The City of Mirrors (91 page)

May I have the final slide?

<~?~ART 008 TK: THESE TWELVE
Brad Wolgast
Lacey Antoinette Kudoto
Anthony Carter
Alicia Donadio
Lucius Greer
Michael Fisher
Sara Wilson
Hollis Wilson
Hightop Jones
Theo Jaxon
Mausami Patal
Peter Jaxon, Beloved Husband
“And he shall be called the Man of Days for all the days he gave to humankind.”>

Of Amy, the Girl from Nowhere, there is no mention. Perhaps we shall never learn who she was, if she existed at all.

There is much we do not understand. We don’t know who these people were. We don’t know what role they may have played, if any, in the extinction of the paramutational race known as virals. And we don’t know what became of them, how they died. This gathering, I hope, will open the door to addressing some of these mysteries. But even more, what I wish is for all of us to come away with a deeper appreciation of the most fundamental questions that define us. History is more than data, more than facts, more than science and scholarship. These things are merely the means to a greater end. History is a
story
—the story of ourselves. Where do we come from? How have we survived? How can we avoid the mistakes of the past? Do we matter, and if we do, what is our proper place upon the earth?

I shall put the question another way: Who are we?

In a very real and pressing sense, the study of the North American Quarantine Period is far more than an academic investigation of the past. It is—and I think everyone in the room would echo this notion—a crucial step toward safeguarding the long-term health and survival of our species. This is all the more pressing now, as we contemplate humanity’s long-awaited return to that feared and vacant continent.

91

For Logan Miles, age fifty-six, professor of millennial studies and director of the Chancellor’s Task Force on North American Research and Reclamation, it has been a good morning. A very good morning, indeed.

The conference is off to a roaring start. Hundreds of scholars are in attendance; press interest is intense. Before he reaches the door of the ballroom, a wall of reporters surrounds him. What does it all mean, they want to know, these names on the stone? Were the twelve disciples of Amy real people? What will be the effect on North American reclamation? Are the first settlements going to be delayed?

“Patience, everyone,” Logan says. Flashbulbs fire into his face. “You know what I do, neither more nor less.”

Free of the crowd, he departs the building via a rear exit off the kitchens. It is a pleasant autumn morning, dry and blue-skied, with an easterly breeze coming off the harbor; high above, a pair of airships float serenely, accompanied by the vibrato buzzing of their massive propellers. The sight always brings his son to mind; Race, a pilot in the air service, has just been promoted to captain, with a ship of his own—a great achievement, especially for a man so young. Logan pauses to take in the air before making his way around the corner of the building toward the campus’s central quadrangle. The usual protestors linger by the steps, forty or fifty of them, holding their signs:
“NORTH
AMERICA
=
DEATH,”
“SCRIPTURE
IS
LAW,”
“THE
QUARANTINE
MUST
STAND.”
Most are older—country people, adherents to the old ways. Among them are perhaps a dozen Ammalite clergy, as well as a scattering of Disciples, women dressed in plain gray robes tied with a simple cord at the waist, their heads shorn in the manner of the Savior. They have been there for months, always showing up at precisely eight
A.M.,
as if clocking in for a job. At the start, Logan found them irritating, even a little disturbing, but as time went by, their presence acquired a quality of doomed listlessness, easily ignored.

The walk to his office takes ten minutes, and he is both pleased and surprised to find the building practically empty. Even the department secretary has flown the coop. He makes his way to his office, on the second floor. In the past three years, he has become an infrequent visitor; most of his work is now in the capitol, and he sometimes doesn’t set foot on campus for weeks at a stretch, not counting his visits to North America, which have devoured whole months. With its walls of bookshelves, enormous teakwood desk—a splurge to mark his promotion to department chair, fifteen years ago—and overall atmosphere of professorial seclusion, the room always reminds him of both how far he’s come and the unlikely role that has been thrust upon him. He has reached a kind of pinnacle; yet it is still true that from time to time he misses his old life, its quiet and routine.

