"Now, about security. Obviously, this jaunt can't be a matter of public knowledge." They all nodded, knowing how their people would react to the news that the Provisional Government was having any dealings whatsoever with the tabbies. "Officially, I'll be on exercises with the Fleet, and all transfer operations will be in the hands of people I can trust." "What if you're gone an unusually long time?" De Parma looked glum. "What ff questions come up for debate in the Assembly?" "Don't let them," Trevayne replied cheerfully. "You're here because together you can control the Assembly. As a countryman of mine named Disraeli, who had some small experience in these matters, once said, 'A majority is the best repartee."" Miriam gave him a glare beneath which a smile flick- ered. "You and your quotes! No one out here can ever be sure you're not making them up!" He smiled at her. "Would that I were so creative!" Trevayne came back to the present as the cutter's hatch opened. A proudly overconscientious young Cub of the Khan, whiskers almost visibly atwstteh with curiosity, to ed him to what would have been called the wardroom in a human capital ship, but no military courtesies were exchanged. The wardroom was under heavy guard, but when Trevayne entered only two individuals rose to greet him. He recognized Leornak at once, and the human beside him looked vaguely familiar. Trevayne felt he ought to recognize the man, but he couldn't quite place him.
"Welcome to Szolkir, Admiral," Leornak greeted him. "Thank you, Governor." Treva.vne watched Leornak's tufted ear twstteh as his computer translated the Standard English into Orion. It was an impressive performance, but the Orions had always been exceptionally good with eom-puters and eyberneties--not that they had all the answers. Like the Federation, they'd been persistently thwarted in their efforts to create an artificial intelligence which didn't go promptly insane on them. Still, they made much more use of voice-coded software, even aboard warships, than Terrans did.
Of course, their language and vocal apparatus gave them a considerable advantage there. There were no Orion homonyms, and Orion voice patterns were even more readily identifiable than human patterns, whieh made computer authentication much simpler. More importantly, perhaps, Orions tended to express strong emotions--like excitement and fear--with visual cues, not voice cues.
To date, the Federation had been unable to devise a voice-coded software paekage which could eope with human stress patterns without requiring a prohibitive amount of storage space.
Trevayne himself had been a gunnery officer aboard the superdreadnought Ranier the last time BuShips had tried to introduce voice-cuirig into Fleet use, and he still shuddered at the memory of that fiasco.
Leornak reclaimed his attention with a graceful gesture at his human guest. "Allow me to present an old colleague and sometime opponent, Mister Kevin Sanders, re. pre- senting the Prime Minister of the Terran Federation.
Of coursel Trevayne shook hands with the tallish, slen- der man, whose sharp features and gray Vandyke gave him a foxy look. He was well over 120, Trevayne remem- bered; in an age before longevity treatments, he might have been a sprightly and well-preserved sixty.
Like Trevayne, he wore conservative civilian clothing.
"Good to see you back on the active list, Admiral Sand- ers," Trevayne said after the initial greetings.
"Last I heard, you were still engaged in ruining the image of disllii retired officers." Sanders' merry blue eyes twl6kled upward into Trevayne's somber dark-brown ones, and he chuckled.
"Strictly speaking, I'm no longer an "admiral." True,1 was dusted off and brought back to ONI after the insurrection --comfor some reason, there were quite a lot of early retire- ments about then. But I resigned my commission last year to become a minister without portfolio in the Dieter Government--coma liaison of sorts between the cabinet and the intelligence community." He noted Trevayne's raised eyebrows at the words the Dieter Government, but he said nothing.
Privately, he was impressed by how well Trevayne had controlled the sur- prise he must have felt. "But," he concluded, "that's more than enough about me. It's a privilege to meet you, Admi- ral, and also a pleasure. For one thing, we're both mem- bers of a rare breed out here: I'm also from Old Terra." "Yes," Trevayne said. "I know." "Oh?" Sanders' gaze grew a trifle sharper.
