Building Harlequin’s Moon

by Larry Niven

  Astronaut spoke into Rachel’s ear. “They are watching this on the ship. Council will hear whatever you say. Speak to put them at ease. Perhaps they will not observe you so closely if they see you helping them.”

  Rachel grunted low in her throat, a signal to Astronaut that she didn’t fully understand.

  “Talk about cooperation,” it prompted. “Maybe that will counter any negative from the young men’s questions.”

  Beth struggled to portray the magic of John Glenn’s impossible garden, her face shining as she described Yggdrasil. The younger woman was doing a good job. Perhaps Rachel would be pestered with fewer spaceship questions in class.

  Astronaut prompted her again. “Talk about Kyu and Ali, and how you worked with them.”

  Bad idea. She got enough special treatment. She looked around the meadow, and her gaze stopped on Water Bearer.

  The question and answer session with Beth broke for a moment, and Rachel glanced at Nick. “I’ll start teaching classes again as soon as we get to Clarke Base,” she said. “In the meantime, Jacob’s right—remember the lesson from the fire. Everyone on Selene cooperated with each other. We needed Council to win, Gabriel to win, and the sacrifice of the ship you’re calling Water Bearer. This was not a small thing.” Rachel pointed to the twisted wreck. “Council can do many things, but Gabriel told me they can’t make another one of those. Let’s make that ship a symbol, and next time we get angry with Council we can remember Water Bearer. They’re hard taskmasters, but without them we would die.”

  Beth squeezed Rachel’s hand. “I’m hungry.”

  Gloria stood right next to Beth, hovering protectively. She responded instantly. “All right. Breakfast is on me and Harry. See you all in a half hour?”

  The twins walked away, heads together, Jacob laughing at something Justin said. Or maybe it was the other way around.

  Frank waited for her. How was she going to tell him about Kristin? She went to him and whispered, “I found Mom.”

  His eyes grew wide, and he held her tightly. “Tell me about it.”

  She took her father’s hand and started toward Aldrin. This was going to be hard. “I was working in Medical, helping Ali with newly warmed, and . . .”

  IT TOOK RACHEL AN HOUR to reach Harry and Gloria’s. Gloria met her at the door and held her tightly. Her eyes sparkled as she whispered, “Thank you.”

  “I didn’t have much of a choice,” Rachel said.

  “Of course you did,” Harry said. “And you did the right thing. You always have.” He gestured for Rachel to sit down. “Where’s Frank?”

  “He’s not feeling well. I found my mom, and I had to tell him about it.”

  Harry startled. “Tell me?”

  Rachel looked around. The twins and Sarah and Beth were all eating already, gathered in the family room, laughing and talking. She shook her head. “Later, when they’ve all gone.”

  “Is she hurt?”

  “No, just selfish.” Rachel looked down, wishing he hadn’t asked.

  Harry frowned at her. “Is it better than not knowing?”

  “I suppose.” She saw her father’s face as she told him the story, and said, “Maybe not.”

  Gloria changed the subject. “Council plans to move us all to Clarke Base.”

  “I know.”

  “Within a month. They’ll move as much of the power plant and infrastructure as they can, and leave only enough support for a small group here. Aldrin will be smaller than Gagarin. Shane and Star said we’ll be safer at Clarke Base.”

  “Gabriel and Ali told me the same thing,” Rachel said.

  “Andrew says Council just wants to keep us all in one place,” Harry said. “He says that way they can watch more easily.”

  “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They can watch us wherever we are,” Rachel said.

  “Andrew’s against the move. Some of our people are listening.” Harry paused. “Rachel, I don’t agree with him, but he’s making a strong argument. Oh—I don’t think moving to Clarke Base changes how much control they have over us, but there is a lot Council doesn’t talk about. What are their plans for the next few years? Do you know?”

  Rachel shook her head. “They’ll make antimatter here, then go. I don’t want that. None of us should want that. Selene is dangerous even with Council here. We can’t fight Council directly. Andrew’s crazy to think we can. The smartest thing we can do is learn. What do you think I’ve been trying to do with the greenhouse classes?”

