Free Beyond Heaven's River by Greg Bear Page A

believe that, do you?” she asked, this time with a bite in her tone.
“I believe you can be tough,” Elvox said.
“Tough is not the word,” she said, looking away from him. Something seemed to cloud her expression. “We’ll think about it.”
In the days following, he realized that there were competent people, and there were masters. Nestor was a master at what she did. She wined and dined the Centrum lander crew — not so intimately as Elvox, and not beyond discretion — and got into their good graces. Because she was obviously staying neutral, they had no objection to her tutoring Kawashita, and Kawashita had no objection to almost anything she did. By being pleasant and cooperative, she got her way.
The judgment of majority ownership was made in the Centrum lander, with all parties attending. The lander lounge was turned into a small courtroom, and the ten judges opened their records of deliberation. Elvox almost felt sorry for the Waunters. They looked totally defeated as they read the judgment. Alae’s face was grim as death. She took her copy of the proceedings and walked out of the ship with Oomalo close behind.
Even after the judgment, the Centrum work wasn’t over. It took two weeks for Centrum satellites to thoroughly scan the planet. Percentages of ownership had to be established, and values assigned for taxation.
In that time, Elvox’s confusion seemed to evaporate. His time with Anna was smooth and regular. His awe at her status became subdued.
The planet yielded almost nothing — and what it did yield was an insult. The ruins of a weather machine were discovered practically at antipodes to the dome. Like the simulacra and equipment in the dome, the machine had powdered to a sandy mix of minerals and metal traces. How such a small device could control the weather was impossible to tell, but nothing else was found, and the ruin’s outlines were at least suggestive of its purpose — field vanes, seeder guns, and the like. They analyzed the marks that resembled roadbeds, and found they were geological. The planet was still mildly active. The concrete plains were already being re-formed. In a hundred million years all traces of the Perfidisians would be buried or ground to rubble. It would be no great loss.
Of the nothing that the Perfidisians had left behind, Kawashita was given a ninety-percent interest. The Waunters, because of the unusual circumstances, were given a ten-percent share. The planet itself was to be controlled by Kawashita, but of any profits he might make from its eventual sale or lease or other dealings, ten percent would go to the Waunters. The Waunters could orbit and land anywhere on the planet they wished, at any time, so long as they did not interfere with operations that Kawashita could profit from. And so on, and on … all the fine legal points established over centuries of planetfalls and millennia of property settlements.
In the final proceedings, Kawashita didn’t seem the least disappointed that he wasn’t going to be wealthy.
“Has the majority owner decided on a name for this world?” the first judge asked him.
“I have,” Kawashita said. “It will be known as Yamato.”
Anna had coached him on the presentation, and he performed flawlessly.
“And does this name have a meaning?”
“Yes, your honors. It is the old name for my native land, Japan.”
“Well and good. This court has made its decisions, executed its responsibilities as arbiter and mediator, and any further judgments must be appealed to Centrum courts on Myriadne. These proceedings are at an end.”
Four hours later, the Waunters returned to their old Aighor ship and broke orbit.
|Go to Contents |

Beyond Heavens River
Ten
“My God, Julio, you’re an officer, not a Casanova!” Tivvers stood in the door to Elvox’s cabin, hands on his hips, the perfect picture of outraged sensibility.
Elvox smiled wanly. “We’re doing our work, aren’t we? Nothing’s slacked. All the decisions have been