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  “Hmm, it is difficult. It is like having Santa arrive at home with a big bag of toys, but refuses to give them out to the naughty children,” said Richard.

  “Perhaps we need to show we are the good children first,” said Kana.

  “Yes Kana, now you see it. The trust must be built over a long time. We will be very lucky if they even turn up and it will be very easy to bungle our relationship and lose them. It has to be a softly, softly approach. Greed and ambition have no place here.” Mark looked steadily from one to the other, hammering the point home with his eyes. Richard and Kana were nodding in agreement.

  “It was a good decision to isolate them on this reservation, Mark. You have undertaken a grave responsibility here. The security is of paramount importance. We have rivals in the business world who would pay dearly to have control here,” said Kana.

  “We also have enemies in the political world, Kana, both at home and abroad,” said Mark.

  “The board of the consortium has given us full control over our dealings with you and the Tuathans. We can assure you here and now that there is no intention to do anything other than co-operate and observe. Of course, we would love to get our hands on their technology but we are content to try and build our own versions of that technology which we observe. You see, for us just knowing a thing is possible means it can be reinvented. We would be forced to trial and error but that is OK. Because we know ultimately, we will be successful. That is a lot better than having a concept that may not even be feasible, spending time and money on it to come to a conclusion that it was a waste of effort, or needs to be shelved until sometime in the future when it just may be feasible. Basically we believe that the Tuathans are not so advanced that their science is out of our reach. If they can do it so can we, is our philosophy. However we have observed a possible exception, the Portal.”

  Here Kana paused and turned to Richard, fearing she may have said too much. Richard took his cue and continued for her in that easy way lovers have:

  “The Portal, as you know, indicates very high science. It must by its very nature involve not just an understanding of the essence of the fabric of space-time, but its practical manipulation. It is a frightening enigma because if the Tuathans can build such a thing then we cannot really understand them. They have evolved intellectually to be so far advanced we cannot even begin to guess what else they are capable of. The Portal is another reason for us all to tread carefully with them. I do not believe we understand them very well at all, they hold all the cards not us, and it would serve us well to remember that.” Richard saw that his little speech had been taken to heart.

  “I agree with your view, our experts have suggested some scientific breakthrough created a leap in scientific knowledge. A leap so large it would be akin to the discovery of electricity. We have no concept of what else they have on their planet. The entire galaxy may be their playground; Jade and the other crew members never spoke of this. In fact the few descriptions they gave were of the solar system they lived in. They spoke about the colonisation of their neighbouring planet much as we would of the Mars colony. Holos and art depicted country scenes so similar to Earth it was astounding. The scenes in space were of disc ships of which they are immensely proud. Nothing was indicated of the solar systems between them and us which surely must be numerous and available to them. Our experts came to the conclusion that it could be explained by the possibility that portal technology was relatively new to them and they have been too preoccupied building their civilisation on Tuath. They certainly seem very attached to the idea of building a great Tuathan civilisation; Jade herself told me it was an eight–thousand-year-old dream.” Mark felt the air had been cleared by this discourse. He had given up on holding back his thoughts from Kana and Richard, it was obvious they were glad to get it all out in the open.

  The days passed and Mark felt the pain of each one of them. On the twenty-second of January Major Thompson called a general meeting of all executive personnel.

  “If the Portal was to open exactly one year from last year then that time passed three hours ago and the portal has not opened. My orders are to begin dismantling the base on the twenty-eighth. I suggest that non-military people make their preparations to leave also. It is required that you are gone before we close down the facility. Please co-operate with this directive punctually as we have another assignment already waiting for us in Darwin.”

  “Major, the timing for the opening of the Portal you stated was based on one Earth year, correct?” said Kana.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “That may be quite inaccurate Major, we do not understand the space-time fluxes that may distort this measurements. We have absolutely no understanding of the Portal or the forces it employs. The Consortium suggested a full week differential either way would be quite a reasonable allowance for error.”

  Mark felt like kissing Kana for this. He had no way of knowing if she was lying or not, however.

  “You can have your week, ma’am. We will still dismantle the base on the twenty-eighth as ordered. That will have given them plenty of time to show up.”

  PART THREE

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE HOMECOMING. JANUARY 2033

  The Pride of Tuath appeared near Gateway and a fleet of smaller disc ships came to greet them. Jay and the crew moved The Pride slowly towards Tuath. They all felt the need to gather their thoughts and were in no hurry to deal with the questioning that was waiting for them. Jay had ordered the AI not to transfer information about the flight other than technical data. He had fully briefed the crew before The Pride entered Tuathan atmosphere and landed at the capital’s central spaceport.

  A huge crowd had gathered and they were escorted to the medical centre for routine examination before moving on to the government debriefing building. Here Jay stated that he had made contact with the natives and wished to address the council in person. This was acceptable and they were allowed to return to their homes and await the summons to the council, which would come in two days’ time.

