Read Online Echoes of Earth by Sean Williams, Shane Dix - Free Book Online
Authors: Sean Williams, Shane Dix
Ads: Link
said after a few moments, her voice quiet and controlled. “I appreciate this.”
“Listen, Caryl,” he said. “I’m the one going into the lion’s den. In some ways I’d rather face you than the Spinners. In fact, to tell the truth, if you had brought down the shuttle, it would have come as something of a relief.”
“And yet you were prepared to go through with it?”
“Had you not listened to reason? Yes, I would have.”
“But now you’re willing to talk?” It sounded as though she still couldn’t quite believe what he was doing.
He shrugged in the darkness. “It’s the diplomatic thing to do.”
“It’s good to see you have regained some common sense, at least,” she said.
The ghost of a smile in her voice was reward enough, for now. He may only have won a battle, but that was sufficient to make him feel a little more confident about the war.
1.1.6
The manipulative little fuck, Hatzis thought as she watched the satellite images of the shuttle descending onto a rough plateau some 400 kilometers away from the base of Tower Five. She handed the conversation back to Sivio while she took a moment to collect her thoughts. Giving ground to Alander had galled her more than she would ever admit. Not because she thought she was infallible—far from it—but because it was Alander. Had it been the real him, she might have felt better about it, although the chances were it would still have been difficult for her pride to accept. As it was, it ate into her like acid.
Dr. Peter Alander had been aboard the Frank Tipler as its resident generalist, not a physicist or chemist or programmer or any of the other specialties the ship carried, but someone who professed to know a lot about everything: the wide-world equivalent of a physician. His role had been to act as adviser to the survey managers, someone who kept in touch with all the various disciplines at once, making sure their work didn’t conflict and noticing when close focus might obscure a bigger picture.
As such, he commanded a great deal of respect among the other survey staff. Even among the other generalists—and there were ten of them scattered randomly through the missions—he was regarded highly. He was supposed to be good.
She could respect that, and she would have valued his input at any time during her leg of the mission. But not this damaged Peter Alander who had the potential to forget where he was if distracted. Giving any concessions at all to him just incensed her. And she wasn’t above resenting the fact that a key component of her management team was missing, either, making her job all the more difficult.
Still, she would bear it as gracefully as she could. She was determined to, and she didn’t doubt that leaders all through history had been forced into similar situations, with or without neural net advisers. That was what she had to do if she was going to be a good leader herself.
As Sivio walked Alander through basic preparations for his mission, a call came through for her from Cleo Samson.
“I’ve been watching what’s going on,” said the woman.
“Why?” Hatzis knew she was being unnecessarily blunt but couldn’t help it. Samson was a chemist; she should have been making space for more relevant disciplines.
“Owen asked me to help him out with spectrographic analyses of the spindle hulls. I’ve only been real-timing it.”
She accepted the explanation. “So what’s your interest in this situation?”
“I’d like to talk to Peter. I think I can help him.”
“How?”
“He needs someone to keep his mind on track. You and Jayme have other things to do. I’m on real time, like him, and he’ll listen to me.”
Hatzis mulled over Samson’s suggestion. It seemed to make sense. They wouldn’t want Alander distracted at a crucial point in the proceedings. But she also didn’t want him distracted by Samson, either.
“Okay,” she said, “we’ll give you the bandwidth.”
“ConSense?”
“Yes. He
“Listen, Caryl,” he said. “I’m the one going into the lion’s den. In some ways I’d rather face you than the Spinners. In fact, to tell the truth, if you had brought down the shuttle, it would have come as something of a relief.”
“And yet you were prepared to go through with it?”
“Had you not listened to reason? Yes, I would have.”
“But now you’re willing to talk?” It sounded as though she still couldn’t quite believe what he was doing.
He shrugged in the darkness. “It’s the diplomatic thing to do.”
“It’s good to see you have regained some common sense, at least,” she said.
The ghost of a smile in her voice was reward enough, for now. He may only have won a battle, but that was sufficient to make him feel a little more confident about the war.
1.1.6
The manipulative little fuck, Hatzis thought as she watched the satellite images of the shuttle descending onto a rough plateau some 400 kilometers away from the base of Tower Five. She handed the conversation back to Sivio while she took a moment to collect her thoughts. Giving ground to Alander had galled her more than she would ever admit. Not because she thought she was infallible—far from it—but because it was Alander. Had it been the real him, she might have felt better about it, although the chances were it would still have been difficult for her pride to accept. As it was, it ate into her like acid.
Dr. Peter Alander had been aboard the Frank Tipler as its resident generalist, not a physicist or chemist or programmer or any of the other specialties the ship carried, but someone who professed to know a lot about everything: the wide-world equivalent of a physician. His role had been to act as adviser to the survey managers, someone who kept in touch with all the various disciplines at once, making sure their work didn’t conflict and noticing when close focus might obscure a bigger picture.
As such, he commanded a great deal of respect among the other survey staff. Even among the other generalists—and there were ten of them scattered randomly through the missions—he was regarded highly. He was supposed to be good.
She could respect that, and she would have valued his input at any time during her leg of the mission. But not this damaged Peter Alander who had the potential to forget where he was if distracted. Giving any concessions at all to him just incensed her. And she wasn’t above resenting the fact that a key component of her management team was missing, either, making her job all the more difficult.
Still, she would bear it as gracefully as she could. She was determined to, and she didn’t doubt that leaders all through history had been forced into similar situations, with or without neural net advisers. That was what she had to do if she was going to be a good leader herself.
As Sivio walked Alander through basic preparations for his mission, a call came through for her from Cleo Samson.
“I’ve been watching what’s going on,” said the woman.
“Why?” Hatzis knew she was being unnecessarily blunt but couldn’t help it. Samson was a chemist; she should have been making space for more relevant disciplines.
“Owen asked me to help him out with spectrographic analyses of the spindle hulls. I’ve only been real-timing it.”
She accepted the explanation. “So what’s your interest in this situation?”
“I’d like to talk to Peter. I think I can help him.”
“How?”
“He needs someone to keep his mind on track. You and Jayme have other things to do. I’m on real time, like him, and he’ll listen to me.”
Hatzis mulled over Samson’s suggestion. It seemed to make sense. They wouldn’t want Alander distracted at a crucial point in the proceedings. But she also didn’t want him distracted by Samson, either.
“Okay,” she said, “we’ll give you the bandwidth.”
“ConSense?”
“Yes. He
Similar Books
