Polaris

TWENTY-SEVEN

I don’t know how Tab Everson arranged to be informed about us, but we were still fourteen hours out of Rimway when Belle reported we had a transmission from him. (We’d arrived back home well off target and had been inbound by then almost three days.) I took a longer look at him this time. Black beard, gray eyes, the mien of a young and gifted scholar. We were still too far out for a meaningful face-to-face, so all we had was a recording. “Alex,” he said, “I’m glad you got back safely. It’s important that we talk. I’ll be waiting at Skydeck. Please take no action until we’ve had a chance to discuss things. I beg you.”

That wasn’t the kind of language a young man uses. “He knows the cat’s out of the bag,” said Alex.

“You want me to contact Fenn? Have him arrange an escort for us?”

He’d been reading. It was a novel, and I wondered how long it had been since I’d seen him read anything other than Polaris -related stuff. “No,” he said. “I don’t think we need worry about our safety.”

“Why do you think that?”

“For one thing, he doesn’t know what kind of information we’ve already given Fenn.”

I was trying to figure out who he was. Since Maddy had turned up looking twenty-five, I assumed Everson was also one of the Polaris passengers. But which? I tried to imagine what Everson would look like after another thirty or forty years. If he were aging normally. But none of the other passengers looked remotely like Tab Everson. Boland had been more handsome; Urquhart bigger with more presence;

Mendoza was shorter and more intense.

And that left only“That’s right,” Alex said. “That’s exactly who he is.” He scribbled some notes onto a pad, studied them, changed his mind and struck something out, and finally looked satisfied. “Belle,” he said. “Reply for Everson.”

“Ready.”

“Mr. Everson, we’ll be weary on arrival and in no condition to carry on a discussion. I’ll be happy to talk with you. But not at Skydeck. I’d like you, and the others, to come by my office tomorrow, nine o’clock sharp. I don’t need to tell you that if you’re unresponsive, I’ll have to consider my options.”

Despite my qualms, we abandoned our false identities and the town house and went directly to Andiquar. Alex was reassuring, but I thought we were putting ourselves at risk. He invited me to stay over at the country house, and I agreed and took one of the guest rooms.

We had a leisurely breakfast in the morning. By eight o’clock, Alex had drifted into the back somewhere, and I was in the office, utterly unable to concentrate on anything. At nine, a skimmer appeared overhead, hovered for a few moments, and descended onto the pad.

Four people got out. Everson, two other men, and a woman.

Ordinarily I’d have gone to the door and met them at the front of the house, but in this case I wasn’t sure they wouldn’t shoot the first person they saw. I notified Alex.

He was at the door talking to them when I arrived. All looked as if they were in their twenties. Everson was talking about “difficulties encountered throughout the entire process, absolutely unavoidable.” He wished things might have gone otherwise.

Alex smiled coldly and turned to me. “Chase,” he said, “I’d like to introduce Professor Martin Klassner.”

I’d known it was coming, of course, but still, seeing the reality was something of a shock. Old and dying in 1365, his brain damaged by Bentwood’s, this was the man they’d suspected might not survive the flight. He stood before me like a young lion, watching me curiously. He was taller than he’d seemed on the Polaris.

I’d spent most of the last few weeks building resentment against the people who’d been trying to kill us. And most of the last few days, since seeing Maddy, trying to digest the reality of age reversal. And here they were. The legendary passengers of the lost flight.

Nancy White was tall and elegant. Distant now, not at all like the figure who’d charmed everyone with her science chats. Her hair, which had been brown at the time of the Polaris, was blond. She was dressed casually, trying hard to look relaxed and confident.

And Councillor Urquhart. Once one of the seven most powerful people on the planet. This version had red hair and was so young it was barely possible to see the great man concealed within the trim youth. I couldn’t believe it was actually him. He looked barely twenty. But the amiable expression belonged to the older man, the Defender of the Afflicted. He’d lost most of the bearing he’d possessed during his political years. Can’t really give the impression of wisdom and gravitas when you look just out of school.

