The Last Colony

THIRTEEN

Save for Roanoke itself, the colony of Everest was the youngest human colony, settled just before the Conclave gave its warning tc other races not to colonize any longer. Like Roanoke, Everest defenses were modest: a pair of defense satellites and six beam turrets, three each for the two settlements, and one CDF cruiser on rotation. When Everest was hit, it was the Des Moines stationed over the settlements. A good ship and a good crew, but the Des Moines was not enough to counter the six Arrisian ships that skipped with daring precision into Everest space, firing missiles at the Des Moines and the defense satellites as they arrived. The Des Moines '

sheared down its length and began the long fall toward the Everest j surface; the defense satellites were rendered into so much floating junk.

The planet's defenses collapsed, the Arrisian ships took their time searing the Everest settlements from orbit, finally dispatching a company to clean up the straggling colonists who remained. In the end 5,800 Everest colonists were dead. The Arrisians left behind no colonists or garrison and made no claim to the planet. They simply eradicated the human presence there.

Erie was no Everest—it was one of the oldest and most heavily populated of the human worlds, with a planetary defense grid and permanent CDF presence that would make it impossible for all but the most insanely ambitious races to make a play for. But even planetary defense grids can't track every single chunk of ice or rock that falls into the gravity well. Several dozen such apparent chunks fell into Erie's atmosphere, over the Erie city of New Cork. As they fell, the heat generated by the friction of the atmosphere was channeled and focused, powering the compact chemical lasers hidden within the rock.

Several of the beams struck strategic manufacturing concerns in New Cork, related to CDF weapons systems. Several more appeared to strike randomly, slashing through homes, schools and markets, killing hundreds. Their beams spent, the lasers burned up in the atmosphere, leaving no clue who had sent them or why.

This happened as Trujillo, Beata, Kranjic and I made our way back to Roanoke. We were unaware of it at the time, of course. We were unaware of the specific attacks that were going on around the Colonial Union, because the news was kept from us, and because we were focused on our own survival.

"You've offered us the protection of the Obin," I said to Hickory within hours of my return to Roanoke. "We'd like to take advantage of that offer."

"There are complications," Hickory said.

I glanced over at Jane, and then back to Hickory. "Well, of course there are," I said. "It wouldn't be fun without complications."

"I sense sarcasm," Hickory said, with utterly no sense of humor whatsoever.

"I apologize, Hickory," I said. "I'm having a bad week and it's not getting any better. Please tell what these complications might be."

"After you left, a skip drone arrived from Obinur, and we were finally able to communicate with our government. We have been told that once the Magellan disappeared, the Colonial Union formally requssted that the Obin not interfere with the Roanoke colony, openly or covertly."

"Roanoke was specified," Jane said.

"Yes," said Hickory.

"Why?" I asked.

"The Colonial Union did not explain," Hickory said. "We now assume it was because an Obin attempt to locate the planet could have disrupted the Colonial Union's attack on the Conclave fleet. Our government agreed not to interfere but noted that should any harm come to Zoe, we would be greatly displeased. The Colonial Union assured our government that Zoe was reasonably safe. As she was."

"The Colonial Union's attack on the Conclave fleet is over," I said.

"The agreement did not specify when it would be acceptable to interfere," Hickory said, again with no trace of humor. "We are( still bound to it." ^

"So you can do nothing for us," Jane said. '

"We are charged with protecting Zoe," Hickory said. "But we have been made to understand that the definition of protection extends only so far."

"And if Zoe orders you to protect the colony?" I asked.

"Zoe may order Dickory and me as she wishes," Hickory said. "But it is doubtful that even her intercession would be enough."

I got up from my desk and stalked over to the window to look up at the night sky. "Do the Obin know the Colonial Union is under attack?'' I asked.

"We do," Hickory said. "There have been numerous attacks since the destruction of the Conclave fleet."

"Then you know that the Colonial Union will have to make choices as to which colonies it needs to defend and which it will sacrifice. And that Roanoke is more likely to be in that second category."

