Echoes of an Alien Sky (19 page)

Jenyn and Elundi found themselves a table below stairs leading up to a function room used for meetings, private parties, musical performances, and the like. As Elundi has half guessed would be the case, it didn't take Jenyn long to get into politics. He had sensed that Jenyn was in a belligerent mood ever since they left the office. But he was enjoying the atmosphere and decided he could live with it.

"Appealing to decency and reason will never bring about any significant change," Jenyn said. "Nobody who has power ever gives it up voluntarily. The Terrans knew that.

They have to be made to. In the end it comes down to force. Don't you agree?"

Elundi tried to evade being pinned down. "Oh, I don't know if you can make general rules about things like that. Depends on the circumstances."

Jenyn held his glass up in front of him and shook his head from side to side. "Not good enough, Elundi. You have to make a commitment. Are you with what I'm saying, or against it? It has to be one or the other."

Elundi sighed but forced a grin. "Well, I'm not so sure that all that force solved very much for the Terrans. There were still flagrant injustices on Earth. A lot of people were robbed and exploited by force. Maybe it was necessary there. But I can't see that it applies so much to Venus. Most people seem happy enough with what we've worked out in our own messy way."

"Pah!" Jenyn made a contemptuous gesture. "Give them a shirt on their back, a bowl of soup for the day, and a mattress for the night, and they'd be happy. A pig in a pen full of mud is happy. Don't you think that a life's work should be worth more than that? They're happy because they've been conditioned not to see it; to docility. There are thousands out there who deserve better than they're getting, and they don't even know it because we rely on this touching faith that individual judgments and freedom of choice will somehow magically produce better answers. Abilities that should be positively acknowledged and rewarded get shut out."

Elundi. didn't want this to turn into an argument, but he couldn't let it pass. "I'm sure you're right there," he said. "But it doesn't follow that force is the only way. Look, I'm not trying to tell you how you should think. But you know . . . it might pay to take a look at the way Gaster Lornod is approaching those same issues."

"Lornod! All talk. . . ."

"But people are listening to him, Jenyn. And he makes some valid points. There
are
too many people hiding behind collective rulings and putting out decisions made by nameless committees. He's right when he says projects should be headed by an individual who will stand up and take the responsibility. They can use all the expert advice they want, sure, but at the end of the day somebody has to be prepared to say,
I decided
. . . . You've got the answer to half our institutional problems right there. There's no need to start shooting people. All it will do is create people who want to shoot you back." Elundi saw the dark look coming onto Jenyn's eyes. Just as he was telling himself he'd gone too far, and was searching for a tactic to back out gracefully, a voice called out from nearby and rescued him.

"
Jenyn
!
You're back
!" They turned their heads.

A tall, well-built girl had emerged from among the gaggle of figures along the edge of the dance floor and was coming over to the table. She had yellow-orange hair styled in wavelets and was wearing a loose sleeveless top with a short, black, braided leather skirt. Elundi would have described her appearance as "formidable," though with nose and chin perhaps a touch on the prominent side. Another girl was with her, shorter and petite, with long dark hair tied in a tail behind her back, and less ostentatiously dressed in a light sweater and casual pants.

"Tyarla. Well, hey." Jenyn smiled; but just at that moment, Elundi got the feeling he would have preferred to continue talking politics.

She stooped, put her arms around Jenyn's neck, and kissed him, making an exhibition of it. "I had no idea! I thought you were still in the Americas. How wonderful! How long have you been back in Rhombus?"

"Not long. I'm still waiting for a permanent place." Jenyn detached himself sufficiently to gesture. "This is Elundi, who works with me. Elundi, these are two old friends from a while back. Tyarla. . . . And this is Derlen."

Oh, so Jenyn knew both of them. From the way Tyarla had monopolized him, Elundi wouldn't have guessed it. "Hello," he said.

"Hi, Elundi," Tyarla gushed. For a moment, he thought she was going to subject him to the same treatment as Jenyn but she held it to a smile that merely invited him to admire her. Derlen just smiled and nodded. He got the impression that Tyarla liked making other girls jealous. She seemed to be succeeding.