And Chek Boland. He could have been a leading man. His hair had gone from black to blond, but there was no mistaking the classic features and the dark eyes.

Mendoza was missing.

I pulled my attention back to Klassner. “Good morning, Professor,” I said, without offering my hand.

He took a deep breath. “I think I understand how you feel. I’m sorry.”

It was they. No question. In the prime of their lives, apparently. Young and strong, as people are before gravity sets in.

Alex steered them into the living room, where we’d have more space. Please make yourselves comfortable. I’d left the door to the office open purposely. We’d moved the display case so that Maddy’s jacket was visible. Not prominently displayed, but set in a way that visitors could not miss it. Klassner saw it, nodded as if some great truth had just been revealed, and took a seat by the window. He checked his wrist, probably assuring himself that we weren’t running a recording system. It struck me that, in this most extraordinary of meetings, we nevertheless retained the usual social niceties. Could we get anyone something to drink? Did you have any problem finding us? You don’t look entirely comfortable; would you care for a cushion? (That last was directed at Klassner, who chuckled and allowed as how, yes, he was not entirely at ease, but the furniture had nothing to do with it.) They passed on the refreshments. Everyone got more or less comfortable, and there was some clearing of throats and a couple of comments about what a nice place the country house was.

“I expected one more,” said Alex.

“Before we get to that,” said Klassner, “I wanted to ask about Maddy.”

Their eyes met. “She’s dead,” Alex said.

“She attacked you at the Akila?”

“The Kang outstation? Yes, she did.”

“I’m sorry.” He swallowed. “We’re sorry she did that. We’re sorry she’s been lost. We’d have prevented it if we could. The attack.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I spoke with her when she came to me. She told me you’d found the key. I thought we were still safe. That you wouldn’t put it all together.” He smiled. Wearily.

Regretfully. “I underestimated you.”

It was hard to get used to. This kid, with the demeanor, not merely of a mature adult, but of an accomplished one.

“Why didn’t you stop her?”

“How would you suggest I might have done that? She was a free agent.”

“You also stood by while she killed Taliaferro.”

That brought guilty glances from everyone. “We didn’t expect her to do that,” said Urquhart. “She was more desperate than we realized.”

“And you knew she was trying to kill us. She made three attempts. While you people did nothing.”

“No.” Klassner’s face clouded. The others shook their heads. “We didn’t know.

She didn’t tell us what she was doing. We had no way. She and Jess, we thought, were simply trying to find the lost key. Jess was our contact at that time. He thought there was really no problem, that she might have left the key at the outstation, that even if it was found, no one would understand the significance anyhow. Not after all this time. But Maddy was worried, so he tried to help her.”

Well, I’ll confess I was a bit intimidated in the presence of a former councillor.

But I wasn’t just going to sit there like an old shoe. “Come on,” I said, “she killed Shawn Walker, too. What’s the big surprise?”

“Yes,” said White. “We knew that. After the fact. We wouldn’t have condoned it.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear you think that was maybe a bit extreme. But I assume you weren’t too unhappy when it happened.”

“That’s hardly fair.” White turned large, intelligent eyes on me. “There’s more to this than you realize, Chase.”

“We’re not talking fair, ” I said. “We’re talking about what actually happened.”

Alex caught me with a glance, and I read the message: Let him handle it.

“What did you do,” he asked, “when you found out what she’d done to Walker?”

“I treated her,” said Boland.

“Not a mind wipe.”

“No. I didn’t think it was necessary.”

“The treatment didn’t work,” I said.

“Maddy was under a lot of pressure,” he continued. “But I thought she’d be okay.”

“And you couldn’t very well turn her over to the authorities.”

Klassner let his eyes slide shut. “No. We would have preferred to do that, but there was no way.”

“And eventually she killed Taliaferro.”

“That was a tragedy,” said Boland. “We didn’t think she was dangerous. Even afterward, we didn’t- I didn’t, I’ll speak for myself here. Even after Jess died. I didn’t believe she’d killed him. She had no reason to.”

