Dad asked Hickory why, if they had different information, they had not shared it earlier. Hickory said because they had been ordered not to by their government; neither Hickory nor Dickory would have lied about having the information if Dad had asked them, but he had never asked them about it before. I think this struck Dad as a bit weaselly on the part of Hickory and Dickory, but he let it go.
Dad asked Hickory if it’d seen the video the Colonial Union had given us, of the Conclave destroying the Whaid colony. Hickory said that it and Dickory had their own version. Dad asked if their version was different; Hickory said it was—it was longer and showed General Gau, who had ordered the destruction of the Whaid colony, trying to convince the Whaidi colony leader to let the Conclave evacuate the colonists, only to have the Whaid refuse to leave before the destruction of their colony. Hickory said that other times, on other colony worlds, colonists did ask to be evacuated, and the Conclave carried them off the planet, and sent them back to their homeworlds or allowed them to join the Conclave as citizens.
Jane asked for numbers. Hickory said they knew of seventeen colony removals by the Conclave. Ten of those had the Conclave returning colonists to their former homes. Four of those had the colonists joining the Conclave. Only three involved the destruction of the colonies, after the colonists refused to move. The Conclave was dead serious about not allowing anyone else to start new colonies, but—unlike what we were told by the Colonial Union—didn’t insist on killing everyone on those new colonies to make the point.
This was fascinating stuff—and disturbing. Because if what Hickory was saying was true—and it was, because Hickory would not lie to me, or to my parents against my will—then it meant that either the Colonial Union had been wildly wrong about the Conclave, and its leader General Gau, or that the CU had lied to us when it told us what would happen if the Conclave found us. The first of these was certainly possible, I suppose; the Colonial Union was in a state of active hostility with almost every other alien race that we knew about, which I would guess would make intelligence gathering harder than it might be if we had more friends. But it was really more likely that the second of these was the truth: Our government lied to us.
But if the Colonial Union lied to us, why did it do it? What did it get from lying to us, punting us to who knows where in the universe, and making us live in fear of being discovered—and putting all of us in danger?
What was our own government up to?
And what would the Conclave really do to us if it found us?
This was such an interesting thing to think about that I almost missed the part where Hickory explained the reason why it and Dickory actually had detailed files about the Conclave’s other colony removals: in order to convince Mom and Dad, should the Conclave come knocking, to surrender our colony rather than to let it be destroyed. And why would they want to convince Mom and Dad of this?
“Because of Zo??” Dad asked Hickory.
“Yes,” Hickory said.
“Wow,” I said. This was news.
“Quiet, sweetheart,” Dad said, and then gave his attention back to Hickory. “What would happen if Jane and I chose not to surrender the colony?” he asked.
“We would prefer not to say,” Hickory said.
“Don’t evade,” Dad said. “Answer the question.”
I caught Hickory giving me a quick look before it answered. “We would kill you and Lieutenant Sagan,” Hickory said. “You and any other colony leader who would authorize the destruction of the colony.”
Dad said something to this and Hickory said something back, but I missed most of it because my brain was trying to process what I had just heard, and it was absolutely and completely utterly failing. I knew I was important to the Obin. I had always known it abstractly, and then Hickory and Dickory had pounded the point into me months ago, when they had attacked me and showed me what it felt to be hunted, and showed me why I had to learn to defend myself. But in no formulation of my importance was even the conception that I was so important to the Obin that if it came to it, they would kill my parents to save me.
I didn’t even know how to think about something like that. Didn’t know how to feel about it. The idea kept trying to hook into my brain, and it just wasn’t working. It was like having an out of body experience. I floated up over the conversation, and listened to Jane interject herself into the discussion, asking Hickory if even after admitting this as their plan, if it and Dickory would still kill her and John. Kill my mom and dad.
“If you choose to surrender the colony, yes,” Hickory said.
I actually felt a snap as I reeled myself back into my head, and I’m happy to say that I quite suddenly knew exactly how to feel about all of this: absolutely enraged.
“Don’t you dare,” I said, and I flung out the words. “Under no circumstances will you do that.” I was surprised to find myself standing when I said it; I didn’t remember getting up. I was shaking so hard with anger I wasn’t sure how I was still standing.
Hickory and Dickory both flinched at my anger, and trembled. “This one thing we must refuse you,” Hickory said. “You are too important. To us. To all Obin.”
To all Obin.