Free Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson Page B

side, opposite the stranger. She leaned down toward him (she stood almost a foot taller than he), and spoke rapidly in his ear, in her own language, but what he heard afterward was Tuscan Italian, somewhat old-fashioned, like that of Machiavelli, or even Dante.
    â€œYou don’t believe any of that shit, do you?”
    â€œWhy should I not?” Galileo replied sotto voce, in Tuscan.
    â€œDon’t be so sure your companion has your best interests here, no matter that you are the great martyr to science.”
    Galileo, not liking the sound of that, said quickly, “What do you think my interests here are?”
    â€œThe same as anywhere,” she said with a sly smile. “Your own advancement, right?”
    In the midst of a fierce harangue at his foes, the stranger looked over and noticed the woman and Galileo in conversation. He stopped arguing with the others and wagged a finger at her. “Hera,” he warned her, “leave him alone.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “You are not the one to be telling people to leave Signor Galileo alone, it seems to me.” This was still translated to Galileo in Tuscan.
    The stranger frowned heavily, shook his head. “You have nothing at stake here. Leave us alone.” He returned to addressing the entire group, which was now quieting to hear what was going on.
    â€œThis is the one who began it all,” the stranger boomed, while inhis other ear Galileo heard the woman’s voice in Tuscan, saying, “He means, this is the one I chose to begin it all.”
    The stranger continued without further sotto voce commentary from the woman he had called Hera. “This is the man who began the investigation of nature by means of experiment and mathematical analysis. From his time to ours, using this method, science has made us what we are. When we have ignored scientific methods and findings, when the archaic structures of fear and control have reexerted themselves, stark disaster has followed. To abandon science now and risk a hasty destruction of the object of study would be stupid. And the result could be much worse than that—much worse than you imagine!”
    â€œYou have already made this argument, and lost it,” a red-faced man said firmly. “The Europan interior can be investigated using an improved clean protocol, and we will learn what we have wanted to learn for many years. Your view is antiquated, your fears unfounded. What you did on Ganymede has damaged your understanding.”
    The stranger shook his head vehemently. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
    â€œI am only affirming what the scientific committee assigned to the problem has already said. Who’s being unscientific now, them or you?”
    A general debate erupted again, and under its noise Galileo said to the tall woman, “What is it that my patron and his allies want to forbid?”
    She leaned in to him to reply, in Italian again. “They don’t want anyone to dive into the ocean under the ice here. They fear what might be encountered there, if I understand the Ganymede correctly.”
    Then a group of men dressed in the blue shade of clothing came bouncing down the steps on the other side of the amphitheater. A senator dressed in the same color gestured at them and cried at the stranger, “Your objection has already been overruled! And you are breaking the law with this incursion. It’s time to put a stop to it.” He shouted up at the newcomers, “Eject these people!”
    The stranger grabbed Galileo by the arm and hustled him in the other direction. His allies closed behind them, and they raced up the steps two at a time. Galileo almost tripped, then felt himself being lifted by the people on each side of him. They held him under the elbows and carried him.
    At the top of the steps, out of the hole of the amphitheater, they could suddenly see across the expanse of the blue city again, looking