Chapter 32

In the conference room on Taiséalai Kathryn’s Clan greeted the other Command Staffs as they arrived. After everyone was seated, Kathryn said, “Sarah, when is your clan going to visit China?”

“We didn’t set a specific date when they were here. Conceptually it will be in about 8 weeks. Several of us think that there is a subtle issue here. Many governments see our clan as this entity’s leaders. So we should consider having our delegation consist of say, 2 or 3, from each Command Staff.”

“From our perspective,” responded Kelly of Keriann’s Clan, “we often think of your clan in that way, but at the same time we know our dynamics. However, we like the idea of some from each Command Staff being in each delegation. I know the visits here have an impact on our progress toward our goals. With a complete Command Staff being gone for a week on a diplomatic – social visit, it is going to have an impact.”

“The biggest impact,” replied Rusty, “will be to our readiness. While we have backups for our positions on the bridge, there are some inherent limitations in what those backups can do.”

“We were going to suggest that we aren’t included,” responded Keriann. “If we are only going to send two from each Command Staff, then we are agreeable.”

“Why didn’t you want to go?” asked Aoife of Sarah’s Clan.

“It would be nice, but we think our time is better spent looking after outfitting Iarracht. Yes we made trips to Earth to relax, but during those we were always available. I don’t think that that would be the case during formal visits.”

Maeve said, “So what I am sensing is that we’ve decided on sending two or three from each Command Staff on these diplomatic trips. We noted the timing for China. Russia and several European countries have also asked to meet with us. Once we commit to those visits, there will be more invitations. We suspect that every country will want to meet with us, and that they are hoping we suggest the meeting to be here.”

“That could be a good thing,” said Janet of Sarah’s Clan. “By coming here they will learn more about us in a shorter time. I think some will be disappointed when they learn that our technology solutions won’t work for them because they need a different solution path.”

“Well our mentoring of the medical community seems to be working,” said Judy.

“I agree,” said Kathy of Kathryn’s Clan.

“It is in the other sciences where we have seen mentoring issues before,” added Betsy of Amy’s Clan. Her comment drew several surprised looks. “We haven’t had any experience in doing that with those on Earth. My comment is based on past comments by others. The comments were something along the lines of ‘established researchers doesn’t want to look at their work from a significantly different perspective’. Our approach differs enough that they usually need to do that. The hurdle is that many times our approach was evaluated and discarded because the results weren’t as expected.”

Casidhe said, “I’ve heard many of our people make comments about how they wouldn’t have been permitted to pursue some of the solutions we use.”

“Let’s go back to the Earth visitors for a moment,” said Aoife of Sarah’s Clan. “Let’s have our Communications groups set up a joint group to handle them. The visits will be to here, and each will last for three days plus travel time. The frequency of visits will be no more than two a week, and not more often than every other week, and those are Órarduine weeks. We could combine visits from a geographical area. In any case, we think we should leave initiating contact to them.”

“Is three days a hard number?” asked Kaitlin of Maureen’s Clan.

“We didn’t see it as that,” responded Brigid of Keriann’s Clan as Aoife nodded her head in agreement. “We like the idea of this being the primary meeting location as it has less impact on our progress.”

“True,” replied Maeve of Sarah’s Clan. “We will need to make return visits or we will be seen as arrogant.”

“I think we’ve spent enough time on this,” added Sarah. “How is our progress on Iarracht and Taiséalai coming?”

“We are a little over half way to being fully operational,” said Keriann.

“Taiséalai is at about the same point,” added Calvin of Kathryn’s Clan. “It is going well enough that we’ve been discussing where and how long our shakedown voyage should be. Our thoughts currently are on doing an exercise similar to those the three of you did, but to include an excursion a short distance beyond this solar system.”

Joyce quickly said, “We agree.” Her rapid reply raised several eyebrows which was followed by a few chuckles.

Kathryn said, “Okay, what do you want?”

“What do you mean?” responded Joyce with an innocent expression, “I just agreed with your proposal.”

“True, you did agree, but by the speed of your response I sense that you have something in mind.”

“Well, I was just thinking of the opportunity, that I am sure you saw the potential for adding to our star maps when you were doing your planning.”

“To be honest, I didn’t, but I do now. I think that is why we have these discussions.”

“Well I am sure you would have realized it before the opportunity passed.”

“It will be one of our objectives.”

Chester said, “Sarah, does that answer your question or do you want to go over progress by department?”

