“Maybe,” Gretchen said. “It’s a nice thought. We’ll have to see if it’s actually true.”
“We could practice a new song,” I said. “Hickory says Dickory’s been wanting to try something new for a while now.”
“That’s funny,” Gretchen said. “One of your bodyguards has become a musical fiend.”
“He’s a Roanoker too,” I said.
“I guess he is,” Gretchen said. “That’s funny, too.”
My PDA blinked; something happened with Gretchen’s as well. She peered at hers. “It’s a message from Magdy,” she said. “This is going to be bad.” She touched the PDA to open it. “Yup,” she said, and showed me the picture. Magdy sent a short video of him mooning us.
“Some people are getting back into the swing of things sooner than others,” I said.
“Unfortunately,” Gretchen said. She tapped onto her PDA. “There,” she said. “I made a note to kick his ass the next time I see him.” She motioned at my PDA. “He send it to you, too?”
“Yes,” I said. “I think I’ll refrain from opening it.”
“Coward,” Gretchen said. “Well, then, what is going to be your first official act on your PDA?”
“I’m going to send a message to a certain two someones,” I said. “And tell them that I want to see them alone.”
“We apologize for being late,” Hickory said to me, as it and Dickory stepped into my bedroom. “Major Perry and General Rybicki gave us priority status on a data packet so that we could communicate with our government. It took some time to prepare the data.”
“What did you send?” I asked.
“Everything,” Hickory said.
“Everything,” I said. “Every single thing you two and I did in the last year.”
“Yes,” Hickory said. “A digest of events now, and a more comprehensive report as soon as we can. Our people will be desperate to know what has happened with you since they last heard from us. They need to know you are well and unharmed.”
“This includes what happened last night,” I said. “All of it. Including the part where you oh so lightly mentioned your plans to murder my parents.”
“Yes,” Hickory said. “We are sorry to have upset you, Zo?. We would not have wished to do that. But you offered us no alternative when you told us to speak the truth to your parents.”
“And what about to me?” I asked.
“We have always told you the truth,” Hickory said.
“Yes, but not all of it, have you?” I said. “You told Dad that you had information about the Conclave that you didn’t tell him about. But you didn’t tell it to me, either. You kept secrets from me, Hickory. You and Dickory both.”
“You never asked,” Hickory said.
“Oh, don’t give me that crap,” I said. “We’re not playing word games here, Hickory. You kept us in the dark. You kept me in the dark. And the more I’ve thought about it, the more I realize how you acted on what you knew without telling me. All those alien races you had me and Gretchen study in the information center. All the races you trained us how to fight. Hardly any of them were in the Conclave. Because you knew that if the Conclave found us first, they’d try everything not to fight us.”
“Yes,” Hickory said.
“Don’t you think I should have known that?” I asked. “Don’t you think it would have mattered to me? To all of us? To the entire colony?”
“We are sorry, Zo?,” Hickory said. “We had orders from our government not to reveal information to your parents that they did not already know, until such time as it became absolutely necessary. That would have only been if the Conclave were to appear in your sky. Until then, we were required to exercise care. If we had spoken to you about it, you would have naturally informed your parents. And so we decided that we would not bring these things up with you, unless you asked us directly about them.”
“And why would I do that?” I asked.
“Indeed,” Hickory said. “We regret the necessity. But we saw no other alternative.”
“Listen to me, both of you,” I said, and then stopped. “You’re recording this now, aren’t you.”
“Yes,” Hickory said. “We always record, unless you tell us otherwise. Would you like us to stop recording?”
“No,” I said. “I actually want all of you to hear this. First, I forbid you to harm my parents in any way. Ever.”
“Major Perry has already informed us that he would surrender the colony rather than destroy it,” Hickory said. “Since this is true there is no reason to harm either him or Lieutenant Sagan.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Who knows if there’s going to be another time you decide it’s going to be necessary to try to get rid of John and Jane?”
“It seems unlikely,” Hickory said.