“I’m sure they’re not worried,” Eric went on. “Disappointed that their device failed them, but not worried. Colonists and supplies are still coming through the GATE here at regular intervals. If the Syrax believed I’d fallen into the hands of human scientists, I don’t think the GATE or much of anything else would be operating normally anymore.”

Jeeter stared into his friend’s eyes. “Tell me something, Eric. If the Syrax arrived here and approached you, would you turn over the information they want?”

“No. I owe them nothing, just as I owe mankind nothing. Neither has any claim on me. All I want is the chance to live out my life with Lisa as quietly and inconspicuously as possible. I’ve made real friends here—you, Madras, others. In my opinion, you owe the governments of Earth no more than I do. We’ve all been lied to and we’ve all been used.”

“True enough.” Jeeter leaned close. “Tell me more about this paradise world you’ve found inside your head.” Eric noticed the rest of the barn’s staff moving close to listen.

“It’s farther from Earth than either Eden or Garden, much farther. I know its coordinates well enough to translate them into figures the GATE Terminus could use. The computations are complex, but I could work them out, especially if I had help."

“Some of the finest practical engineers alive are here on Eden,” someone in the crowd pointed out.

“I know,” Eric told the speaker. “I’ve been working with some of them."

Suddenly Jeeter’s excitement faded. “None of which does us a damn bit of good, since there’s no way you can turn a receiving terminal into a broadcast terminus.”

Eric nodded in agreement. “The power requirements alone place it beyond reach of any colony’s resources, not to mention the fact that a transmitter must be placed in free space beyond gravitational and magnetic interference. “However,” he announced quietly, as though giving the temperature outside, “it is possible to reverse the polarity from either end, so long as sufficient power is available.”

A rising murmur from the crowd filled the barn. Jeeter spoke for all of them.

“Come on, Eric! We all know that traffic through the GATE system is strictly one-way.”

“One way at a time,” Eric corrected him. “I’ve been working on the problem ever since I got here, and I’ve had access to Syrax as well as human knowledge. In theory, there’s no reason why it can’t be done.”

“That would mean,” Jeeter said slowly, “that we could all return to GATE Terminus, to Earth, if we wanted to. All of us.”

“I asked if you thought people would do that, given the opportunity. You said they wouldn’t.”

“I say it again, though I suppose a few might prove me wrong. But you’re no physicist, Eric. The GATE’S been in operation for a century and a half. It seems incredible that you’d stumble across something so important where dozens of engineers who’ve made the GATE their life’s work would miss it.”

“What makes you think they missed it?” Eric asked him softly.

He might as well have set off a paralysis bomb in the barn. The silence ended with a flurry of angry, explosive questions.

When the first fury had vented itself and the room had quieted down, Eric continued.

“Do you think that, after stealing the lives of your parents and grandparents, WOSA or the Colligatarch would risk letting the disenchanted and the tricked return to Earth? There’s too much at stake, from their point of view.

“Earth is threatened by its own burgeoning population, old tribal rivalries, new diseases, and off in the background, the Syrax. The two colonies are safety valves. You’ve been planted here to ensure the survival of the human race should the mother world be visited by catastrophe. If it’s necessary to lie to make certain the colonies are properly populated and stay that way, do you think the government’s not going to do it?

“I’m sure the secret of two-way travel via the GATE system is known only to a very few top scientists and leaders. Certainly the GATE Station crew isn’t aware of it. Too dangerous to let them in on it. Some disgruntled engineer might want to bring back a friend or two. Much better to make it plain that GATE travel is strictly a one-way trip. Jeeter, would your grandparents have stuck it out on this icebox if they could have returned home?” Murmurs of agreement rose from the crowd.

“I doubt it, too,” Eric went on. “The colony would never have grown, and it was important for it to grow, for the reasons I just alluded to. You’ve all been lied to and used.”

After a solemn pause Jeeter asked hesitantly, “And you can modify the receiving terminal here to permit travel back to GATE Terminus?”