“You answered it; we were just looking for confirmation of our assessment. Finishing Taiséalai and Iarracht seems to be proceeding quite smoothly.”

“We hope it continues,” replied both Kathryn’s and Keriann’s Clans.

“All of us do,” responded Crystal of Maureen’s Clan. “Although Shannon thinks we are seeing an increase in the number of spies among those applying to be crew candidates and contract employees.”

Chester of Keriann’s Clan said, “The incidence hasn’t changed very much, but has shifted from contract workers to crew candidates. All the Security groups are monitoring it. If I remember right most seem to gravitate toward An Clochán rather than a ship.”

“I hadn’t noticed that aspect. Thanks. It is a concern and it would be nice to know the motivation or goal.”

“If you knew who their sponsors were,” responded Calvin, “it should help answer those questions.”

“We can determine that,” said Rusty, “but do we want to expend the resources to do it. If they are just seeking information it is one thing, but if it is the beginning of a threat then ... maybe we ought to do a little digging.”

Conan said, “We think it would be wise, even if it slows our pace a bit.”

“Agreed,” replied all of them.

The lunch chime sounded and Kylie of Maureen’s Clan said, “Wow, the morning went quick.”

“Yes it did, as it always does when we get together,” said Kelly of Keriann’s Clan.

Kathryn said, “After lunch we can easily cover the remaining topics and still have time to talk about the future.”

“You just jinxed it,” said Casidhe of Siobhan’s Clan.

“You don’t believe that do you?” asked Mégane of Maureen’s Clan.

“Yep. Seen it happen too many times.”

“I agree,” added Caitlyn of Keriann’s Clan. “While it may not be a logical theory, that doesn’t mean it’s not true or that I can’t see it happening.”

“Well I hope we have time to talk about things beyond our agenda,” said Kathryn.

“We do as well,” replied everyone.

“Let’s see how it goes,” said Alena of Sarah’s Clan. “We could stay into the evening.”

“Say, that is an idea,” said Katia of Kathryn’s Clan. “Why not have the nannies and children join us for dinner?”

“Suits us,” replied Sarah’s Clan.

Aoife said, “I’ll tell the nannies.”

Joyce laughed and then said, “The children probably already know.”

“Let’s go to lunch,” said Calvin as his stomach rumbled causing everyone to laugh.

“Command Staffs, are you aware of the increase in the number of spies applying to be crew candidates?” asked Shannon.

“I think we are all aware of the increase,” replied Siobhan of Siobhan’s Clan, as the other Command Staffs joined the link. “We talked a bit about this issue last week. One question we had was, why now?”

Kelly added, “Our clan has discussed this since then. We came to the conclusion that their sponsors are hoping that by increasing the number they are backing some would make it through our screening process. Perhaps we should change the way we are dealing with this.”

“Since we’ve vacated Comrie,” said Rusty, “our initial screening is being done at An Clochán. An alternative would be move this to New Comrie. A significant disadvantage is that it could disclose that we have another island on Earth. In any case, we should increase the depth of telepathic evaluation. Without a solid technical background, we aren’t sure what the benefit is for the spies and their sponsors. My concern is about accepting someone who is intent on disrupting our operations. In addition to this, it would be nice to know what they really see as their long term future.”

“That’s a bit different to the thoughts you have expressed in the past,” replied Maureen.

“Yes, it is. I know all of us continue to study the technology we inherited. Today, I think we have a much better understanding of it than we did three or four years ago. The change in my concern is due to the large gap between Earth’s most advanced technology and our applied technology, which is all they see. Knowing and understanding the fundamentals behind our applied technology could assist them in making significant advancements. However, we are not seeing researchers as spies. Technologists will have difficulty if they try to use the implementation approach we do. For them to benefit from our knowledge, they need to compare how our solutions evolved to theirs. Perhaps a better way of expressing it, there is a need to compare the basics as a first step.”

Conan of Siobhan’s Clan said, “So, you don’t think their short-sightedness will allow us to adhere to our directives while maintaining good relations with Earth’s governments?”

“Yes,” responded Claudette of Sarah’s Clan. “At some point, you would think they would see their mistake and correct it, but that doesn’t seem to be occurring. This will likely evolve into frustration, leading to hostility as they blame us for their lack of success. Publicly, many of them, in particular politicians, would never admit that a problem was a due to their shortcomings. However, does it really matter, since we will be leaving within the next two years or so?”

“We agree,” said Brittany of Kathryn’s Clan. “President Ryan’s second term will end before long and Prime Minister Bartlett will likely step down before then.”

