“I have known you since you were a child,” it said. “I have watched you grow and learn and experience life, and through you have learned to experience life myself. I have always known what you are. I tell you truthfully that it is who you are that has mattered to me, and always has.
“It is to you, Zo? Boutin-Perry, that I offer to fight for your family and for Roanoke. I do this not because you have demanded it or required it but because I care for you, and always have. You would honor me if you would accept my assistance.” Dickory bowed, which was a very interesting thing on an Obin.
Here was irony: This was the most I had heard Dickory say, ever, and I couldn’t think of anything to say in return.
So I just said, “Thank you, Dickory. I accept.” Dickory bowed again and returned to ranks.
Another Obin stepped forward and stood before me. “I am Strike,” it said. “We have not met before. I have watched you grow through all that Hickory and Dickory have shared with all Obin. I too have always known what you are. What I have learned from you, however, comes from who you are. It is an honor to have met you. It will be an honor to fight for you, your family, and for Roanoke. I offer my assistance to you, Zo? Boutin-Perry, freely and without reservation.” Strike bowed.
“Thank you, Strike,” I said. “I accept.” And then I impulsively hugged Strike. It actually squeaked in surprise. We unhugged, Strike bowed again, and then returned to ranks just as another Obin came forward.
And another. And another.
It took a long time to hear each greeting and offer of assistance, and to accept each offer. I can honestly say there was never time better spent. When it was done I stood in front of one hundred Obin again—this time, each a friend. And I bowed my head to them and wished them well, and told them I would see them after.
Then I headed back toward the operations room. General Gau was at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for me.
“I have a position for you on my staff, Zo?, if you ever want it,” he said.
I laughed. “I just want to go home, General. Thank you all the same.”
“Some other time, then,” Gau said. “Now I’m going to preside over this contest. I will be impartial when I’m observing it. But you should know that inside I’m rooting for the Obin. And that’s something I never thought I would say.”
“I do appreciate it,” I said, and headed up the stairs.
Hickory met me at the door. “You did what I hoped you would do,” Hickory said. “I regret not volunteering myself.”
“I don’t,” I said, and hugged Hickory. Dock bowed to me; I nodded back. And then I approached the Consu.
“You have my answer,” I said.
“So I have,” the Consu said. “And it surprises me, human.”
“Good,” I said. “And the name is Zo?. Zo? Boutin-Perry.”
“Indeed,” the Consu said. He sounded amused at my cheekiness. “I will remember the name. And have others remember it as well. Although if your Obin do not win this contest, I do not imagine we will have to remember your name for long.”
“You’ll remember it for a long time,” I said. “Because my friends down there are about to clean your clock.”
And they did.
It wasn’t even close.
TWENTY-FIVE
And so I went home, Consu gift in tow.
John and Jane greeted me as I jumped off the Obin shuttle, all of us ending in a pile as I ran into Mom full speed and then we dragged Dad down with us. Then I showed them my new toy: the sapper field generator, specially designed by the Consu to give us a tactical advantage when Nerbros Eser and his friends came to call. Jane immediately took to it and started fiddling with it; that was her thing.
Hickory and Dickory and I decided that in the end neither John nor Jane needed to know what it took for us to get it. The less they knew, the less the Colonial Union could charge them with at their treason trial. Although it looked like that might not happen—the Roanoke council did remove John and Jane from their posts once they revealed where they had sent me and who I was supposed to see, and had appointed Gretchen’s dad Manfred in their place. But they had given Mom and Dad ten days to hear back from me before they informed the Colonial Union about what they’d done. I got back just under the wire and once they saw what I brought, weren’t inclined to offer my parents to the tender affections of the Colonial Union judicial system. I wasn’t going to complain about that.
After I got Mom and Dad acquainted with the sapper field generator, I went for a walk and found Gretchen, reading a book on her porch.
“I’m back,” I said.
“Oh,” she said, casually flipping a page. “Were you gone?”