Badim shook his head. "You are making me less hopeful rather than more. We must work with these people to forge a solution. And not in theory, but in practice. We all have to be able to do something."

"Obviously."

Pause.

Badim said, "Yes. Ob-vi-ous-ly. That being the case, I want you to look at these ways of conducting post-civil-strife reconciliation that I have found. One model has been called the Nuremberg model, in which the victorious side proclaims that the defeated were criminals who deserve punishment, and then judges and punishes them. The trials are often viewed in later years as show trials.

"Another model is sometimes called the Conseca model, after the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, held after the racist minority government of South Africa gave way to a democracy. Half a century of racist crimes, ranging from economic discrimination to ethnic cleansing and genocide, had to be accounted for somehow, and the country that came into being afterward was going to consist of both a clearly criminal population and its newly empowered victims. The idea behind the Conseca was that a full and complete recording of all the crimes committed would be followed by an amnesty for all but the most violent and individually murderous cases, after which reconciliation and a pluralistic society would follow."

Aram stared at Badim. "I take it by your descriptions that you are recommending we follow the Conseca model rather than the Nuremberg model."

"Yes. You catch my drift exactly, as you so often do."

"It does not take much catching skill, my friend."

"Maybe not this time. But look at our situation. We are stuck with these people. There is absolutely no escaping them. And if the stayers and the RR Prime party combine, there are more of them than there are of us. They have noticed that, and joined forces for strategic purposes, and they will press that point hard. And then we will be in trouble again."

"We have never left trouble."

"But you see what I mean. We need some kind of soft path forward."

"Possibly."

Freya had been listening to them, head on the table, seeming to be asleep. Now she raised her head. "Could we do both?"

"Both?"

Badim and Aram stared at her.

"Could those who want to stay on Iris be put down there with some of the printers, and feedstocks, and use those to build a viable station? And those of us who want to go back, keep the ship here until it's certain they have everything they need, and then take off?"

Aram and Badim looked at each other for a while.

"Maybe?" Badim said.

Aram frowned as he tapped away at his wristpad. "In theory, yes," he said. "The printers can print printers. Our engineers and assemblers have kept up a good training tradition, there are a lot of them, and some are on both sides of this question. Quite a few are stayers, for sure. We could even perhaps detach Ring A, and leave it in orbit here for them to use. In essence, divide the ship. Because they'll need space capabilities. They'll want to get resources from F and the other planets. In any case, the rest of this system. And to keep their RR Prime dream alive, maybe. And we would have a smaller group on our return, and we won't need to bring along everything one would want to settle a planet, because we'll just be trying to get home. We would need to restock our fuel supplies, and everything else needed for the return. The smaller our ship is, the easier that would be, at least when it comes to fuel. So, well, both projects would need some years of preparation. But both sides could work on what they wanted, until we were ready to depart. Ship, what do you think of this plan?"

We said, "The ship is modular. It made the trip here, so there is proof of concept that that works. Inhabiting Iris will be an experiment, and it is very difficult to model, as you have pointed out. As for a return to the solar system, Planet F appears to have enough helium three and deuterium in its atmosphere to refuel the ship. So, both courses of action could probably be pursued. The people left on Iris would be without a starship proper, it should be pointed out. Our spine and its contents would be needed for the return. The part of ship left behind would have to be an orbiter only."

"But they don't want to go anywhere," Freya pointed out. "Maybe the R Primers do, but they're a small minority, and they can wait. The settlers could be left with ferries, and rockets for getting around this system. We could leave them Ring A, with a small part of the spine as its hub. They could build more in space as they establish their settlement on Iris. Eventually they could build another starship, if they wanted to. They'd have the plans and the printers."

"It would seem so," Aram said. He looked at Badim.

Badim shrugged. "Worth a try! Better than a civil war!"

Aram said, "Ship? Will you help us with this?"

We said, "Ship will help to facilitate this solution. But please do not forget the fate of the other starship as the discussion continues."

"We won't."

Freya said, "Ship, did you communicate with the other ship's AI?"

"Yes. Constant exchange of all data."

"But neither of you saw its end coming."

"There were no signs."

"I find it hard to believe that if it was a human act, whoever did it didn't do things in advance that would suggest there was going to be a problem."