"We know this," Hickory said.

"But you'll still do nothing to help us," I said.

"Not so long as Roanoke remains part of the Colonial Union," Hickory said.

Jane was on this before I could open my mouth. "Explain that," she said.

"An independent Roanoke would require a new response from us," Hickory said. "If Roanoke declares itself independent of the Colonial Union, the Obin would feel obliged to offer support and aid on an interim basis until the Colonial Union reacquired the planet or agreed to its succession."

"But you would risk alienating the Colonial Union," Jane said.

"The Colonial Union has a number of other priorities at the moment," Hickory said. "We do not feel the repercussions of aiding an independent Roanoke will be significant in the long run."

"So you will help us," I said. "You just want us to declare ourselves independent of the Colonial Union first."

"We neither advise you to secede nor to stay," Hickory said. "We merely note that if you should secede, we will help defend you."

I turned to Jane. "What do you think?"

"I doubt the people of this colony are ready for us to declare their independence," Jane said.

"If the alternative is death?" I said.

"Some of them probably would prefer death to being a traitor,"

Jane said. "Or to being permanently cut off from the rest of humanity."

"Let's ask them," I said.

The attack on Wabash colony was not much of an attack at all; a few missiles tc destroy the colony's administrative offices and landmarks, and a small invading force of a few hundred Bhav soldiers to shoot up the place. But then Wabash wasn't the target. The targets were the three CDF cruisers that skipped in to defend the colony. The skip drone that had alerted the CDF to the attack indicated one Bhav cruiser and three smaller gunboats, all of which could be easily handled by three cruisers. What the skip drone could not indicate is that shortly after it skipped away from Wabash space, six additional Bhav cruisers skipped in, destroyed the satellite that launched the skip drones, and readied themselves for an ambush.

The CDF cruisers entered Wabash space cautiously—by this time it was clear that the Colonial Union was under a general attack, and the CDF ship commanders were neither stupid nor rash. But the odds were against them from the moment they arrived in Wabash space. The CDF cruisers Augusta, Savannah and Portland took down three of the Bhav cruisers and all of th| smaller gunships before they were overwhelmed and destroyed, scattering metal, air and crew into the space above the planet. It was three fewer cruisers the CDF had to defend the Colonial Union. It was also a signal that every new incident would have to be met with overwhelming force, constricting the number of colonies the CDF could defend at one time. Priorities already shifted to the new realities of war shifted once again, and not in the CU's favor, nor in Roanoke's.

"You're out of your mind," said Marie Black. "We're under attack from this Conclave, it wants to kill us all dead, and your solution to the problem is to go it alone, with no help from the rest of the human race? That's just insane."

The looks up and down the Council table told me that Jane and I were all alone on this one, just like Jane suspected we would be. Even Manfred Trujillo, who knew the situation better than anyone, was taken aback by the suggestion we declare our independence. This was the original tough crowd.

"We wouldn't be alone," I said. "The Obin will help us if we're independent."

"That makes me feel safer," Black said, mockingly. "Aliens are planning to murder us all, but don't worry, we've got these pet aliens to keep us safe. That is, until they decide they're better off siding with the other aliens."

"That's not a very accurate assessment of the Obin," I said.

"But the Obin's primary concern isn't our colony," said Lee Chen. "It's your daughter. God forbid something happens to your daughter, because then where will we be? The Obin will have no more reason to help us. We'd be isolated from the rest of the Colonial Union."

"We're already isolated from the rest of the Colonial Union," I said. "Planets are under attack all over the union. The CDF is already scrambling to respond. We're not a priority. We won't be a priority. We've served our purpose."

"We have only your word for that," Chen said. "We're getting news reports, now that we've got access to our PDAs. There's nothing in the news about anything of this."

"You have my word for it as well," Trujillo said. "I'm not ready to sign on to independence, either, but Perry's not lying. The Colonial Union has its priorities right now, and we're definitely not one of them."

