“Hex is a galactic sanctuary,” Andromeda said. “Is that what you mean?”
“Yes, precisely.” The
danui's
forelegs spread apart in an almost human gesture. “Once a race has established a colony here, its existence is assured. Even if its homeworld or other colonies cease to exist, its race will not perish with them.”
“And in the meantime, they are able to establish trade with your race,” D'Anguilo said.
“My people, yes, but also others . . . provided that those races agree to let others visit their habitats, in which case they may exchange transit-system coordinates. But for races like the
taaraq
, or even those who simply do not wish to have contact with the Talus, isolation is perhaps best for all concerned.”
“So you keep them apart from the others. I understandâ”
“No, Dr. D'Anguilo . . . we are afraid you do not.” Sean noticed that Jane Doe used the plural pronoun; the
danui
emissary seldom referred to itself in the singular form. An individual quirk, or a social trait? “If you truly understood, then you and your companions would not have committed many of the transgressions of the past several days. The unauthorized reconnaissance of the
arsashi
colony by your landing craft, with the resultant crash landing when it attempted to evade an energy beam meant to deter it . . .”
“Our pilot did that on orders from my commanding officer,” Sean said. “The pilot was killed during the crash, and the commanding officerâ”
“Died as a result of a cultural misunderstanding.” Jane Doe did not seem to be perturbed by the constant interruptions. “His death could have been avoided had you known in advance that you were going to be encountering
arsashi
tribesmen.”
“That was an accident.” Kyra stepped forward, speaking up for the first time. “I knew the
arsashi
customs, but Cayce . . . our commanding officer . . . wasn't willing to listen to me.”
“An unwillingness to listen seems to be an unfortunate tendency among your kind.” Jane Doe turned to Andromeda again. “We attempted to give you advice during your approach to Hex, enlisting the
hjadd
as our intermediaries since you are unfamiliar with our language. Had you obeyed our wishes, your ship would have docked without incident at the habitat we had prepared for you. But you chose not to do so.”
Andromeda said nothing, but Sean noticed that her fists were curling at her sides. He hoped that, for once, his mother would keep her temper under control. She slowly let out her breath, and he was relieved to see her hands relax again.
“I'm sorry,” she said. “You're right . . . It's my fault. If I'd listened, a lot of trouble could have been avoided.” She paused for a moment before going on, this time with an edge to her voice. “However, I won't apologize for rescuing my son and his companions.”
Sean took a step toward her. “Mother . . .”
“Sean, be quiet . . . please.” She barely glanced at him, but instead continued to look straight at the
danui
. “I know that this was trespassing. Jahd explained that to me even before we went there. But”âshe nodded toward Seanâ“it had to be done. I couldn't leave him behind.”
“Then you admit that you knowingly broke our rules,” Jane Doe replied.
“Your rules weren't explained to us until after we had broken them . . .”
“This is true, but in this instance, they were.”
Andromeda hesitated. “Yes, they were explained to us,” she admitted. “Jahd told us the
taaraq
habitat was off-limits, and heshe warned us of the possible consequences.” Then a quizzical expression crossed her face. “But . . . wait a minute. If you were aware of what we were doing . . . even what we
intended
to do, before we actually did it . . . then why did you let us go ahead with it?”
“She's right,” D'Anguilo said. “You could have stopped us at any time. You could have prevented our ship from leaving our habitat, or refused to open this habitat's docking node, or even stopped our tram from coming here. But you let us go ahead anyway even though it was against your own rules.”
Sean cleared his throat. “Pardon me, but . . . isn't a rule pretty useless if the people who made it don't obey it themselves?”
“Yes, you are correct.” Jane Doe's eyestalks twitched in his direction, and Sean found himself unnerved by her attention. Her resemblance to a giant spider couldn't be ignored, and he felt the chill that prey does in the presence of a predator. “Remember, though, that this particular rule was explained to you by a member of a race that does not raise its offspring.”
“What do you . . . ?” Andromeda began.
“The
hjadd
don't raise their own young,” D'Anguilo said.
“Once they lay their eggs, they leave and never see their children after they're hatched. Their offspring are raised instead by another community. Their evolution developed this as a means of diversifying the gene pool.”
“Correct,” Jane Doe said. “But my race is different from the
hjadd
. In fact, our practices are similar to your own.” Her eyestalks moved toward Andromeda again. “And only another mother would know how it feels to have a child in danger.”
Andromeda opened her mouth, but for the first time that he could remember, Sean saw that she was unable to speak. Instead, she and the
danui
silently regarded each other for a long moment, as if they'd suddenly recognized each other for what they were.
“I see,” Andromeda said at last, her voice little more than a whisper.
“I believe you do,” Jane Doe replied. “As Sashatasma Jahd Sa-Fhadda explained, some rules can be bent under certain conditions.”
In that moment, Sean realized that he had something to add. “May I say something, please?” he asked, politely raising a hand.
His mother turned to glare at him; she was obviously afraid that he'd screw things up. Before she could object, though, Jane Doe looked at Sean again. “Of course . . . by all means.”
He took a deep breath, then went on. “Some of the things we did . . . some of the mistakes that were made . . . are my fault. I understand that now, and I accept the blame.”
“We appreciate your candor,” Jane Doe said, “but that does not excuse your actions.”
“I apologize. But in my defense . . .” Sean hesitated, trying to find the right words. “I'm an explorer. It's my job to learn new things.” He paused. “And now that I've seen some of this place, I only want to see more.”
“Sean . . .” Andromeda stared at him, plainly aghast at the idea of losing him again.
He ignored her as he went on. “If you're willing to let us remain, I'd like to have that opportunity . . .”
“So would I,” Kyra said, and Sean was surprised when she stepped to his side and took his hand. “I've been through a lot . . . both of us have . . . but if it would help my people understand yours, and everyone else who is here, then the risk is worth it.”
