James P. Hogan (29 page)

From the lobby they entered a larger space that seemed to be a central concourse, with doors on all sides and corridors leading away in several directions. Numerous people were in evidence going about their business, clad in a variety of styles ranging from simple tunics to long, enveloping robes. Furch led the way along a corridor flanked by what appeared to be meeting rooms or classrooms to another concourse, smaller this time, on the far side of which was a door into a communal dining area that he announced as the “refectory hall.” Its paneled walls boasted some ornamentation in the form of statuary and pictures, mostly portraits, and it held a dozen or so long tables seating six on a side, along with a larger one extending almost the width of the room that looked like a head table for formal occasions, but which was unoccupied at present. The rest all had some people seated at them, it being the period for the midday meal.

Following Furch’s example, they joined a short line at a serving table staffed by kitchen helpers to receive helpings of soup and bread, a fish-and-pasta casserole with vegetables, and sliced fruit with cream, and found a table with a group talking among themselves at the far end. The styles of dress seemed to fall into distinct categories, which presumably denoted various kinds of specialty, or perhaps levels of proficiency. Korshak was surprised to see that besides the robes and tunics, there were some patterned more along the lines of the uniforms worn by
Aurora
’s Police Arm, and in pictures he had seen of the military services that had existed in Sofi, Tranth, and other parts of Earth. He remarked on it as they sat down and started eating.

“It reflects the two aspects of the Dollarian movement,” Furch informed them. “The spiritual and ideological aspect is necessary to chart the course that is to be taken. But ideals alone are no use without a capacity for action to turn them into reality. In the same way,
Aurora
needs both a destination and propulsion to get there. Neither is of any use without the other.”

“I see!” Rikku sounded intrigued, as if the revelations he had come to receive had already begun.

“That’s what the two bars on the dollar sign stand for,” Furch said.

Korshak had been looking around while he listened. In a far corner, four figures in dark gray robes with deep cowls that concealed their faces even while they ate were sitting apart from the general company. “Who are they?” he inquired, inclining his head in that direction.

Furch turned to follow his gaze. “They’re called the Genhedrin,” he replied. “An inner sect of adepts who have attained the highest level of spiritual insight. The source of the deeper wisdom that guides the movement.”

“I see.”

“Fascinating!” Rikku breathed. He stared at Furch curiously. “How did you find the path that led you here yourself? What part of Earth did you come from originally?”

“Those are things we’re taught not to discuss,” Furch told him. Rikku checked himself and nodded that he understood. Well, at least that would save him the bother of having to explain a lot of things, Korshak thought to himself.

The conversation turned to the philosophy of Dollarism, serving Rikku’s impatience to hear more and giving Furch the opportunity to air his own further-advanced insights. Basically, what had made it a force capable of sweeping across the world was its recognition of the universal law that the key to advancement lies in competition, and progress results from selectively accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative. The idealization of cooperation and equality that had been enshrined into
Aurora
’s charter was misguided and could only result in the misdirection of resources to ends that were unworthy. It was early days yet, and the beginnings were small. But correction of the error by whatever means it entailed would eventually be unavoidable if the system failed to reform itself.

Korshak listened while Furch elaborated, and said little. Whether he was backward-looking and unenlightened he didn’t know, for he had never been able to relate much to the machinations of power politics, let alone the more sophisticated intellectual environment of Sofi, which was outside his direct experience. But it all sounded to him like a recipe for generating the kind of conflict and divisiveness that would be the last thing that an extended space mission like this needed. On the other hand, he saw what could be the basis for dividing opponents among themselves as a means of clearing the way for a focused group to move in to a controlling position.

At any rate, it gave him a better idea of the kind of answers that would be in order at his interview.

