Paola gets us into the hospital to see Damian without any fuss, just a simple sign-in of the visitor’s log. She checks on Damian first before inviting me into the room, just to make sure he’s willing to receive another visitor. I hear her ask after his recovery and note that the IV is gone. He tells her he’s doing better, but they still want to monitor him for another day. “But I’m sure my Paths will take me out of here soon.” Ah, there’s that language I was expecting.
Paola steps to the door and ushers me in. “This is Mariah Thorne,” she introduces me. “Yes, they still use two names here, apparently,” she adds, so I guess that’s not common at the University.
“Mariah is fine,” I say. No need to create unnecessary distinctions.
“He’s one of Morgan’s associates, but he wanted to ask after you.” At this introduction from Paola, Damian looks at me quizzically. He’s sitting up in his hospital bed, wearing a loose fitting top that allows for easy checking of the bandages on his chest. A book sits in his lap—clearly he was reading it before our interruption. He closes it now and sets it aside, giving me a look at its title, The Book of Many Paths. Who wrote that, I wonder. Someone like Sal? But no, if it’s such an established part of University culture, it must go much farther back. Maybe some Progenitor-based revelation in the early days after planetfall?
Nevermind that now. Not important. Damian’s eyes are searching my face as if expecting to find something, and I tell him, “Oh, we’ve met before. On the launch day of the Planetary Security Force.”
“Ah, that’s right. I thought you looked familiar. It is fortuitous that our Paths have converged again today.”
“And please excuse the correction, but while it’s true that I was in a meeting with Morgan when I first encountered Paola, I’m not really one of his associates. I understand that the University presence here has been a little rocky because Morgan doesn’t have firm control over his own dome. But it’s not really his dome, is it? That’s just the Path that they were on. And we all know that a Path that seems to be going in one direction can make a turn and end up—”
“Leading you away from Sanctuary,” Damian inserts. I wonder if reaching people in his role of religious co-leader is more important to him than his “day job” of being a soldier.
I run with that, flipping his cautionary words back around at him. “Yeah. Sometimes they lead you toward Sanctuary, though, in ways that you don’t anticipate. The dome is at one of those junctures. You may not have heard it here in this hospital room, but elections were called this morning.”
“Oh, uh, that soon!?” Confusion, alarm, and startlement vie for control of Damian’s features. “I wasn’t expecting that for some time.”
“And if Morgan hasn’t been willing to listen and act in ways that would forge a stronger alliance between the University and these domes, this is a chance to get other people in place who could be more sympathetic. I understand that you hold a large number of shares in trust even though you yourself are not a dome resident. I’d like you to consider what you’re going to do with those shares.” I leave it there, implying that I have recommendations, but not coming out with them until I’ve heard a bit from him. Everyone in this room knows I don’t want those shares voting for Morgan, though. It’s clear I don’t think that’s in the University’s best interest.
“I appreciate your concerns,” Damian replies. “We will need to weigh all the Paths appropriate for us.”
“You have less than twenty-four hours to do that,” I warn him, lest he brush me off completely.
“Thankfully we have our hearts to guide us,” he continues smoothly.
“And datalinks to consult,” Paolo inserts.
Damian nods. “Of course. And we two will find the harmony between them.” Okay, so it seems Damian and Paola will both be involved in this discussion. Maybe she has an equal say in what those shares do? Noting my questioning glance at Paola, Damian clarifies, “This is a University decision that we as co-leaders of this expedition need to reach consensus on together. The shares are in my name merely because they had to be in one person’s name.” He gives a little shrug. I wonder if a coin toss settled that matter. Regardless, I understand the implication here that it’s not my place to tell the University contingent how to vote. No matter; I do a lot of things that it’s not really my business to do. I’m not the rule follower that Yushi and apparently Damian are.
