Page 30 of Skinwalker's Bane
“I discovered it when I was escorted to your office this morning,” Devin added hastily. “There may or may not be truth to it. Surely, it is worth finding out?”
Magorian stirred. “I believe we may be holding a few more meetings in the near future, Zsoka. Cai, what do you think?”
“About telling the ship everything we know about the shard?” The man with soft brown eyes andthreereading boards in front of him looked thoughtful. “Every instance I can think of throughout history when the authorities were open and engaged in discussion were always successful.”
“That’s a good indicator,” the Captain murmured. “How do we do it? Video, Forum?”
Magorian looked at Devin. “What do you suggest?”
“This all started in the Aventine market. I think that’s where you should go to address it.”
“A public appearance?” Magorian shook his head. “You can’t fit five thousand people in the Aventine.”
“You don’t have to,” Noa said. “There were only a couple hundred people when Bull said his piece. Word still spread. Record the appearance and put it on the Forum. Everyone will have access then. If you put the records and the assay results and all the technical data there, too, as Devin is suggesting, then they can comb through it.” Noa leaned forward. “Devin has a good point. If we let them paw all over the data, someone looking at it with the experience and eyes of, say, an engineer or a coder or a doctor, or anything but a metallurgic expert, might see something we’ve missed.”
“I still don’t like the idea of Zsoka appearing in public in that way. It’s too open,” Magorian said.
“If the Captain risks it, she’ll be showing she trusts everyone to do her no harm,” Haydn said.
Zsoka Owens nodded. “It’s a good point. I’ll do it, Magorian. Only, I will have a full team of Guards around me.”
“Two of them,” Magorian growled. “Very well.” He said it in a resigned voice and stirred, as if he was going to stand.
“There’s one other thing,” Haydn added.
Everyone rolled their eyes or sighed.
Noa just smiled.
Magorian resettled in his chair. “Yes?”
“We should probably have a bull session about the shard before the Captain goes public. We’ve never talked as a group about the findings and the implications for the ship. People will start asking impossible questions as soon as the data is out there. The Captain needs to be prepped and brace for them.”
“Impossible questions?” Magorian asked.
The Captain got to her feet and rested her hand on Magorian’s shoulder. “I’m not needed here, now. Thank you, everyone,” she added, looking around the room. Then she moved over to the smaller second door in the corner of the room and walked through it. Beyond, Devin glimpsed the Captain’s office. The door shut quietly.
“Questions that are impossible to answer,” Haydn said to Magorian, picking up the conversation again. “Theories that aren’t completely whacky and deserve consideration and a sensible response. I’ll give you an example. This one has left me awake through some long nights. The manufacturing process of the shard was very close to processes we used to use ourselves, yes?”
“Yes,” Paderau confirmed. “That’s what helped us determine it wasn’t a natural object, but made.”
Haydn nodded. “That’s the worrying thing, Magorian. It means, whoever made the object that the shard was once part of has technology similar to ours, probably developed along the same lines as ours. That implies they are used to working in similar gravity as us and have similar needs.”
“They live in the same Gold zone as us,” Bannister said softly, wonderingly.
Haydn pointed at him. “Exactly. Now, I’ve got sick of listening to Cai spout off over the years, although sometimes he says something useful. One of those things has stuck with me and I keep thinking of it and scaring myself into not sleeping because of it. He said that throughout history, all of the really bloody wars and most horrific atrocities man has visited upon man have been for two reasons. Religion was one. It may yet still be a factor with the people who made the shard. Maybe their gods insist that all non-their-species are evil and must be destroyed. We won’t know about that until and if we ever meet them and can find a way to talk to them. The second one though…”
“Land,” Cai said. “Specifically, the possession of arable land, to grow food and live.”
Haydn nodded again. “The aliens live in the same Gold zone as us. That means they live on planets that have conditions we need to survive.”
“We’d be competing for the same land,” Magorian said slowly. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “Oh sweet stars,” he breathed.
“I told you it was a poser,” Haydn said.
Devin watched Magorian adjust and absorb the idea. “A think-together would be useful,” he agreed. “Although if you come up with many more questions like that, I’m going to lock Zsoka away in a closet until the fuss dies down. Anyone who tries to answer such questions will only end up looking foolish.”
“It’s an impossible question,” Bannister added. “It might pay to put it out there along with any other impossible questions we came up with, so everyone has a chance to think it through logically. It will help brace people for anything that might happen in the future.”
