“Does that satisfy you?” Dr. Roop asked. I could hear the impatience in his voice. I understood that we were all seen as his responsibility, even Alice and Villainic, whom he had not brought into the Confederation, and my pushing the director had seemed disrespectful.
“I think I heard what I needed to,” I said.
My interrogation of the most important elected official in the known galaxy had clearly soured the mood of the meeting, which broke up not long after. Dr. Roop looked at me sadly, and I wondered what he was thinking—that I had become too full of myself, or that I’d lost perspective. I would have to do damage control with him later. For now I was too worried about what I had learned.
As soon as we were away from the adults, Mi Sun rounded on me. “What were you doing in there? Why do you always have to make trouble?”
“We’ve got to get off this ship,” I told her. “We need to steal a shuttle. If we don’t, Confederation Central will be destroyed and Earth will remain part of the Phandic Empire.”
“What are you talking about?” Alice asked. “Why would you say that?”
“Because I had a lie detector implanted in me by a guy with a twenty-sided die for a head,” I told them, “and nothing Ghli Wixxix told us is true. I don’t know about you, but I can only think of one reason she would lie about that stuff. She’s working with Junup and the Phands, and she’s been on their side from the beginning. We’ve all been played.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
* * *
I was still putting the pieces together, but I thought I had a pretty good idea of how things had happened. As near as I could figure out, Junup’s takeover had not been planned, but when the Kind Disposition was destroyed, and Ghli Wixxix presumably along with it, Junup had seen it as an opportunity to bolster support for his Movement for Peace. That I, an unruly primitive, could be blamed for the destruction and the death of the Confederation’s leader only added to his cause. Ghli Wixxix had gone off with the other prisoners, ready to be returned if necessary. She had been held apart from the others not so she could be interrogated or given more intense security, but so she didn’t have to live in the same conditions as the rest of them. In the meantime, the Phands had what they wanted—one of their own in power. It didn’t matter to them if it was Junup or Ghli Wixxix.
I had no idea what Ghli Wixxix really intended to do when she returned to Confederation Central. Obviously, Junup was not going to prison. It seemed more likely that the rest of us would be locked away while Junup and Ghli Wixxix cooked up another story to feed to the public. I had no doubt that Dr. Roop, Captain Qwlessl, Urch, and Nayana would all disappear.
The bad guys getting their way was bad enough, but if we didn’t do something, the Phands would stay on Earth. Meanwhile, the lunatic Phandic renegades would go back to their original plan of destroying Confederation Central.
I explained all of this as quickly and clearly as I could. The others all stared at me, maybe shocked by what they were learning, maybe upset to know that I was a walking polygraph machine.
“So what do we do, mate?” Steve said. “Let’s say we do steal a ship and get out of here. I admit not being on Confederation Central when it blows up is probably a good idea, but it doesn’t exactly feel like victory.”
“Plan A for the Phandic renegades was destroying Confederation Central,” I said. “Rescuing Ghli Wixxix was plan B, but there was, at one point, a plan C. The renegades wanted to liberate a world held by the Phands. The idea was that once the Phands lost their grip on one planet, beings all around the empire would notice and rise up at the same time. A well-publicized revolution will set off a domino effect. They even had a plan for pulling it off—on Earth. They have a stable wormhole leading directly there from their settlement.”
“Hold on,” Mi Sun said. “You’re telling me that this group of renegades just happens to have a magic teleporter from their obscure, forgotten desert planet to Earth? Either you’re lying or you’ve been lied to, and you were gullible enough to believe it.”
“Because you know everything?” Tamret snapped. “The galaxy isn’t big and varied enough for you that everything still needs to fit into your idea of what is and isn’t likely?”
Tamret would still not meet my eye unless we were discussing strategy. She didn’t want to talk to me about anything that wasn’t super important, but she still wanted to defend me. I really needed to know what was going on with her, but maybe this wasn’t the best time to dwell on it.
“There’s a lot going on here that feels a little coincidental,” I told Mi Sun, “and I’m not going to pretend to understand it all, but I’m telling you these Phandic renegades have a direct portal to Earth. We can use it, and we need to.”
Mi Sun was worked up now. She was stomping toward me like she meant to give me a spinning kick to my face. “Why, Zeke? Why does it have to be us? Why are we the ones who have to do this crazy, dangerous thing? Isn’t there someone else, in this entire galaxy, who is willing, just once, to step up so we don’t have to?”
Her face was inches from mine by the time she stopped, her eyes wide and glistening. I didn’t know if the tears she was fighting back were of rage or frustration or fear.
I shook my head. “No, Mi Sun. There isn’t.” I was speaking quietly now, trying to sound reasonable. “Do you think I want to do this?”
“Yeah,” she snapped. “I do.”
