Not directly.
Todd Avide was returning to Earth. Again. He was what Allec called “a revolving door citizen.” He came to Mars, stayed awhile, upset life in various bubbles, spread rumors and dissension, announced he couldn’t bear the “deadness” of Mars, and left. Within less than a year, he was on another ship.
Todd, it turned out, was pro-Junad, whatever that meant. He thought that people were treating Junad unfairly when they locked him up (so he wouldn’t try to kill Pan again). He thought that people didn’t respect Junad’s beliefs. He thought that humans were forcing Anthros to assimilate to something or other against their will.
He would have set up a vigil outside Junad’s cabin but Captain Maxwell didn’t allow “acting out” on her ship, which was “not a democracy but an autocracy.” Her words.
Political know-how 101: never apologize for your authority.
They were two weeks into the voyage. Pan was on his way to eat second meal. He noted that Todd confronted him outside the mess hall. Digory was resting this meal, so Allec was in charge of the galley. Allec loathed Todd, and Allec publicly verbally eviscerated people he loathed. (Most people didn’t appreciate that most of the time, Allec was restrained.)
Todd scolded, "You act like that Cubus who appropriated Anthros identity."
Kaiden leaned over Pan’s shoulder and gave Todd a candid smile.
“You’re going to hell,” he said, and Todd reared back, his face contorted in shock.
He stammered, “You’re one of those fundamentalist types,” which was ironic or hypocritical or just stupid since Todd was the one accusing Pan of violating a set of fundamental “standards.”
Kaiden didn’t attack Todd’s lack of logic. He said, “I believe in gods that protect the innocent and punish the guilty.”
“Panfilo has denied his true nature—”
“I’m an Amunite,” Kaiden said. “Lapsed. But our religious beliefs say Panfilo’s true mission right here right now is an Anthros among humans. Which makes you the blasphemer. And you’re damned.”
He smiled cheerfully at Todd, who appeared out of his depth in a religious conversation that actually involved belief rather a bunch of terms Todd could manipulate.
Todd muttered, “Close-minded freaks” and edged away. Pan gave Kaiden an appreciative nod.
Kaiden had become a companion. They shared a cabin since space on the ship was limited. The ship was carrying not only workers and colonists returning to Earth but attendees and speakers from the latest conference, the ones that stayed past the other ship’s departure.
Kaiden took his bodyguard duties seriously. Possibly the most cheerful guy on the ship, he had a way of hunching when people entered Pan’s space. And he was willing to call out anyone he thought might be disrespecting Pan. My bulldog.
“The guy is an asshole,” Kaiden said as they entered the mess hall and got in line at the counter.
“This was his third time on Mars, right?”
“Yeah. The first time, he really messed up Baqil’s life, got him spouting off all this garbage about Mars forcing religion on people and taking advantage of their work and secretly planning to expatriate the Amunites. Baqil’s family had converted to Norse Christianity by then—a lot of hubs took us in when the sect disbanded. But that Todd guy really scared him. Not for any good reason. I think Todd likes making people miserable, dragging them down to his level, I guess.”
Pan nodded. He remembered hearing that Baqil had sent hate mail to people—not digital messages but actual physical letters. Rhys and Lider investigated, removed Todd from the picture, and resolved the family crisis. Baqil was married now and managed one of the algae farms. Baqil turned out okay.
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