"HowThat' Trevayne indulged himself. "I've always been fascinated by the variations with which we native English-speakers still manage to enliven what's become a universal trade language," he said with a professorial air Miriam would instantly have recognized. "You, sir, are a North American--- from either the old Canadian Maritime Provinces or the Tidewater area of the old American states of Virginia and
Maryland, I'd say. The two dialects are almost identical, you know." Sanders managed to keep his aplomb, saying only, "The latter is correct." He wasn't at his best dealing with people as clever as himself, a deficiency he ascribed to lack of opportunity for practice.
Leornak's grin grew and his whiskers quivered slightly as he regarded the two humans.
"Kevin," he said to Sanders, "I had a feeling this meeting would be a salutary experience for you.
Unfortunately, I have duties to attend to and I must leave, as much as I am enjoying this. And you gentlemen doubtless need a degree of privacybbut I shall expect you for dinner afterwards." Trevayne felt a momentary uneasiness at the invitation. Terran and Orion biochemistries were close enough to make such shared social events practical, but humans found some Orion culinary practices... disturbing. His queasiness died quickly as Leornak's slit-pupilled eyes laughed at him. Of course -coma confirmed old cosmopolite like Leornak could be expected to defer to his quests" sensibilities by avoiding such customs as munching live specimens of that species which had always reminded Trevayne of hairless mice.
After the door closed behind Leornak, the Terrans sat at a low table on the cushions which served Orions in lieu of chairs, and Sanders poured from the bottle he and Leornak had been sampling. Bourbon, Trevayne thought dourly, had become so popular among upper crust Orions that it was one of the Federation's major export items.
Why the bloody hell hadn't the tabbies had the common decency to take a liking to fine, malt Scotch?
He raised the glass, returning Sanders' brief salute, and drank. Then, somewhat fortified, he asked the question he had not cared to ask in Leornak's presence.
"Ah... correct me if I'm wrong, but did I understand you to refer to the Dieter government?" Why, yes," Sanders answered with a look of bland innocence. "I noticed you seemed surprised," he added. Damn the man!
"Well," Trevayne said carefully, "my last news from the Innerworlds was just before the mutinies. You must admit, at that time Mister Dieter's political star wasn't exactly in the ascendant. "Tle single time he'd met Dieter, the man had struck him as a typical, blindly avaricious Corporate World political hack. "It's just seems a trifle @u.. odd, from my perspective out here." "Admiral, never underestimate Oskar Dieter," Sanders said. "Simon Taliaferro did, and it cost him." Trevayne blinked at the other's sudden seriousness.
Clearly there had been some changes in the Innerworlds!
"But," Sanders went on more lightly, "the Admiralty's briefing chips will bring you up to date on background events and time is short, so allow me to discharge myself of my instructions and deal with the present and future." He set his glass aside to open an old-fashionod briefcase with an extremely modern security system.
"And so to business, Admiral... all of it pleasant business for you. You're now a Fleet Admiral, and all the field promotions you've lade are retroactively confirmed. As is your assumption of the title 'Governor-General." In fact, I should have greeted you as "Your Excellency," which is how the protocol experts have decided a governor-general should be addressed." Trevayne gave the older man what he hoped was a quelling glare, but it was difficult to tune up the full voltage against a man more than twice his age. And he suspected that even at full bore, his expression would have had little effect on Sanders, who only grinned and continued as flippantly as before.
"There was a little more trouble about this Rim Leg
isla- tive Assembly of yours. No provision for it in the Constitu- tion, after all..." "rhere's also nothing in the Constitution about an in- surreetion that isolates part of the Federation from Old Terra," Trevayne cut in. 'rhese people remained loyal when all the rest of the Fringe revoltedd, I might add, despite their systematic abuse by the Corporate Worlds. Their loyalty is a priceless resourcewe'd be wasting it ffwe hadn't involved them in their own defense?" "Pace, Admiral]" Sanders raised a hand.