“I have searched my heart,” I say, and the corner of my mouth quirks up at the thought of Fritz. “And I’d be happy to take a look at your datalinks to see if I can maybe advise you on what might be best in your interest and the University’s interest as a whole here. You might have some information in your datalinks that’s relevant. But there might be things I know that aren’t there already because perhaps I’ve consulted with other University people more recently than you have here.” This draws confused looks from both Damian and Paola.
“I talked with Pastor Thara and Dr. Alakai Van Hoff off on their research island, so you might consider that I have checked their datalinks.” I feel awkward with this wording, as I try to reach Damian on his own terms, but the point I get across is this: I’ve consulted with University people and have information related to the planet and what’s going on around it. “I’ve compared notes with your fellow scientist regarding an incoming Earth ship. That’s highly pertinent to this matter. The different factions here on the ground need to have a more coherent and functional communication network among themselves. Morgan is very shut in. Having him in power doesn’t help. In order to deal with an influx of another hundred thousand human beings on this planet—” Eyes go wide at that number, and even Damian’s one laser eye seems to pulse. “—we all need to work together far better. And Morgan is not going to do that.”
I focus on Paola now as I make my push. I don’t know what mistakes she’s made in the past, but these are people we could save. “In order for that many humans to survive and function on this planet—in order for those humans to even safely get down onto this planet—we need to better understand Chiron itself, and Morgan has zero interest in that.”
That seems to do it. They’re willing to listen to my insights on who else they might vote for, so I’m confident they’ll now seriously consider getting Morgan off the board. “There are some existing board members, like Leyland Campos, who are more outward looking,” I say, “but also consider newer, younger people who are more aligned with the planet. Like Shu-Fen, who works out in the field doing prospecting. And like Fritz, who is very connected with multiple tiers of society in the dome.”
“Hmm… I think that makes sense,” Damian says, glancing over to Paola to see how she’s taking all this. “We’ll still consult our datalinks.” Of course, of course. I know he has to complete his ritualistic approach.
“Whoa, wait, what? Back up,” Paola says, election far from her mind. “What are these hundred thousand people? A ship? What are you talking about?”
I’m completely frank with Paola at this point. I need any contacts she can give me at the University because I intend to go there seeking connections and resources to address this problem. “I was able to confirm with Dr. Van Hoff that astronomical observations he was making were an incoming ship from Earth. I said a hundred thousand people, because that’s how many were on the original Unity ship.” She nods; that’s a fact she’s familiar with. “But of course I don’t know how many people are really on this new ship. However many there are, they are going to have the same problem as Unity. They’re going to hit the atmosphere, resonance energies are going to disrupt their ship, and it’s going to get destroyed if we can’t find a way to warn them.”
It’s an elevator pitch that I’m destined to make many times more, I fear. It’s absolutely daunting the amount of knowledge, material, and coordination my plan will require, but it’s the only approach I can come up with. “Warning them involves getting a whole bunch of people to work together. The University might have the technical know-how, in terms of launching a rocket with a satellite that can at least transmit a message once it gets clear of the atmosphere.” Just how far up does the University’s miasma barrier go, I wonder. Far enough to support a controlled launch into orbit? “I’m just an idea person and a networker,” I tell Paola plainly. “I don’t understand any of the scientific or engineering ramifications of this ask, but we have to do something before they get too close to the atmosphere.”
Without needing to consult any additional datalinks, Paola and Damian are onboard with trying to save these people. They are stuck here in the Morgan domes for the foreseeable future, given the requirements of their current expedition, but Paola advises me on who to see in Sanctuary that will have sufficient sway to get this plan moving. Thara’s acolyte friend doesn’t have the necessary rank to get what I need done. But the Director of Expeditions, that sounds great. “You should talk with Dr. Ale Barbossa. I’ll prepare you a letter of introduction to them. Dr. Ale manages what I suppose you might call our embassy program, as well as the scientific expeditions like Dr. Alakai’s.” Like Van Hoff, Barbossa is a planetfaller. Maybe if I’m really lucky, they’ll know something about how Unity reacted to resonance energy when it was first exposed. The University uses some Progenitor technology, so they must have studied resonance energy to some degree.