Eden
Copyright© 2014 by Colin Barrett
Chapter 52
"Well, they bought it," Meiersdottir said with satisfaction as they began settling in at the pavilion.
"Amanda, do you speak languages other than Standard?" he asked obliquely.
"I'm fluent in the four main western European languages," she answered. "Pretty good in Mandarin. Not so—"
"Spanish will do, then," he interrupted. He shifted to it. "I speak it quite well. For sensitive subjects. I do not think they can overhear, they have so far given no indication of it, but I prefer a certainty to even a high probability."
She looked at him in the gathering dusk. "All right," she said in that language. "But why?"
"Because my response to your earlier comment is no," he said.
"No?"
"No, they did not 'bought it.'" He used Standard for the final words, then continued in Spanish. "They accepted it for the moment as expression of good will, but I saw evidence of doubt. It was our presence here and our demeanor, more than our explanation, that led them to restore such trust as they may have in us."
"Carlos, you astonish me," she said. "Why do you think so?"
"I told you aboard the lander that the story was weak. We supported it as best we could—"
"Bernard was brilliant about why fly over the village."
"—but it remained weak," he finished. "Especially after Bernard mentioned that it was the same lander he used earlier. If he had just used it, why test it now? In addition, it may be that they are growing more astute at reading our body language and involuntary reflexes. When I made the mistake of detailing alternate uses for the lasers, for example, Akakha clearly made the connection to the lander 'damage.' And even to a low-technology observer that damage was obviously strictly cosmetic. They cannot be sure, but I think they were more than halfway convinced that we were dissembling. That they accepted our explanation without direct challenge says much more to me about their level of trust than it would if we had truly deceived them."
"My God," she said wonderingly. "If you're right—and you almost always are, shit, Carlos, be wrong once in a while just to make the rest of us feel you're human—but if you're right, no wonder they wanted us to stay here."
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