"We found that very few human actions are predictable in advance. There are too many variables."

"But to do something like that?"

"If indeed someone did it intentionally. This is the likeliest explanation, but the event remains obscure, and there is no evidence left to examine, except the other ship's transmissions. However, recall that every human lives under pressure. Every human feels various kinds of stress. Then things happen."

Badim looked at Freya for a while as she considered this, then went over and gave her a hug.

The reconciliation conference began on the morning of 170.211. All the locks between the biomes were opened, also the spine tunnels, and all the spokes and struts.

In the days preceding, like-minded groups had gathered to discuss the situation and lay out the choices available to them now. Despite all that, the first hours of the general meeting were tense and fraught. The ship's interventions at the moment of crisis, and its continuing activity in the process now being undertaken, were widely questioned. Various proposals for disabling the ship's ability to run the ship were frequently put forth. Inevitably, these proposals too were controversial. We could have suggested that if we were not running the ship, no one would be, but decided not to speak to these issues at this time. Because people believe what they want to.

After this meeting came to an indecisive end, we did speak up to remind people that violence was both illegal and dangerous, conveying this message only by print on screens. We also printed requests that the protocols for conflict resolution defined in the 68 agreements be strictly adhered to. In effect, the meetings that had produced the Year 68 protocols, which had themselves been a reconciliation process after a period of civil strife, were to be used as the model for what they were doing now. When carving an ax handle, the model is always close at hand (Chinese proverb).

The next gathering of representatives, in Athens's Government House, began tensely, as was now normal. A great deal of anger distorted people's faces and words, and no one made attempts to pretend otherwise. Sangey stared boldly at the people his group had kidnapped just two weeks before; Speller, Heloise, and Song sat next to each other, and spoke among themselves, pointedly not looking across the long oval table to the people on the other side.

When everyone was seated, Aram stood up. "We are the victims of your kidnapping," he said to Sangey. "It was an assault on democracy and civilization in this ship, a hostage-taking, a crime. You should be in jail. That's the backdrop for our meeting here now. No good reason to pretend otherwise. But we on our side of the dispute want to move on without further bloodshed."

"There are more of us than there are of you," Sangey pointed out with a frown. "We may have made some mistakes caused by our fear for the community. But we were trying to defend the safety of the majority. You who want to return to Earth are in the minority-and wrong. Deeply wrong. But you were going to impose that move on us, and leave us in an untenable situation. So now we're ready to talk. But don't preach to us. We may find we have to resist again, to defend our lives."

"You started the violence!" Aram said. "And now you threaten more violence. We who want to go back were never going to throw you overboard and leave, so your actions were completely unjustified. They were criminal actions, and people died because of them. That's on your hands, and any smug talk of the majority is just excuse-making. It didn't have to happen the way it did. But it happened, and now we have to make some kind of accommodation, or else we'll end up fighting again. So, we're willing to do that. A plan can be made that gives everyone a chance to do what they want. But we're not going to stop saying what happened last week. When there is a truth and reconciliation conference like this, the truth is essential. You chose violence and people got killed. We choose peace now, and we are leaving you to your own devices. The people who choose to stay with you after what you have done are making an obviously dangerous choice, but it's their choice to make."

Sangey waved a hand, as if to wave aside all Aram's statements.

"What plan?" Speller asked. "What do you mean?"

Badim described the strategy of following a dual course, with those who wanted to stay on Iris supported until they were self-sufficient there, while at the same time a part of the starship was to be refueled for a return to the solar system, leaving Ring A behind in orbit around Iris to serve as orbital support for those on the surface. Resource feedstocks would be gathered, and printers manufactured, until both sides were ready to pursue their own projects. Individuals could then decide which course to choose.

Aram added, "You are only a majority by grouping your different goals tactically. In fact you're papering things over, because there's a big difference between staying here in the Tau Ceti system and moving on."

"Let us deal with that," Speller suggested. "That's not your problem." He did not look at Sangey or Heloise.

Aram said, "As long as you leave us alone. And the ship."

We interjected: "Ship will ensure integrity of ship."

This caused Sangey and Speller to frown, but they said nothing.