Tyarla did accounting for the base administration at Rhombus, and was good at it—because she told them so. But her talent was undervalued. She also painted pictures of Terran landscapes, designed her own interior decor, and danced "correctly." Derlen was a hairdresser and dermatician. They were both from Korbisan, like Jenyn. It soon became apparent that Tyarla was also and ardent Progressive, which perhaps explained a lot.

"Is that when you two met?" Elundi asked Tyarla, nodding toward Jenyn. "When he was here in Rhombus before?"

"Actually, it was back on Venus," she said. Jenyn gave her a puzzled look. She sipped hastily from her glass—Jenyn had bought them all a round. "Well, we got to
know
each other in Rhombus, didn't we, darling?" Jenyn made as if he hadn't heard. "Venus was where I first saw him. . . . But he wouldn't have known about me then. I was just one of the many distant admirers, slaving to play my part in the campaign. He was the big name, you see. Posters with his face on; top table at all the dinners. And
very
charming and splendid in formal attire, if I may say so." She looked at Jenyn for acknowledgment. He smiled obligingly. Tyarla emitted an exaggerated sigh. "But of course he didn't notice any of us poor phone-canvassing and envelope-stuffing peons in those days. He had this black-haired siren clinging to his arm all the time." She turned her head toward Jenyn. For an instant her voice took on a tone of forced nonchalance. "Is she still around, Jenyn?"

"That all ended back on Venus," he replied.

"Oh." The remark was throwaway but the eyes betrayed something deeper.

Elundi figured that the person she was referring to had to be the biochemist that Jenyn had been telling him odd details about. If that were the case, then it didn't sound exactly all that ended from his latest comments—not if Jenyn had any say in things, anyway.

"How about you?" he said to Derlen to steer them off that particular tack and bring her more into the conversation. "Are you an old-time Progressive from Venus too?"

"No. I'm just finding out about it from Tyarla. It sounds interesting." Derlen looked away suddenly, cocked her head, and began swaying. "This is one of my favorites." She meant the song that had just come on. "Do you like to dance?" she asked, looking back at Elundi.

"Maybe. . . . In a minute?"

"Sure."

"What brought you out to Earth?" he asked.

"Oh, you know how it is. Good money, something different, a chance to get away from boring everything. I guess we're mostly all going to settle down to it anyway, sometime. So see what you can, while you can, eh?"

"You like it here?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Is she your regular friend, then—Tyarla?"

"Sort of, I suppose." Derlen glanced aside. Tyarla had moved her chair closer to Jenyn and had her hand draped on his shoulder, teasing the side of his neck with a fingertip. They were talking in lowered voices." Derlen leaned closer. "Sometimes she can be a bit . . ." She left the sentence unfinished and motioned with her eyes. It seemed they were on their own as far as further conversation went. "But when you're out at somewhere like this, you make the best of whatever friends you get. Know what I mean?"

"Still, I'd think she's the kind who would make it easy to meet people," Elundi said.

"True, but . . . " Derlen paused, as if weighing what she had been about to say. She let her voice fall almost to a whisper. "Some of them are not exactly, how would I say it . . . the most respectable people you'd want to meet . . . if you know what I mean. Yes, okay, this is a long way from home and all that, but there are standards. You're still who you are."

Elundi decided she was interesting. And his life had been distinctly lacking in companionship of the distaff kind of late. The way her eyes were flickering over him, taking in the details, was not unfriendly. If you don't buy a ticket, you don't get a prize, he told himself. "You know, ah, you don't have to rely on her to find you friends all the time," he murmured. "I think you're kind of nice. How about getting togther for a drink ourselves here sometime? They don't look as if they'd exactly miss us anyhow.'

Derlen shrugged and nodded. "Sure, why not?"

As simple as that? Elundi realized he wasn't sure how to follow on now. "You'd better give me your call code, then" he said.

"Okay, I will before we go."

He grinned, feeling that maybe they were being too serious. "But you have to promise not to talk about the Progressives and all that stuff."

"Suits me. I'm not sure I really buy the things Tyarla talks about, anyway. To be honest, I have more time for somebody like Gaster Lornod. What he says makes a lot of sense."

Elundi looked warily toward Jenyn, but Jenyn hadn't overheard. Elundi raised a hand to cover his mouth. "Look, I'll tell you why next time, but for now, I don't think it's a good idea to mention Gaster Lornod. Okay?" Derlen nodded, sat back in her seat, and picked up her drink.

