“Hmmmm,” Szilard said.
“The current series of BrainPals are coming to a close anyway,” Robbins said. “Our next generation of BrainPals have been tested by the Gamerans and they’re ready to be implemented across the CDF population. It’s a completely different architecture, fully organic, and the code is optimized, without the legacy issues of earlier BrainPal code. The window is closing on this sort of attack, General.”
“At least by anyone who worked on the previous generation,” Szilard said. “But what about those who are working on the current generation? You need to find out whether any of them are going to go off the ranch.”
“We’ll look into it,” Robbins said.
“See that you do,” Szilard said.
“Speaking of off the ranch,” Mattson said. “What are you going to do about Lieutenant Sagan?”
“What do you mean?” Szilard said.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, she knows too much,” Mattson said. “Through Boutin and Dirac, she knows about the Conclave and she knows how tightly we’re keeping that information bottled up. She doesn’t have clearance for that information, Szi. That’s dangerous stuff.”
“I don’t see why it’s dangerous,” Szilard said. “If for no other reason than it’s the truth. The Conclave is out there. And if it ever gets its act together, we’re going to find ourselves up the proverbial creek.”
“It’s dangerous because it’s not the whole truth, and you know that, Szi,” Mattson said. “Boutin didn’t know anything about the Counter-Conclave and how deeply we’re involved with that, and how we’ve been playing one side against the other. Things are moving fast. We’re getting to the point where alliances have to be formed and choices will have to be made. We won’t be able to formally stay neutral anymore. We don’t need Sagan out there telling people half the story and starting rumors.”
“Then tell her the whole damn story,” Szilard said. “She’s an intelligence officer, for God’s sake. She can handle the truth.”
“It’s not up to me,” Mattson said. Szilard opened his mouth; Mattson put up both hands. “It’s not up to me, Szi. If the Counter-Conclave formally breaks with the Conclave, you know what that’s going to mean. The entire goddamn galaxy is going to be at war. We won’t just be able to rely on our recruits from Earth anymore. We’re going to have to ask the colonies to pony up as well. We may even have to start conscription. And you know what that’s going to mean. The colonies will riot. We’ll be lucky if we avoid a civil war. We’re keeping the information from the colonies not because we want to keep them ignorant but because we don’t want the whole fucking Union to fly apart.”
“The longer we wait, the worse it’s going to get,” Szilard said. “We’re never going to find a good way to break it to the colonies. And when they do find out, they’re going to wonder what the hell the CU was doing keeping it from them for so long.”
“It’s not up to me,” Mattson said.
“Yes, yes,” Szilard said, testily. “Fortunately for you there’s a way out. Sagan is close to the end of her term of service. She has a few months left, I think. Maybe a year. Close enough that we can retire her. From what I understand she was planning to leave the service when her time was up anyway. We’ll put her on a brand-new colony and there she can stay, and if she talks to the neighbors about some Conclave, who the hell cares. They’ll be too busy trying to get a crop in.”
“Do you think you’ll get her to do it?” Mattson said.
“We can entice her,” Szilard said. “A couple of years ago, Sagan became quite attached to a CDF soldier named John Perry. Perry’s a few years behind her in his term of service, but if we needed to we could spring him early. And it seems like she’s become quite attached to Zo? Boutin, who is an orphan and who needs to be placed. You see where I’m going here.”
“I can,” Mattson said. “You should make it happen.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Szilard said. “And speaking of secrets, how are your negotiations with the Obin going?”
Both Mattson and Robbins looked at Szilard warily. “There are no negotiations with the Obin,” Robbins said.
“Of course not,” Szilard said. “You’re not negotiating with the Obin to continue Boutin’s consciousness program for them. And the Obin are not negotiating with us to knock down whichever of the Rraey or Eneshans is still left standing after their upcoming little war. No one’s negotiating with anyone about anything. And how are these non-negotiations not going?”
Robbins looked at Mattson, who nodded. “They’re not going surprisingly well,” Robbins said. “We probably won’t reach an agreement in the next couple of days.”
“How not wonderful,” Szilard said.