skills have grown as a result. Local people have always gone to these inner spaces, they say, to include the planet in the seasonal and critical events of their lives. It should be noted, and you may question them on this matter, that when Colonel Maddock and her companions carried small talismanic bags of Petaybean soil gleaned from the inner caves, they felt not only psychological comfort, but also some form of telepathic communication with the planet. This is not hard to imagine, given the telepathic links between humans and animals, animals and other animals—as witnessed by many in the incident involving the Asian Esoteric and Exotic Company on the southern continent—and occasionally, as in an earlier incident, plants, the planet, and human and animal agencies. Such links are so close that I personally am led to agree with Petaybee that, in fact, everything that comes within its atmosphere is part of the life of a highly complex and diversified organism consisting not only of minerals and elements, but of every living thing that comes in contact with its surface. This tremendous telepathic linkage and the need for ‘adjustment’ of initially outside organisms to the planet are why Petaybee has at times had such a devastating effect on some humans. Perhaps in time this will be modified. Anything is possible.”
“Anything is possible?” asked one of the more literal-minded jurors. “Is this all there is to your theory? Have you no more definite conclusions?”
“I have, as well as recommendations that I think the Petaybean inhabitants will agree with. The planet has infinite potential beyond anything I’ve ever seen, experienced, or heard of in my career. However, it is a growing, developing entity and it must be nurtured and encouraged to find its own best uses and values. New immigration must be monitored and numbers controlled so as not to overwhelm the available resources, and most particularly so that newcomers to the planet can become properly acclimated and ‘adjusted’ without harmful aftereffects.”
Admiral-General Segilla-Dove was inclined to believe Mendeley, though the opinion was not exactly what he had expected from an astronomer. But the admiral-general had noticed how the mist seemed to thicken on the floor when the locals spoke. And the air in the hall also was fragrant with scents he only barely remembered from his childhood.
This meeting was really only a formality, and Farringer Ball whacked the gavel that made the whole thing right and tight in just under an hour and a half, the admiral-general noted.
Then the formal meeting was thrown open to specially invited guests, and an assortment of finger foods and a local drink called “blurry” were handed round in celebration.
The “invited” seemed to be everyone on the planet, which might explain why the Arrivals Hall on a barely terraformed iceball in the middle of nowhere was as large as it was. For certainly people were not thronging to visit, or even vacation, on Petaybee in numbers that would require such a massive facility.
Then a gaggle of musicians took their places on the dais where Farringer