Children of the Comet Read Online Free PDF Page B

the First Ones here, and it’s not going to help matters to waste the ship’s resources by going off on a wild goose chase to the end of the Universe.”
    Most of the others at the table nodded in agreement at that and went back to placidly eating their dinners.
    By the time Joorn got back to his quarters, the relay satellite had risen over the horizon and his screen was blinking impatiently to tell him that his call could go through. Alten picked up almost immediately.
    â€œWhat’s up, Father?”
    â€œCan you get back to the ship before the weekend rush?”
    Alten’s voice was reluctant. “Well, we’re not quite finished here, but I suppose I could leave Daryl in charge. Why? What’s happening?”
    â€œI’d like you to be here for the Council meeting on Freeday. Karn’s up to something, and I’d like you to hear what he says.”
    â€œI’m just a lowly engineer these days, Father. Karn’s still the big cheese in the astrophysics department.”
    â€œYou were quite a Karn disciple in your youth, as I recall. His protégé, in fact. You’re capable of following his thought processes much better than I can. Besides, as an astrophysicist yourself, you could clear up any confusion he might stir up at the meeting.”
    Alten laughed. “I’m still a youth, relatively speaking. And no longer an astrophysicist. That part of our hegira’s over, and it’s time to get down to business. We’re here, and the daydreams are over.”
    â€œYou sound like an Endgamist,” Joorn said reproachfully.
    Alten grew serious. “I’d like to return to Earth too, Father. At least to its former neighborhood. You know that. But it isn’t practical. Earth’ll be gone—its charred remnants taken out of the baking oven and the oven left to cool off. And the neighborhood will be gone to hell. This is what we’ve got now, and there are things to do here.”
    â€œDon’t you think I know that?” Joorn snapped. He got himself under control again. “I’m resigned to following the will of the majority, but until they’ve finished nibbling away at Time’s Beginning , I’ll continue to advocate for turning it over to the Homegoing party. But Karn’s up to some mischief.”
    â€œThere’s nothing he can do, Father. His faction’s smaller than yours.”
    â€œI’d like you to come anyway. If Karn succeeds in swaying any of the Council members to his way of thinking, it can only hurt our cause.”
    There was a pause at the other end. “All right, Father. I’ll book myself on the shuttle for tomorrow’s flight.”
    The meeting hall was still unfinished. In ten or fifteen years there would begin to be lumber from actual trees, but until then the colony was making do with composites formulated from feeder stock provided by the local carbon-based vegetation, gigantic fernlike fronds that hadn’t yet developed woody stems. There were stacks of new panels waiting to be installed, scaffolding everywhere, and irregular rows of folding chairs cannibalized from one of the habitats still in orbit. There was a lingering smell of synthetic resins, which together with the slightly higher oxygen content of Rebirth’s atmosphere, gave one a mildly heady feeling.
    Joorn and Alten were seated with several committee members in the front row, while the Council was arranged on a makeshift platform. Karn, sitting opposite their table, was holding forth.
    â€œTo answer that,” he was telling one of the Councilors, “I’d like to remind you why we ended up here in the first place.”
    With his legs crossed, Karn looked quite relaxed and in command of the situation. But then, Karn had always been a bit of a con artist at meetings. It was one of the reasons he had risen so quickly in the scientific community when he was young.
    â€œThere he goes,” Joorn