Starship Walker

The Liar

The next week, Captain Xing held a second committee meeting up in his conference room on the West side. His agenda was a list of action items from the first meeting. The Captain began by saying, "We'll try to keep this as short as possible. I intend to work through the items on our last agenda, and then we can commence a general discussion if anyone has any other points."

The Captain glanced around the table, then added, "I'd like to welcome Mr Yegg to this meeting, following his recovery."

"Thank you, Captain," Abel said.

"And Ms Berry: I and the rest of the crew, and the passengers, are very happy to see you well again."

Gillian half smiled. "Thank you, Captain." She lowered her eyes, suddenly self-conscious.

The Captain continued, "Just one further introductory remark: I am pleased to see our navigation section working together with the Walkers as a team. We're all aware of the historical differences in origins and temperament of the two disciplines, and I must say it's been a personal pleasure for me to see this level of coordination and harmony. Well done!"

The Captain paused, glancing around the table. A few people smiled and nodded. He continued, "Our first action item from the last meeting was the need to coordinate all queries for Mr Yegg while he was incapacitated. I suppose this can be regarded as completed?" The Captain glanced around the table, and when nobody spoke, he continued, "Very good. The next item is the survey of passenger morale. Mr Rubilio? Mr Barry?"

"A moment, please," Mr Barry said. "I want to be clear about something. Mr Yegg has recovered from his incident, yet he can no longer perform his role as a Walker - is that true?"

"It is," Abel said.

"In that case, you can't be considered fully recovered, can you?"

"I'm fully recovered in the sense that an amputee can be made at least partially ambulatory."

Captain Xing said, "Can we get on? The item is passenger morale."

Joan Rubilio spoke first, "We, Mr Barry and I, advised by our assistants, have concluded that the passengers are generally satisfied with the way our predicament is being managed. The majority are calm, apart from those with financial concerns arising from our delayed journey. This is despite Ms Berry's unfortunate incident. The passengers understand that she's in recovery."

Joan gestured at the wall to bring up a display, and began working through several graphs depicting passenger sentiment along several dimensions.

"You can also see that passenger satisfaction with the command and operation of the ship is good. The fact that we're conducting tests of applicants for a new Walker trainee is a significant element in this."

"Good," Captain Xing said. "Any other questions about the passenger survey? No? Then we'll move on - Mr McWhirter, you were given a copy of the detailed report on Mr Yegg's incident, as you requested?"

"I was," McWhirter replied, "and I've discussed it with Mr Yegg." He glanced at Abel. "As you all may know, Mr Yegg has a curious opinion about the cause of his problem."

Everyone around the table gazed at Abel in various degrees of discomfort and uncertainty.

When Abel did not respond, the Captain said, "Mr Yegg, you understand that we cannot accept your account?"

"I do," Abel replied. "And I understand the consternation I've caused. But it would have been wrong to conceal my experience. There are two explanations: the apparently rational, engineering one - and mine. Something happened to me that I can't ignore, or forget, and neither should you."