"I'm not trying to say that either of you are not as good as your word," Chen said. "But think of what you're asking us to do here. You're asking us to risk everything—everything—on your word."

"Even if we were to agree to this, what then?" asked Lol Ger-ber, who had replaced Hiram Yoder on the council. "We'd be isolated. If the Colonial Union survives, we'd have to settle with them for raising rebellion. If the Colonial Union were to fall, then we'd be all that is left of the human race, and reliant on the grace of another people for our survival. How long could we expect them to shelter us, if the whole host of the intelligent races want us dead? How could we in good conscience ask the Obin to put their own survival at stake for ours? The Colonial Union is humanity. We belong in it, for better or worse."

"It's not all of humanity," I said. "There's Earth."

"Which is kept in a corner by the Colonial Union," Black said. "It's not going to be any help to us now."

I sighed. "I can see where this is going to go," I said. "I asked the Council for its vote, and Jane and I will abide by it. But I beg you, think about it. Don't let your prejudice of the Obin," I glanced at Marie Black, "or a feeling of patriotism blind you to the fact that we are now in a war, and we are at the front line—and wj2 have no support from home. We are on our own. We need to consider what we have to do to survive, because no one else is looking out for us."

"You've never been this bleak before, Perry," said Marta Piro. "I don't think things have been this bleak before," I said. "All right then. Let's vote."

I voted to secede. Jane abstained; it was our tradition to only cast one vote between us. Every other member of the Council voted to stay in the Colonial Union.

Technically speaking, mine was the only vote that counted.

Of course, technically speaking, by voting to leave the Colonial Union, I had just voted for treason. So maybe everyone else was doing me a favor.

"We're a colony," I said. "Still." Smiles broke out across the table.

"Now what do we do?" Marie Black asked.

"I'm thinking," I said. "Believe me, I'm thinking."

Bonita was a planet that lived up to its name, a lovely place with abundant wildlife with just the right genetic components for human consumption. Bonita had been settled fifteen years earlier; still a young colony, but established enough to have its own personality. Bonita was attacked by the Dtrutz, a species of more ambition than brains. This is one encounter that went decisively for the Colonial Union; the trio of CDF cruisers over Bonita made short work of the Dtrutz invading force, picking off their poorly designed ships first during the initial attack and then in a more leisurely fashion as the Dtrutz ships attempted to reach skip distance before the CDF rail gun projectiles reached the Dtrutz ships. The Dtrutz were not at all successful in this endeavor.

What made the Dtrutz attack notable was not its complete incompetence but the fact that the Dtrutz were not a Conclave species; like the Colonial Union, they were unaffiliated. The Dtrutz were under the same ban on colonization as the Colonial Union. They attacked anyway. They knew—as did an increasing number of races—that the Colonial Union was locked in a wide struggle with elements of the Conclave, and that meant the possibility of peeling away some of the lesser human colonies while the CDF was otherwise occupied. The Colonial Union was wounded and shedding blood in the water, and the lesser fish were coming up from the depths to get a taste.

"We've come for your daughter," Hickory said to me.

"I beg your pardon," I said. Despite everything, I couldn't resist the urge to crack a grin.

"Our government has determined that it is inevitable that Roanoke will be attacked and destroyed," Hickory said.

"Swell," I said.

"Dickory and I both regret this eventuality," Hickory said, leaning forward slightly for emphasis. "And our inability to assist you in preventing this."

"Well, thanks," I said, hoping it didn't sound too insincere.

Apparently, it did not. "We are not allowed to interfere or offer aid, but we have decided that it is acceptable to remove Zoe from danger," Hickory continued. "We've requested a transport ship for her and for us; it is on its way. We wanted to let you know of these plans because she is your daughter, and because we have also secured permission to transport you and Jane if you wish."

"So the three of us can escape from this mess," I said. Hickory nodded. "What about everyone else?"

"We have no permission to accommodate others," Hickory said.