“He was going to warn us,” said Alex.

“Yes. But he hadn’t shared with us the information that she’d gone psychotic again. So we had no way of knowing what was happening. She told us Jess fell off the roof at the Archives because he was hurrying and was distracted.”

“People have a habit of falling from things,” I said, “when Maddy’s in the neighborhood.”

White’s eyes flashed. “I don’t believe she killed Tom. That was an accident. She loved him. She’d have done anything for him.”

“We didn’t know,” said Klassner, “that she’d gone after you. At the outstation.

We were concerned she’d been emotionally affected by Jess’s death. When we went looking for her and couldn’t find her, we got worried. Then we found out that Mathilda was gone.”

“Who’s Mathilda?” asked Alex.

“Our ship. I assume you’ve seen it. It’s a Chesapeake.”

“It was, ” I said, showing more satisfaction than was seemly, I guess.

Urquhart was staring out at the woods. “I told you,” he said to Klassner, “it would be a mistake to come here.” He looked across at me. “We never condoned what Maddy did. We tried to stop her. We did everything we could. Why is that so hard to understand?”

“No,” I said. “You never condoned it. But you knew. You knew, and you were secretly pleased to get Walker out of the way, without getting blood on your own hands. You probably knew Taliaferro was in danger. And if you didn’t know she was trying to kill us, you should have. You’re contemptible. All of you.”

Urquhart’s jaw quivered. Klassner was nodding, yes, guilty as charged. White was looking at me, shaking her head, no, it’s wasn’t like that at all.

“Professor,” Alex asked, “where is Mendoza?”

Klassner was seated on the sofa, beside White. “Dead,” he said. “He’s been dead a long time.”

“How’d he die?”

“Not the way you think,” he said accusingly. “He died of heart failure. About nine years ago.”

“Heart failure? Didn’t the process work on him?”

“He never wanted it. Refused it.” He took a deep breath.

“Why?”

“He felt he’d betrayed Tom. He didn’t want to profit by it. Didn’t want to live with the knowledge of what he’d done.”

“The rest of you seem to have adjusted pretty well.”

Urquhart looked as if his patience was exhausted. “We don’t claim to be saints.”

“Are there any others?” Alex asked. “Other than yourselves? Anyone else who knows about this? Any more immortals?” He let the word hang in air.

“No,” said Klassner. “No one else knows the truth.”

“And no one else has received the treatment?”

“No. Warren was the only one who understood how to do it. And he swore, after us, no one else.”

“Is the process on record somewhere? Do you know how it’s done?”

“No. He destroyed everything.”

Something on wings banged into a window and fluttered away. For a long time after that, no one spoke.

“I suppose I should congratulate you,” Alex said, finally.

The room remained quiet.

“Why?” I asked.

“They buried Dunninger’s work. Prevented its being used.”

“They took it for themselves.”

“No,” Boland said. His voice was simultaneously subdued and impassioned.

“That was never our intention.”

“It happened.”

White held a hand up, fingers spread in defense. “It was too tempting,” she said.

“To be young again. Forever. Who could resist that?”

“That’s the whole point, isn’t it?” said Alex. “Nobody can say no. Other than, apparently, Mendoza.”

I was getting annoyed. “You sound as if you think they did something admirable.”

Alex took his time answering. “I’m not sure they didn’t.”

“Oh, come on, Alex. They kidnapped Dunninger. They’re responsible, at least indirectly, for two murders.” I turned and looked at them. Klassner’s eyes never left me. Boland stared out the window, wishing he was somewhere else. White’s gaze had turned inward. Urquhart glowered, daring anyone to challenge him. “You’ve done all right for yourselves,” I continued, getting into a rhythm. “You grabbed the treatment that you denied everyone else. I’d say you haven’t done badly.”

“Had we not intervened,” said Boland, “the population of Rimway would have doubled over the past sixty years. Earth would have over twenty billion people by now.”

