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fidgeted as though suddenly angry. "Their stupid suppression of sexuality! It
has denied us Arama's full potential. Your mother led a normal life, grew up,
and got married. Not a successful marriage. She was still a virgin when she
went to the donor centre."
Ewen grasped the implication even before Inman had finished speaking. "My
father - her first husband - was not my father?"
Inman nodded.
"Then who was?"
There was a silence. But as Ewen looked up into those bleak, forbidding
eyes, he knew the answer. So confused were his thoughts that it seemed that
the office was spinning around. He heard himself blurt out: "And Tarlan?"
"No. Not Tarlan. The second donor was anonymous."
"Did she know that the first one was you?"
"No." Inman returned to his chair and watched Ewen carefully. "Jenine is
right - I am arrogant. I believed that the product of my blood and your
mother's blood would produce an exceptional child. But my arrogance has always
stood me in good stead. And I was right. The union has produced an exceptional
child. One who can take over from me."
Ewen's inner turmoil became even more confused. "I don't understand."
And then Inman's eyes were alight with a strange fire. "Do you really
think that once Challenger Three was completed and sent off for, perhaps, tens
of years, or even centuries, that I would abandon the people of Arama? They
are my responsibility. I devised Arama. I put them there. We need another
project. One that might take thousands of years to realise, but if we can
dream it, we can do it! Can you even begin to think what I have in mind? Can
you?"
There was a silence in the room. "For me to guess that would require me
to plumb the full depths of your arrogance," said Ewen slowly, meeting Inman's
stare. "Yes... I think I can guess... You need grandiose plans, don't you,
Caudo?"
"I don't need them, but if I have the imagination to conceive them, then
it would be foolish of me to deny that talent."
Ewen stared beyond the hills where the setting sun was locked in a bloody
crimson duel with the darkening sky and the coming night.
"Well?" Inman prompted. "Can your imagination soar higher than mine?"
"I don't know how high your imagination can fly, Caudo. But if I were in
your position, I would plan to take earth out of its orbit around the sun, and
take it in search of a new and stable sun. That's what I would consider if I
were you."
9.
For a moment Inman looked lost for words. He recovered his composure and
gave a crooked smile. "You are me, Ewen. My flesh and blood. Yes - that is the
next great plan. The Solaria Plan - to move the earth. It can be done. It will
take 500 years to cancel its axial rotation alone. But it can be done. I've
had a team of scientists carry out a feasibility study. With the will... And
the time, it can be done." He looked speculatively at Ewen. A sadness filled
his eyes. "I've lived 600 years, Ewen. I've built a great ark. And now I want
to naturally live out what years I have left, with my son taking on my work. I
want you to head the project. I will continue as First Secretary of Arama if
that's your wish, but you will be in charge of the Solaria Project."
No one spoke for a while. Ewen thought of the hologram image of
Challenger Three in the lobby; he thought about the first Challenger,
somewhere in the far reaches of space; he thought about the people on board -
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people like him; born on their ship - never having known the brief joy that he
had known by being in the outdoors. He thought of Jenine rising from the sea,
water streaming over her full breasts, and the times they had made love with
the sun's warm and friendly touch on their skins, blessing their union. He
gazed long and hard at the man before him; a man he been in fear of, and who
was now waiting for him to speak.
"Do I have a choice, Caudo?"
"I wouldn't deny you that, Ewen."
"Supposing I decide to do neither? Supposing I don't want to fall in with
any of your schemes-"
"I call them plans, Ewen."
"And I call them schemes, Caudo. Supposing I tell you that I'm not
interested in your Solaria Project, or joining Challenger Three, and that I
too want to live out a normal life here with Jenine? Maybe have a job or
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