Chapter 40
The first train held Diana and all of her obvious supporters. The second had the President, his closest advisors, and his security people. The last one had everyone else: civilians, even as young as ten, who were either curious enough, or stupid enough, to walk into a possible bloodbath.
Adam must be very confident about these talks going well, to risk kids being at such an event. Diana hoped his confidence was justified.
Bez and Naomi had wanted to set up the table right away, but Diana didn't want to risk it. John, no doubt, would claim that the table itself was rigged with poison or something. The only way to do this would be to do it simultaneously. The equipment room on the north end was locked, and would remain so until Adam's group opened it.
Slowly, a circle of people formed around the center of the gymnasium dome. Hundreds of people, from all three maglev trips, were present, and hundreds more were watching from home. The last group split up, taking one of two sides around the table. Diana estimated that people supporting her and Simon were about a quarter of the whole population. Better than she'd expected, actually.
Adam stepped out from his group, and Diana followed suit. They walked towards each other, and spoke briefly about the details. He nodded, and waved to one of the custodians on the edge of his group. The man ran over to the door and unlocked it. Three of Diana's people and three of Adam's went inside, retrieved the table and chairs, and hauled them out in front of everyone. Once they were in place, Diana pointed over at part of Adam's group, and looked at him expectantly. He waved again, and Tom stepped out with a restrained Simon. He removed the handcuffs, and prodded Simon forward. A few seconds later, she was embracing him again!
He was trembling, but with relief or excitement, she couldn't tell. He smiled at her as soon as she let him go. "Sorry about the whole revolution thing. It was the only way I knew to get you out."
"Don't be sorry. I said fight, and you fought! I'm so proud of you, Simon. You risked your life for this city, just like you did out in front of Cain's drives. Now, can you sit in on these talks and advise me? Did they tell you what we're doing here?"
He nodded. "This is really, really big, but yeah. I wouldn't miss this for the world."
She smiled at Adam, whose face was currently impassive. "Let's get started, then."
There were three people on each side of the table. Adam was in the middle of his side, with Argent to his right and John to the left. Diana was in the middle on hers, with Simon on her right and Bez to her left. John was his usual barely-contained angry self just looking over at the blasphemers that Diana and her friends were, but at least he looked civil enough for now. Argent had his poker face on; there was no telling what was going on in his mind. As for her side, Bez looked eager, and Simon nervous. She knew how he felt.
The crowd around them came closer, but none were close enough for the noise to be a problem. The edges of their two groups were now touching: curiosity had overcome distrust. Not completely, though. Naomi and a few others were keeping a wary eye on both edges, in case their... potential enemies tried to flank them.
"I think we both know what needs to happen next," Diana started without preamble. "Our two peoples need to separate. There are too many fundamental differences for us to live in the same city, or even on the same continent right now. Maybe in time, possibly a great deal of time, we can live together again, but for now we have to separate. Also, we want Simon, Tycho and Torin all freed and pardoned, regardless of whether they choose to stay or not."
"Agreed," Adam responded. He'd clearly been expecting that last demand. "Neither of us has the stomach for the violence that would follow if I tried to keep any of them in prison, if I tried to force you to stay, or if you tried to force us to leave."
"What makes you think we're the ones who will be leaving?" Bez put in harshly. "This is our home too!"
"Your side is clearly in the minority," Adam gestured to the side in front of him. "If we have to separate, wouldn't it be practical for the smaller number to be the side moving?"
John nodded at that, but Bez turned a little red. "So that you can claim your side is the 'righteous' one, and that we're not relocating but being exiled? So you can pretend you have the high ground, moral or otherwise?"
"Bez," Diana put in warningly, but Adam raised a hand.
"No, he's right. Some people will see this relocation as an exile, no matter what we do. That said, I'll make another public announcement. I'll make it clear that this is an amicable relocation. That's the best I can do under the circumstances."
"It'll do," Diana assured him, giving Bez another stern glance. Thankfully, he nodded after a moment. "Now, to the details. As part of your announcement, I want you to make it clear that every single person who wants to leave will be allowed to. Regardless of their sex or their age or any other condition. I won't budge on that one, understood?"
Adam hesitated, and John glowered, but eventually the first one nodded. "This time only, yes, I'll agree to it. If people change their minds after you're gone, it will be a different matter."