The music has switched to a slow, quiet number, allowing snatches of Jenyn and Tyrala's talk to filter through.

Jenyn: ". . . What kind of a party? . . ."

Tyrala: "An
interesting
kind. You'd like it. . . . tomorrow night . . ."

" . . . don't know for sure . . ."

". . . could call me later anyway . . ."

Elundi caught Derlen's eye. She looked uncomfortable. "How about that dance?" he suggested.

She danced easily and naturally, making eye contact and smiling, with none of that bored wooden look focused on infinity that could make a guy feel like a moving hall stand—just there to fill the empty space. Elundi sometimes had a problem staying in time with the rhythm, getting jerky and uncoordinated, and then feeling conspicuous. But tonight everything was smooth and relaxed, and he congratulated himself inwardly that he wasn't doing too badly at all. Maybe it just took two. Some of the couples were showing off with the new body-hugging style of dance that was raising eyebrows back home. Elundi was not up to being that forward, and kept it open and styled. Before returning to the table he wrote Derlen's call code into his phone's directory, and was gratified when she asked for his. Another good sign.

Tyrala had her purse on her lap and seemed to be getting ready to leave when they arrived back at the table. "Going already?" Elundi said, disappointed. "It was just getting to be fun."

"We only meant to stop by for one," Derlen said. "We're supposed to be going to a play the ISA group is putting on. It's going to be tight making it now. Give me a call."

"You've got it."

Tyrala seemed a little out of sorts, as if things between her and Jenyn had not gone entirely to her liking. Elundi got the feeling that her ego had taken a dent, possibly from not having swept back into the celebrity's life with the full accord that she expected. Over-ripe things dented easily.

"Well,
so
sorry to deprive you of my company, guys, but we do have to rush," she told them as she stood up. "Oh, is it really that time? We may have to miss the first act, Derl. Lovely meeting you, Elundi. . . . Jenyn, I can't
tell
you what an unexpected delight it is." And louder as the two girls moved away, making a public announcement of it,
Do
remember to call me."

Elundi got himself and Janyn another drink. Jenyn was broody and not very talkative—which at least kept them off politics. His naturally florid countenance seemed to have taken on a deeper hue, and his eyes had a hard glint to them. A meanness was coming to the surface that Elundi hadn't seen before. He thought he sensed the conflict. Tyrala's overtures were tempting, but Jenyn felt inhibited by the other situation he had talked about with the biologist.

Elundi acknowledged a wave from some people grouped by the bar. "Sulvay and a couple of others from the translators' section are over there," he remarked.

"Uh-huh."

Elundi waited for a few seconds. "Shall I call them over?"

"Ah, they'll only be talking shop as usual. I'm not in the mood."

"Okay." Another silence. Elundi sipped his drink and then observed neutrally, "Something seems to be bothering you."

Jenyn didn't respond but shot glances this way and that around the room, as if looking for an escape route. Then, suddenly decisive, he tossed back the last of his drink and set the glass down with a thud.

"You leaving?"

"I've got some unfinished business to attend to," Jenyn's growled. He was spoiling for a fight. "It's time to clear some air."

"Do you mean with the one in Molecular Bio? What was her name? Lorili? . . ."

"Yes. It needs to be brought to a head." Jenyn braced his hands on the table to rise.

"Er, look. . . ." Elundi felt he had to say something. "I don't want to pry into your personal business, but is this really the best time?"

"What are you trying to say?" Open belligerence, directed at Elundi now.

Elundi raised a restraining hand. "Easy. . . . Just that it might be better left until tomorrow. You know, let it cool a little. You've had a few tonight, man."

"I don't remember asking your opinion about that."

"Okay, okay. . . ."

"I'll see you tomorrow." Jenyn got up and stalked out.

Elundi sat staring uneasily at his drink. He knew somebody over in the Molecular Biology labs. But would it be over-reacting?

The group at the bar had seen he was alone now, and were coming over. "We saw your friend leaving, so we thought you could use more company," Sulvay greeted. Elundi made his decision and rose from the chair. Sulvay halted."Oh. Are you going too?"