A Deepness in the Sky

"Till now, we thought that they were also about five years away from really needing our help. We thought that any Kindred/Accord war wouldn't happen till then. Well...we were wrong. The Kindred don't have much of a computer net—but they do have the cavorite mines. Their cavorite satellites are stealthed for now, but that's only for temporary advantage. Very soon, their missile fleet will be upgraded. Politically, we see them moving to subvert smaller countries, egging them into confrontation with the Accord. We simply can't wait another five years to take a hand in things."

Jau said, "There are other reasons for advancing the deadlines. With this cavorite, it's going to be next to impossible to keep our operations a secret much longer. The Spiders are going to be out in local space very soon. Depending on how much of that"—he jerked his thumb at the glistening tile on the ceiling—"they have, they may actually be more maneuverable than we are."

Beside him, Rita was looking more and more upset. "You mean there's a chance Pedure's crowd couldwin ? If we have to advance the Schedule, then it's time we stopped pussyfooting. We need to come down with military force, on the side of the Accord."

The Podmaster nodded solemnly in Liao's direction. "I hear you, Rita. There are people down there that we've all come to respect, even to—" He waved his hand as if to push aside deeper sentiments, to concentrate on hard reality. "But as your Podmaster, I have to look at priorities: My highest priority is the survival of you and all the humans in our little pod. Don't mistake the beauty you have all created here. The truth is, we have precious little real military power." The setting sun had turned the lake to gold, and now the slanting rays lit the meeting room with a gentle, even warmth. "In fact, we are almost castaways, and we are about as far from Humankind as anyone has ever been. Our second priority—and it's inextricably bound to the first—is the survival of the Spiders' advanced industrial civilization, and therefore its people and their culture. We must act very carefully. We can't act out of simple affection....And you know, I listen to the translations, too. I think that people like Victory Smith and Sherkaner Underhill would understand."

"But they can help!"

"Maybe. I'd call them in an instant if we had better information and better network penetration. But if we reveal ourselves unnecessarily, we could unite them all against us—or alternatively, provoke Pedure into attacking them immediately. We must save them, and we must not sacrifice ourselves."

Rita wavered. To Nau's right, but just in the shadows, Ritser Brughel glowered at her. The younger Podmaster had never really grasped the fact that the old, Emergent rules must change. The idea of someone giving back talk still sent him into a rage.Thank the Lord he's not running things. Nau was a tough nut, smooth and ruthless despite all the nice words—but you could do business with him.

No one else spoke in support of Rita's position, yet she made one more try. "We know Sherkaner Underhill is a genius. He would understand. He could help."

Tomas Nau sighed. "Yes, Underhill. We owe him a lot. Without him, we'd probably be twenty years short of success, not just five. But, I'm afraid..." He glanced down the table at Ezr Vinh. "You know more about Underhill and Dawn Age technology than anyone, Ezr. What do you think?"

Gonle almost laughed. Vinh had been following the conversation like a spectator at a racquet match; now the ball had hit him square between the eyes. "Um. Yes. Underhill is remarkable. He's like von Neumann, Einstein, Minsky, Zhang—a dozen Dawn Age geniuses wrapped into one body. Either that or the guy is just a genius at picking graduate students." Vinh smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Rita. For you and me, the Exile time has only been ten or fifteen years. Underhill has lived it all, second by second. By Spider standards—and pre-tech human ones—he's an old man. I'm afraid he's at the edge of senility. He's lived through all the easy technical payoffs, and now he's hit the dead ends....What was flexibility has become superstitious mush. If we have to give up our Lurk advantage, I'd suggest we just contact the Accord government, play things as a straight business deal."