"But does no permission mean you can't accommodate oth7 ers?" I asked. "If Zoe wants to take her best friend Gretchen, afe you going to tell her no? And do you think Zoe is going to leave if Jane and I stay?"

"Do you plan to stay?" Hickory asked. "Of course we do," I said. "You will die," Hickory said.

"We might," I said, "although I'm working to avoid that right now. But regardless, Roanoke is where we belong. We're not leaving, and I suspect you'll have a difficult time convincing Zoe to leave without us, or without her friends."

"She would leave if you told her to," Hickory said.

I smiled, reached on my desk to key my PDA, and sent a message to Zoe to meet me immediately in my office. She arrived a few minutes later.

"Hickory and Dickory want you to leave Roanoke," I said.

"Are you and Mom coming?" Zoe asked.

"No," I said.

"Then the hell with that," Zoe said, looking directly at Hickory as she said so.

I held my hands open in supplication to Hickory. "Told you," I said.

"You didn't tell her to come away," Hickory said.

"Go away, Zoe," I said.

"Screw you, ninety-year-old dad," Zoe' said, smiling and yet deadly serious at the same time. Then she turned back to the Obin. "And screw the both of you, too. And while we're at it, screw being whatever it is that I am to the Obin. If you want to protect me, protect the people I care about. Protect this colony."

"We cannot," Hickory said. "We've been forbidden to do so."

"Then you have a problem," Zoe said. Her smile was gone, and her eyes were glistening. "Because I'm not going anywhere. And there's nothing either you or anyone can do to change that." Zoe stormed out.

"That went pretty much exactly as I expected," I said.

"You didn't do all you could do to convince her," Hickory said.

I squinted at Hickory. "You're suggesting I was insincere."

"Yes," Hickory said. Its expression was even more unreadable than usual, but I can't imagine that saying something like that was easy for it; the emotional response would probably cause it to shut down its interface soon.

"You're right," I said. "I was insincere."

"But why?" Hickory asked, and I was surprised by the plain-tiveness in its voice. It was shaking now. "You have killed your own child, and the child of Charles Boutin."

"She's not dead yet," I said. "And neither are we. Neither is this colony."

"You know we cannot allow Zoe to come to harm," Dickory said, breaking his silent act. I was reminded that he was in actuality the superior of the two Obin.

"Are you going to go back to the plan of killing me and Jane to protect Zoe?" I asked.

"It is to be hoped not," Dickory said.

"What a delightfully ambiguous answer," I said.

"It's not ambiguous," Hickory said. "You know what our position is. What it must be."

"And I'd ask you to remember what my position is," I said. "I've told you that in every circumstance you should protect Zoe. That position has not changed."

"But you have made it substantially more difficult," Hickory said. "You may have made it impossible."

"I don't think so," I said. "Let me make a proposal to the two of you. You have a ship arriving soon. I'm going to promise you thai Zoe will leave with you on that ship. But you have to promise me' that you take her where I am going to ask her to go."

"Where is that?" Hickory said.

"I'm not going to tell you yet," I said.

"That will make it difficult fDr us to agree," Hickory said.

"That's the breaks," I said. 'But I guarantee you where you're taking her will be more safe than here. Now. Agree, and I'll make sure she goes with you. Don't, you'll have to find a way to protect her here, or kill me and Jane trying to drag her away. These are your choices."

Hickory and Dickory leaned in and conversed for several minutes, longer than I had ever seen them converse before.

"We accept your condition," Hickory said.

"Good," I said. "Now all I have to do is get Zoe to agree. Not to mention Jane."

"Will you tell us now where we will be taking Zoe?" Hickory asked.

"To deliver a message," I said.

The Kristina Marie had just docked at Khartoum Station when its engine compartment shattered, vaporizing the back quarter of the trading ship and driving the front three-quarters of the ship directly into Khartoum Station. The station's hull buckled and snapped; air and personnel burst from the fracture lines. Across the impact zone airtight bulkheads sprang into place, only to be torn from their moorings and sockets by the encroaching inertial mass of the Kristina Marie, itself bleeding atmosphere and crew from the collision. When the ship came to rest, the explosion and collision had crippled Khartoum Station, and killed 566 people on the station and all but six members of the Kristina Marie's crew, two of whom died shortly thereafter of their injuries.