“So you think a change in leaders would change the dynamics of our interactions with Earth,” said Colleen of Maureen’s Clan.

“It is a significant possibility. This is more likely in some countries than others.”

Keriann responded with, “Our sense is that we have the admiration and respect of many people on Earth, especially in those countries where members of our family were born. It is difficult to see how new leadership could easily change that.”

“There are groups who are openly hostile toward us, so they could create events to embarrass us and those who’ve supported us. Depending on the event, it could tarnish our image. If that happens enough times then...”

“Do we really care?”

“Yes, I think so,” said Joyce. “We care because Earth is the birthplace for nearly all of us. At the same time, what happens on Earth doesn’t directly affect us. This is now our home. Those who want to join us will still seek us out, regardless of the attitude of those who lead the various governments.”

“Good point.”

“What I take away from this discussion,” said Shannon, “is that we need to identify those who are spies and then to monitor them.”

“Yes,” replied Sarah. “We don’t really care if they know that we suspect they are spies, but at the same time we don’t want to alienate anyone.”

“We will talk to Security, and adjust our efforts accordingly.”

“It would assist us if we had an idea of who was sponsoring these people, and how they are being motivated.”

“We agree,” replied all the Command Staffs.

Betsy of Amy’s Clan said, “We think that you have made a good choice. We didn’t add much, as we thought all of you had a better appreciation of Earth’s attitudes than we do, even though we have been watching Earth for a long time.”

“You could very well have a better understanding than us,” said Tara, “because of your objectivity.”

“Objectivity doesn’t always help.”

“What if we approached this technology issue a different way,” asked Aoife. “First, let me say that I don’t disagree with what we are proposing to do about the spies. At the same time, it seems to me that we may be being too stringent in interpreting our directives. Our directives say we should not do anything to meddle in their internal issues. I think this was done to avoid upsetting the cultural foundation and political balance by proposing our values and beliefs as the solution. I agree that if they directly implemented our applied technology, it wouldn’t work for many reasons. But what if we held symposiums on the fundamentals behind our technology? Each symposium would focus on a particular specialty. These could be held either at Comrie or on An Clochán.”

Aoife paused for a few moments to gauge the acceptance of her proposal among the Command Staffs before continuing. “Publishing the full proceedings of the symposiums on the Internet would make hiding the information difficult, if not impossible.

“If we do this, whatever is published must be available to everyone on Earth, so the documents should be in more places than just the Internet. As to who attends, they need to be from as many groups as possible, interested in learning and preferably young seasoned researchers.”

“Quite a proposal,” responded Maureen with a smile. “You must have thought about this a lot.”

“No, not really. It just sort of all came together just now. In a way what I saw of Alena’s experience with security clearances and programming may have prompted it. Her project could have been done in weeks, if it weren’t for the security games being played.”

“You’re right about security games,” said Kelly. “Too many times security is used to hide things like mistakes, errors in judgment, poor implementation and the like. The political gamesmanship also has a negative impact.”

“One shortcoming of Earth’s literature,” said Conan, “is that only successes are published or shared. Many times, you learn more from your failures than from your successes. Thankfully, our knowledge base includes both. Engineering has found cases where yesterday’s failures were today’s successes just by making a minor modification to either the variables or the approach. Quite a few of our successes have come from examining old failures.”

“So what we are considering is a broader thrust along the lines of what we have been doing in the medical field,” said Judy. “Hearing Aoife’s proposal, we should probably shift our mentoring in the medical area to be done this way.”

“Let’s think about the implications before proceeding,” added Rusty. “At first blush, I don’t see a problem with Aoife’s logic, but then I didn’t see the solution until she presented it. I can see others are in the same position I am. We need to consider the secondary effects and unintended consequences even if we can only guess at what they would be.”

“Agreed.”

“We would like to comment,” said Aine, Brigit and Creidne.

“Please.”

“You could add a participation criterion. This would be that participating countries agree beforehand to support and allow unrestrained contact between all the symposium participants forever. Medicine and environment would be good topics for the first symposiums. It should be easier to see their benefits in those areas. The contacts Judy, Gail, Connie and Betsy have with the staff at Boston Children’s Hospital have spread through the medical community, with little fanfare.”

“Are you saying an article should be written about it?”

“No. We are just noting it. An article may not be a good idea. Many in the medical community are aware of our coaching, but want to avoid inciting the detractors of ‘alien science’ and other fanatics.”