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"But were you asking the right question?" said Father. "The question we need answered is: How did the gods do it?"
"How can I know?" answered Qing-jao. "They might have destroyed e fleet or hidden it, or carried it away to some secret place in the West--"
"Qing-jao! Look at me. Hear me well."
She looked. His stern command helped calm her, give her focus.
"This is something I have tried to teach you all your life, but now you must learn it, Qing-jao. The gods are the cause of everything that happens, but they never act except in disguise. Do you hear me?"
She nodded. She'd heard those words a hundred times.
"You hear and yet you don't understand me, even now," said Father. "The gods have chosen the people of Path, Qing-jao. Only we are privileged to hear their voice. Only we are allowed to see that they are the cause of all that is and was and will be. To all other people their works remain hidden, a mystery. Your task is not to discover the true cause of the disappearance of the Lusitania Fleet-- all of Path would know at once that the true cause is that the gods wished it to happen. Your task is to discover the disguise that the gods have created for this event."
Qing-jao felt light-headed, dizzy. She had been so certain that she had the answer, that she had fulfilled her task. Now it was slipping away. The answer was still true, but her task was different now.
"Right now, because we can't find a natural explanation, the gods stand exposed for all of humanity to see, the unbelievers as well as the believers. The gods are naked, and we must clothe them. We must find out the series of events the gods have created to explain the disappearance of the fleet, to make it appear natural to the unbelievers. I thought you understood this. We serve Starways Congress, but only because by serving Congress we also serve the gods. The gods wish us to deceive Congress, and Congress wishes to be deceived."
Qing-jao nodded, numb with disappointment that her task was still not finished.
"Does this sound heartless of me?" asked Father. "Am I dishonest? Am I cruel to the unbeliever?"
"Does a daughter judge her father?" whispered Qing-jao.
"Of course she does," said Father. "Every day all people judge all other people. The question is whether we judge wisely."
"Then I judge that it's no sin to speak to the unbelievers in the language of their unbelief," said Qing-jao.