Chapter 8

The jubilation at the headquarters of the informal "Eden Rescue" group put together by Toshimura and others was intense. In one two-day explosion Meiersdottir had brought the Edenites' plight to worldwide attention, initiated a tremendous upwelling of support for the rescuers' goal and completely defused SES opposition. It was beyond what any of them might have imagined possible, especially in so brief a span.

But they had little leisure to enjoy their triumph. There was work to be done, a very great deal of it, and quickly the reality of actually doing the job they were setting out to do began to overwhelm them. For a time it appeared that, noble as their intentions might be, they simply wouldn't be able to get sufficiently organized to accomplish anything beyond rhetoric in the few years they had available.

Their first intelligent move was to formalize their structure. By acclaim Meiersdottir was named chairperson of the new entity, Toshimura became vice chair, and they headed a board of directors made up principally of the few surviving veterans of the Eden expeditions.

But the advanced age of Eden Rescue's leaders told against them. A younger Meiersdot­tir might have browbeaten them into an efficient, task-oriented operation; a 106-year-old one found the job beyond her strength and endurance. Age meant far less than it had in earlier times, with people now commonly living to 110, 120, often longer, but it still heralded diminished strength and diminished energy, and both were needed in abundance.

Those initially brought in to help Meiersdottir, including her own children—Meier, who still viewed Eden with the reverence due a birthplace, was an especially enthusiastic supporter—lacked the organizational skills and experience to drive the fast-growing group to accomplish all it needed to accomplish in the ever-shortening time remaining. Even SES itself, now a firm supporter, could offer only limited assistance in the extremely complex multi-disciplinary endeavor.

Salvation came from an unlikely source. Alicia Heisinger had originally been hired main­ly as a "legacy"; her great-grandfather Gustav had been one of the leading lights of the first Eden voyage. She was young, barely thirty, and had only lower-level degrees in any of the involved disciplines. She was assigned initially to secondary duties within the headquarters office.

Within only a few weeks, though, she presumptuously asked for a meeting with the organization's chairperson herself. Meiersdottir, overwhelmed as she was by the sheer magnitude of her new authority, prided herself on maintaining an open office and granted the request.

When Heisinger walked into Meiersdottir's office at the appointed time she found a frazzled elderly lady trying to deal with multiple problems over her link. Finally the distractions abated momentarily, and Meiersdottir turned to her. "Yes, dear?" she said wearily. "Please make it an easy one, it's being a very long day."

"This is a mess!" said the younger woman, gesturing broadly to clearly include the entire operation.

Meiersdottir gave her a tired smile. "I know, dear," she said. "Is that what you wanted to say to me?"

"No, ma'am, or it is but only part of it. You can't do this, not alone. But I can if you'll let me help."

For a moment Meiersdottir simply stared at her. The link rang again, signaling yet another call. She flipped a hand. "All right, dear, show me. That one's yours."

Unhesitatingly Heisinger picked up the receiver. "Yes?" she said. There was a pause. "I'm Alicia Heisinger, Dr. Meiersdottir's assistant." Another pause. "I have full authority, she's asked me to handle this." A much more lengthy pause. "No! That's not acceptable! You are to complete that operation on schedule, without excuses!"

Alarmed at the tone of what she was hearing, Meiersdottir waved at Heisinger to abort the discussion. Rather than breaking the link the young woman simply interrupted the transmission, telling the caller "just a moment" before hitting the "hold" button.

"It's Nehranu, from Edenform," Heisinger told her, naming the head of the division established to begin the transformation of the Pacific island into Eden-friendly terrain. "He's asking for a six-week delay in bringing in the magnesium deposits."

"If he needs the extra time—" Meiersdottir began.

"He doesn't. He's just whining, saying he wants to wait to finish the pineapple harvest. But if we delay the magnesium we delay the nitrate overlay, which delays the nickel, which delays the first mix, which— It'll wind up stalling the whole process by six months, maybe longer, and we're down to the wire already if we're going to have the island ready in time."

Agog at Heisinger's apparent grasp of all the technicalities involved, she abruptly reached over to pick up the link herself. "This is Amanda, Nehranu. Do it! On schedule, as she says. The world can do without a few more pineapples." She broke the connection.

"I'd have granted that request," she mused. She looked up at Heisinger. "Are you really that good, dear?" she asked. "Or did you just get lucky with that call?"

"I'm that good, Dr. Meiersdottir," said the young woman confidently. "You said show you. Have I?" Suddenly the confidence momentarily evaporated, leaving a vulnerable girl waiting anxiously for approval that she was unsure would come.

Meiersdottir burst into laughter. "All right, young lady, you've got a job. On probation for now, but you've got one."

Heisinger's face blossomed into a smile.

"And you'd better call me Amanda," added Meiersdottir. "Let's see if you're as good as you say you are."

"I am," she said with renewed confidence.

And she was. Within a matter of days Meiersdottir found herself delegating greater and greater authority to her new assistant to make decisions without review; within weeks the young woman was virtually running the Edenform operation; after only a few months her purview had extended beyond that to nearly all other aspects of the rescue mission, including the key liaison with SES which was, after something of a stutter-start, deeply involved in building the single most important artifact of the entire mission, the ark itself.

A jack of all trades, it's said, is master of none. Heisinger had full mastery of none of the disciplines involved in the multi-faceted project. But she knew something of nearly all of them, and in the few areas where she lacked any background she proved adept at acquiring basic knowledge quickly. And where she was nonpareil was in coordinating all of the varied activities. In a venture that cried out for administrative control, she was a natural administrator (indeed, that was the title she was eventually granted); she was seemingly indefatigable; and the glitches and delays that had initially plagued the project seemed to magically dissipate as she addressed them.

Young Igwanda at first reacted poorly to Heisingser's abrupt ascension to prominence. Truth be told, he was jealous. It was he who was Meiersdottir's grandson, he who'd had exclusive access as her caretaker, assistant, confidant and friend, and for a time he felt uncomfortably displaced. But he wisely held his own council, and gradually began to really appreciate the truly major load she was taking off his grandmother's aging back. Still, tensions between the two were palpable, especially since they were thrown into each other's company so often by virtue of their mutual dedication to Meiersdottir.

It came abruptly to a head one day about six weeks into her regime when she looked up from a mound of paperwork on her desk, frowned at her empty coffee cup, saw him as usual nearby and barked "Get me some fresh coffee, will you, Carlie?"

"Bite me, Alicia," he said in a cheerful tone.

She stared at him in surprise. Then she gave him a calculating look. "All right, then, you do the damn permitting application while I get my own." The need for endless government permits for each phase of the island work was one of the more tedious aspects of the project, and one she'd already come to detest.