She didn’t know about the powder and the saving throw. She didn’t know that if we did this, I was going to have to take a leap of faith, to face a 15-percent chance of not living to see if our efforts saved the galaxy or not. Worst of all, I couldn’t tell her, because if I did, she would probably take that risk on herself. Mi Sun wasn’t a coward. I knew that she would do what needed doing, but I also knew she was tired of running and scheming and worrying about her family.
“I don’t want to have to,” I said. “I know you all gave me a hard time when I thought our part in all of this was over, but you have no idea how relieved I was. I don’t want to head back into the thick of it and take on another crazy mission, to take chances with my friends’ lives. I wish there were another way, but if we don’t do this, if we don’t find some way to shake things up, then Confederation Central is going to be destroyed. Millions of innocent beings will be going about their business one second and just be gone the next. Maybe the renegades are right and that will lead to galactic peace, but that price is too high. I will always know that maybe it didn’t have to be that way. Do any of you want to spend the rest of your lives wondering what we could have done?”
Mi Sun blinked at me a couple of times. She stepped back a little. “If I understand what you’re saying, and the Phandic renegades blow up the station, we’ll probably be on it when it’s destroyed.”
“There’s that. If you want to take a selfish approach.”
“I do,” Steve said. “It’s not the only approach I want to take, but it’s one of them. Also, for the record, I’m keen on the idea of a crazy, stupid adventure.”
“Not helping,” I said to him.
Mi Sun shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You already made your point. I guess we really do have to do this.”
“I hadn’t thought about the part where we would be killed along with the millions of beings on the station,” Nayana said. “That changes my outlook considerably.”
“You should have led with that,” Alice said.
Mi Sun and I sat back down. We were all quiet now, like something that had been hovering over all of us had been blown away.
She let out a long sigh. “Zeke, I’m sorry I’ve been blaming you for what’s happened to our families. I know you were only doing what you thought had to be done, and the truth is, I didn’t have to listen to you. I could have contacted them without your okay, but I didn’t because I knew you were right. I just wanted to blame someone.”
“This is a mistake,” Nayana whispered loudly for all of us to hear. “Never acknowledge fault. It puts you at a tactic
al disadvantage.”
I nodded to Mi Sun. “I know that—”
Mi Sun shook her head. “It’s probably best not to say anything. I’m sure whatever it is will just make me angry. Accept the apology and move on.”
“I accept your apology, Mi Sun,” I said.
“How very big of you,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes.
“So,” Alice said brightly, “I wonder if there’s anyone else mad at Zeke for no apparent reason who wants to clear the air.”
Tamret glowered at Alice, who tried to vanish into her chair.
“Right,” Steve said, clearly out to break the tension. “So, the plan to liberate your planet—let’s get back to that bit.”
Nayana folded her arms. “We should think this through. I’m sure the basics of Zeke’s plan are more or less coherent, but the devil is always in the details. I understand that liberating Earth will make the Phands look bad, and perhaps reflect poorly on Junup, but that hardly ends their collaboration. Any kind of rebellion we initiate will take months, maybe years, to run its course. In the meantime, there is nothing to stop the Phands from reoccupying Earth, no doubt more harshly.”
“As someone who also comes from a country that was once held as a colony,” Charles said, “I share Nayana’s concerns. Rebellions are often dealt with brutally, and they can take generations to succeed.”
“We need to get Captain Qwlessl and Dr. Roop on board,” I said. “I have to convince them I’m right and then get them to expose Junup and Ghli Wixxix. If we can take control of Earth, we will be able to gain access to Phandic computers and records. That should provide all the evidence we need to link Junup to the Phands.”
“Your plans keep getting stupider,” Mi Sun said. “Last time you wanted to go to an empire and free maximum-security prisoners.”
“And that plan worked!” I said, trying to muster more enthusiasm than I felt. “I mean, it would have if Ghli Wixxix had been what we all thought she was. It’s not my fault she’s a traitor.”
“I agree with that,” Alice said. “But just because your last crazy plan made sense, that doesn’t mean all your crazy plans will.”
“I’m as keen on a crazy plan as the next bloke,” Steve said, “but everything we’ve done before hinged on small, stealthy operations. You’re talking about war here, Zeke. A long, bloody conflict without a clear path to victory. A lot of beings on your planet will get killed. Is that really what you want?”
I slumped down in my chair and put my head in my hands. Of course I didn’t want that, and I had to concede that when Steve thought a plan was too insane, it was time to take stock. The real question was if there was some way I could, with my augmented powers, single-handedly make a difference. I did not want an actual war. On the other hand, if I did nothing, then Confederation Central was going to be destroyed. Maybe Earth would be freed of the Phands and the empire would lose its grip on the galaxy, but that was too high a price to pay.
I thought about what I knew about the Phandic operation, and I began to see that there might be a way to pull this off without an actual bloody war.