White got in: “Except that it wouldn’t. Earth doesn’t have the kind of resources to support a population anywhere close to that. So a lot of those people, millions of them, would have died. Of starvation. Or in wars over natural resources. Or disease.

Governments would have collapsed. Most of the survivors would be living in misery.”

“You don’t know that,” I said.

“Sure we do,” continued White, relentless. “The numbers tell the story. Food production, clean water, even living space. Energy. Medical care. It’s just not there for twenty-plus billion people. The same as it wouldn’t be for us if we had twice the population. Take the trouble to inform yourself, Chase.”

“Damn you,” I said, “you’re taking millions of lives into your hands. What gave you the right to make that sort of decision?”

“Nobody else was in a position to,” said Klassner. “Either we took it into our own hands, or it went by default in Dunninger’s direction.”

“You couldn’t dissuade him?” said Alex.

Klassner’s eyes closed. “No. ‘They’ll find a way.’ That was his mantra. ‘Give them the gift, and they’ll find a way.’ ”

“There are other worlds,” I said. “Help was there if someone was willing to ask.”

Urquhart snorted. “It would have been the same everywhere,” he said, in a rich baritone. “The tidal wave would fill all ports. It would have introduced such suffering and catastrophe as the human race has never seen.”

Upstairs, as if right on schedule with all the talk about doom, a clock struck.

Nine-thirty.

I heard shouts outside. Kids playing. “Where did the money come from?” asked Alex. “It took considerable resources to pull this off.”

Urquhart replied: “The Council has a number of discretionary funds. They can be accessed if the need is sufficiently great.”

“So some of the councillors knew about this.”

“That doesn’t necessarily follow. But yes, it was known on the Council.

Although not by everyone.”

“They thought you were doing the right thing.”

“Mr. Benedict, they were horrified by the possibility that this would get out.”

“And they didn’t ask to share the secret?”

“They didn’t know Dunninger had gotten as far as he had. And they certainly weren’t aware that the project would also produce a rejuvenation capability. We didn’t disabuse them.”

“What kind of life span are you looking at?” I asked. “Is it indefinite?”

“No,” said Boland. “We have parts, stem cells, nerve cells, with which the nanobots have limited capability.”

“Barring accidents,” said Klassner, “Warren thought we’d live about nine hundred years.”

“Our lives,” said White, “are not what they might appear to you. We had to abandon everything we cared about, including our families. Today, we can make no long-term commitments with anyone. We can establish no permanent relationship, take no mate, have no child. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Klassner folded his hands and pressed his lips against them, like a man in prayer.

He confronted Alex. “Look, none of this matters at the moment. If you go to the authorities with this story, you’ll succeed in punishing us. But it will be the story of the age. And all the researchers will need is a blood sample from any of us, and they’ll be able to work out the secret. So the question now is, what do you and your associate plan to do?”

What, indeed?

It had been growing dark outside. Gathering clouds. Four lamps began to glow, one at either end of the sofa, one in a corner of the room, one on a table beside Urquhart.

Klassner cleared his throat. Young or not, this was a man accustomed to having people pay attention when he spoke. “We were gratified that you did not immediately blow the whistle. That tells us you understand the consequences of a rash decision.”

“It would do nothing for your reputation either, Professor.”

“My reputation does not matter. We risked everything to make this work.”

I sat staring at Maddy’s jacket. I thought about how sweet life was, how good young men and jelly donuts and ocean sunsets and night music and all-night parties are. What would happen to the way we live if the secret got out?

Throughout the conversation I’d been trying to think of a compromise, a way to seize permanent youth and simultaneously persuade people to stop having children.

It wouldn’t happen.

“You don’t have to worry,” Alex said. “We’ll keep your secret.”

You could hear everyone exhale. And I have to confess that at that moment I had no idea what the right course of action might be. But I was annoyed, at Alex, at Klassner, at all of them. They were starting to get up. Smiles were breaking out. “One second,” I said, and when I had their attention: “Alex doesn’t speak for me.”