Taking Wing - Michael A. Martin [56]
Without looking up from his salad, Jaza smiled and said, “I’m still collecting data.”
“Surely you have some opinion,” the ensign said.
Unhurriedly, Jaza set down his fork, took a sip from his glass of water, and looked thoughtfully at Norellis. “Someone once observed that ‘Worlds turn by politics as surely as they do by gravity.’ ”
Dakal’s chopsticks, holding a maki roll of dark red Ahi, stopped halfway to his mouth. He could feel his neck ridges flushing. The Bajoran wasn’t looking at him, but Dakal refused to believe his choice of words had been accidental.
Norellis’s brow furrowed as he tried to place the quote. “Who said that?”
Jaza had already recovered his fork and returned his attention to his salad. “Cadet?”
Suddenly all eyes were on Dakal. He swallowed hard, unsure how to proceed, and angry that Jaza had put him on the spot in this manner. Finally, he admitted, “It was written by Iloja of Prim, a Cardassian poet, over two hundred years ago.”
The revelation seemed neither to impress nor to incense anyone at the table. So far, so good.
“So what does it mean?” Pazlar asked Jaza. But when it became clear that the lieutenant commander would not be diverted from his salad again, the group’s attention refocused on Dakal.
“Ah,” he began. “Well, Iloja believed that the evolution of the sentient mind was merely a way for the universe to know itself, and that therefore no understanding of the universe can be complete without understanding sentient behavior.”
Norellis snorted. “That’s not science, it’s philosophy.”
Dakal was ready to launch into an elaboration of his point, but hesitated. His eyes darted briefly at Jaza, hoping for a clue as to what the senior officer expected of him. But the commander gave no sign that he was even listening.
And yet it would be a mistake to think that he is not. I’m being tested. Very well, then. I’ll rise to this challenge as I have every other.
“Iloja is best remembered as a serialist poet, but before his exile he was an eminent astronomer and natural philosopher,” Dakal explained. “As such, he understood that one’s vantage point affects one’s understanding of the observable universe. A different point of view may lead to a different understanding—or a deeper one, when taken in conjunction with one’s original observations.”
“Where does the quote about politics and gravity come in?” Norellis asked.
“In understanding first that Iloja was speaking as a Cardassian expatriate, having come from a world where politics was as fundamental a force as any found in nature. And second, in considering the possibility that his observation may not have been exclusive to his particular circumstances, but might have been applicable universally.”
“I’m not sure I see what any of this has to do with Titan going to Romulus when we should be exploring.”
“But we are exploring,” Dakal said.
Norellis just stared at him blankly.
“Look at it another way,” the cadet continued. “Your fields of expertise are astrobiology, the comparative study of life and its origins everywhere in the universe, and gaiaplanetology, the study of planetary biospheres and ecosystems. Correct?”
Norellis smiled patiently. “A little oversimplified, Cadet, but I’m willing to accept those definitions for the purpose of our discussion.”
“Thank you,” Dakal said. “Can we also agree that the study of biospheres relates specifically to what may be described as the living zones within or surrounding a planet?”
“I suppose that’s close enough. So?”
“So isn’t the realm of politics merely another zone that has evolved to enclose a living world?” Dakal asked. “A ‘politicosphere,’ if you will. And Titan is about to begin the process of exploring that zone. And perhaps even experimenting on it.”
“Oh, I like this kid, Najem,” Pazlar said to Jaza, a smile spreading across her face as she turned back to Dakal. “I think Iloja wasn’t the only natural philosopher to come out of Cardassia. Tell me