  “And that gets us—what?” Gloria asked softly.

  Rachel helped Gloria set the table for breakfast. “Respect,” she said. “They can’t make their precious factories and build their precious antimatter without us. If we know enough to talk on their level, they’ll listen to us.”

  Harry frowned.

  Gloria said, “Maybe Rachel’s right, honey. We don’t even know what to ask them now, and if we learn enough, maybe we’ll discover the right questions.”

  “I’m beginning to doubt it.” Harry reached for a piece of bread, Beth came in, and the conversation drifted to Beth’s experiences on the ship.

  The four younger people piled out the door, Jacob teasing Beth about her new legs. Beth simply looked back at Jacob and smiled. “I’ll race you.”

  “You’re on.”

  Rachel laughed and helped Harry clear up the plates. She said, “I watched one of the briefings about what Gabriel’s calling Refuge. It’s flare protection. And while that’s being finished, Council will build more factories at Clarke Base. After all, that’s where they build the planting machines and aircraft. Aldrin is here because this is where Council wanted a jungle. That’s done, except now we need to replant what burned. There is no reason not to move, except that we love Aldrin.”

  “Gabriel told us Clarke Base wasn’t safe because of the risk of a problem with the Hammered Sea,” Harry said. “The first time he took us up there—when we were kids. Do you remember?”

  “Better than you, maybe. That was before we knew about the flares. It’s a choice between dangers. I don’t like leaving the grove either. Maybe we can find a way to take care of it?”

  “Is the grove all you think about?” Gloria asked. She was laughing, but her voice was strained.

  Rachel sipped her. juice. “No. But caring about the ecosystems is caring about the people. When the First Trees lived, that signaled Council we could live here. Ali told me that. To Council they were a symbol: the first real success with complex life. Ali said the night they knew they could start populating Selene was the first Mid-Winter Night. They had the first party on Selene that day.

  “For us, it’s where we first learned about caring for Selene. The trees will feed us over time. That’s why it matters.”

  “We hope they leave some of us here,” Gloria said. “Can you ask for us?”

  “Why me?” Rachel asked.

  “You made Gabriel take Beth to the ship,” Gloria said.

  “No, I got Gabriel to take me to the ship with Beth.” What was Gloria thinking? “Gloria, I can’t make Council do things.” Remembering Liren, she added, “In fact, I might be bad for any goals we have.”

  Gloria looked confused, and Rachel said, “Council doesn’t all think the same way. They’re like us—they disagree sometimes. One of the High Council—the people who make the decisions—doesn’t like me. Ma Liren. So you see, sometimes I might not be the best one to make suggestions.”

  Gloria frowned. “I thought everyone liked you.”

  Dylan burst in the door, arms full of flowers. He must have looked all over the grove to find so many blooms. He handed a white orchid to Beth, and placed the rest in Rachel’s arms.

  Fragrances blended thickly, and Rachel buried her face in the bright blooms, taking in the strong sweet scents.

  “Thanks for bringing my sister home,” Dylan said.

  “Council sent her home,” Rachel replied.

  Dylan grunted at her, folding his arms.

  �
��Sorry—thank you for the flowers. You didn’t need to pick so many! But really, I didn’t do anything but go up with her. I know how scary John Glenn can be until you get used to it. That’s all.”

  “None of us would know.”

  Dylan was right, but there wasn’t any way to make her words sting less. It wasn’t her fault she had different experiences than the other Moon Born.

  “Here, Gloria,” she said, “do you have anything big enough to put these in? I can leave a few here, and I’ll take some home to Frank and the kids.”

  Dylan gave her a hurt look, so she added, “I’ll take at least one with me when I leave tomorrow for Clarke Base.”

  Dylan rewarded her with a smile.

  They weren’t supposed to pick flowers, not in great big bunches. Dylan often defied authority in little ways. She liked him for it, and the flowers were beautiful. She didn’t have the heart to remind him how bare the jungle was after the fire.