The explosion of the Kristina Marie did more than destroy the ship and much of Khartoum Station; it coincided with the harvest of Khartoum's hogfruit, a native delicacy that was one of Khartoum's major exports. Hogfruit spoiled quickly after ripening (it got its name from the fact Khartoum's settlers fed the overripe fruit to their pigs, who were the only ones who would eat them at that point), so Khartoum had invested heavily to be able to harvest and ship for export its hogfruit crop within days of ripening, via Khartoum Station. The Kristina Marie was only one of a hundred Colonial Union trade ships above Khartoum, awaiting its share of the fruit.

With Khartoum Station down, the streamlined distribution system for the hogfruit ground into disarray. Ships dispatched shuttles to Khartoum itself to try to pack in as many crates of the fruit as possible, but this led to confusion on the ground in terms of which hogfruit producers had priority in shipping their product, and which trade ships had priority in receiving them. Fruit had to be unpacked from storage containers and repacked into shuttles; there were not nearly enough cargo men for the job. The vast majority of hogfruit rotted in its containers, delivering a major shock to the Khartoum economy, which would be compounded in the long term by the need to rebuild Khartoum Station—the economic lifeline for other exports as well—and bolster the defenses of Khartoum from further attack.

Before the Kristim Marie docked at Khartoum Station, it transmitted its identification, cargo manifest and recent itinerary as part of the standard security "handshake." The records showed that two stops previous, the Kristina Marie had traded at Quii, the homeworld of the Qui, one of the Colonial Union's few allies. It had docked rext to a ship of Ylan registry, the Ylan beir& members of the Conclave. Forensic analysis of the explosion left no doubt that it was intentionally triggered and not an accidental breach of the engine core. From Phoenix came the order that no trade ship that had visited a nonhuman world in the last year was to approach a space station without a thorough scan and inspection. Hundreds of trade ships floated in space, their cargo unpacked and crews quarantined in the original Venetian sense of the word, awaiting the eradication of a different sort of plague.

The Kristina Mark had been sabotaged and sent on its way, to the place where its destruction could have the most impact, not just in deaths but in paralyzing the economy of the Colonial Union. It worked brilliantly.

The Roanoke Council didn't react well to the news that I had sent Zoe to deliver a message to General Gau.

"We need to discuss your treason problem," Manfred Trujillo said to me.

"I don't have a problem with treason," I said. "I can stop anytime." I looked around the table at the rest of the Council members. The little joke didn't go over well.

"Goddamn it, Perry," Lee Chen said, angrier than I'd ever seen him. "The Conclave is planning to kill us, and you're passing notes to its leader?"

"And you've used your daughter to do it," Marie Black said, disgust creeping into her voice. "You've sent your only child to our enemy."

I glanced over at Jane and Savitri, both of whom nodded to me. We knew this was going to come up; we had discussed how best to handle it when it did.

"No, I didn't," I said. "We have enemies and lots of them, but General Gau isn't one of them." I told them of my conversation with General Szilard of the Special Forces, and his warning of the assassination attempt on Gau. "Gau has promised us that he wouldn't attack Roanoke," I said. "If he dies, there's nothing between us and whoever wants to kill us."

"There's nothing between us and them now," Lee Chen said. "Or did you miss the attack on us a couple of weeks back?"

"I didn't miss it," I said. "And I suspect it would have been much worse if Gau didn't have at least some control over the Conclave. If he knows about this assassination attempt he can use it to get back control of the rest of the Conclave. And then we'll be safe. Or at least safer. I decided it was worth it to take the risk to let him know."

"You didn't put it up for a vote," said Marta Piro.

"I didn't have to," I said. "I am still colony leader, fane and I decided that this was the best thing to do. And it's not like you would have said 'yes," anyway."

