It was Niamh Horne who answered, although she had to hurry because Davidas mouth was open yet again, presumably to make some offer of her own. Well give sympathetic consideration to any request you care to make, she said.
Davida finally found her opportunity to say: It might be as well if you were all to remain here for a while, she said. We need to monitor your condition, and to make sure that the IT weve installed is working properly. Youre very welcome to remain here as our guests indefinitely, but if you do decide to take up an offer of employment on Earth, youd be wise to delay the move until weve completed our own research program. You might also have a useful role to play in the continuation of the project.
That was news to Niamh Horne as well as to me.
Continuation? the cyborg repeated. You intend to bring them all back? Why?
I was tempted to ask Why not? but I refrained.
I dont know what the Foundation intends, Davida confessed. Im working to instructions but I had assumed that if the first revivals went to plan
Whose plan? Niamh Horne was quick to ask.
Davidas little-girl face seemed utterly guileless and deeply confused. Why, the Foundations, she said.
To the best of my knowledge, the cyborg said, frostily, no one associated with the Foundation in the Outer System had the slightest inkling that this matter was under serious discussion, let alone that a decision had been taken. Lowenthal tells me that he had the same impression from his acquaintances on Earth. They seem to believe that your people took the decision yourselves, entirely independently.
For the moment, they seemed to have forgotten that I was there. Davida was a picture of innocent confusion, but my paranoia warned me that the innocence and the confusion might be every bit as deceptive as her nine-year-old appearance.
Thats not possible, Davida said. There was no question
Are you saying that the matter of Adam Zimmermans revival wasnt even under discussion among the Foundations Outer System personnel? I said to Niamh Horne, partly to take the pressure off Davida and partly to serve my own curiosity. Even though the whole purpose of the Ahasuerus Foundation was to bring him back once the technology existed to make him emortal?
Now it was Hornes turn to look slightly confused. It was Conwin who said: All Niamh is saying is that the Foundation people we know had not been notified that a decision was imminent. Given that the revival of Adam Zimmerman is, as you say, the Foundations perennial central concern, they were surprised and a little hurt to find that they had not been consulted.
I cant imagine Davida began.
I cut her off again, as easily as I might if she really had been a child intruding upon an adult
discussion. So you think Lowenthals lying, I said. You think the decision was taken on Earth, for reasons that have more to do with Earths interests than the Foundations?
I was glad to discover that I hadnt lost my touch. That suggestion finally won an expression of sorts from Niamh Hornes synthetic features. Thats not what I meant at all, she said. Then she hesitated, presumably realizing that if she denied any suspicion that Lowenthal had lied to her a suspicion that she surely ought to be prepared to entertain she might as well be saying that she was convinced that Davida Berenike Columella was a liar.
What are you trying to imply, Mr. Tamlin? Theoderic Conwin asked, having observed that his boss was floundering.
Im just trying to find out how I got here, I told them all, flatly. The fact that none of you seems to know for sure who decided to set the wheels in motion makes me a little wary of the notion that I just happened to be the obvious target for a trial run. I cant remember why I was put away, and someone seems to have taken the trouble to destroy all the relevant information so I cant help wondering whether someone might want me awake again, and might be using Adam Zimmermans revival as a cover.
Thats absurd, said Davida.
Niamh Horne seemed to agree with her. I can understand your disorientation, the cyborg said. I can understand, too, that youre looking at the situation from your own peculiar perspective. But Adam Zimmermans awakening is the bone of contention here. I can assure you that neither I nor Michael Lowenthal has any particular interest in you, Mr. Tamlin nor, for that matter, in Christine Caine. Perhaps you should stop searching for conspiracies and simply be grateful for whatever freak of chance brought you here. She probably meant the last comment, but I was more interested in reading between the lines of what shed said before.
Youre hoping to stop it, arent you? I said. You and Lowenthal. Youre hoping to persuade Davida to put Zimmerman back into the freezer. Why?
Horne and Conwin practically fell over themselves in the rush to deny that. It was painfully obvious that theyd been caught on the hop. Theyd come here to greet Adam Zimmerman, not to bury him, and so had Lowenthal but that was before the two delegations had had an opportunity to compare notes. Lowenthal had told me how much he was looking forward to getting together with Horne, but he hadnt known then what the outcome of their exchange of views might be. Apparently, it had produced a swift and unexpected result. Someone here was being played for a fool and they seemed to have no better idea who, or why, than I had.