  CHAPTER 48

  INSIDE THE WATER BEARER

  THAT AFTERNOON, RACHEL fled the business of Aldrin, and walked to the grove by herself. She headed straight for her plot. The idea that her plants, and Ursula’s, might go wild saddened her. The top leaves had been rained clean. She wiped clumps of damp soot from lower leaves so they could breathe. Small plants had smothered under the ash.

  Rachel spent three hours clearing traces of the fire from both plots. Her hands were filthy, and working in the ash dredged up fire smells. At least ash would be good for the soil.

  As she worked, Rachel fretted about the day’s conversations. Once she’d wanted to be a leader, way back after that first test with Gabriel and Ali. She was a leader now, or at least everybody thought she was. She shivered. It wasn’t fun.

  What did people expect from her? Treesa, Astronaut, Andrew, Dylan, Gloria, Harry—they all wanted her to be something different. And what was Andrew up to anyway? She had not fought him directly, but simply tried to sell her own version of the right choices for the Moon Born. She knew, mostly by rumor, that Andrew was holding his own informal meetings under the guise of sports. Way before the fire, Andrew and some of Selene’s young men and women played catch-the-disk and staged flying competitions, using them as cover for conversations she knew little about. She had been avoiding a confrontation, but deep in her gut she knew that it was time.

  She went to Dylan, and was not surprised that he knew where to find Andrew. She didn’t like the answer at all.

  Teaching Grove was a checkerboard below her as she flew high, riding a warm breeze over the meadow toward the line of blackened grass and dirt that marked the descent of Water Bearer. Apollo hung just above the horizon, making her shadow long and thin. The broken ship’s shadow loomed over the meadow, spiky with extended booms and mooring legs.

  Rachel landed a few feet away from the furrow made by Water Bearer’s crash. As she was unclipping her arm wings, she heard Andrew’s voice behind her. “So you finally came to find me.”

  Rachel jumped, startled. “Maybe I just came to see the ship. Why are you here?”

  She started walking toward the dead ship, and he kept up, shaking his head at her, making fun. “You tell us to learn what we can. The ship may be dead, but I can get inside—the door’s warped open. I’m learning.”

  Andrew camping in Water Bearer added to her anger. “I keep hearing about you turning people against Council. Jacob and Justin asked me all kinds of questions that somebody’s been feeding them. Ever since Gabriel started me teaching, I’ve worked to bring everyone together. All of us. Not just Moon Born, not even Moon Born and Council, but every human being on the face of this moon!” She realized she was extremely loud. She lowered her voice, stepping back under the ship. Astronaut and Treesa were watching over her, but she didn’t need to make their job harder. “Andrew! We can’t fight Council. Not even you and your whole group of friends.”

  Andrew met her angry words with a surprising calm. “Rachel, I’m just laying groundwork for tactics you are going to have to adopt. You have your own strength and power.”

  His voice was so reasonable, it slowed Rachel down. She stopped to set her wings down. “Who says I want your tactics? Who says I want power?”

  “Rachel, you have power. It doesn’t matter if you want it or not. People want to follow you. I know what you’re doing. I even support you; more than you know. But what if it doesn’t work?”

  It was hard to stay mad at him when he was so calm. “It has to work. There isn’t any other way.”

  Andrew’s answer was to turn and walk farther under the edge of the ship. Rachel followed. Water Bearer listed about five degrees, and Andrew had built a makeshift ladder up to the most easily accessible lock. He climbed up, beckoning to her. His face was shadowed, and she couldn’t read his expression.

  “Astronaut,” Rachel said, “is it safe?” She was uneasy at the idea of going inside Water Bearer. At being on a Council ship, uninvited.

  Astronaut replied, “There are no orders against being inside.”

  “Thanks,” Rachel sent back to Astronaut, and followed Andrew into the ship.

  The steps led into a short cylindrical corridor, and lights were turned on. Rachel blinked at the lights, surprised. Before she could ask Andrew about it, he spoke. “Look, Rachel, I hope your plan does work. I wish it was me they took, me they let see their ways, me they trusted. But I had twenty years to get over being mad at you—you just did the right things. Maybe you’re still doing the right things.” The corridor was slightly tilted, and Rachel felt off balance because the handholds that hung in the walls and stuck up from the floor every half meter or so were off center. Andrew continued. “But if it doesn’t work, there has to be a different plan. Think of me as your backup.”