"All was rati- fied. Oh, a few politicos are afraid you're setting up as aa autonomous warlord out here, but of course they keep quiet about it. They want to stay in office!" He ehueided, then paused at Trevayne's puzzled look, but understand-lng dawned quieldy.
"Of course! How could you know? The fact is, you've become something of a legend, Admiral. The original ports of your flight from Osterman's Star into Orion space captured the public imagination, especially since no one even knew if you'd survived. Then when the news broke that you were not only alive but had rallied the Rim and given the Rebels a bloody nose, to boot--well, I can hardly overstate the reaction. The Federation has produced precious few victories and even fewer victorious commanders. When an authentic hero turned up, there was no shortage of Corporate World money to publicize him." Sanders' eyes danced. He'd watched happily as Trevayne's embarrassment grew visibly, ilow he gently administered the coup de grace.
"You'll be pleased to know, Admiral, that you're the subject of a lavishly financed, hugely successful holodrama mini-series entitled Escape to Zephrain. You were played by Lance Manly, only slightly aged for the role." He sat back and listened with pure pleasure while Trevayne swore in six languages for a full minute without repeating himself. He waited until the new fleet admiral had run out of breath, if not obscenities, before he continued with a toothy grin.
"I've brought chips of the entire series, Admiral. The government feels it will enhance civilian morale in the But Trevayne's habitual self-control had reasserted self. "I'll take personal custody of those chips, ff you don't mind." And cycle them throagh an airlock at the first opportunity! "But don't keep me in suspense any longer, damn you! How is the war going?" Sanders was suddenly serious. "Not well. The rebels have gained control of all the choke points connecting their systems to the Innerworlds--without, I'm sorry to say, very much hindrance. Yu may not realize how extraordinary Admiral Ortega's nd your success in holding your forces together really was, Admiral. The government put the Navy in an incredibly vulnerable position, and when the shooting started, the Fleet simply disintegrated before our eyes. Before we got the news about Zephrain, we'd estimated that our ninety percent of Frontier Fleet ISUR.CTO had gone 0ve now we've revised that to just over eighty
[email protected] But what really hurt was losing over fifty percent of Battle Fleet's active units." "Fifty percent.?" Even this man could be rocked by some revelations, Sanders noted. "Sweet mother of God, man!" "Fifty percent," Sanders confirmed grimly, "but that doesn't mean the rebels got all we lost." His face suddenly looked every day of its age, and Trevayne leaned back against his cushions. @u Of course. It had to have been like that, or those Battle Fleet monitors already would have taken Zephrain away from him. He closed his eyes in brief pain as he contemplated the grim scenes that must have occurred within the Federation as scattered, mutinous battle-line units went down under the fire of their own service--comand took their share of loyal ships and crews with them.
"So theyad both the time and strength to grab their choke points," Sanders went on after a moment. "Not only that, but by now they've had time to set up a few yards of their own. So far we haven't seen any heavy capital ships among their new construction.
.. but give them time. They'll get to it. They got too much breathing space, and crushing them is going to be long and bloody. And, of course, there's always someone waiting to step in as soon as there's an opening. Like the Tangri. I noticed in your report that you've had a few brushes with them out along the Rim?" "One or two," Trevayne agreed calmly.
"Not very many, though. I adopted an argument they understood, and they've left us alone since." "Really? I've had some experience of the Tangri myself, Admiral. I'm afraid I'm not amiliar with an 'argument" they pay any attention to." "Oh, but you are, Mister Sanders." Trevayne chuckled dryly. "As a matter of fact, I believe you were present in the Lyonesse System when the same argument was propounded once before." His better nature triumphed just before he added, "That was before my time," and he ended with a simple, "I estimate three percent of their raiding force got home." "Ah!" Sanders nodded. "It's a pity the Federation has always been too easygoing to use that argument more often. Still, I suppose the plutocrats have been more concerned with squeezing the Fringers. And they have other worries now. There was even some wild talk about bringing Battle Fleet home to "stand shoulder-to-shoulder in defense of the homeworld!" But, of course, that was before they really understood the Fringe's objectives. The rebels want to secede, and for that they only have to hold what they've already got, not add more stars to it. Except "he looked sharply at Trevayne" for the Rim. They want that. And now they feel they can take it." He patted the briefcase. "I've brought ONI'S analysis for your perusal. The prognosis is: you can expect a really massive attack on Zephrain within sixty standard days. The question is: can you hold?" Their eyes locked as Sanders sfiently asked the question that could not be asked aloud aboard an Orion warship. Have your people managed to transmute the theoretical data at Zephrain RDS into the kind of hardware that will even the odds you'll face?