  The President sat with his internal security minister. The minister for the first time in a long while had something to worry about. “They blocked access to the ship’s AI, it’s an infringement of their roles as serving members of the space corps,” said the security minister.

  “I believe they feel they need to justify their actions and not allow us to draw quick conclusions without a running commentary. They obviously fear a negative response from the council of elders and it is highly likely they will get one. I, that is the government, must respond without judgement as the important thing will be to ascertain what direction government policy is to take henceforth. I leave judgement to the elders and possibly even the law courts. That is why you are here to advise me as security is a prime factor in any decision making in regard to this very sensitive subject.”

  The President was not happy about the position he found himself in and the security minister was going to have to advise carefully and wisely. The hearing was scheduled to take place in the morning. The council of elders had insisted that the proceedings were to be broadcast live so that there could be no interpretations of the information given. All senior members of the government would be in attendance and some academic staff from the University. The council of elders would be in charge of the initial questioning after the ship’s AI report was heard by the entire planet.

  “The government will be taking a minor role in this, minister. I want you to remind all members of the government we will implement the decisions of the elders and will only offer advice on the implementation not the policy, unless formally asked.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  JUDGEMENT DAY

  Jay and the crew sat in comfortable chairs on the stage of the Great Hall of the Elders. At this point in time, there were twenty-one elders. This was not a fixed number, factors such as available talent and specific technical knowledge could alter the composition of the council. They all had a vote each and were not allowed to ever abs
tain from voting. They had an elected speaker who was to conduct the proceedings, her name was Conifer. She rose and walked up on the stage and raised her hands over her head as the signal for silence and that the council was in progress.

  “We are here to bear witness to the events which took place during the disc ship Pride of Tuath’s expedition to the planet Earth. The events were recorded by the ship’s AI and the AI will now chronicle these events as they happened. Please feel free to take notes, then once the AI report is finished questions can be asked.”

  The AI then listed the events in chronological order without giving any reasons for the decisions that were made. The audience was visibly shocked at the level of interaction that had happened. The second part of the presentation was for Jay to take each event and fill out the underlying reasons why it happened. This took nearly two hours and he was mentally exhausted by the end. Conifer then called for a break during which questions directed at Jay could be formulated. Jay and the crew sat quietly together drinking tea and eating hot seeded bread rolls in a small antechamber until they were called back into the main hall. They had said very little to one another while waiting.

  Jay then faced more than an hour of questioning, mainly centred on his decision to allow Jade to attend the UN meeting. This was seen as an error of judgement by many of the elders. At this stage Jade was called to explain why she wanted to go and risk her life. Jay for his defence could only offer his belief it was the best option at the time, but of course with hindsight...

  “I can state that I regret nothing that I personally did. I can also state that the decisions made by my captain were correct. Perhaps with hindsight the entire crew may have altered some things, but in essence there is nothing that I can point to and say it was a foolish choice,” said Jade in summation.

  The crew were called one at a time to give their interpretation of events. Each one was questioned. This went on until the sun was setting. At this stage Conifer summed up the meeting:

  “We, the Council of Elders of Tuath will decide on and give a judgement on two issues separately. The first is the conduct of the captain and crew of the disc ship The Pride of Tuath. We will remove ourselves to deliberate this matter overnight and will give our judgement in the morning. The second issue, that of the offer of a reservation, we believe will require us to spend more time deliberating and I suggest we return here in one week with our opinions ready to be tested by a vote.” The hall emptied, the crew met at Jay’s house to mull over the events of the day and try to guess the outcome. The government officials headed mainly to public houses and restaurants. The elders sat quietly in a circle waiting for Conifer to speak first.

  “I believe the course of events were unfortunate and not totally open to much latitude when looking at options. Moral issues forced the captain’s hand on many occasions and he could not act against his nature. There is a strong warning for us all in this. We think we have free will but in actuality we are bound by our nature more so than the natives. This is of course because we are a product in turn of our breeding programmes. The natives do not have this restriction and in some ways it is what they could call our Achilles heel. Their honesty and credibility is therefore highly suspect when compared to our own. I would go so far as to suggest that our superior morality was manipulated in this case.” Conifer looked saddened by her own words.

  “This manipulation you speak of may not have been an act of cynicism but purely based on survival instinct and totally without an evil motivation,” countered an elder.

