vanished.”
“We’re the descendants of those people. They did find landfall, some of them. Colonized an area of space we now call the Reft. And we found—myself and the people with me—this ship, and decided to look for the League.”
“But how did you—” began Scallop. He stopped. “Perhaps we’d better go to my office. I can see this is going to be a very long story, and that we’d better record it for the Concord representative here. This has incredible ramifications.” He looked both ecstatic and bemused.
“Would you like us to disarm?” Lily asked. She had noticed that people passing were giving them strange looks.
“Lily—” hissed Jenny, warning. Lily shook her head, and Jenny subsided, looking disapproving.
“I, for one,” offered Provoniya, stepping forward, “feel rather like a Soviet might feel confronted by a party of Mongols. I would feel more comfortable.”
“Mongols?” asked Jenny in a low voice.
“Please excuse min Provoniya,” interposed Scallop. “She’s a fanatic for history. If you wouldn’t mind—”
At Lily’s nod, they disarmed, and Rainbow took the weapons back inside the ship. Scallop smiled, looking as relieved as Provoniya. Reflexively, he patted the baby’s bottom. “Then, if you’ll come this way.”
There was too much to see to register what was similar and what totally different. Once they arrived in the spacious Coordinator’s office and seated themselves in delicate-looking but wholly comfortable chairs, Lily introduced her party. No one even blinked when she introduced Pinto as her pilot. Scallop’s only comment, addressed to Pinto, was that he must be from an orthodox sect.
A moment later the Concord representative came in and introductions were done again. The representative, a very black, very tall woman named Thaelisha, sat down beside Scallop, got the baby to smile at her, and then turned to regard Lily expectantly.
“Captain.” Her voice was smooth, her accent more tone than pronunciation, making her at once easier to understand and yet, for some phrases, far more difficult. “You and the people with you present a unique case. Not just because you have returned in possession of a famous ship believed lost about two hundred years ago. But imagine our interest, and delight, in discovering that there is, as one might call it, a lost colony out there. What we record here today will be transmitted immediately to Concord.”
“What is Concord?” Lily asked.
Thaelisha chuckled. “There. Proof positive, apart from your accents, and your style of clothing. Concord is the administrative center for the various autonomous systems which together make up League space. We can show you a map if that would help you to get your bearings. Otherwise, please go on.”
Lily chose to go on. “Our computers can supply you with more information about the location and size of Reft space than I can. My navigator can better describe the various physical anomalies existing between League space and Reft space that made navigation with the vector drive, and a set path, difficult to find and maintain, which is the reason as far as I know that the Reft stayed isolated this long. It took us almost four months to run a fairly straight course that once properly charted with a full crew would probably take about one month to cover, according to our pilot and our navigator.”
“You only had one of each?” Provoniya broke in, astonished. “For that kind of trip?”
“Yes, but they’re good.” Lily smiled as Pinto scowled at her.
“They must be,” agreed Provoniya. She turned to look directly at Pinto. “My respects.”
His scowl turned quickly to embarrassment.
“We also,” Lily went on, to spare him, “have the usual ship’s library, with the usual historical, geographical, economic and literary files. When we found the Forlorn Hope its entire log and library had been wiped, except for the ship’s operating system.”
“What happened to her?”
“We’re the descendants of those people. They did find landfall, some of them. Colonized an area of space we now call the Reft. And we found—myself and the people with me—this ship, and decided to look for the League.”
“But how did you—” began Scallop. He stopped. “Perhaps we’d better go to my office. I can see this is going to be a very long story, and that we’d better record it for the Concord representative here. This has incredible ramifications.” He looked both ecstatic and bemused.
“Would you like us to disarm?” Lily asked. She had noticed that people passing were giving them strange looks.
“Lily—” hissed Jenny, warning. Lily shook her head, and Jenny subsided, looking disapproving.
“I, for one,” offered Provoniya, stepping forward, “feel rather like a Soviet might feel confronted by a party of Mongols. I would feel more comfortable.”
“Mongols?” asked Jenny in a low voice.
“Please excuse min Provoniya,” interposed Scallop. “She’s a fanatic for history. If you wouldn’t mind—”
At Lily’s nod, they disarmed, and Rainbow took the weapons back inside the ship. Scallop smiled, looking as relieved as Provoniya. Reflexively, he patted the baby’s bottom. “Then, if you’ll come this way.”
There was too much to see to register what was similar and what totally different. Once they arrived in the spacious Coordinator’s office and seated themselves in delicate-looking but wholly comfortable chairs, Lily introduced her party. No one even blinked when she introduced Pinto as her pilot. Scallop’s only comment, addressed to Pinto, was that he must be from an orthodox sect.
A moment later the Concord representative came in and introductions were done again. The representative, a very black, very tall woman named Thaelisha, sat down beside Scallop, got the baby to smile at her, and then turned to regard Lily expectantly.
“Captain.” Her voice was smooth, her accent more tone than pronunciation, making her at once easier to understand and yet, for some phrases, far more difficult. “You and the people with you present a unique case. Not just because you have returned in possession of a famous ship believed lost about two hundred years ago. But imagine our interest, and delight, in discovering that there is, as one might call it, a lost colony out there. What we record here today will be transmitted immediately to Concord.”
“What is Concord?” Lily asked.
Thaelisha chuckled. “There. Proof positive, apart from your accents, and your style of clothing. Concord is the administrative center for the various autonomous systems which together make up League space. We can show you a map if that would help you to get your bearings. Otherwise, please go on.”
Lily chose to go on. “Our computers can supply you with more information about the location and size of Reft space than I can. My navigator can better describe the various physical anomalies existing between League space and Reft space that made navigation with the vector drive, and a set path, difficult to find and maintain, which is the reason as far as I know that the Reft stayed isolated this long. It took us almost four months to run a fairly straight course that once properly charted with a full crew would probably take about one month to cover, according to our pilot and our navigator.”
“You only had one of each?” Provoniya broke in, astonished. “For that kind of trip?”
“Yes, but they’re good.” Lily smiled as Pinto scowled at her.
“They must be,” agreed Provoniya. She turned to look directly at Pinto. “My respects.”
His scowl turned quickly to embarrassment.
“We also,” Lily went on, to spare him, “have the usual ship’s library, with the usual historical, geographical, economic and literary files. When we found the Forlorn Hope its entire log and library had been wiped, except for the ship’s operating system.”
“What happened to her?”
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