The Best of All Possible Worlds Read Free Page A

Sadira. We have a meeting
     scheduled for tomorrow.”
    That still didn’t explain why Dllenahkh was in my office. “Would you like to come
     with me to the Museum of History?” I said.
    “Yes,” he acquiesced somewhat absently. “That would be quite interesting.”
    We walked there. I kept silent, waiting for Dllenahkh to talk to me.
    He waited until we had passed the geological displays and entered the Hall of Names
     before breaking into speech. “Do you know why we came to Cygnus Beta?” he asked.
    I glanced at him. His eyes were staring straight ahead at the writing etched on the
     granite walls.
    “We came to find the taSadiri.” He turned his head very slightly and looked at me.
     “Do you know of whom I speak?”
    “Sadiri who do not practice the mental disciplines,” I replied immediately. “They
     left Sadira and founded Ain, and a few settled elsewhere in the galaxy. But they did
     not found Cygnus Beta. It was already here.”
    “I have heard of the beings you call the Caretakers.” He said it neutrally, and I
     was glad for the small courtesy. Some people think the idea of the Caretakers is just
     another one of those savior-guardian myths that primitive societies dream up to deal
     with the uncertainty of the universe.
    “Yes,” I said firmly, “they are the true founders of Cygnus Beta, but we acknowledge
     other early settlers—mostly Terrans, it’s true, but also Ntshune, Zhinuvians, and
     taSadiri.”
    “There are strong psionic and proto-psionic strains in your ancestry,” he noted. “That
     was another one of the reasons we chose to come here.”
    I wondered where this was going. “So what’s wrong, Dllenahkh?”
    He struggled. Clearly these were very private matters. “There is a lack of consensus
     concerning our path. Securing the future of our people is, of course, the primary
     concern, but the way this can best be achieved is in dispute. Some feel that preserving
     genetic and cultural integrity would be the most effective course of action. With
     so few of us surviving, every person would be needed for this endeavor to succeed.
     Others believe that negotiation with the Ainya with a view to eventual integration
     of our tribes is the best option.”
    “But perhaps that was their reason for … doing what theydid,” I said awkwardly. “They’ve never had your level of galactic influence. Wouldn’t
     integration be kind of like giving them what they want?”
    He paused. “Yes,” he said at last. “Many of us hold the same view. However, from the
     Ainya perspective,
we
drove out their forefathers and denied them their birthright; hence their pride in
     claiming responsibility for our downfall. Perhaps they wish to see us not merely humiliated
     but destroyed completely.”
    He sighed and continued. “A third way has been proposed: colonies of hybrids selected
     for Sadiri physical traits and mental abilities and raised according to Sadiri values
     and traditions.”
    A wry smile twitched my lips. Terrans: the chicken stock of every human genetic soup
     in the galaxy. Terra was the newest of the crafted worlds and Terrans the youngest
     breed of humans in the galaxy, but what they lacked in technology and mental development,
     they made up for in sheer evolutionary potential. Other humans patronized them and
     overlooked them, but just mention
hybrid vigor
and suddenly Terrans became very popular. Of course, since Terra itself was still
     under embargo, that meant Cygnus Beta got all the attention.
    “So,” I asked him, “which Sadiri are you? The second way or the third way?”
    His face went still in that manner I had come to interpret as profound uncertainty.
     “No decision has as yet been made. We are a reserve.”
    I tilted my head and frowned at him, confused.
    His eyes glanced briefly at mine, and then he blinked and looked aside again as if
     acutely embarrassed. “As many of our off-planet occupations are filled by men, more
     Sadiri males survived