Free The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann Page A

few moments. ‘Been tough, eh?’ She nodded. ‘I understand they got you out of hospital.’
    ‘It was my own choice,’ said Hera.
    ‘Well if I’d known, I’d have told you not to come. You could have told them to stuff it. Hell, there’s plenty of time for this kind of circus later. Not that it is
relevant now anyway.’ He paused and sighed deeply. ‘I am so sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘So, very, very sorry. I thought we had the numbers. Just. It was a hell of a debate.
There was blood on the floor of the chamber. I’ve never been through a session like it. It has absolutely split the Council in half. But they got us with a couple of abstentions, Apolinari
and de Loutherberg – God knows who pressured them – and poor Elvira Estaing couldn’t be there. She was on her way but suffered a heart attack in Suva. She is still in intensive
care.’ Hera put her hand to her mouth but said nothing. In her mind she was aware of another tick of the clockwork. ‘We really missed Elvira’s voice at the debate. I think she
would have won over the abstentions. And of course smiling Secretary Tim cast his vote with the Lady Hilder party and that was it: fifty-seven to fifty-five.’
    ‘Can’t we appeal?’ It was said without enthusiasm.
    ‘I’ve already done so. But I don’t have any hopes. It was all so sudden and now positions are entrenched. In any case, the people on the Review Committee, all except old
Ishriba, voted for Disestablishment. Times are changing. We are into a new phase of some sort. There is a lot of ignorance out there selling itself as pragmatism, and God knows where it will end.
For the first time, Hera, I am really afraid for the future.’
    ‘Well, you did what you could,’ said Hera. ‘And thank you for that.’
    ‘The bad news is, and I am afraid I am getting cynical in my old age, that I think one of the reasons they have brought you here so quickly is to get you off planet. By the time you get
back to Paradise the first demolition teams will already be on the ground. That’s how quickly things are happening. They probably thought you might stage a protest.’
    Hera made a sound, a quiet sound such as a cat makes when it is dying, a small involuntary keening which could almost have been a sound of love. Then she said, very softly, ‘Who is doing
this, Jack? Who?’
    Stephenson shrugged and shook his head. ‘I have no idea. There may be one person or several people . . . One day maybe we will find out, but I am not sure that names matter now. You know,
Hera, as days pass I seem to meet more and more people who don’t seem to like the light of day. People who are not comfortable with ideas like beauty or love or self-sacrifice, and for whom
the only truth is what they can hold in their hand, the power they can wield, the advantage they can take. These people don’t have to talk to one another; they know one another by their
smell. And what I fear most now is that these people, whoever they are, will come to control what is happening in space. And if they do, we as a race will make the same mistake as we always have.
We will try to control by force what we could perfectly well live with by reason alone.’
    Hera had never seen Jack Stephenson so despondent.
    ‘Well, look at me,’ he said, rallying. ‘And I came here to offer you support.’
    ‘And you are, Jack.’
    There was a tap at the door and Kris brought in the coffee. ‘Just to let you know there are seven minutes until we have to go down to the hearing. I’ll be taking you down.’ He
withdrew without waiting for a reply.
    Hera and Jack Stephenson were silent.
    Inside Hera it was as though all her emotions were colours and they were spinning round in her head. She did not know what she thought or what she felt any more. And then, apropos of nothing,
she said, ‘There were people I knew on the fractal transit, people I’ve known for years. Some of them looked away when they saw me.’ She paused. ‘Isn’t