“Why are you and Richard here, Paul?” Chuckie asked. “You don’t normally join Jeff’s Cabinet meetings.”
“Miz Freeman and Mister Moskowitz asked us to join,” White said, smiling at the two of them. Jessica Freeman was the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Murray Moskowitz was the Secretary of Energy. “Separately,” he added, which made sense, since I’d never seen these two as buddies.
“They’re here to help convince Jeff to do whatever it is that everyone wants us to do, Chuckie. Which either means that Paul and Richard are in agreement, or Paul and Richard are tired of staring out the window into space and wanted to have the entertainment a Cabinet Meeting in Space provides.”
“My money is on both, Queen Katherine,” Gadhavi said. “Prince Gustav, please get to the point.”
“Agreed. Mister Gadhavi and I have spent time with the Ignotforstans—they remain very impressed by royal titles. And I may have mentioned that Mister Gadhavi is an influential person on Earth.”
“Why did you so mention, Gustav?”
Gadhavi sighed. “Because you’re both so focused on saving the galaxy that you’re not aware that we are heading into a political situation with great ramifications.”
“The Apatan system is quite cohesive,” Raj explained. “For example, once they found out that there was life on the other planets, even though each planet had a different name for it, they all got together and gave their sun the new name of Apata, which each planet agreed to. They work together to care for their solar system. The Eknara was only manned by Ignotforstans, but that was due to the danger of the mission—the Ignotforstans are considered the most daring in the system. The Apatans are fully capable of joining the greater galactic community. But they’re afraid to. They don’t want to be conquered. And that definitely includes the Ignotforstans.”
“Can’t blame them,” Jeff said dryly. “Most people don’t want to be. So are you saying we need to protect this system, too? Because if you are, at the rate we’re going, we’re not going to have anyone to protect Solaris or Alpha Centauri.”
“And that could be the greater plan,” Hamlin said. “We’ve been taking it on faith that whoever’s pulling our strings wants us to save the galaxy.”
“They do,” I said firmly. “On this, I’m certain. And I don’t want to spend any time arguing about it, and that’s a freaking Queen Katherine order. I’m the one who gets to have all the special times with the various Powers That Be. Until they choose to basically screw up your life on a regular basis, my opinion is the one that counts.”
“We agree,” Nathalie said quickly. “This is not a meeting to complain about what we’ve been doing. Or will do.”
“Sure seems like it,” Chuckie said mildly. But I knew him and he was pissed, though not at Nathalie, just the situation.
“It’s not,” Raj said, Troubadour Tones set to Soothe. “We just haven’t gotten to the point yet.” He looked at Drax.
“I apologize. The point is that this stop is not like all the others.”
“How so?” Jeff asked.
Drax sighed. “As Raj said, the system is very cohesive.”
“Think Alpha Centauri but no friction,” Gower added.
Drax nodded. “And the entire system plans to honor us for saving the crew of the Eknara. And that celebration will take days, if not weeks.”
“So we say thanks but we’re on a schedule and move on,” Jeff said.
Gadhavi shook his head violently. “That will ensure that this system will be offended. Deeply offended. Do you know what happens when you deeply offend someone?”
I knew. “They join your enemies the first chance they get.” The room nodded. “Great. Look, we know where we need to go. Now’s as good a time as any to tell you guys.” Pulled the envelope out of my purse, took out the last picture, and put it in the center of the conference table. “We’re going here.” Pointed to the solar system that was outside of the galaxy.
Everyone took a minute to look at the picture while Chuckie did the explanation for why we had this in the first place. Once the picture had made the rounds, and I’d watched various faces drain of color, it came back to me and I put it back in the envelope and said envelope back in my purse.
Took a moment to do a quick check of my phone. Sure enough, had a different playlist up—Apatan Nights. Algar was hilarious. As were the song choices, at least the first one—“Stay Down Here Where You Belong” by Tiny Tim. Followed by “If You Wanna Stay” by Bidwell, “Split Screen Sadness” by John Mayer, “Divide” by Disturbed, and “Separate Lives” by Phil Collins. Felt that I had the key idea. Which was good, because there were no more songs.
“The coordinates for where we were originally headed have been lost,” Davis said once I gave the table my full attention again. “Maybe that means we don’t need to go there after all.”
“We do,” I said. “Trust me, we do. But, I have an idea of how we fix this.” And the best part of that idea was that I was just about a hundred percent sure I’d figured out what Naomi had been trying to tell me.
CHAPTER 91
“IT HAS TO BE VOLUNTARY,” Chuckie said when I was done sharing the brilliance that was my interpretation of Algar’s and Naomi’s clues.
“Oh, I know. Because it’s just as dangerous to leave our people in this system as it is to take them outside of the galaxy.”
“Those staying have a better chance of getting back to Earth than those going,” Gibson said. “Just like in any war situation.”
“Most aren’t going to be willing to stay,” Raj said. He smiled at the shocked looks. “We’ve survived several life-or-death situations already and we haven’t lost anyone. Those who wanted new pets got them. Everyone had pretty souvenirs from Cradus.”
“Raj is correct,” White said. “And while you could order them to stay, I don’t recommend it.”
“The kids will never agree, so don’t bother to try,” I said. “Frankly, we can’t leave all the Cabinet, either.”
“I’m going with you,” Horn said calmly.
“I as well,” Nathalie said.
“Me too,” Elaine chimed in.
Shook my head. “Elaine, I think it’s important that you and Fritzy stay here.” Which was too bad. I’d have liked Elaine to come with us. But since we were in the Meeting Of Grownups, had to act like one and choose what was best, versus fun.
She looked shocked and disappointed. “Why?”
Jeff chuckled. “Because you’re the Secretary of State and you’re going to be negotiating bringing the Apata system into the fold. Our fold, specifically.”
“Exactly. Fritzy’s the Vice President and I’m sure we can spin that to show how vitally important he is. Frankly, Vander, it might be good for you to stay, too. Homeland Security is going to matter to these people.” Another bummer, because I’d have liked Horn with us, too.
Horn and Elaine both grimaced. “I hate it when you make sense,” Horn said.
“I know, and it’s so rare, too.”
Horn snorted. “Don’t try to play me, Kitty. I’ve known you too long.”