Seeker by Jack McDevitt Read Free Book Online Page B

They were at the other end of the scale. They were intellectuals, by and large. And they had their share of the wealth. But they didn’t like the noxious environment.
Noxious
meaning both physically and psychologically. They had a dictator. A theocrat by the name of Carvalla, who was relatively harmless as dictators went. But a dictator nevertheless. He controlled the media, controlled the schools, controlled the churches. You attended church or you paid the consequences. The schools were indoctrination centers.”
    “Hard to believe people would consent to live like that.”
    “They’d been trained to take authority seriously. In Carvalla’s time, if you didn’t do what you were told, you disappeared.”
    “I’m beginning to see why they wanted to clear out.”
    “They were led by Harry Williams.”
    Another name I was obviously supposed to know. “Sorry,” I said.
    “He was a communications magnate, and he was connected for years to various social and political movements, trying to get food for hungry kids, to make medical care available. He didn’t get into trouble until he started trying to do something about education.”
    “What happened?”
    “The authorities didn’t like his basic notion, which was that kids should be taught to question everything.”
    “Oh.”
    “They called him unpatriotic.”
    “I’m not surprised.”
    “An atheist.”
    “Was he?”
    “He was an agnostic. Just as bad.”
    “In that kind of society, I suppose so. You said it was a theocracy?”
    “Yes. The head of state was also effectively the head of the Church.”
    “What happened to Williams?”
    “Fifteen years in jail. Or seventeen. Depends on which sources you trust. He’d have been executed, except that he had powerful friends.”
    “So he did get out?”
    “Yes, he got out. But it was while he was in jail that he decided something had to be done. Revolution wasn’t possible. So the next best thing was to escape. ‘Joseph Margolis had it right,’ he’s reported to have said at a meeting of his associates. ‘We’ll never be able to change things.’ ”
    “I take it Joseph Margolis is the guy they’re named for?”
    “Right.”
    “Who was he?”
    “A British prime minister. A hero, and apparently something of a philosopher.”
    “What was he right about?”
    “That communication technologies lead easily to enslavement. That it is very difficult to maintain individual freedoms. He was fond of citing Benjamin Franklin’s comment to the American people: ‘We have given you a republic. Now see if you can keep it.’ ”
    He saw I didn’t recognize Franklin’s name either. He grinned and offered to explain, but I got the drift. “There
were
no colonies at the time, were there?”
    “Two small ones. But both were under control of the home world. There were no independents.”
    “And the government acquiesced?”
    “They encouraged him to go and offered assistance.” He stared through the window at the ocean. “Good riddance to troublemakers. But that meant they’d know the location of the colony. Williams wanted out from under their thumb. So he and whoever was with him had to go it alone.”
    “Not possible,” I said.
    “Some of the Margolians thought the same way. But he persuaded them to make the attempt. They believed they could create an Eden. A home for humanity that would embody freedom and security. An ideal place to live.”
    “That’s been tried any number of times,” I said.
    He nodded. “Sometimes it’s happened. Anyhow, they were desperate. They sent people out to look for the right world. When they found it, they kept its location secret, bought the two ships, and headed out. Five thousand of them.”
    “That’s an incredible story,” I said.
    “Harry went with the last group, more than four years after the first Margolians left. He’s reported to have told the media that, where they were going, even God wouldn’t be able to find them.”
    The server refilled our