Somebody Else's Space Program
---
Chapter Forty ". . .benevolent or nefarious. . ."
"I'm glad to see you back." Ross, to the startlement of Mairyonven's guards, gave her a big hug. She held on, a lot longer than he expected. "What's wrong?"
"My father's dying. And Jheraind's son is too young to rule -- they're debating a regency council. The prince's mother's family is angling for power, but they're reactionaries... I'm afraid of what they'll do to the project. They are so short-sighted!"
"Let me talk to them. I'm sure I can show them how valuable the project is..."
"You're a foreigner. You're part of their opposition, why they hate the project."
Ross sighed and chewed his lower lip. "Foreign because of race, or because of my citizenship?"
"I.. don't know. We have some of your people living among us... I think it's that you still hold your old allegiances. They aren't sure that you won't just pick up your files and go home."
"_This_ is home. I just never wanted to cut myself entirely off from my old home. But the work is what's important, not my feelings. I can apply for citizenship here."
"They'll just think it's a ploy. If you had done it years ago.."
Half a grin, "I'm smart, but I don't think I can invent a time machine and change that."
That actually got her giggling. "Changing now would be a start."
---
Josgoroth was the young fellow's name -- Ross called him Jozh, which was apparently acceptable -- Jozh was very vocal about what he did and didn't like. Ross had dealt with Mairyonven and Jheraind for years -- this youngster had been fostered out to his mother's clan? tribe? and was not used to dealing with foreigners.
But then he saw the rocket. "What _is_ that?"
"It's a rocket, Jozh. Eventually, we'll make one large enough to put humans into space."
"Why?"
Ross stopped down and picked up a stone from the ground. "This is the world we live on." Then he swept his hand around to encompass the entire beach area. "That's the whole universe. Do you want to be trapped on this tiny rock forever? I don't."
"Just... to go? Not because there are treasures? Or dragons to fight?"
"There are treasures. There might even be dragons. That's not the point. Have you ever done something wrong, and been sent to your room for hours as a punishment?"
"Of course."
"God isn't punishing us. We can leave our room, any time we want to. We just have to learn how to turn the doorknob."
---
Mairyonven summoned Ross to the royal palace unexpectedly. It was going to foul up the test schedule, but he didn't dare anger his most powerful supporter.
"I found something in my brother's files some years ago, but it took me a few days to find it again." Mairyonven brought out a folder, still dusty. "Do you remember a lot of papers you signed when you became his apprentice?"
"I remember that there were a lot of them, but that's been more than fifteen years. Didn't they all expire when I reached my majority?"
She smiled. "All but one. You really need to read things before you sign them." With a flourish, she deposited a paper on the desktop.
Ross picked it up and started reading. It was an application to immigrate, with his signature, and his Uncle Bert's. And seals and dates and signatures that said the application had been processed and approved. "I didn't sign this. And I don't think that my uncle would have, without asking me if I was serious."
"I think that whether you believe you signed it is irrelevant. Are you going to contest it, knowing that having this on file means you have been one of our citizens for more than half your life? It will make it easier to keep the project going."
Ross glared at Mairyonven. "You're going to use this as a weapon against them. Does the project mean that much to you? What are you risking if the opposition finds out that this is a forgery?"
"Ross... your uncle is dead, and you can't swear that you didn't sign it, in a cluster of other documents."
"There's usually an oath."
"Yes. If you look at the bottom of the document, your oath was administered by my brother, with myself as witness. If you deny it, it's your word against mine. And to what end? Loyalty to a country you haven't set foot in for ten years?"
"I have an allegiance to the truth."
Mairyonven snorted. "And if you could build your time machine, would it be true?"
"Did that give you the idea? My mentioning the time machine?"
"No. I thought it was funny, and had to keep myself from laughing. I knew your wish had come true. That you were already legally one of us. I just had to find the document, to prove it to you."
She went through the folder, brought out a sheet of parchment, beautifully illuminated and calligraphied, in both Ross's language and hruss, with the royal device boldly in the corner, painted and gilded with gold, silver, and copper. "Jheraind was going to present this to you when you reached your majority. I didn't know about it then, or I would have given it to you."
Ross took it and read it over, having no difficulty with the deliberately archaic form of his own language, but stumbling a bit over the older hruss. "What's this?" He sounded out a word.
"That's a life-oath. It was to Jheraine personally -- it's gone now, no one inherited it when he died, if that's what's worrying you."
"He mentioned it to me once, but never explained it. Another fiction."
"Another wish," Mairyonven corrected gently. "Jheraind wanted you to be one of us. Do you wish not to be?"
---