“Don’t,” I said. “Remember, we have a plan from a responsible grown-up.”
“And what does this plan entail, Harry?”
“Several small things, and one very big thing,” I said.
“And what’s that?”
“The Earth trusting the Colonial Union.”
“To do what?”
“To save you.”
“Ah,” Danielle said. “I can already tell you that’s going to be a tough sell.”
“And now you know why I’m here instead of sending you a note. And why I’m talking to you first.”
“Harry,” Danielle cautioned. “Just because we like each other as people doesn’t mean that my father or anyone else will listen to you.”
“Of course not,” I said. “But us liking each other, and me saving your life twice, is enough to get my foot in the door. And then the plan will take over.”
“It better be a good plan, Harry.”
“It is. I promise.”
“What else are you going to need besides us trusting you?”
“One of your ships,” I said. “And, if you’re not too busy, you.”
“Why me?”
“Because we’re going to go talk to Hafte Sorvalh, the head of the Conclave. You’ve been head of a mission to the Conclave very recently. If we get an agreement down here, we have things to talk about to her up there.”
“The Conclave’s officially not talking to you right now.”
“Yes, I know. We have a plan.”
“Abumwe again?”
“Yes.”
“All right,” Danielle said, and got out her PDA.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m calling Dad.”
“Let me finish brunch first.”
“I thought this was a matter of some urgency, Harry.”
“It is,” I said. “But I fell from the sky today. I could use a couple of waffles.”
PART THREE
“Well, and here we are again,” Hafte Sorvalh said, to the three of us. “And how completely unsurprising this seems to me.”
Sorvalh’s audience consisted of Ambassador Abumwe, Ambassador Lowen, and me, as their joint underling for the meeting. Sorvalh had her own underling with her, if one could genuinely call Vnac Oi, the head of intelligence for all of the Conclave, an underling. Sorvalh and the ambassadors were sitting; Oi and I, standing. I was doing a lot of standing in meetings recently.
We five were in her private study at Conclave headquarters. On the other side of the door, literally and figuratively, were ambassadorial staff and experts and advisors, from Earth, from the Colonial Union, and from the Conclave. If one was quiet, one could feel their combined howling frustration at not being in the room at the moment.
“May I be honest with you?” Lowen asked Sorvalh. I noted that I found it difficult to think of her as “Danielle” when she was on the job. Not because she materially changed her personality when she was working, but simply out of respect for her position.
“Ambassador, I believe the point of this current discussion is to be honest with each other, is it not?” Sorvalh asked.
“I assumed that there would be more of us in the room for this discussion.”
Sorvalh smiled one of her absolutely-terrifying-to-humans smiles. “I believe each of our staffs thought the same thing, Ambassador,” she said. “But I have always found that there’s an inverse relationship between the number of people in a room and the amount of useful work that can be done. Now that I am the person in charge of things, I find it even more so. Do you not?”
“No,” Lowen said. “I think you’re right, by and large.”
“Of course I am. And, Madams Ambassador, I believe that the reason we are here is to have a definitively useful meeting, are we not?”
“It is to be hoped,” Abumwe said.
“Precisely,” Sorvalh said. “So, no, Ambassador. I believe we have precisely the correct number of people in the room.”
“Yes, Premier Sorvalh,” Lowen said.
“Then let’s not waste any more time.” Sorvalh turned her attention to Abumwe. “You may begin, Ambassador.”
“Premier Sorvalh, Equilibrium intends to attack the Earth with nuclear weapons and make it appear to the Colonial Union that it is the Conclave that initiated the attack.”
“Yes,” Sorvalh said. “Vnac Oi here gave me a précis of the report you prepared for us. I assume you are going to ask us for our help in thwarting the attack, seeing that we are meant to be blamed for it.”
“No, Premier,” Abumwe said. “We want the attack to proceed.”
Sorvalh reared back slightly at this, looked over to Lowen, and then back at Abumwe. “Well!” she said, after a moment. “This is certainly a bold and unexpected strategy. I’m fascinated to learn how this will be beneficial to any of us, not least the poor irradiated citizens of Earth.”
“Lieutenant,” Abumwe said to me.