“I think so. There’s some risk.”

From the back of the crowd an engineer declared, “The GATE is always powered up. It’s too expensive to shut down.”

“Then there’s no reason why we can’t reverse the polarity and make the GATE swing both ways,” Eric insisted.

“That doesn’t get us to this paradise of yours,” another technician pointed out.

“True. But we can realign the system and project a receive unit like this one”—he gestured at the framed darkness nearby—“to a new world. We can go from Eden to GATE Station, and then from GATE Station to—”

“Paradise?” someone else finished for him.

“How do we know,” asked the engineer who’d spoken first, “if any of what you’re telling us is the truth, that it’s not part of some greater Syrax plot to get you back to GATE Station so they can pick you up and milk your mind?”

“I know it’s not. I’ve studied my own body as intensively as the workings of the GATE since I’ve been here,” he assured her. “I’m sure the Syrax consider me a lost cause. Maybe they’re already at work on a new model, one less likely to break down on them.” That brought forth a few gentle laughs.

“No wonder the Syrax are so desperate to obtain the secret of GATE operations,” Jeeter muttered. “They could put a receive unit anywhere, including Earth itself.”

“And by the same token, if they wanted to break the secrecy, WOSA could put a receive on the Syrax home world. It’s a dangerous situation,” Eric said unnecessarily. “One of these days it’s going to blow up. I’d like to be clear of any fallout.” He looked over the heads of the anxious crowd, located the engineer who'd voiced her suspicions.

“If I were still under the control of the Syrax, I could have reversed the polarity myself, at night. It doesn’t take much work. You’d be surprised at how simple it is, if you know what to do. I could have delivered myself and my knowledge to them without anyone’s knowing.”

“Maybe,” she said thoughtfully.

“Maybe. I certainly wouldn’t have to tell you what I’m telling all of you now. I didn’t have to confess my origins when Lisa Tambor and I came through.”

“That’s enough.” Jeeter rose, put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Eric Abbott is as much a man as any of us.”

“Not me,” said a female electrician, and the crowd cracked up. When the laughter had subsided some, Eric looked gratefully at Jeeter.

“Well, as human, anyway.”

“Eric, are you sure about this world?”

“Positive. The catalog is full of information on each planet, and this one’s no exception.” He let his gaze rove over the crowd, saw the hope, the intense wish to believe on many anxious faces. “It’s everything Eden and Garden were advertised to be.”

“If it’s not,” Jeeter said warningly, “we could be stuck there forever.”

“Not at all,” Eric reminded him. “You’re forgetting that we can reverse polarity on GATE Station. If the Syrax information turns out to be wrong, and I’ve no reason to suspect it is, we could at least return to Earth, or Eden.

“We can cannibalize enough replacement components to build a second receive terminal, send it through to GATE Station, then on to Paradise. It will be a trade-off. The infrastructure you’ve worked to build up here against complete freedom from Earthly interference and the return of your birthright. You can still have what you were promised.”

“It will have to be put to the Council,” Jeeter was muttering, “and there’ll have to be a general vote. Not everyone will want to take the risk.”

“What about you, Jeeter? Will you-come with Lisa and me?”

“Eden’s my home. I was born here.” He broke into a wide smile. “I can’t wait to get the hell off.” Roars of assent rose from the onlookers. When the general amusement had died down, Jeeter turned serious once again.

“Assuming everything works out, Eric, what happens when we arrive at GATE Station? WOSA’s not going to let us make use of the GATE for our own purposes.”

Eric didn't smile at all. “Then we’ll have to insist, won’t we?”

Nearly a third of Eden's population voted to chance the move to the world Eric described in such glowing terms. They comprised a solid mix of newcomers and native Edenites disenchanted with the world they'd been given. Many still yearned for the promised land that had called on the spirits of their parents and grandparents. They owed little to Eden, and nothing to Earth. They came from every profession, every branch of Eden’s society. It was a good cross section. The new colony of Paradise would not lack for necessary skills.