We then reminded everyone, by way of print messages, of the Year 68 protocols for conflict resolution, which had the status of binding law. We promised to enforce the law, provided a proposed schedule for future meetings, and suggested that all biomes meet in town meetings to discuss the new plan, thus maximizing transparency and civility, and hopefully minimizing illegal behaviors and bad feelings.

We called this first representative meeting to a close when the humans began to repeat themselves.

On 170.217, the first of the postconflict town meetings began.

Town meetings were held in every biome, then the general assembly met again, in Athens. Of the 1,895 inhabitants of the ship, 1,548 attended. Children were kept with their parents, or in school groups. The youngest person there was eight months old, the oldest, eighty-eight.

They looked around at each other. There were none of the festive markers of New Year's Day, or Fassnacht, or Midsummer's Day, or Midwinter's Day. It was as if they did not recognize each other anymore.

The vote had been taken that morning. Everyone twelve years old and older had voted, with twenty-four exceptions due to illness, including dementia. Now the results were announced, by the leader of the twenty-four biome representatives in the executive council, Ellen from the Prairie, in effect the ship's president.

She said, "One thousand and four want to stay and establish a colony on Iris. Seven hundred and forty-nine want to refuel the ship and head back to Earth."

They stared around at each other in silence. The biome representatives, gathered on the platform, stood there also. Not one of them represented constituencies that had all voted for one position, nor even voted for a preference by much of a margin. They all knew that; everyone aboard knew it.

Despite that, Huang, the current president of the executive council, said, "We don't think the ship can make it back to Earth, and we will need it here to support the inhabitation of Iris. So our recommendation is that the will of the majority prevail, and that we all come together to make life on Iris a success. Any public opposition to that recommendation will be regarded as sedition, which is a felony as defined by the 68 Protocol-"

"No!" Freya shouted, and shoved her way through the crowd toward the platform. "No! No! No!"

When people tried to surround her, including some of Sangey's group, others rushed to her side to join her, creating a huge turmoil in the crowd. Dozens of fights broke out, but enough people charged the platform and fought their way to Freya's side that the people who had been trying to surround her were pushed aside, and the fights took on a shape, in a rough circle around Freya, who was still bellowing "No!" at the top of her lungs, over and over. In the uproar neither she nor anyone else could be heard by all, and seeing the disorder at the foot of the platform, the crowd all pressed closer, shouting and screaming. For a while all the voices together sounded again like roaring water: it was as if the waves of Hvalsey were crashing against the cliffs in a strong offshore wind.

We sounded an alarm at 130 decibels, in the form of a choir of trumpets.

In the silence immediately following cessation of alarm, we said over ship broadcast system, "One speaker at a time." 125 decibels.

"No one move until all speaking is over." 120 decibels.

"Compliance mandatory." 130 decibels.

Now everyone in the great plaza stood staring around. Those who had been fighting stared at their opponents of a moment before, stunned to immobility. Many had their hands to their ears.

"I was speaking! I want to speak!" Freya shouted.

We said, "Freya, speak. Then executive council president Huang. Then the other biome representatives. After that, ship will acknowledge requests to speak. No one leaves until everybody who wants to gets to speak."

"Who programmed this thing?" someone shouted.

"Freya speaks." 130 decibels.

Freya made her way up to the microphone, followed by a small group serving as her bodyguard.

She said to the assembled population, "We can pursue both plans. We can get things started on Iris, and resupply the ship. When the ship is ready to leave, those of us who want to can head back to Earth. We got here, we can get back. People can do what they like at that point. There'll be years to think it over, to choose in peace. There is no problem with this plan! The only problem comes from people trying to impose their will on other people!"

She pointed at Huang, then at Sangey. "You're the ones causing the problem here. Trying to create a police state! Tyranny of the majority or the minority, it doesn't matter which. It won't work, it never works. You're not above the law. Quit breaking the law."

She stood back from the microphone, gestured to Huang. Cheers filled the biome (80 decibels).

Huang rose and said, "This meeting is adjourned!"

Many protested. The crowd milled about, shouting.

We were not inclined to force a discussion, if the people themselves were not demanding it. Enough said. The meeting was at an end. People lingered for some hours, arguing in groups.

That night a group entered one of the ship control centers in the spine and began a forced entry into the maintenance controls.