Trevayne understood. And he knew that ff Leornak had any conception of what was truly at stake, all the possible "diplomatic repercussions" in the Galaxy would not assure his own safety. Leornak would have to try, even though torture was notoriously unreliable, even though all TFN officers were immunized to truth-extracting drugs, and even though the limitations of hypnosis were still essen- tially what they had been in Franz Mesmer's day. So he answered simply, "Yes." They settled back on their cushions and sipped their bourbon, two men who understood one another perfectly, and Sanders smiled his impish smile again.
"Well, Admiral, I'm confirmed in my view that the government acted wisely in ratifying your actions. That's the one advantage of a plutocracy: it can sometimes be frightened into doing the sensible thing." He caught Trevayne's disapproving look and deliberately misinterpreted it. "Oh, yes, of course the good Leornak is bugging us... but only for his private amusement and the edification of his own superiors. And while those superiors would rather do business with us, they don't have much emotional investment in this war. Not like those of us who're out to avenge the blood of kith and kin, as it were." He able.St[*oslashgg'pped suddengg'ity, looking uncharacteristically uncomfort- "Apologies, Admiral. That was an inappropriate thing to say. Of course I know about your family." But Trevayne hardly heard him, for in the corridors of his memory, a long-shut door swung open.
It had been sixteen years before, with his younger daughter Ludmilla newly born. He'd taken.his family to Old Terra for the first time.
They'd visited England, of course, and Moscow.
And like all human visitors to the birthworld, they'd journeyed to Africa where the Temple of Man exploded up over Olduvai Gorge in arches and spires that soared towards infinity while homo erectus, captured forever in the masterpiece of the twenty-second century sculp-tot Xentos, gazed at the lights in the night sky and wondered.
But the image that haunted him still was from the Mediterranean island of Corfu, whose mountains meet the sea to subdivide beaches into ancient coves where squinting, sun-dazzled eyes can sometimes momentarily glimpse Odysseus" galley rounding a headland. Until the day of his death, he would never be able to think of his older daughter Courtenay without seeing a four-year-old girl on the beach at Corfu, the brilliant sun conjuring reddish glints in her chestnut hair.., followed swiftly by the dissipating radioactive dust which, for a little while after the missiles struck, must have colored the dawns and sunsets of Galloway's World.
He allowed himself
five twenty-nine hour Xandy days in Prescott City after his return from Rehfrak. On the sixth day, he awoke and walked to the open window to gaze out into the high summer of Xanadu's northern hemisphere. Imported elms mingled with native feathedeaf and falsepine across a well-tended lawn crystalline with dew, and creatures that weren't quite furry birds flew overhead in the early-morning light of a sun just too yellow to be Sol. He sniffed the cool air, already sensing the heat the day would bring, and there was a strange stillness in his heart.
He heard a stirring behind him as Miriam reached for him in her sleep and, finding his side of the bed empty, awoke. She smiled sleepily.
"For God's sake, Ian," she murmured.
"Put some clothes on if you're going to stand at the window. At least spare what little's left of my reputation." He smiled. Their affair was the worst-kept secret in the Zephrain System, if not the entire Rim. In fact, he'd been considerably relieved when he viewed the mischievous Sanders' wildly overdone HV chips (which had since mysteriously vanished) and found no mention of Miriam. He sat down on the bed and kissed her forehead gently.