“I requested it. Nobody saw anything to object to. I said you were friends of my father, and of the Engineer, and that I could carry a message from the Engineer to you.”

“They aren’t secluded?”

“No. My father’s hiding, but he hasn’t broken any laws. They can’t make you take command positions. That would be ridiculous.”

“Korzenowski volunteered?” Karen asked, her interest growing.

“I’m not sure what his motives are. Sometimes he seems quite strange, but he’s getting his work done. So I hear. The Special Nexus Committe can’t control all communication links; there’s considerable gossip on Thistledown. I see him very seldom, and his partial gave me this message.”

“We appreciate your bringing it to us,” Lanier said.

“My pleasure. My mother and father mentioned you often. They said you were among the best Old Natives. I also wanted to say…” He stood abruptly. “I have to be getting back now. The supplies are unloaded. When this is over, when the Way is re-opened, the Hexamon feels it can finally have the resources to finish our work on Earth. I look forward to that, and I’d like to volunteer now, to work with you on any project you might lead. Both of you. It would be my honor, and both my mother and father would be very proud.”

Lanier shook his head slowly. “This will never be over,” he said. “Not in the way the Hexamon imagines.”

“Mirsky’s warning?” Ram Olmy asked.

“Perhaps. And abuse of trust,” Lanier replied. “The Hexamon will have a lot of patching to do.”

Ram Olmy sighed. “We’ve all listened to the testimony. Nobody knows what to make of it. The Special Nexus Committee says it’s a forgery.”

Lanier’s face flushed. “You must have your mother’s and father’s brains, if they mixed you together out of their own personalities. What do you think?”

“He’s caught up in the adventure, Garry,” Karen said. Her attitude had softened. “Don’t be harsh on him.”

“Mirsky was no sham,” Lanier continued. “He was here, and he convinced the Engineer, and your father, I’m fairly sure, and your mother. His warning was serious.”

“Where is he, then, Ser?”

“I don’t know,” Lanier said.

“I’d be interested in meeting him, if he returns.”

“If he returns. What if someone or something more powerful than Mirsky takes notice of the Hexamon’s intransigence?” Lanier stood slowly, more agitated than he wished to appear. “Thank you for visiting us. Tell whomever is interested that we are well. I am recovering. Our attitudes have not changed. If anything, they have hardened. Tell your superiors this for us.”

“Yes, Ser. If the occasion arises.” He thanked Karen for her hospitality, locked eyes with Lanier, and nodded. “Good-by.”

“Star, Fate and Pneuma be with us all,” Lanier said.