He is sorting through a file of papers—a tenure committee report, graduation forms requiring his signature, a caterer’s bill—when he hears a knock and looks up to see a woman standing in the doorway: thirty or perhaps thirty-five and quite striking, with auburn hair, an intelligent face, and energetic hazel eyes. She wears a tailored suit of dark navy and high, somewhat tippy heels; a well-used leather satchel hangs from her shoulder. Logan senses that he has seen her before.

“Professor Miles?” She does not wait for permission to enter but insinuates herself into the room.

“I’m sorry, Miss …”

“Nessa Tripp,
Territorial News and Record.
” As she steps to his desk, she extends her hand. “I was hoping I might have a minute of your time.”

A reporter, of course; Logan recalls her from the press conference. Her grip is firm—not masculine but meant to convey a message of professional seriousness. Logan catches the high note of her perfume, subtly floral.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you. This is quite a busy day for me. I’ve really said all I have to say for one morning. Perhaps you could call my secretary to schedule an appointment.”

She ignores the suggestion, knowing full well that it’s a dodge; nobody would schedule anything. She offers a smile, rather coquettish, meant to charm. “I promise, it won’t take long. I have only a few questions.”

Logan doesn’t want to. He dislikes dealing with the press, even under the most scripted of circumstances. Many times he has opened the morning paper to find himself misquoted or his words taken entirely out of context. Yet he can tell that this woman can’t be brushed off so easily. Better to face the music now, quickly, and move on.

“Well, I suppose …”

Her face beams. “Wonderful.”

She takes a chair across from him and digs into her bag for a notebook, followed by a small recorder, which she places on the desk. “To start, I was wondering if I could get a little bit of personal information, just for background. There’s very little about you that I could find, and the university press office wasn’t much help.”

“There’s a reason. I’m a very private person.”

“And I can respect that. But people want to know about the man behind the discovery, wouldn’t you agree? The world is watching, Professor.”

“I’m really not very interesting, Miss Tripp. I think you’ll find me rather boring.”

“I hardly believe that. You’re just being modest.” She flips quickly through her notebook. “Now, from what I can gather, you were born in … Headly?”

A softball question, to get things started. “Yes, my parents raised horses.”

“And you were an only child.”

“That’s correct.”

“Sounds like you didn’t much care for it.”

His tone, evidently, has betrayed him. “It was a childhood like any other. There were some good points, some bad.”

“Too isolated?”

Logan shrugs. “When you’re my age, these sorts of feelings soften a great deal, though at the time I probably saw it that way. In the end, it wasn’t the life for me—that’s really all there is to say.”

“Still, Headly is a very traditional place. Some would even say backward.”

“I don’t think the people there would see it that way.”

A quick smile. “Perhaps I misspoke. What I mean is, it’s a long way from a horse farm in Headly to heading the chancellor’s task force on resettlement. Would that be fair to say?”

“I suppose. But I never had any doubts that I would go to university. My parents were country people, but they let me chart my own course.”

She looks at him warmly. “So, a bookish boy, then.”

“If you like.”

This is followed, once again, by a brief trip to her notes. “Now,” she says, “I have here that you’re married.”

“I’m afraid your information is a little out of date. I’m divorced.”

“Oh? When was that?”

The question makes him uncomfortable. Still, it is a matter of public record; he has no reason not to answer. “Six years ago. All very amicable. We’re still good friends.”

“And your ex-wife, she’s a judge, yes?”

“She was, with the Sixth Family Court. But she’s left that now.”

“And you have a son, Race. What does he do?”

“He’s a pilot in the air service.”

Her face brightens. “How marvelous.”

Logan nods. Obviously she knows all of this.

“And what does he have to say about your discoveries?”

“We haven’t really talked about it, not recently.”

“But he must be proud of you,” she says. “His own father, in charge of an entire continent.”

“I think that’s a bit of an overstatement, don’t you?”

