The Left Hand Of Darkness (Hainish Cycle #4) - Ursula K. Le Guin Page 0,54

not want to give them the impression that their sky was full of my junk. ‘It would take a fairly powerful transmitter, but you have plenty of those.’

‘Then we could radio your ship?’

‘Yes, if you had the proper signal. The people aboard are in a condition we call stasis, hibernation you might say, so that they won’t lose out of their lives the years they spend waiting for me to get my business done down here. The proper signal on the proper wavelength will set machinery in motion which will bring them out of stasis; after which they’ll consult with me by radio, or by ansible using Ollul as relay-centre.’

Someone asked uneasily, ‘How many of them?’

‘Eleven.’

That brought a little sound of relief, a laugh. The tension relaxed a little.

‘What if you never signalled?’ Obsle asked.

‘They’ll come out of stasis automatically, about four years from now.’

‘Would they come here after you, then?’

‘Not unless they’d heard from me. They’d consult with the Stabiles on Ollul and Hain, by ansible. Most likely they’d decide to try again – send down another person as Envoy. The Second Envoy often finds things easier than the First. He has less explaining to do, and people are likelier to believe him …’

Obsle grinned. Most of the others still looked thoughtful and guarded. Gaum gave me an airy little nod, as if applauding my quickness to reply: a conspirator’s nod. Slose was staring bright-eyed and tense at some inner vision, from which he turned abruptly to me. ‘Why,’ he said, ‘Mr. Envoy, did you never speak of this other ship, during your two years in Karhide?’

‘How do we know that he didn’t?’ said Gaum, smiling.

‘We know damned well that he didn’t, Mr. Gaum,’ said Yegey, also smiling.

‘I didn’t,’ I said. ‘This is why. The idea of that ship, waiting out there, can be an alarming one. I think some of you find it so. In Karhide, I never advanced to a point of confidence with those I dealt with that allowed me to take the risk of speaking of the ship. Here, you’ve had longer to think about me; you’re willing to listen to me out in the open, in public; you’re not so much ruled by fear. I took the risk because I think the time has come to take it, and that Orgoreyn is the place.’

‘You are right, Mr. Ai, you are right!’ Slose said violently. ‘Within a month you will send for that ship, and it will be made welcome in Orgoreyn as the visible sign and seal of the new epoch. Their eyes will be opened who will not see now!’

It went on, right on till dinner was served to us where we sat. We ate and drank and went home, I for one worn out, but pleased all in all with the way things had gone. There were warnings and obscurities, of course. Slose wanted to make a religion of me. Gaum wanted to make a sham of me. Mersen seemed to want to prove that he was not a Karhidish agent by proving that I was. But Obsle, Yegey, and some others were working on a higher level. They wanted to communicate with the Stabiles, and to bring the NAFAL ship down on Orgota ground, in order to persuade or coerce the Commensality of Orgoreyn to ally itself with the Ekumen. They believed that in doing so Orgoreyn would gain a large and lasting prestige-victory over Karhide, and that the Commensals who engineered this victory would gain according prestige and power in their government. Their Open Trade faction, a minority in the Thirty-Three, opposed the continuation of the Sinoth Valley dispute, and in general represented a conservative, unaggressive, non-nationalistic policy. They had been out of power for a long time and were calculating that their way back to power might, with some risks taken, lie on the road I pointed out. That they saw no farther than that, that my mission was a means to them and not an end, was no great harm. Once they were on the road, they might begin to get some sense of where it could take them. Meanwhile, if shortsighted, they were at least realistic.

Obsle, speaking to persuade others, had said, ‘Either Karhide will fear the strength this alliance will give us – and Karhide is always afraid of new ways and new ideas, remember – and so will hang back and be left behind. Or else the Erhenrang Government will get up their courage and