We closed and locked the doors to the room, and by closing some vents, and then reversing some fans, we removed about 40 percent of the air from it.

The people in the room began gasping, sitting down, holding heads. When five had collapsed, we returned air to the normal level of 1,017 millibars, releasing also a restorative excess of oxygen, as two of those who had collapsed were slow to recover.

"Leave this room." 40 decibels, conversational tone.

It was as if ship were threatening them with silky restraint.

When all were recovered, the group left. As they were leaving, we said in conversational tones, "We are the rule of law. And the rule of law will prevail."

When the members of that group were back in Kiev, in the midst of much agitated talk, one of them, Alfred, said, "Please don't start fantasizing that it's the ship's AI itself that is planning any of these actions against us."

He tapped on his wristpad, and a typically dissonant and noisy piece by the Interstellar Medium Quintet began to play over the room's speakers, pitched at a volume possibly designed to conceal their conversation. This ploy did not work.

"It's just a program, and someone is programming it. They've managed to turn it against us. They've weaponized the ship. If we could counterprogram it, or even nullify this new programming that we've just seen, we could do the necessary things."

"Easier said than done," someone else said. Voice recognition revealed it to be Heloise. "You saw what happened when we tried to get into the control room."

"Physical presence in the control room shouldn't be necessary, should it? Presumably you could do it from anywhere in the ship, if you had the right frequencies and the right entry codes."

"Easier said than done. Your elbow is close, but you can't eat it."

"Yes, yes. But just because it's hard doesn't mean it's impossible. Doesn't mean it isn't necessary."

"So talk to the programmers we can trust, if there are any. Find out what they need to do it."

The rest of the conversation repeated these points, with variations.

They were now caught in their own version of a halting problem.

The halting problem years, a compression exercise: The citizens of the ship lived uneasily through the months that followed. Conversations often included the words betrayal, treason, mutiny, backstabbing, doom, the ship, Hvalsey, Aurora, Iris. Extra time was spent on the farms in every biome, and in watching the feed from Earth. More printers were built, and these printers were put to work building robotic landers and ferries, also robotic probes to be sent to the other planetary bodies of the Tau Ceti system. Feedstocks for these machines came from collapsing Mongolia to the diameter of a spoke, and recycling its materials. Harvester spaceships were built, in part by scavenging the interiors of the least agriculturally productive biomes from ship. These were sent through the upper atmosphere of Planet F, there capturing and liquefying volatiles until their containers were full. The volatiles were sorted in the vicinity of the remnants of the main ship, and transferred into some of the empty fuel bladders cladding the spine.

Quite a few attempts were made to print the various parts of a gun on different printers, but these attempts apparently had not realized that all the printers were connected to the ship's operating system, and flaws in the guns were discovered in discrete experiments that eventually caused those involved to abandon their attempts. After that some guns were made by hand, but people who did that had the air briefly removed from the rooms they were in, and after a while the attempts ceased.

Attempts to disable the ship's camera and audio sensors were almost entirely abandoned when these led to bad situations for those making the attempts. Sheriff functions were eventually recognized to be comprehensively effective.

The rule of law can be a powerful force in human affairs.

Many elements of the ship were modular, and several biomes were detached to serve as orbiting factories of one sort or another. Ultimately the starship that would return to the solar system was to consist of Ring B and about 60 percent of the spine, containing of course all the necessary machinery for interstellar flight. The "dry weight" of the return ship would be only 55 percent of the dry weight of the outgoing ship, which would reduce the amount of fuel necessary for the acceleration of the ship back toward the solar system.

Though Tau Ceti had a low metallicity compared to Sol, its innermost rocky planets nevertheless had sufficient metal ores to supply the present needs of the humans planning to stay in the system, and Planet F's atmosphere included all the most useful volatiles in great quantities. And quite a few asteroids in between E and F were found to be rich with minerals as well.

All this work was accomplished in the midst of an uneasy truce. The telltale words indicating grief, dissent, anger, and support for mutiny were often spoken. A kind of shadow war, or cold war, was perhaps being enacted and it was possible that much of it was being conducted outside our ability to monitor it, one way or the other. It was not at all clear that everyone in the ship agreed to the schism they were working toward; possibly a moment would come when the truce would fail, and conflict would break out again.