“I’ll rephrase. Going back to North America—you’d have to concede it’s pretty controversial.”

Ah
, thinks Logan.
Here we go
. “Not to most people. Not according to the polls.”

“But certainly to some. The church, for instance. What do you make of their opposition, Professor?”

“I don’t make anything.”

“But surely you’ve thought about it.”

“It’s not my place to hold one voice above any other. North America—not just the place but the
idea
of the place—has sat at the center of humankind’s sense of itself for a millennium. The story of Amy, whatever the truth is, belongs to everyone, not just the politicians or the clergy. My job is simply to take us there.”

“And what do
you
think the truth is?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. People will have to judge the evidence for themselves.”

“That sounds very … dispassionate. Detached, even.”

“I wouldn’t say that. I care a great deal, Miss Tripp. But I don’t leap to conclusions. Take these names on the stone. Who were they? All I can tell you is that they were people, that they lived and died a very long time ago, and that somebody thought well enough of them to make a memorial. That’s what the
evidence
says. Maybe we’ll learn more, maybe we won’t. People can fill in the blanks however they like, but that’s faith, not science.”

For a moment she appears nonplussed; he is not being a cooperative subject. Then, reviewing her notes again: “I’d like to go back to your childhood a moment. Would you say you come from a religious family, professor?”

“Not especially.”

“But somewhat.” Her tone is leading.

“We went to church,” Logan concedes, “if that’s what you’re asking. It’s hardly unusual in that part of the world. My mother was Ammalite. My father wasn’t really anything.”

“So she was a follower of Amy,” Nessa says, nodding along. “Your mother.”

“It’s just the way she was raised. There are beliefs, and there are habits. In her case, I’d say it was mostly a habit.”

“What about you? Would you say you’re a religious man, Professor?”

So, the heart of the matter. He feels a growing caution. “I’m a historian. It seems like more than enough to occupy myself.”

“But history could be said to be a kind of faith. The past isn’t something you can actually
know,
after all.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“No?”

He settles back to gather his thoughts. Then: “Let me ask you something. What did you have for breakfast, Miss Tripp?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“It’s a straightforward question. Eggs? Toast? A yogurt, perhaps?”

She shrugs, playing along. “If you must know, I had oatmeal.”

“And you’re quite certain? No doubts in your mind.”

“None.”

“How about last Tuesday? Was it oatmeal or something else?”

“Why this curiosity about my breakfast?”

“Indulge me. Last Tuesday. It wasn’t very long ago, surely you ate something.”

“I haven’t the foggiest.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not important.”

“Not worth remembering, in other words.”

She shrugs again. “I suppose not.”

“Now, how about that scar on your hand?” He gestures toward the one holding the poised pen. The mark, a series of pale, semicircular depressions, runs from the base of her index finger to the top of her wrist. “How did you get that? It looks to be quite old.”

“You’re very observant.”

“I don’t mean to be impertinent. Merely demonstrating a point.”

She shifts uncomfortably in her chair. “If you must know, I was bitten by a dog. I was eight years old.”

“So you
do
remember that. Not what you ate last week, but something that happened long ago.”

“Yes, of course. It scared the hell out of me.”

“I’m sure it did. Was it your dog or a neighbor’s? A stray, perhaps?”

Her expression grows irritated. Not irritated: exposed. As he watches, she reaches with her other hand to the scar and covers it with her palm. The gesture is involuntary; she isn’t aware that she is doing it, or is only partly cognizant.

“Professor, I fail to see the point in all this.”

“So it was
your
dog.”

She startles.

“Forgive me, Miss Tripp, but if it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be so defensive. The way you covered your hand just now? It tells me something else.”

She moves her hand away deliberately. “And what’s that?”

“Two things. One, you believe it was your fault. Perhaps you were playing too roughly. Perhaps you teased him, not meaning to, or maybe a little. Either way, you were part of it. You did something, and the dog responded by biting you.”

She shows no reaction. “And what’s the other?”