The Icerigger Trilogy: Icerigger, Mission to Moulokin, and The Deluge Drivers (105 page)

“Please, all of you, sit down. I am sorry for the manner in which you were brought here, but as you will learn it was necessary. Until I have determined how your purpose and intent in being here will affect our functions, I must be cautious.”

“We’re more interested in your purposes and intent,” said Williams.

The man turned to him, tight-lipped. “Already I don’t like you. Please keep your mouth closed until you are spoken to.”

Not very apologetic, Ethan mused. Not all the fires here burned beneath the smoking vale beyond the windows.

Williams bristled but kept quiet. Their interests would not be served by provoking a confrontation before they’d learned anything. September stepped forward and performed introductions for human and Tran alike. The man listened politely while Corfu smirked in the background. When Hunnar and Elfa were introduced and what they represented described, the man began shaking his head slowly while gazing at the floor, giving the appearance of one who’s just lost a paper clip and whose sole desire was to find it immediately.

“I’ve never heard of your union,” he said when he finally looked up at them. “Unfortunately, cut off as we are here in the southern part of your world it is impossible for us to keep up with native affairs elsewhere. I am going to believe you because I’d like to. Your union suits our purpose here.”

Ethan pointed to Corfu. “That’s what he said.”

“Yes.” The man smiled thinly at the merchant. “Corfu has been a great help to me.” Ethan noted that there was no mention made of Massul fel-Stuovic, emperor of all Tran-ky-ky.

“You must forgive my forgetfulness. I have been very busy and it has been some time since I was required to practice anything resembling the social amenities. I am Dr. Shiva Bamaputra. I am in charge of the installation here at Yingyapin.”

“Quite a setup,” September commented.

“It is fairly impressive, isn’t it?”

“Enough to impress even a Commonwealth inspectorate. Why don’t you apply for a permit for whatever it is you’re doing here? It would make things a lot easier for you.”

“You choose to affect the air of an uneducated bumpkin, Mr. September, but I think I know better. I think you know as well as I why I cannot do that. Why do you think we built underground here if not to escape detection from those who would disagree with our intentions? We would have had to do this in any event in order to preserve heat. Heat is very important to what we are doing, you see, and even fusion stations are not unlimited in what they can achieve.”

Then volcanism wasn’t involved, Ethan reflected. “Just what is it you
are
doing here?”

Bamaputra looked past him, past all of them. “Something the Commonwealth would not approve of, I think. The reaction of the Councilors of the United Church would be stronger still. They’re all so stiff and formal, so tradition-bound and conservative that even if they saw the chance to help those in need, they wouldn’t do so if it didn’t fit their precious regulations. They would shut us down in an instant despite the benefits that are accruing to the people of this world.” He turned back to face the windows that overlooked the valley.

“We are Tranforming.”

“That’s a contradiction in terms,” Hwang said. “This world is already ‘Tranformed.’ ”

He glanced back at her. “How familiar are you with the physiology and history of the Tran?”

“We’ve made a few interesting discoveries,” Ethan told him.

Bamaputra eyed him a moment, then nodded. “Yes, I’ve noticed that several of you seem very comfortable with these people as well as with their language. I will presume you are cognizant of the basics, then. If I go too fast for you or mention something you are not familiar with, please interrupt and I will elucidate.

“There is nothing complex about what we are doing here. Three fusion plants have been installed deep within this part of the continental plateau. We are using the production of these plants not only to power our installation but to melt the ice sheet from the underside up. You will be interested to know that where it clings to the continental shelf in this area the oceanic ice sheet is in places less than twenty meters thick. That is one reason why we chose this peninsula as our base of operations. The warming of the atmosphere in this vicinity and the concurrent melting of surface ice is the by-product and not the principal intent of our operation.”

“Why?” asked Blanchard.

“Because this atmosphere needs more of two things: water vapor and carbon dioxide. In addition to melting the ice sheet we are pumping water vapor back into the air. To produce the carbon dioxide that accompanies it we extract oxygen from the air and add carbon from large coal deposits directly beneath this station. There are substantial archaic seams of anthracite in the area. It seems strange to burn a fossil fuel for no other reason than to intentionally pump it into the atmosphere.”