"But it's treason," Trujillo repeated. "For real this time, John. This is more than coyly asking the general not to bring his fleet here. You're interfering with the internal politics of the Conclave. There's no way the Colonial Union is going to let you do this, especially when they've already hauled you up in front of an inquiry."

"I'll take responsibility for my actions," I said.

"Yes, well, unfortunately, we will all have to take responsibility for them, too," Marie Black said. "Unless you think the Colonial Union is going to assume youVe been doing this all on your own."

I eyed Marie Black. "Just out of curiosity, Marie, what do you think the CU is going to do? Send CDF troops here to arrest me and Jane? Personally I think that would be fine. Then at lea|pt there'd be a military presence here if we're attacked. The only other option would be that they hang us out to dry, and you know what? That's what's happening already."

I looked around the table. "I think we need to reemphasize again a salient fact that keeps getting overlooked, here: We are completely, entirely and utterly on our own. Our value to the Colonial Union now is in our demise, to rally the other colonies to join in the fight with their own citizens and treasuries. I don't mind being a symbol for the rest of the Colonial Union, but I don't want to have to die for the privilege. I don't want any of you to have to die for the privilege, either."

Trujillo looked over to Jane. "You agree with all of this," he said to her.

"John got his information from my former commanding officer," Jane said. "I have issues to settle with him on a personal level. I don't doubt the information is good."

"But does he have an agenda?" Trujillo asked.

"Of course he has an agenda," Jane said. "He wants to keep the rest of the universe from stomping on us like we're fucking bugs. I thought he made that pretty clear."

That put a pause to Trujillo. "I mean does he have an agenda we don't see," he said, finally.

"I doubt it," Jane said. "Special Forces are pretty straightforward. We're sneaky when it's necessary, but when it comes to it, we come at you straight on."

"Which makes him the first," I said. "The Colonial Union hasn't dealt with us honestly in any of this."

"They didn't have a choice," Lee Chen said.

"Don't give me that," I said. "We're too far along in this to swallow that one whole anymore. Yes, the CU was playing a deep game with the Conclave, and it didn't bother to tell us pawns what the game was. But now the CU is playing a new game and it's dependent on us being taken off the board."

"We don't know that for sure," Marta Piro said.

"We know we have no defenses," Trujillo said. "And we know where we stand in the line to get more. Regardless of the reasons, John's right. We're up against it."

"I still want to know how you can live with sending your daughter to negotiate with this General Gau," Marie Black said.

"It made sense," Jane said.

"I don't see how," Black said.

"Zoe is traveling with the Obin," Jane said. "The Obin are not actively hostile with the Conclave. General Gau will receive the Obin, where he could not receive a Colonial ship."

"Even if we could somehow get a Colonial ship, which we can't," I said.

"Neither John nor I can leave the colony without our absence being noted by both the Colonial Union and our own settlers," Jane said. "Zoe, on the other hand, has a special relationship with the Obin. Her leaving the planet at the Obin's insistence was something the Colonial Union would expect."

"There's another advantage, too," I said. Heads swiveled to me. "Even if I or Jane could have made the trip, there'd be no reason for Gau to accept our information as genuine or in earnest. The leaders of colonies have sacrificed themselves before. But with Zoe, we're giving Gau more than information."

"You're giving him a hostage," Trujillo said.

"Yes," I said.

"You're playing a risky game," Trujillo said.

"This isn't a game," I said. "We had to make sure we were heard. And it's a calculated risk. The Obin are with Zoe, and I don't ttynk they'll stand idly by if Gau does anything stupid." }

"You're still risking her life," Black said. "You're risking her life and she's only a child."

"If she stayed here, she would have died like the rest of us," Jane said. "By going, she'll live, and she gives us a chance to survive. We did the right thing."

Marie Black opened her mouth to respond. "You need to think very hard about the rext thing you say concerning my daughter," Jane said. Black closed her mouth with an audible clack.

