David Brin: Sundiver

“By Galactic Tradition this situation would resolve itself by both the Pila and the Library bribing Earth to ‘keep its mouth shut.’ The, Confederacy would be able to choose its reward with few strings attached, though the human race would have to face enmity from the Pila in the future simply because their pride had been hurt.

“They could still increase their efforts to remove pro-visionary-sophont status from our Clients, the chimps and dolphins. There has been talk of placing humanity under some sort of ‘adoptive’ Client status… ‘to guide us through this difficult transition.’ Have I summed up the situation fairly well, so far?”

Jacob nodded. “Fine. Except you left out my own stupidity. On Mercury I accused Bubbacub publicly ! That little two-year pledge we signed was never taken seriously, and the Feds have waited too long to, put an emergency sequester on this case. Probably half of the spiral arm knows the story by now.

“That means we’ve lost what little leverage we would Have had with the Pila by blackmail. They’ll hold nothing back in their efforts to get us ‘adopted,’ and they’ll use ‘reparations’ for Bubbacub’s crime as an excuse to force us to accept all kinds of aid that we don’t want.” He motioned for Helene to continue. “Point number two; we now know that the one behind this fiasco was Culla. Apparently Culla never intended that humanity discover Bubbacub’s pecadillo. He had his own blackmail scheme in mind.

“By encouraging Jeffrey’s friendship he got the chimpanzee to try to ‘liberate’ him, thus enraging Bubbacub. Jeffrey’s subsequent death left Sundiver in such a state of confusion that Bubbacub would be encouraged to think that anything he did would be believed. It’s possible that Dwayne Kepler’s apparent mental deterioration was part of this campaign, induced by Culla’s ‘glare psychosis’ technique.

“The most important part of Culla’s plan was the hoax of the anthropomorphic Ghosts. That part was magnificently executed. It fooled everybody. With talents like those, it’s not hard to see why the Pring think they can take on the Pila in a bid for independence. They’re one of the most deceptively potent races I’ve ever come across or heard of.”

“But if the Pila were Patrons to the Pring,” James objected. “And if they uplifted Culla’s ancestors from near animals, why wasn’t Bubbacub aware of the possibility that the Ghosts were Culla’s hoax?”

“If I may be allowed to comment on this,” Fagin fluted. “The Pring were allowed to select the assistant who would accompany Bubbacub. My institute has independent information that Culla was a figure of some importance, on one of their terraformed planets, in an artistic endeavor that we have, until now, not been able to witness. We had attributed the Pring secretiveness on this matter to habit patterns inherited from the Pila. Now, however, we might conjecture that it is the Pila themselves who were not to witness the art. In their complacent superiority, the Pila must have cooperated unknowingly by denigrating their Clients’ endeavors.”

“And this art form is?”

“The art form must, logically, be holographic projection. It is possible that the Pring have been experimenting for most of, the hundred millennia of their sentience, in secret from their Patrons. I am in awe of the dedication it would have taken to keep a secret for so long.”

Nielsen whistled lowly. “They must want their release awful, bad. But I’still don’t understand, though I’ve listened to all of the tapes, why Culla pulled these pranks with Sundiver! How could the hoax of the anthropomorphic Sun Ghosts, the death of Jeffrey, or trapping Bubbacub into his error ever help the Pring?”

Helene glanced at Jacob. He nodded. “This is still your part, Helene. You figured most of it out.” Helene took a deep breath.

“You see, Culla never intended that Bubbacub be exposed on Mercury. He snared his boss into lying and pulling that stunt with the Lethani relic, but he expected him to be believed, here at least.

“If his plan had carried through he would have reported two assertions to the Library Institute; one, that Bubbacub was a fool and a liar who had been saved from embarrassment by the quick thinking of his assistant, and two, that humans were just a pack of harmless idiots and should be ignored. “I’ll cover the second point first. “On the face of it, it is obvious that no one out there would believe this crazy story of ‘man-shaped ghosts’ fluttering around in a star; especially when the Library has no mention of them.

“Imagine how the galaxy would react to a tale about plasma creatures which ‘shake their fists’ and miraculously” avoid having their pictures taken so there can be no proof they exist! Having heard that, most observers would never bother to examine the evidence we did have, the recordings of toroids and of the real Solarians!

“The galaxy on the whole looks on Terrestrial ‘research’ with amused contempt. Culla apparently wanted Sundiver to be laughed out without a hearing.”

Across the room, Pierre LaRoque blushed. No one said anything about the remarks he’d made on “Terrestrial research” over a year back.

“The quick explanation Culla gave, when he tried to kill us all, was that he faked the Ghosts for our own good. If we looked foolish we might make less of a splash when we announced life in the Sun… a splash that would give humanity more publicity in a time when we should be studying quietly to catch up with everyone else.”

Nielsen frowned. “He may have had a point.”

Helene shrugged. “It’s too late now.

“Anyway, it seems, as I have said, that Culla intended to report to the Library, and to the Soro, that humans were harmless idiots and, more importantly, that Bubbacub had been a party to that idiocy… that he had believed in the Ghosts and lied on the basis of that belief!”

Helene turned to face Fagin. “Is that a fair summary of what we discussed, Kant Fagin?”

The Kanten whistled softly, “I would think so. Trusting in the ‘seal’ of the Secrets Registration organization, I will state confidentially that my Institute has received intelligence regarding activities of the Pring and Pila that now make sense in the light of what we have now learned. The Pring are apparently engaged in a campaign to discredit the Pila. Therein lies an opportunity and a danger to humanity.

“The opportunity is that your Confederacy could offer evidence of Culla’s betrayal to the Pila, so that those sophonts may show how they have been manipulated. If the Soro then came down against the Pring, Culla’s race would be hard pressed to find a protector. They might be lowered in status, their colonies eliminated, populations ‘reduced.’

“There might be immediate rewards for humanity in this act, but it would do little to change the long range enmity of the Pil. Their psychology does not work that way. They might suspend their attempts to have humanity ‘adopted.’ They might be willing to accept restraints on the reparations they will insist on paying for Bubbacub’s crime, but in the long run it will not win their friendship. Owing humanity a debt will only increase their hatred.

“In addition, there is the fact that many of the more ‘liberal’ species, on whose protection humanity has so far relied, would not appreciate your providing the Pila with a Casus Belli for another of their Jihads. The Tymbrimi might withdraw their consulate from Luna.

“Finally there is the ethical consideration. It would take long for me to discuss all of the reasons. Some of them you would probably not understand. But the Institute of Progress is anxious that the Pring not be devastated. They are young and impulsive. Almost as much so as humanity. But they show great promise. For the entire species to suffer terrible depredations, because a few of its members engage in a scheme to end a hundred millennia of servitude, would he a terrible tragedy.