Chapters (90)
All native Terrestrials were being returned to the Earth, whatever their status on the orbiting bodies. The Hexamon was entering a period of Emergency. Under Emergency Laws forgotten since the Jart Wars, the president was assuming extraordinary powers. He now had one year in which to carry out his plans; after that time, because of his use of the Emergency Laws, he would be forbidden from ever holding political office again.
He was guaranteeing the purity of the vote of the mens publica with a vengeance. If the vote was negative, he would resign. If it was positive, Thistledown’s sixth chamber could be refurbished, the Hexamon defense reestablished and the Way reopened within four months.
Korzenowski had been formally ordered to see to the execution of the will of the mens publica. He could not refuse. To Olmy, he seemed resigned; perhaps more than resigned. Having been forced this far, Korzenowski might be shedding the last vestiges of the mask he had worn for four decades, a mask of interest only in the Recovered Earth and the Terrestrial Hexamon, the denial of all his genius and accomplishment for the greater good of his fellows…
Olmy had few doubts Korzenowski would carry out the Hexamon’s orders efficiently. The Way might be opened sooner even than the president expected.
What Mirsky would do, he could not tell. Best not to worry about imponderables.
Meanwhile, within Olmy himself, the Jart was revealing layer upon layer of everyday Jart life. The flow of information had turned into a true flood, perhaps a rupture.
Thus far, he was managing to keep up with the tide. Already he was planning his briefing for the reorganized defense forces.
Soon, following an agreement worked out between the Jart mentality and his partial, he would allow the Jart access to his eyes and ears. They could communicate more effectively if they understood each other better.
There were some dangers in that, of course, but none worse than what he had already survived.
It was more than a time of changes.
The pace had now taken the proportions of revolution. The Sundering was about to be reversed.
The president finished his presentation, and the dominant coalition of neo-Geshels applauded and picted complete approval. The president’s Naderite colleagues kept silent. Korzenowski turned to Mirsky. “My friend, I must do this work, whatever my beliefs.”
Mirsky shrugged and nodded, as if either forgiving or dismissing the Engineer. “Things will work out,” he said with bland nonchalance. He glanced at Olmy and winked.