Odyssey

epilogue

There is no justice. There are occasional acts of vengeance, or regret, but there’s no real justice. In the natural scheme of things, it is not possible.

— Gregory MacAllister, “Valentina”

Dryden and six others, from Orion, Kosmik, MicroTech, and Monogram, were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government. They received substantial fines and were restricted indefinitely to their homes, with limited use of telecommunications equipment. Shandra Kolchevska and Miriam Klymer, both of whom had been at the corporate meeting in Asquith’s office, were among them. Monogram’s Arnold Prescott escaped conviction through a technicality.

Asquith resigned. Hutch was wrong in her assumption that rumors of a scandal would ruin him. He was, after all, a politician. As this is written, he is serving as the president’s senior science advisor. Dryden never mentioned his name in the courtroom, leading to her suspicion there’d been a payoff somewhere. MacAllister declined to tell what he knew about the Terranova incident, as did Hutch. So Valya came out of it with her reputation intact. The world, MacAllister has written somewhere, needs all the heroes it can get.

The various corporations involved in the hoax are all prospering. The World Council learned a lesson, although there are some who say it was the wrong one. They are in the process of arming government vessels. For the first time in more than a century, research into advanced weaponry is moving ahead. The first warships will be coming online by the time this is published.

Moonrider sightings have declined precipitously, and none that could be substantiated have occurred in recent months. Sources high in the World Council promise that, when the aliens return, we’ll be ready for them.

Today, Valentina Kouros stands with George Hackett and Preacher Brawley and the other heroes of the Great Expansion, the people who have given their lives in the cause of furthering human knowledge. High schools and libraries in a dozen countries have been named for her, including one in Athens. Hutch, MacAllister, and Amy attended the dedication. As did four of the persons who’d escaped on the WhiteStar.

Another one for Amy to model herself after.

And maybe there should be some recognition as well for Vannie Trotter. Vannie is the woman who provided support for Amy at the museum. The two have since become close friends.

A FEW DAYS after the ceremony, Hutch resigned from the Academy. Have to take care of my daughter, she told the acting commissioner. And there’s a son on the way. When Tor asked about the real reasons, she couldn’t tell him. Didn’t really know herself. Except that she couldn’t go back to the office she’d occupied when she sent that last message to Valya. Anyhow, maybe being a mother was the real reason.

Eric Samuels remains at his post as public relations director. Those who work for him say he’s a different man from the one they knew. One of them told Hutch he’s learned how to be a good boss.

Senator Taylor has given up trying to cut off Academy funds. With the appearance of the moonriders, he lost his enthusiasm for the effort. “The world out there,” he told The New York Times, “just doesn’t seem as safe as it used to.”

No one has yet been able to explain the phenomenon that has come to be known as Amy’s Vision. No known method will project holographic images through a steel hull. That seems to imply some sort of telepathic capability. That possibility is reinforced by the fact that the moonriders were able to trigger memories of Priscilla Hutchins. But again, no method of thought transference is known, either.

Equally puzzling: Why did the aliens choose an adolescent to carry the warning when they had a major journalist and a ranking Academy official available? The best answer must be that their methodology would not have worked with the other two. Some experts have suggested that a young person would have a more open, and hence accessible, mind. MacAllister has reacted on several occasions by branding the idea preposterous.

The senator still hopes his daughter will come to her senses and develop an interest in law school. At the moment, it looks unlikely.

Regarding the attack at Origins, it does seem that somebody, somewhere, got the point. There was at first an outcry to begin rebuilding the hypercollider, at an increased pace. To show the moonriders they couldn’t bully us. But there’s been no concerted effort by the world’s physicists to get it done. Some have even been quoted to the effect that we might have had a narrow escape.

MacAllister remains at the helm of The National. He still has dinner periodically with Hutch and her family.

The struggle against the Greenhouse Effect goes on. Democratic leaders everywhere are reluctant to raise taxes to pay for what needs to be done. MacAllister commented recently that Plato was right, that democracy is mob rule, that the voters can be counted on consistently to find the candidate with the fewest scruples and put him in office. Friends and acquaintances have noticed he makes more Greek references than he used to.