Kinder des Schicksals 4 (Xeelee 9): Resplendent

big
chamber had been stripped of its acceleration couches, and the dozen
or so of them sat on temporary chairs in the middle of an empty
grey-white floor.
    Andres told them she wanted to discuss a little anthropology.
    In her characteristic manner she marched around the room, looming
over her crew. ’We’ve had a good year, for which I thank you. Our
work on the Ship isn’t completed - in a sense it never will be
completed - but I’m now satisfied that Mayflower will survive the
voyage. If we fail in our mission, it won’t be the technology that
betrays us, but the people. And that’s what we’ve got to start
thinking about now.’
    Mayflower was a generation starship, she said. By now mankind had
millennia of experience of launching such ships. ’And as far as we
know, every last one of them has failed. And why? Because of the
people.
    ’The most basic factor is population control. You’d think that
would be simple enough! The Ship is an environment of a fixed size.
As long as every parent sires one kid, on average, the population
ought to stay stable. But by far the most common causes of mission
loss are population crashes, in which the number of crew falls below
the level of a viable gene pool and then shuffles off to extinction -
or, more spectacularly, explosions in which too many people eat their
way to the hull of their ship and then destroy each other in the
resulting wars.’
    Diluc said dryly, ’Maybe that proves it’s just a dumb idea. The
scale of the journey is just too big for us poor saps to manage.’
    Andres gazed at him challengingly. ’A bit late to say that now,
Diluc!’
    ’Of course it’s not just numbers but our population’s genetic
health that we have to think about,’ pointed out Ruul. This lanky,
serious man was the Ship’s senior geneticist. ’We’ve already started,
of course. All of us went through genetic screening before we were
selected. There are only two hundred of us, but we’re as genetically
diverse a sample of Port Sol’s population as possible. We should
avoid the founder effect - none of us has a genetically transmitted
disease to be spread through the population - and, provided we exert
some kind of control over breeding partnerships, we should be able to
avoid genetic drift, where defective copies of a gene cluster.’
    Diluc looked faintly disgusted. >’Control over breeding
partnerships    Andres snapped, ’The kind of language we’re going to have to
embrace if we’re to survive. We must control reproductive strategies.
Remember, on this Ship the purpose of having children is not for the
joy of it or similar primate rewards, but to maintain the crew’s
population levels and genetic health, and thereby to see through our
mission.’ She eyed Diluc. ’Oh, I’m not against comfort. I was human
once! But we are going to have to separate companionship needs from
breeding requirements.’ She glanced around. ’I’m sure you are all
smart enough to have figured that out for yourselves. But even this
isn’t enough, if the mission objectives are to be ensured.’
    Diluc said, ’It isn’t?’
    ’Of course not. This is a desperately small universe. We will
always rely on the Ship’s systems, and mistakes or deviances will be
punished by catastrophe - for as long as the mission lasts.
Non-modified human lifespans average out at around a century; we just
haven’t evolved to think further. But a century is but a moment for
our mission. We must future-proof; I’ve said it over and over. And to
do that we will need a continuity of memory, purpose and control far
beyond the century-long horizons of our transients.’
    Transients: it was the first time Rusel had heard her use that
word.
    He thought he saw where all this was leading. He said carefully,
’Port Sol was not a normal human society. With respect. Because it
had you pharaohs at its heart.’
    ’Yes,’ she said approvingly, her small face expressionless. ’And
that is the key.’ She lifted her hand before her face and studied it.
’Two centuries ago the Qax Governor made me ageless. Well, I served
the Qax - but my deeper purpose was always to serve mankind. I fled
Earth, with others, to escape the Qax. Port Sol was always a refuge
for the undying. Now I have had to flee Sol system itself to escape
my fellow human beings. But I continue to serve mankind. And it is
the continuity I provide, a continuity that transcends human
timescales, that will enable