"You've set this course of action without us," Lol Gerber said. "But you're telling us now. I'd like to know the reason why."

"We sent Zoe because we thought it was necessary," I said. "That was our decision to make, and we made it. But Marie is right: You are going to have to live with consequences of our actions. We had to tell you. If Marie's any indication, some of you have lost confidence in us. Right now you need leaders you feel you can trust. We've told you what we've done and why. One of the consequences of our actions is that now you need to vote on whether you want us to lead the colony any further."

"The Colonial Union won't accept anyone new," Marta Piro said.

"I think that depends on what you tell them," I said. "If you tell them we've been consorting with the enemy, I'm guessing they'd approve the change."

"So you're also asking us whether or not to turn you in to the Colonial Union," Trujillo said.

"We're asking you to do what you think is necessary," I said. "Just as we have done." I stood up; Jane followed. We walked outside of our office and into the Roanoke sunlight.

"How long do you think it will take?" I asked Jane.

"Not long," Jane said. "I expect Marie Black will make sure of that."

"I want to thank you for not killing her," I said. "It would have made the vote of confidence problematic."

"I did want to kill her, but not because she was wrong," Jane said. "She's right. We're risking Zoe's life. And she's a child."

I walked over to my wife. "She's almost as old as you are," I said, rubbing her arm.

Jane pulled away. "It's not the same and you know it," she said.

"No, it's not," I said. "But Zoe's old enough to understand what she's doing. She's lost people she's cared for, just like you have. Just like I have. And she knows that she stands to lose a lot more. She chose to go. We gave her a choice."

"We gave her a false choice," Jane said. "We stood in front of her and gave her the choice of risking her own life or risking the lives of everyone she knows, including ours. You can't tell me that was a fair set of choices to give her.'

"It's not," Isaid. "But those were the choices we had to give her."

"I hate this fucking universe," Jane said, looking away. "I hate the Colonial Union. I hate the Conclave. I hate this colony. I hate all of it."

"How do you feel about me?" I asked.

"Now is not a good time to ask," Jane said. We sat and waited.

A half hour later Savitri walked out of the administration office. Her eyes were red. "Well, there's good news and bad news," she said. "The good news is that you have ten days before they tell the CU that you've been talking to General Gau. You have Trujillo to thank for that."

"That's something," I said.

"Yeah," Savitri said. "The bad news is that you're out. Both of you. Unanimous vote. I'm just the secretary. I couldn't vote. Sorry."

"Who has the job now?" Jane asked.

"Trujillo," Savitri said. "Of course. Bastard started angling for the job before you two closed the door."

"He's really not that bad," I said.

"I know," Savitri said, and wiped her eyes. "I'm just trying to make you feel like I'll miss you."

I smiled. "Well, I appreciate that." I gave her a hug. She hugged me back fiercely, and then stepped back.

"What now?" Savitri asked.

"We have ten days," I said. "Now we wait."

The ship knew the Roanoke defenses, or lack thereof, which is why it appeared in the sky on the other side of the planet, where the colony's single defense satellite couldn't see it. The ship let itself down gently into the atmosphere to avoid the heat and drama of reentry, and slowly crossed the longitudes of the globe, heading toward the colony. Before the ship crossed the defense satellite's perceptual horizon, and the heat of its engines would be sensed by it, the ship cut them out, and began a long gravity-assisted glade toward the colony, its small mass supported by immense but whisper-thin electrically-generated wings. The ship fell, silently, toward its target, us.

We saw it just as it finished its long glide and discarded its wings, switching over to maneuvering jets and flotation fields. The sudden plumes of heat and energy were caught by the satellite, which immediately sent a warning—too late, as it turned out, because by the time it had signaled, the ship had already maneuvered to land. The satellite sped telemetry to our beam turrets and warmed up its own beam defenses, which were now fully recharged.

Jane, who was still in charge of colony defense, signaled for the satellite to stand down. The ship was now within colony borders, if not within the walls of Croatoan; if the satellite fired, the colony itself would be damaged. Jane likewise took the beam turrets offline; they too would end up causing more damage to the colony than the ship would.

