“I already gave you all the information I have on Equilibrium,” I said. “It’s pretty convincing.”
“We don’t need to be convinced,” Wilson said. “We know you’re telling the truth. But you understand that us knowing about Equilibrium—us knowing that they were the ones behind the attack on Earth Station and the ones who have been setting the Conclave and the CU against each other—isn’t enough. Thanks to what Equilibrium has already done, the CU has almost no credibility. With anyone. Not with independent species. Not with the Conclave, or any species within it. And certainly not with Earth.”
“And having me around changes that?”
“Well, no,” Wilson admitted. I would have smiled at this if I could. “It doesn’t change it. But it does get our foot in the door. It offers others at least the possibility that we might be telling the truth. You can get us a hearing, at least.”
“What about the Equilibrium base?” I asked. “You sent ships there?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you anything about that,” Wilson said.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Relax. You didn’t let me finish. I’m not supposed to tell you anything about that. Specifically, I’m not supposed to tell you that we found the base and we found a lot of fresh damage that corresponds to what you told me, but aside from that the base was deserted.”
“What do you mean deserted?” I said. “When did you get there?”
“We sent probes almost as soon as we got coordinates from you, and a couple of warships right after that.”
“Then you should have found something. They couldn’t have disappeared.”
“I didn’t say disappeared,” Wilson said. “I said deserted. There was a lot of evidence of someone having been there, and of the base having been used up until very recently. But whoever was there was gone. They left in a big damn hurry.”
“What about the other ships?” I asked. “The ones like me, I mean.”
“We found wreckage,” Wilson said. “Whether they were the ships like you or some other ships we can’t tell you yet.”
“They wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere,” I said. “If you found wreckage, it was those ships.”
“I’m sorry, Rafe.”
“I don’t understand how they could have deserted the base that quickly. I knocked out their communications.”
“There’s the possibility that they had drones or ships in other systems set to investigate if there was no communication with the base,” Wilson said. “These assholes were building a fleet with hostage pilots. They probably figured one of them might try an attack or lead someone back to them sooner or later.”
“But I got away. If they planned for it, how did that happen?”
Wilson grinned. “Maybe you were better at it than they expected. They had to decide between evacuating their people or going after you.”
“But we still have all the evidence. You have Ocampo, for God’s sake! Have him talk.”
“He’s not going to be talking to anyone other than CDF intelligence for a while,” Wilson said. “More to the point, he doesn’t really have the capability to talk to anyone else at the moment.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that right now, you and he have a lot in common,” Wilson said.
It took me a second to figure out what that meant. Then I imagined Ocampo in his own little box.
“I don’t know how I feel about that,” I said, eventually.
“I think you should probably feel disgusted by it, but that’s just me,” Wilson said. “I wasn’t in charge of that decision. Look, Rafe, you’re right. We have all the facts. We have names. We have data. And when and if people choose to look at all that rationally, then they’ll realize that the Colonial Union isn’t to blame for a lot of the crap it’s currently getting the blame for. But until that time, being able to have you around to appeal to their emotions and sense of morality doesn’t hurt. We could use you.”
“To evoke pity.”
“Yes,” Wilson said. “Among other things. Also, we kind of need a ship.”
I thought about this. “For how long?” I asked.
“Hopefully not too long,” Wilson said. “Things are moving fast now. We’re already a week behind. We’ve sent back-channel messages to the Conclave and are arranging meetings now. We’re trying the same with Earth. In both cases things are complicated by the fact that some of their people are involved too. And meanwhile Equilibrium is still out there. And you’ve probably accelerated their schedule. Everything’s going to get done very soon, I expect.”
“And if it all works out, then my body is waiting for me.”
“Even if it doesn’t work out your body will be waiting for you,” Wilson said. “Although in that case you may have less time to enjoy it than you’d want.”
“Let me think about it,” I said.
“Of course,” Wilson said. “If you can give me an answer in a couple of days that would be good.”