No scientist, Ethan was struggling to follow the conversation, which was why Bamaputra was making everything as simple as possible.

“The greenhouse effect on Tran-ky-ky is weak. We intend to artificially increase it to the point where enough of its sun’s heat is retained to raise the surface temperature as much as eighteen degrees.”

“What is all this talk?” Hunnar finally asked his friend.

Ethan replied without taking his eyes off Bamaputra. “He is talking about raising the temperature of your planet considerably, to well above the point where ice becomes a corpse.”

“You’re talking a long time,” September was telling their host. “You won’t live long enough to see it to fruition.”

“Ah, but that is where you are wrong, my large friend. Because the climatological balance on Tran-ky-ky is so delicate, it is in fact possible to effect substantial shifts in temperature over a surprisingly short period of time.”

“What I don’t understand,” Ethan told him, “is why you’re bothering. All that’s going to happen naturally.”

“Yes, but the change will take ten to twenty thousand years. The planet will enjoy its briefer warm cycle before swinging back out in its perturbed orbit and freezing again. Then the down cycle of life will resume. The oceans will refreeze, the temperature will drop permanently back below freezing, and the Tran will once more be forced to cower in their caves and feudal castles, reduced to devoting their racial energies just to surviving. No, you are wrong about the time we require to change this. You forget your elementary physics.” Several of the scientists grimaced. If this reaction pleased Bamaputra, he gave no sign of it.

“Once the ice sheet has melted through, the defrosting effect will accelerate even in the absence of above-freezing temperatures since the exposed dark water will absorb and distribute the sunlight which the ice has previously reflected. The result will be accelerated shrinkage of the ice sheet and the expansion of open ocean into the northern and southern temperate zones. The level of the seas will rise fifty meters and more. Those Tran inhabiting low-lying areas will be forced, as would be the case in fifteen thousand years or so, to abandon them and move to higher ground. There will be a mass migration from the low islands to the higher land of the continents. As the air warms, these will become inhabitable, as they historically have been before when the climate moderates. In point of fact, they will come here.

“Our initial research suggested that this, the southern continent, was the area of highest population density in warmer times. There will be a corresponding migration and physiological change in the animal population as well. There will be some deaths among the Tran because their necessary physical change from a cold state to a warm one will also be accelerated.” He shrugged. “This is unavoidable.”

“How many deaths?” September’s voice was very low.

“Impossible to predict with accuracy. They are certainly to be regretted, but you might reflect that in earlier times such deaths occurred naturally as a consequence of the long, arduous journeys from the islands to the continents. These deaths will be prevented.”

How?” Blanchard asked him.

“When the Commonwealth learns what is happening here by means of relay from the outpost, regulations will have to be put aside in favor of rescuing as much of the native population as possible. Their arcane restrictions do not apply in the face of a ‘natural’ catastrophe affecting large numbers of sentients. The Tran of Yingyapin, quietly aided and abetted by us, will do likewise. It is not in our interest to have anyone die unnecessarily.”

“Nonetheless, you’re willing to accept those deaths as an inevitable consequence of what you’re doing as opposed to modifying your goals,” Jacalan said.

“You must consider what the final result of our work here will be,” Bamaputra said emphatically. “As the temperature rises the Tran will begin to change physically. They will lose their dan and chiv and long fur and adopt the golden-furred Saia state millennia earlier than otherwise. A much more natural state of affairs. They will become land dwellers instead of ice dwellers.

“Don’t you see what this will mean for them? They will be given a boost no other generation of Tran has ever had. In a congenial climate they will be able to develop properly, to achieve the advanced civilization they are capable of but which was always aborted by the onset of this brutally cold climate. For the first time in their history they will be able to reach a level of civilization high enough to enable them to retain it through any future onsets of frigid weather. As a result they will be ready to enter into not associate but full membership in the Commonwealth thousands of years earlier than would otherwise be possible.