  “Do you have a plan?” she asked.

  Andrew ducked into a room. Rachel followed him, and they took seats on two of the four acceleration couches. Even though Rachel had never been on a miner like the Water Bearer, she recognized the control room by the huge empty view screen, by banks of gauges and keyboards. She’d seen such things on the space-planes that flew between John Glenn and Selene. She frowned. Much of Gabriel’s flying seemed directly related to data windows he controlled. Even though the interior lighting continued to work, nothing else flashed or even showed a steady light. Had Gabriel disabled everything, or was everything broken?

  Andrew looked around the room. “Do you recognize this stuff? Do you know how to use it?”

  Of course he was drawn to Council’s technology. She shook her head. “I asked. They won’t teach me to fly a ship—not even a little one.” She couldn’t let the conversation drift too far. “So, you were going to tell me your plan?”

  “No. I’m not. You might tell Council. Look, Rachel, we’re both on the same side; we both want the same thing. But we’re going after it different ways. Your way is open—you tell everyone.”

  Rachel let that go. “But your plan is a secret?”

  Andrew looked directly at her. “Rachel, your ideas might work. And if not, it probably won’t piss Council off if you try to help them. That’s the crux of it—you want to be so helpful they’ll decide you’re useful. And hey, it works for you at least. Maybe it will work for all of us. But if I act, it will be more like the rebellions you keep talking about in your classes. We’re slaves. You taught us history. Slaves have to rebel or run away—and there’s nowhere to run.”

  Andrew almost never attended her classes. “How do you know what I teach?”

  “Some folks believe like me, Rachel. We believe in both ways. If your way works, then we won’t need to try anything else. People tell me what you teach. Dylan tells me, for one.” He looked away. “That way I can get educated without drawing attention. Council doesn’t watch any of us very much—they’re too busy. But they watch me more than you. So I stay away from you, so your work has a chance. And by the way, I’m sure you have help from Council. Otherwise, things wouldn’t go so easy for you.”

  Andrew reached d
own and opened a low drawer, withdrawing a wine bulb. “Want some?”

  “Where did you get that?”

  “I bought it, last Mid-Winter Night.” He shrugged, and grinned at her. “Some people don’t like the taste. I saved it for something special.”

  She shook her head at him. “No, thanks. It makes me feel funny.”

  “That’s the idea.” He unscrewed the top and took a sip. “It’s starting to taste funny. Maybe I should finish it.”

  She glared at him. “Suit yourself.”

  He took one more sip, then put the top back on.

  She didn’t think he looked at all contrite. Rachel got up and paced around the small room. In order to stay a few feet away from Andrew she could take just ten steps each direction. She couldn’t tell him how much help she had. So how was she going to convince him? “Maybe you should have actually come to class. The Roman slave rebellion got put down. The American Blacks had help from white Americans in the north. Gandhi in India won, but he didn’t use violence. All you’re going to do is get people in trouble. Get yourself in trouble. Look around you. Look at this ship. Council built this. They used it to help build Selene, and then to help save it. We can’t even begin to make anything like this unless we persuade Council to teach us more. We have to be credible and trustworthy. Confrontation can’t work.”

  “That depends on what you want it to work for. It might, for example, get attention. And I’m not like you, Rachel; I don’t get favored treatment. No Council person has ever treated me very well. Not one. I’m angry at them. You should be angry at them too. Who do they think they are to tell us what to do and to keep their secrets from us?” He glared at her. “Or most of us.”

  “I thought you weren’t mad at me?”

  “I’m not. Maybe a little envious.” He twisted his hands together in his lap, and sighed. “We’re trying to solve the same problem. I want you to promise to help me—to tell me as much as you can about Council.”

  Rachel shook her head. “I tell my classes a lot. You can come—I won’t kick you out.”