Banker Lareda had a pugnacious, darkish countenance, with a full head of black hair, a shaggy beard setting off a set of powerful white teeth, and immense eyebrows that hovered over his eyes like bat wings, contrasting with the whites to intensify their stare. He sat with his hands clasped on the heavy desk in the office where Korshak had been brought, the hood of his dark gray robe thrown back on his shoulders, and the front open to show a black shirt with $insignias imprinted on the breasts, over a barrel chest. Seated to one side of him was a younger man with fair hair and a clear face, wearing a brown cloak over a tan, two-piece tunic, whom he had introduced as “Broker” Ningen without elaborating further. “Broker” was seemingly an inferior rank to “Banker.”

“So, Mr. Shakor, you are interested in joining us,” Lareda said, running his eyes over the screen of the viewpad lying in front of him. His voice was deep in the bass register, with a trace of an edge that had a crisping effect. “From the central part of Asia originally, I believe.”

“More to the east, the Parthesa region,” Korshak replied.

“Where specifically?”

“A city called Escalos, in the Arigane country of Parthesa. My father was a maker of clocks and mechanisms, which I apprenticed in.” A factor that worked in Korshak’s favor was that as part of the policy according the highest value to personal privacy, it had been decided early on not to keep records of individuals’ previous lives. The life ahead was deemed to be what mattered, and that had begun with
Aurora
.

“How did you come to be recruited to the mission?” Lareda asked.

“My father was widowed, and when he died, I was put under the care of an uncle called Mirsto, who was physician to the royal court at Arigane.” Lareda and Ningen exchanged meaningful glances at the mention of the name. Korshak continued, “Later, when I grew up, I became a traveling vendor and repairer of mechanisms. But I ended up on the wrong side of the prince of a neighboring realm, who had a reputation for malignity and violence. I went to my uncle for advice and protection. He told me about Sofi and
Aurora
, and that people from there that he was in communication with had offered him a place, which he’d accepted. He felt that my life might be in danger after he was gone, and was able to arrange for me to go too.”

“Who was this prince that you were in trouble with?”

“His name was Zileg. He was heir to the throne of Urst.”

Lareda looked at Ningen, who returned a faint affirming nod. “And what kind of trouble was it?” Lareda asked.

Korshak summoned a sheepish look and spread his hands in an attitude of candor. “One of those romantic affairs that young men are prone to fall into. But what I was unaware of was that the maid in question was also a favorite of Zileg’s.” Korshak shrugged. “He wasn’t the kind to take such a slight lightly.”

Lareda snorted in a way that dismissed the matter. “Where does your uncle live now?”

“He died about a year after the voyage commenced.”

Lareda nodded. Korshak got the feeling that he had known that. “And so, tell us what you’ve been doing since.”

Korshak took a moment, as if to organize his thoughts. “In the early years, I was entranced by all that I saw. I had several residences on Astropolis and Jakka, all the time devoting myself to the study of Sofian science and technology. Nothing had prepared me for the like of it. In return, my contribution was to work as a technical assistant to Masumichi Shikoba, who did research into machine cognition and robotics. As far as I know, he still does.”

“Yes, we’re aware of him.”

Korshak spread his hands briefly. “But as I learned more about Sofi and its history, it seemed that something was missing. With their lead over everywhere else, the Sofians should have dominated the world. Instead, they isolated themselves behind mountains and deserts, and when the spirit to build a new world became uncontainable, they left Earth to go elsewhere. I remembered the holy men and the orders of priests that I had known on Earth, and I thought that perhaps the problem with Sofi had been that it became too fixated on material things, and had lost touch with a higher reality. That was the time when people were talking about building a retreat for the pursuit of such matters, which became Etanne.” Korshak indicated the surroundings with a gesture. “So I discontinued my technical studies and went to work in various mundane positions on Beach and Evergreen, while I meditated upon such things and discussed them with others, many of whom became involved with the sects that now exist here.”

“But you didn’t join any of them yourself?” Lareda queried.

Korshak shook his head. “I may have been missing something, but I couldn’t escape the conclusion that much of what they were saying was wishful thinking…” He hesitated. “And, I have to say, in many cases the masters that they followed were deceiving them with trickery.”