Sean stole a glance at Sandy. Looking back at him, she quietly shook her head; she'd had enough of Hex. He turned toward Jane Doe again. “I can't promise that we won't make any more mistakes, but . . . well, we can try to do our best to abide by your rules.”
A wry smile appeared on his mother's face. “They're not all that hard to understand, really,” she said. “Respect your neighbors. Don't take anything that isn't yours. Call first before coming over to visit . . .” She looked at Sean again. “The sort of thing mothers try to teach their children. Sometimes, they even listen.”
“We believe you now understand.” Jane Doe had patiently listened to all this; her right foreleg moved toward the hatch. “You may return to your ship . . . and your habitat.” A short pause. “You will hear from us again.”
As suddenly as it had appeared, her holo projection vanished. A moment later, the exit hatch spiraled open. Andromeda turned to Sean and was about to say something when she apparently heard something through her earpiece. She tapped her mike and said, “We copy,
Montero
. Stand by.”
D'Anguilo slowly let out his breath. “I'll be damned. I never would've believed it . . . Someone won an argument with a
danui
.”
Sean grinned. “That's nothing,” he said, then nodded toward his mother. “Try winning an argument with her.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“T
HIS IS . . .”
At a loss for words, Ted Harker fell silent for a moment.
Instead, he stared at the landscape spread out below the tram-station veranda. “Incredible,” he finished, his voice little more than an awestruck whisper. “I can't believe what I'm seeing.”
Andromeda tried not to smile. She'd witnessed the reaction a couple of times before, most recently when Anne Smith was finally able to leave the
Montero
to see Hex for herself. “I know,” Andromeda said. “It always gets you the first time you see it.” She looked up at the sky, with its staggering view of all the other hexagons beyond Nueva Italia's barrel ceiling. “And the second time, too,” she added. “I'm not sure I'll ever get used to this.”
Harker continued to gaze down upon Nueva Italia. “You say there are four more . . . um, biopods? . . . just like this one?”
“So I've been told. We haven't had a chance to visit them yet, so we don't know exactly what's there. But if we're to believe the
hjadd
, then they should look a lot like Coyote, too.”
“And the sixth biopod?”
“Closed to us. The
danui
have placed it off-limits. Something to do with protecting their technological secrets.” Catching the sly look on Harker's face, she shook her head. “Don't even think about it. They've made it clear to us that their rules aren't to be broken, and I've crossed that line too many times already.”
“But still . . .”
“ âBut still' nothing. We've had one warning already, and I don't think we're going to get any more.” Andromeda turned away from the railing. “C'mon, let's go. I think your people would like to see the rest of this place.”
The crew of the
Pride of Cucamonga
stood nearby, gaping at the immense vista beyond the tram station. Harker nodded to them, and they picked up their duffel bags and followed him to the escalator. The
Pride
had come prepared to establish the makings of a permanent human colony on Hex; several crates of itemsâprefab building material, survey equipment, miscellaneous items such as portable lights and farm tools; everything except weapons, which had been unpacked and left behindâhad already been off-loaded from the freighter, and two more crewmen had just finished stacking them on the lift. They stood aside as their captain and crewmates stepped aboard. Andromeda walked over to the control panel and pushed the lowest button, and the lift began to descend.
“A thousand miles long and a hundred miles wide.” Harker whistled under his breath, studying the wooded slopes as the lift slowly moved down the mountainside. “You can fit a small continent in here.” He slowly shook his head. “No, I don't think we're going to run out of real estate anytime soon.”
Andromeda shrugged. “If we do, we can always ask the
danui
for more.” A startled look appeared on Harker's face, and she smiled. “If what Jahd told me is true, then Hex is still unfinished. Many of the hexagons around us are vacant. Even if we used up all the land in this habitat . . .”
“We could move to another one?” Harker asked, and she nodded. “So what's the catch?”
“No catch . . . except behave ourselves.” Andromeda looked him straight in the eye. “Don't mess with the landlord, Ted. I'm serious. Remember what I told you about what happened to the
morath
?”
Harker's mouth tightened. He didn't say anything for a few seconds; when he did, it was to change the subject. “So . . . are you still bored?”
Andromeda looked at him askance. “Come again?”
“When I came to your house to talk about this mission, you complained that you were bored with your job.” A knowing smile spread across his face. “Just curious if that's still a problem with your life.”
“No . . . no, it isn't.” Andromeda allowed herself a small laugh, then looked away from him. “But I've been thinking a bit about what I'd like to do now that the job is done.”
“Whatever you want, you probably won't have much trouble getting it. After all, you're the captain who discovered Hex. Don't be surprised if someone throws a parade for you when you get back home.” Harker moved a little closer to her, lowering his voice so that his crew wouldn't overhear them. “You can pretty much write your own ticket. Any run you want, any ship . . . you name it, and I'll see that you get it.”
Andromeda smiled. “Thanks, but I have other plans.”
Harker raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”
“Actually, I'm thinking about building a nice little cottage for my retirement.” She pointed toward the river. “Right over there, near the edge of that apple grove . . . or maybe a little farther away, just to put a little distance between me and the rest of the colony.”
“You're
retiring
?” No longer bothering to keep his voice down, Harker nearly yelled in her face. His crew turned to stare, but he was oblivious to them. “I thought you said . . .”
“I've changed my mind.”
“But . . .”
“Soon as the
Montero
gets home, I'm formally tendering my resignation. Then I'm going to sell the house, pack up my stuff, and move here.” She gave him a serious look. “You'll give me a break on the freight costs, won't you? I'd like to take the
Montero
back, and Jason said he'd be willing to give me a ride next time he comes out here. If you approve my recommendation that he be made captain, that is.”