  “We all act according to our natures, in that sense we are all predictable and open to manipulation. Let us leave this line of thought as native motivations can be complex and irrational. We should examine them when we come to the question of our future dealings with Earth. Right now we should concern ourselves with the crew. How do we judge their actions? I feel we should all place ourselves in Jay’s position. I have tried to do so while listening to the explanation and find very little fault in him and am prepared to congratulate him on fulfilling his mission objectives despite the unprecedented situation he found himself in.” Conifer looked at the others who were not quick to respond. She knew it would be hard for some of the elders to accept that the period of their history based on anonymity had ended. There was bound to be some resentment based in fear. Another elder spoke:

  “If we condone their actions it must be clear we are not condoning the end result. I am prepared to accept that given the circumstances Jay and his crew acted to the best of their ability. We are grateful for their efforts and their safe return.”

  Murmurs of acquiescence arose from the gathering. Conifer seized on the mood gratefully.

  “All right, I think we can draw up a statement expressing those sentiments and vote on it.”

  This was done and the statement was passed unanimously. It was sent to the crew members and broadcast to the population. The next day the crew members gathered again at Jay’s house for lunch. They all looked somewhat relieved.

  “The Council of Elders wishes to express their joy at the safe return of The Pride of Tuath. We acknowledge the trials and adversities that were experienced by the captain and crew members as a result of their contact with the people of Earth. It is unfortunate that this contact was made but it was we believe the result of a chain of events beyond the captain’s control. We congratulate the captain and crew on the collection of data which is now being assessed.” Jay read this out to the crew and remarked, “Well, we have come out of it in reasonable shape. The elders are obviously not that happy with us but have accepted that things do not always turn out as planned. “

  “Now we have to put up a good case for accepting the offer,” said Jade.

  Some of the crew argued that it was not something that should be pushed on the elders and it was better to say nothing. Jade had her own personal motive for wishing to return and they accepted that she would wish to pursue a return and to also be a crew member. The rest of the crew doubted they would volunteer for a return voyage.

  “I will support the acceptance of the proposal, not purely out of a desire to support Jade but because it is a worthy thing for us to do as Tuathans,” said Jay.

  After some discussion, the crew came around to deciding to support the acceptance. Jay said that if asked he would return to Earth. Jade had a few sleepless nights to get through until the summons came to return to the Hall of the Elders. They had asked her to prepare a case to present to the assembly, as it was obvious she wanted the offer accepted and would wish to be considered as a member of the expedition to Earth, should it eventuate. Jade put her thoughts in order and entered her case point by point into her home AI. The AI tested the logic and, after many corrections, she felt ready to put her case.

  There was a crowd outside the Hall, the inside was packed with officials from the government including the President. People were intensely interested in the outcome of this debate. It would be historic and they wanted to be present when the final decision was announced. Jade kept focused on her need to get back to Earth and thought of Mark waiting there for her. She entered the Hall and sat with the crew in the front row. On the stage was seated the elders with the President. They had been quietly discussing what The Friend’s reaction would be if it was here now. They all knew this decision would be of interest to it and may be significant enough to prompt it to make a visit. No one wanted to disappoint the Friend, but it was very difficult to think the way it did or understand its judgement of whether or not a particular course of action was appropriate.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Invitation To Go Home

  The President was invited to open the debate. He did so with the solemnity due to the occasion.

  “We are here today to make an historic choice, whether to accept an offer to open a settlement on Earth or to exclude Earth either partially or totally from our lives. It is a simple choice but its ramifications will touch every part of our social fabric and will define us as the people we wish to
be in the future. The Friend has taught us that the evolutionary path often has crucial points where choices made can adversely affect or speed up the journey to our potential. This is possibly one of those moments.”

  The President resumed his seat. There was no applause or noise of anything other than the collective hum of a huge crowd breathing and shuffling. Conifer rose to begin the debate in earnest.

  “I am firstly going to state what the essence of the proposal is. We are to be given a very large tract of land with ocean frontage in the country known now as Australia. We are to receive security for any who wish to settle there. This reservation would be autonomous and would be afforded the same legal rights as an embassy. Contact between us and the natives would be at our sole discretion with the proviso that any visitors could be denied access if the government of Australia saw them as a threat either to us or to the Australian people. The sharing of technology and knowledge would be strictly at our discretion. No requests for aid of any description will be made by the natives. In essence the reservation is given freely without any obligations.

  “Those elders who wish to address the Hall may do so now.” An elder named Winter rose and stepped forward to a podium.

  “Why? That is the question! Why would they give us anything? What is their motive? And after thousands of years of abuse why would we want any dealings with them?” Winter was going to put up an ‘against’ argument apparently. Much to Jade’s surprise Jay rose to his feet and Conifer acknowledged him.

  “I believe their motive is self-preservation; The greatest of all motivations and one that we Tuathans are expert in. We would be kept secret but that very secrecy would provide Australia with an unknown strength in dealing with its rivals. A bluff and yet a constant reminder to enemies that they can never be sure what Australia may have access to that others do not. It is a brilliant piece of psychology, in reality a political manoeuvre carrying an implicit threat,” said Jay.