"Fair enough. Now about supplies. Obviously we need to be near fresh water, but there are plenty of places where Noah's already started building domes that are on rivers or lakes. Food is another matter. Depending on how many of us leave, we'll need enough food to keep us alive until we can plant and harvest our own crops. We'll take seeds and animal samples from DNA storage. Given how late it is in the year, we'll probably have to make do with fast-growing crops for now. Noah, how much food would an average adult need before we could grow food ourselves?"
She hesitated, and then felt herself redden a bit. "Sorry. I'm so used to him being right at my side. We can ask him later, but in principle, you agree to that, yes?"
Adam glanced to his left and right, and then nodded.
"Speaking of DNA storage," Bez put in, "we want to take human samples with us as well. We'll only have a few hundred people, and most of them are women. Over time, that means our society won't end up too healthy, will it? Inbreeding will be a problem, almost right away. We deserve to have not just our own city, but a future to go with it."
"Unacceptable," John responded angrily. "The Faith chose those cell donors personally. I will not have their vision corrupted for use in your heretical, perverted society."
"John," Adam warned him quickly, but Diana raised a hand.
"I understand your concerns, Chief Justice," she said as soothingly as possible. "We don't need to remove the entire sample from storage though, do we? Each sample can be used many times, after all. We'll just take a portion of each one, so that our people will have a genetically diverse future, and the rest of each sample will stay here, under your control."
John shook his head again, but it seemed Adam was with her on this one. "That's fair, Diana. I think we can agree to that," he said sternly, over at John, who eventually nodded. "But how will you get the samples out there? Neither of the cargo shuttles are fitted for cold storage."
She nodded. "We wouldn't have any way to keep them cold either, not right away. We'll have to move the cell samples later, after we've got facilities to keep them."
"That brings up another point," Simon put in tentatively. "What do we do about Noah? Who gets his core drives, and therefore his ability to make more drones? If we don't have him with us, it will take a lot longer to get a livable facility going. Some of our people will have to stay here while we're getting the place ready, and that itself increases the risk of violence."
Adam interlaced his fingers and tapped them on the table. "I'm willing to accept, provisionally, that you didn't reprogram Noah to suit your needs, Simon. I've had my own technicians going over his code, and they're reasonably sure you haven't had access to any of his higher functions. That said, if you take him with you, it will cause a lot of problems here. He's maintaining O2 recycling and production, and all of our food is currently his responsibility. We might be able to run things without him, but I'm not sure we'd all survive the changeover."
The whole group was silent for a moment, mulling over the problem. They both needed an AI, and Diana was sure that trying to share Noah between them would cause strife. Both sides would accuse the other of using him for sabotage. She was pretty sure Adam was on the level right now, but she wouldn't put it past John or a bunch of their followers. Whoever had attacked Walter, for example. It hadn't been Adam personally—he had a televised alibi—but probably someone working for him.
She desperately wanted to ask who had done it, but that would only distract from the bigger issues. "I guess we'll just have to make do without him at first. If you can guarantee the safety of the people who choose to leave but can't quite go right away, that is."
Adam opened his mouth, but Simon spoke first. "Maybe that won't be necessary," he said excitedly. "We could take Cain with us. His core drives are small enough to fit in the plane, with plenty of room to spare."
"Absolutely not!" John practically spewed out.
"Are you insane?" Bez said at the same time. Diana smiled after a moment. It was the first time they'd agreed on anything.
Simon looked a bit browbeaten at the responses, as even the crowd had reacted to that suggestion. "I'd reprogram him of course," he said timidly.
"Yeah, and aim him right back at us!" John responded. "He nearly killed us all the last time!"
"John's right," Adam said after another few seconds. "Cain is far too dangerous to be in any person's possession. I should have ordered him completely destroyed, not just disabled."
"Hang on," Argent said, and practically the whole dome focused on him. It was the first time he'd spoken at all in this summit. "I think we should hear Simon out on this one. He's a very skilled programmer. If anyone can render Cain harmless, it's him."
"But will he?" John said swiftly, and even gentle, peaceful Simon shot him a dirty look. "I refuse to allow a weapon like that to be placed in the hands of blasphemers and evildoers." He stood as he said that, glaring daggers over at Simon, and Diana could feel the whole crowd tense up. There were repeated clicking sounds, as hands tightened on guns and safeties were released.