Lareda gave the impression that that didn’t come as a surprise, either. “And then?”

“I was confused and disappointed, and needed to be by myself to think. Many aspirants to Etanne go through a preparatory period on Plantation. I decided I would do that, too. And from some of the people that I met there, I learned about the Dollarians.
This
was what I had been searching for! Not a fantasy built on supernatural imaginings and daydreams, but a secular, pragmatic philosophy that related to the real world. The formula for expansion and universality that the Sofians had missed. I spent many months as an itinerant on Plantation, studying the lessons and practicing the disciplines that were required. When I felt I was ready, I made inquiries and was directed to Rikku.”

“And what made you decide you were ready?”

“That is for you to decide, not I.”

Lareda gave Korshak a final long, searching look, and then turned to Ningen and sat back in a manner that said it was his turn.

Ningen studied the back of a hand while he massaged it with the other, and then looked up. “You were from Arigane originally, you said? You grew up in Escalos.”

“That’s right.”

“And traveled extensively in the region.”

“Yes.”

“Hm. A fortuitous coincidence. It turns out that I’m from that part of the world myself. A place called Belamon. You might have heard of it.”

“The seaport in Shengsho. Yes, I was there a few times. They sailed the big ships.”

“I had occasion to visit Arigane, too. Can you tell us who the ruler there was at the time?”

“That would have been Shandrahl.” It was clear now why Ningen was present.

“He had a hunting lodge about twenty miles out from the city, that I stayed in once – in the hills to the north.”

“Er, the hills were to the south,” Korshak corrected. Good try, he thought.

“Ah yes, quite so. If your uncle was the court physician, do you also happen to know the name of the princess there, Shandrahl’s daughter?”

“There were two. Vaydien was the elder. Her half-sister was Leetha.”

“Anything else about them?” Ningen asked in a curiously suggestive voice.

Korshak had seen where this was going. “Vaydien is here, on
Aurora
,” he replied. “She was one of the party that escaped from Escalon, that included Mirsto.”

“And not yourself?”

“I joined them later, with a group of Masumichi Shikoba’s relatives. That was how I first became acquainted with him.”

“But the party that escaped from Escalon did include another person, who is quite well known,” Ningen prompted.

“The entertainer and magician, Korshak. He had come to Shikoba’s attention somehow. I don’t know the details. He and Vaydien later married. I have visited them on Astropolis, where they live – although not for some time now.” Korshak paused, then allowed a faint smile as if a thought had just struck him. “It was probably things I saw of Korshak that made me suspicious of the wonders I was shown by some of the other sects that you share space with, here on Etanne.”

A short silence ensued. Lareda and Ningen looked at each other, but neither of them had anything further to ask at that point. Lareda stared down at his hands for a moment, then raised his head in a way that said he was satisfied. At least, for now.

“Very well, Mr. Shakor,” he pronounced. “We approve your acceptance as a provisional member of the order as a novice with the rank of junior clerk. Since you have technical aptitude and experience, I’m also assigning you to the workshops, where I’m sure the supervisor will find many useful things that you can help us with. Accountant Furch, whom you’ve met, will acquaint you with the entry procedure. We will expect to see you, Junior Clerk Shakor, at the daily General Meeting, first thing tomorrow morning.”

The General Meeting took place every morning as a pep talk and recitation of faith to spur the troops, but also with trappings of ceremony and symbolism that carried undertones of a religion. It was held in a large auditorium known as the Assembly Hall, where rows of seats faced a raised dais with a pulpitlike speaker’s rostrum. Korshak had been told that all members of the sect were required to attend. They were seated in groups according to the part of the order they belonged to, with rank descending from front to back within each section and the various classes denoted by the attire worn. The major division, reflected by a central aisle dividing the right and left sides of the hall, was between the robes and the military-style uniforms, which Furch had described the day before as representing the “spiritual” and “action” sides of the order. Korshak had learned since that these were the “Speculative” and “Executive” branches respectively, both terms apparently being derived from the old-world system that had inspired the movement.