“And you think that’s all it is?”Honor pressed.

“I… don’t know,” the commissioner said slowly. “I can’t see any other advantage for them, but I can’t quite shake the notion that there’s something else going on. My people and I are keeping as close an eye on their consulate and factors as we can, and there certainly hasn’t been anything concrete I could report to Countess New Kiev, but there’s—call it an attitude on their part I don’t like.” She shook herself, and her smile turned wry. “Of course, I don’t like them, either, and that may be coloring my perceptions.”

Honor nodded slowly, leaning back in her own chair and pursing her lips in thought. Dame Estelle did not strike her as a woman who leapt to conclusions, whatever her prejudices might be.

“At any rate,” Matsuko said more briskly, “that’s the basic off-worlder situation here on Medusa. As far as the natives themselves are concerned, my NPA people are spread too thin and too overworked to provide the kind of coverage I’d prefer, but our relations with the Medusans have been remarkably good ever since our arrival—far better than seems to be usual when such disparate cultures come into contact. Some of the clan chiefs want the restrictions on higher-tech imports lifted, which is causing some strain, but by and large we’re in pretty good shape, especially with the city-states here in the Delta. We do have a few problems in more remote areas of the Outback, but the thing that I find most worrisome just now is that we’ve been picking up hints of an upsurge in the Medusans’ use of mekoha over the last year or so.”

Honor raised an eyebrow, and Dame Estelle shrugged.

“Mekoha is an indigenous drug. It’s difficult to refine, by local standards, and I don’t like the effect it has on its users, but it’s nothing new. I suppose it bothers me because one of the first signs of a self-destructing aboriginal culture always seems to be an increase in the use of drugs and intoxicants, and I’d hate to see the Medusans go that route. My predecessor, Baron Hightower, and I have adopted the position that the original Medusan culture is inevitably doomed by our mere presence and the technological temptation we offer, but I’d like to think we can replace it with a fusion of their original values with more advanced technology—do it without their losing themselves, if you will. That’s why both Baron Hightower and I have devoted our efforts to controlling the rate of change as much as we can. I’m afraid it’s also why I rather resent the amount of effort I have to divert from that goal to keeping an eye on off-worlders, but that’s part and parcel of the basic effort to keep from destroying the Medusans’ cultural integrity.”

“So your major requirement from me will be to assist in managing the comings and goings between the enclaves and orbital traffic?”

“I’d say that was pretty much correct,” Dame Estelle agreed. “I’d like to be able to call on your Marine complement in the case of any emergency down here, but, as I say, we seem to be pretty well covered so far. If you could take over the inspection of ship-to-surface shuttles and general traffic control, it would free up a lot of my NPA personnel.”