Davida tells me that you dont want to go home to Earth, Niamh Horne said, after a few cursory pleasantries. Nobody had taken the trouble to invite Christine in from the adjoining room, although I felt a slight twinge of guilt about my failure to raise the issue.
I havent made any final decision, I told her. But I have a certain sympathy with Christines view that were so radically dislocated anyway that we might as well go somewhere authentically alien.
Been there, done that, took the rap, the cyborg woman quoted. Her tone suggested a wry smile, but her lips didnt seem to go in for that sort of thing.
But the terrestrial surface you left behind is very different from the present one, her male companion pointed out.
Not in the essentials, I said. Atmosphere, gravityanyway, rumor has it that you people think Earth is hopelessly decadent, incapable of any real change. A rest home for the robotized, holding back the cause of progress.
It would have been easier to judge their response to that if they had been smilers; as things were, I had to grin at my own joke to defuse it.
Its only natural that the Earthbound should be conservative and conservationist, Theoderic Conwin said, displaying his tolerance proudly. Theyre the custodians of the planet that produced humankind and our explorations of the galaxy suggest that such worlds are exceedingly rare and precious.
Someone has to be prepared to be fanatical in looking after what we have, Niamh Horne added, with equally ostentatious generosity. If the Earthbound werent able to maintain a safe anchorage for the posthuman project, our own capacity to innovate and experiment might be inhibited. Theres no conflict between the outer satellites and Earth. Our differences of opinion are polite, and entirely healthy.
I gathered from this speech that shed been thoroughly briefed on what Id said to Mortimer Gray. The historian hadnt denied that there were conflicts, I remembered; he had been content to refute the notion that they could ever become violent. She obviously wanted to ram the point home. Even if Id been less paranoid than I was I wouldnt have taken their assurances seriously for a moment.
Well, I said, glibly, Im glad to be able to add an extra measure, however small, to the posthuman spectrum. Im sure Id find cause for discomfort in a world where differences werent polite, healthy, and welcome. Do you think Id be able to find useful work on Titan?
Ganymede might be more appropriate, she said, somewhat to my surprise.
I thought Ganymede was the AI Utopia, I said.
Exactly, she came back. The roles filled there by human beings are relatively menial and less challenging than those available elsewhere. On the other hand, you might be able to adapt more rapidly to a smaller and more easily comprehensible world one of the belt habitats, for instance. It would have stung less if shed smiled, but I had a suspicion that it wasnt simply the inflexibility of her cheeks that was getting in her way this time.
I take it that means you wont be matching Lowenthals job offer, I said, trying to keep my own lips tight.
You shouldnt take that one either, in my opinion, she told me. Investigate the belt, Mr. Tamlin. Thats where
youre most likely to find a comfortable future.
If Id wanted a comfortable future, I retorted, I probably wouldnt have ended up in the freezer in the first place.
Thats not what Adam Zimmerman thought, Theoderic Conwin put in. I still couldnt tell whether or not he was joking.
So youre not going to offer him a job either? I commented, sardonically.
Were going to offer him a tour of the solar system, Conwin told me.
May I come too? I asked.
He had to pass that one along to his boss. Certainly you may, Niamh Horne assured me, with what appeared to me to be a total lack of enthusiasm. Adam Zimmerman may well desire to have company of his own kind. Im sure youd find the tour very instructive but you shouldnt rush any of the decisions youll have to make. Theres no hurry.
There is while Im still mortal, I pointed out. If I have to decide what kind of eternal youth to opt for, I need to do it while Im still young. Its a difficult choice to make, given that there seem to be so many options all fraught with risks.
Davida wanted to answer that one, but she didnt manage to get her reply in first and she was too polite to compete.
The risks, Conwin said, smoothly, are exaggerated. There was nothing in his artificial eyes to register annoyance, but I supposed that the risks he had in mind were those at the robotization end of the spectrum, and that the reason he had them in mind was that he was sensitive about the possibility of being mistaken for a victim. I decided to let the matter lie, for now.
Suppose Adam Zimmerman doesnt want to go on the grand tour just yet, I said. Will your offer remain open? I was careful to phrase the question ambiguously, so that he wouldnt be sure whether I was referring to their offer to Adam Zimmerman or their markedly less generous offer to me.