“Furthermore, the inevitable consequence of emergency Commonwealth aid will permit them to retain their newly achieved civilization regardless of what happens to the climate if our artificially enhanced greenhouse effect cannot be maintained. It will be the dawn of a golden age for Tran-ky-ky.”

Like the rest of them September had listened quietly to Bamaputra’s exculpation. Now he frowned and scratched at the back of his neck.

“You know, monkeying around with something like a world’s climate is strictly forbidden by just about every primary Commonwealth directive I can think of. Folks are only allowed to play god on uninhabited worlds. Trying to make permanent changes on one populated by intelligent locals, well, if word of what you’re doing here got back to the right parties I wouldn’t give half a credit for your prospects.”

“Ah, but we have the advantage of operating on such an isolated world. By the time the ‘right parties’ ”—he formed the words with barely concealed contempt—“get wind of what we are doing it will be too late to reverse the process. The seas will already have begun to melt, the Tran will have begun to change physically, and shutting us down here would be more harmful than permitting the process to continue.”

“What I can’t figure,” Ethan said, “is what’s in it for them.” He nodded toward Corfu, who looked a little startled at abruptly being included in the skypeople’s conversation. “I mean, you’ve obviously managed to secure his cooperation and that of this self-proclaimed emperor and the rest of the local population. I don’t see that they’re necessary to it. You could just as easily lock yourselves inside this mountain and ignore them.”

“You are correct, Mr. Fortune. They are not necessary—but they do make life here easier. Eventually we will need the aid of some Tran. Corfu and his fellow citizens will provide that for us.”

“It has all been very carefully explained to me by the scholar.” Corfu indicated the diminutive Bamaputra. “It is very simple. Even a fool could see it.” No one in his audience, human or Tran, accepted the bait. He was forced to continue, slightly disappointed.

“I—through the good offices of the emperor, of course”—and he smiled sufficiently to show who stood where in the local Tran hierarchy—“saw to it that information and labor were supplied to the skypeople to help with their project. In addition we have served as scouts, recruiting new citizens for our growing city, co-opting the curious and educating them about the nature of the Divine Plan, driving off those who appeared unsuitable for participation.”

When he said the last Ethan glanced at Grurwelk Seesfar. She was staring intently at Corfu but said nothing.

“We did not expect to capture so fine a prize as a great ship crewed by both humans and Tran, but as you saw we were equipped to deal with any eventuality.”

Are you? Ethan thought. Do you really realize what’s going to happen to you and to your world if this little maniac is allowed to continue his work here? Does Bamaputra really have it worked out so precisely? Playing around with a world’s weather isn’t quite like building a new castle or fighting a rival clan.

“Mayhap you can fool the skypeople,” Elfa said sharply, “but you cannot darken our eyelids so easily. There is more to it than that.”

“Oh, there will be changes,” Corfu murmured with a smile. “Many changes.”

“Indeed.” This explanation didn’t seem to interest Bamaputra as much as his previous one. “As the sea level rises and the Tran abandon their city-states to migrate here they will initially be dependent on those Tran already securely established on the continents. That is where Massul’s people come in. My successors and I won’t have the time to deal with local matters. Someone else will have to take care of allotting land, setting up and administering refugee stations, and generally running the new unified government. Emperor Massul will by then be well prepared for coping with the increased migratory influx to the southern continent.”

“And my family,” said Corfu, “my despised and degraded family will be in charge of all commerce, supplies and clothing, tools and housing, homes, and local transportation. All at a price. This I may not live to enjoy, but my children will. The name of Corfu ren-Arhaveg will be resurrected, and all Tran will do it homage!”

“My financial backers have already agreed to a long-term commercial arrangement with Massul and Corfu. It will assist in accelerating the integration of the Tran. They will be compelled to unite in the face of a common problem. Those who insist on trying to retain their feudal independence will drown or starve. Those who survive and work together will bring about a new age on Tran-ky-ky.” He spread his hands and a trickle of real emotion seeped through the carefully controlled visage.