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."

"Hostages," he said. "Human shields."

"Can you blame them?"

"No," he admitted. "As a soldier I dislike the idea immensely. As a man I can, however, understand it. And to place myself in their situation, with our telling them we can locate and kill every one of their mothers and they can do nothing to prevent us, I can fully appreciate it."

"Does that stick us here for the duration?" she asked.

"It sticks me here for so long as trust remains an issue," he replied. "I will not ask others, most especially the civilians I am assigned to protect, to run risks I will not accept for myself. You have freedom to trade off for when you need to return to the Gardener, whether for personal or professional reasons."

"Professional," she said. "If I have to. Why would I want to go back there when the man I love is here?"

"Very sweetums," he said, reverting to Standard. She giggled. "I am not really all that easy to live with, especially without remission. Anyhow—"

"Oh, good. We can argue and then make up," she cut him off. Then her voice took on a more serious note. "Carlos, we've known each other for months, we've talked kind of a whole lot, do you really think I don't know that? You're easy for me to live with, what the hell do you think I care about anybody else?"

"Well... ," he began, obviously pleased. Then he, too, shifted tones. "Anyhow," he said, "you can swap when you need. But I believe that, as matters now stand, at least two humans will need remain on the planet at all times for them to remain comfortable, and I will need to be one of them."

"It could be worse. And the most important thing is to instill trust."

Igwanda poured each of them a generous measure of whisky and they sat companionably for a time as they drank it. They ate, had second and milder drinks, then washed and made gentle love and finally drifted to sleep.

While every move was watched by native eyes with better night vision than even Igwanda realized, and every sound was heard by the ears of one of their number who furtively crawled to within meters of the pavilion as soon as full darkness had set in.