The ship landed; Jane and Trujillo and I walked out to meet it. As we walked a bay on the ship slid open. A passenger shot out from the bay, yelling and running at Jane, who prepared herself for the impact. Badly, as it turned out, because she and Zoe' both tumbled to the ground. I went over to laugh at them; Jane grabbed an ankle and pulled me down to the pile. Trujillo stood at a prudent distance, so as not to get caught up in the mess.

"It took you long enough," I said to Zoe, after I finally detan-gled myself. "Another day and a half, and your mom and I would be headed to Phoenix on a treason charge."

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about," Zoe' said. "I'm just glad to see you." She grabbed me in another hug.

"Zoe," Jane said. "You saw General Gau."

"Saw him?" Zoe said. "We were there for the assassination attempt."

"You what?" Jane and I said simultaneously.

Zoe held up her hands, placatingly. "Survived it," she said. "As you can see."

I looked over to Jane. "I think I just wet myself," I said.

"I'm fine," Zoe said. "It wasn't that bad, really."

"You know, even fcr a teenager, you might be a bit blase about this," I said. Zoe grinned. I hugged her again, even more tightly.

"And the general?" Jane said.

"Survived it too," Zoe said. "And not just survived it. Came out of it furious. He's using the attempt to call people on the carpet. To demand their loyalty to him."

"To him?" I said. "That doesn't sound like him. He said to me that the Conclave wasn't an empire. If he's demanding loyalty it sounds like he's making himself an emperor." f

"Some of his closest advisers did just try to murder him," Zoe said. "He could use some personal loyalty right now."

"I can't argue that," I said.

"But it's not over," Zoe said. "That's why I came back. There's still a group of planets holding out. They're led by someone named Eser. Nerbros Eser. They've been the ones attacking the Colonial Union, he said."

"Right," I said, remembering what General Szilard had said about Eser.

"General Gau gave me a message for you," Zoe said. "He says that Eser is coming here. Soon. Eser wants to take Roanoke because the general couldn't. Taking Roanoke gives him leverage, the general said. A way to shew he's more able to lead the Conclave."

"Of course," I said. "Everyone else is using Roanoke as a pawn. Why not this asshole?"

"If this Eser is attacking the Colonial Union at large, then he's not going to have any trouble finishing us off," Trujillo said. He was still keeping his distance from the pile.

"The general said that his information says that Eser doesn't plan to hit us from space," Zoe said. "He wants to land here, to take Roanoke with troops. The general said he would use just enough to take the colony. Sort of the opposite of what the general did with his fleet. To make a point. There's more in the files the general gave me."

"So it will be a small attack force," I said. Zoe nodded.

"Unless he's coming with just himself and a couple of friends, we're still going to have a problem," Trujillo said, and nodded toward me and Jane. "You two are the only ones with any real military training. Even with our ground defenses, we won't last long against real soldiers."

Jane was about to respond, but Zoe beat her to it. "I've thought of that," she said.

Trujillo appeared to stifle a grin. "You have," he said.

Zoe turned serious. "Mr. Trujillo, your daughter is my best friend in the world," she said. "I don't want her to die. I don't want you to die. I'm in a position to help. Please don't condescend to me."

Trujillo straightened up. "I apologize, Zoe," he said. "I meant no disrespect. It's just I wasn't expecting you to have a plan."

"And neither was I," I said.

"You remember a long time ago I complained that being an object of worship for an entire race of people wasn't even good enough to get me out of homework," Zoe said.

"Vaguely," I said.

"Well, while I was away I decided to find out what it was actually good for," Zoe said.

"I still don't get it," I said.

Zoe' took my hand, and then reached out to Jane for hers. "Come on," she said. "Hickory and Dickory are still inside the ship. They're keeping an eye on something for me. I want to show it to you."

"What is it?" Jane asked.

"It's a surprise," Zoe said. "But I think you're going to like it."