“You’re worried about what’s going to come out in the sifting.”
“No,” I said. “I’m worried that you’re going to get accused of using it to start picking off political opponents, including entire nations. As much as I liked seeing Hado shut down, it didn’t help that the Elpri, of all people, are one of the two peoples called out by name in Abumwe’s report. No matter if Vnac clears her entire report—no matter if all of it is unimpeachably true—there will still be those who will see it only as a chance for you to settle scores at a moment when you were vulnerable.”
“You ordered Oi to release the data to avoid that.”
“I ordered it to release the data so it didn’t look like you were colluding with the Colonial Union,” I said. “That problem is solved. The other problem remains.”
“What do you suggest?”
“I think you need to address this directly and personally and on the floor of the Grand Assembly.”
“And what would you have me say there?”
“What you said to Hado and Sca,” I said. “Only writ larger. Encompassing nations, not diplomats.”
“We’re going to find traitors,” Tarsem said.
“Yes, but they are people. Individuals.”
“Individuals who might be able to persuade their governments to leave the Conclave.”
“All the more reason to make it clear that the actions of a misguided few don’t reflect on the people as a whole.”
“You think this will work.”
“I think it’s better than encouraging our members to start accusing each other of undermining the Conclave. That road goes nowhere we want to go.”
“How committed are you to this idea?” Tarsem asked. “Presuming the Colonial Union isn’t running a long con on us, which is a thing you’ve begged me to consider and so I shall, it’s possible that entire member state governments are working to end the Conclave. We’ve had attempts before. We’d be allowing them to get away with it.”
“No. We’d be offering them a way to step back from the abyss before we tumble into it.”
“That’s an optimistic way of looking at it.”
“It’s not optimistic at all. It’s giving us more time to deal with the problem.”
“And if we have no more time?”
“Then we deal with the problem now,” I said. “But I think everyone is beginning to realize just how close the abyss is at the moment. Very few people actually want to go in.”
“You are optimistic, then,” Tarsem said. “Because at the moment I think there are still a few who think the abyss sounds like a very good idea.”
“That’s why I want you to convince them otherwise.”
“I appreciate your faith in my abilities.”
“It’s not faith,” I said. “It’s trust.”
PART FOUR
“Which news do you want first?” Vnac Oi asked me. I was in its office again, the first meeting of the sur.
“You have good news?” I asked.
“No,” Oi said. “But some of the news is less objectively bad than the rest.”
“Then by all means let us begin with that.”
“We’re done with the first pass of semantic and data mining of the Abumwe report,” Oi said. “And we’ve cross-referenced with information we have in our own databases. The very short version is that the data are less problematic than the data in the Ocampo report.”
“‘Less problematic.’”
“It means there are fewer obvious untruths compared to, and contradictions with, our own data set.”
“So you’re saying the Colonial Union, in a refreshing change of circumstances, is actually telling us the truth.”
“I never said ‘truth,’” Oi said. “I said there were fewer untruths that we can immediately see. And even if they are largely telling the truth, which is something we still have to ascertain, the truth in itself is not necessarily a positive thing. What they are telling the truth about—what information they are sharing with us—is just as relevant. When Abumwe shared this with us what I really wanted to know is what she wasn’t sharing.”
“I need to know whether you think this Equilibrium group exists and is the threat Abumwe says it is.”
“Yes to the first, and inconclusive to the second. We need a couple more passes through the data to be sure. But here is the thing about that, Councilor.”