Turning a little white, Simon slowly stood as well. He spread his hands carefully. "Let me talk it over with John, to the side. We'll be quiet. If I can convince him, then you'll know that Cain won't be a threat to you. Sound good?"
"This ought to be good," John said after a moment, but he nodded and moved to the side. Together they relocated chairs and began conversing quietly but fervently.
Diana shared a bewildered glance with Adam, who just shrugged. Bez stood as well. "I'll talk about the cell samples with Argent. We'll pin down a schedule of exactly which samples we'll be, uh, sampling, and when. If that's fine with you, anyway," he said over at Argent, who nodded.
They followed suit on the other side of the table, and the crowd seemed to be relaxing. "I guess that just leaves you and me," Diana said to Adam. "Your idea to have this meeting in public was a good one, or a disagreement like this could have started something much worse."
Adam acknowledged the compliment with another shrug. "It wouldn't have made any difference if you hadn't agreed to bring your own people. Thank you for that."
"Should we talk in private as well, to nail down some final details?" She put forward tentatively, and he nodded. The crowd gave them a little space, to the side of the table, and she felt a moment of relief.
Once she was reasonably sure they wouldn't be overheard, she spoke quietly. She was sure to cover her mouth in case of lipreaders, and he did the same. "About Walter. According to Hippo, he's out of the woods, but he won't be awake for a while. If he wants to leave with us, but isn't able to travel in time, will you allow him to go?"
Something like pain flashed through Adam's eyes for an instant. "Easily. I can talk John into making an exception in this case, and I don't anticipate any resistance from Argent. Especially given Walter's injuries."
"Good. I know you called off the investigation into his attack. I take it that means you found his attacker?"
He blinked once or twice. Clearly he'd thought his investigation was still a secret. "I know who it is, yes. I didn't order it, in case you were wondering."
"I wasn't. Even if you were willing to silence any opposition, you would have found a smarter way to do it. Who was it?"
Adam paused at that, and glanced around the crowd. "It was Alex."
Somehow that name shouldn't have been a surprise to her. "Your own chief of security? No wonder you didn't want it getting out!"
"I've already removed him from active duty," Adam assured her. "I didn't want to punish him publicly, until I was sure these talks would be successful. The Faith Doctrines are very clear on this. When you're underway, he'll be charged and put on trial for assault. Do you think that will be enough to satisfy Walter when he wakes up? Or the rest of your people for that matter?"
Diana gave it a moment's thought. Naomi would certainly want more than a New Eden trial, and Bez would probably feel the same. Weighing it against what they'd gained here, though, she was still encouraged. "My friends should be amenable, but I have no idea what Walter would want."
"Same here," he admitted, and they just stood there for a bit. "I'm relieved this is all working out, though. I still don't know for sure if Simon faked that database, but at least we're parting peacefully."
"I'm sure. But I'm glad for the same reason. We still have work to do, though," she gestured at the others.
"What's to stop you from tampering with the cell samples we take?" Bez said angrily, to their side, and Argent gave a huge sigh. From their gestures and expressions, it looked like Simon and John were having their own arguments as well.
Adam shook his head. "We should get back to it, then."
It took six more hours of hard talks, by the end of which Diana's back felt like it was about to snap, but in the end they had a deal. The crowd had thinned noticeably in the interim; most of them going back in several shuttle trips to the city. When Diana finally stood and stretched again, she extended a hand across the table. Adam took it, and to their sides the other four shook as well. John looked like he was trying to break Simon's hand, but still, it was progress.
Virtually every aspect of this relocation had to be conducted simultaneously by both sides. Cain's core drives would be wiped, under supervision, by Adam's technicians. A copy of Noah's operating system would then be uploaded onto the hardware, again under supervision, by Simon. Everyone involved would be flying out in the morning, to get Cain and bring him back.
As for the cell samples, it was good they had more time to work on that. Both Argent and Bez had insisted on full supervision and cooperative action to make sure that the samples weren't contaminated and no more or less was taken than a quarter of the total sample. The same was insisted upon for the seeds they were taking, and for the animal samples. The seeds would be on the plane with them, since they wouldn't need to be frozen.
Amazingly, it looked like this might work! The remaining crowd cheered and clapped as they shook hands, and they weren't looking at each other with suspicion and growing hatred anymore. Well, not all of them were. The cheering wasn't universal, but the fact the Diana and the others were definitely leaving soon seemed to take off a bunch of the tension. Maybe they were out of the woods.