“Look, I know that a guerilla action against an occupying army sounds like a lot to take on, but the Phands are using this high-end technology that requires a quantum-level energy link to their empire. If we cut it off, they run out of power to fuel their ships. They’ll have to retreat or risk getting stuck on Earth forever.”
“Their weapons will still work,” Charles said. “What is to stop them from hurting a lot of people and doing a lot of damage before they go?”
“They have our families, in case you’ve forgotten,” Mi Sun said. “I know I haven’t.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” I said. “Not for a second.”
“If we launch some sort of attack, don’t you think they’ll take it out on the people we care about? That’s the whole point of having hostages. How do you plan to protect them?”
“I have no idea,” I said mournfully. I was hoping that the renegades would have a suggestion, but I knew this was a long shot. Sparing innocent lives didn’t seem to be their particular strength.
“I do,” Tamret said. “I know exactly how you do this. How many Phands do you think are on Earth?”
“I don’t have an exact number,” I said. “The Phandic rebels told me no more than a few thousand.”
“So there are at least a million humans for each invader,” she said, grinning. “The Phands dominate because they have the technology. The trick is to take away the technology. You make the numbers matter.”
“Clearly you were not listening,” Nayana said. “They will still have their weapons.”
Alice looked up, getting it. “Not if they don’t.”
Tamret nodded. “Exactly. If these renegades are as handy as you say they are, then they can help us out with a planetary EMP. We’ll do to the Phands what Ardov did to us, only on a bigger scale. We will shut them down, and we will keep them shut down until they agree to leave peacefully. Without their guns, they’re no match for a few billion humans with big sticks.”
Nayana nodded, stroking her chin to show she was giving this a lot of thought. “That is very clever,” she said dubiously. “I have no doubt I would have thought of it myself had I been there for Ardov’s attack.”
“High praise,” Tamret said.
“You are very welcome.”
“Perhaps,” Villainic suggested, “I should stay behind. If you’d like, I could serve as a special ambassador to Director Ghli Wixxix.”
And tell her exactly what we don’t want her to know, I thought. There was no way we could risk leaving Villainic behind. Besides, as strange as it was, the Phandic renegades seemed to like him. Having him along might actually help.
“No way, Villainic,” I said. “We’re adventure buddies. You are coming with me.”
“This could actually work,” Steve said. “Except what’s to keep the Phands from coming back as soon as things settle down?”
“The idea is that there will be similar uprisings all over their empire,” Charles said. “But we can’t guarantee that. Things could go perfectly, but then we’ll only be back where we started in a matter of days or weeks.”
“We’ll need to get the word out, then,” Alice said. “In the Confederation. Dr. Roop and Captain Qwlessl will have to let everyone know that Junup and Ghli Wixxix are allies, and that they’re both working with the Phands.”
“How does that work?” Alice asked. “They are not exactly going to let the good guys hold a press conference. Ghli Wixxix will act like everything is normal until they approach the Confederation, and then they’ll strike before any word can get out.”
“But we know that,” Nayana said. “We know their next move, and they don’t know that we know it. That gives us the advantage, not them. If we are going to escape from this ship, we will first have to drop out of tunnel, yes?”
I nodded.
“Then Dr. Roop and Captain Qwlessl can secretly launch comm beacons to various news outputs on Confederation Central. They can make sure the truth gets to the station before they do. Perhaps not everyone will believe what they have to say, but they are respected, and their charges will have to be investigated. That gives us time to get the proof we need from the Phandic computers we capture.”
“All right,” I said. “So, here’s the rundown on the operation. Escape from this ship with a stolen long-range shuttle, convince the Phandic renegades to help us out by giving us all their intelligence plus lots of dangerous technology, then have them open a wormhole to get us to Earth, where we’ll drive off the most ruthless conquering force in the galaxy. At that point, we have to hope for more revolutions to spring up elsewhere, which will slow any Phandic response to our uprising. Meanwhile, we raid the Phandic computers for proof that Junup and Ghli Wixxix are working with the bad guys. Any questions?”
“Just one,” said Charles. “How do we drop out of tunnel long enough to launch these beacons and steal a shuttle?”
&nbs
p; Steve flashed one of his openmouthed, spiky-toothed grins. “I’m thinking sabotage.”
• • •
The plan was for me to go talk to the adults I trusted while Steve tried to figure out how to get the ship to drop out of tunnel. That was something he couldn’t do alone, and somehow we were divided into two teams, with everyone but me and Tamret working with Steve.
That meant Tamret and I were alone.
“You know, you can talk to me about what’s going on,” I told her, trying to keep my voice neutral.
“So could you,” she snapped back.
“I told you why I can’t. I’m trying to protect you.”
“Maybe that’s what I’m doing,” she said.
“And maybe it isn’t,” I countered. “I don’t know if you don’t talk to me.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you ought to know without being told.”
“That’s stupid,” I said.
“I know,” she agreed.
We were passing by an empty conference room, so I pushed her inside and closed the door behind us.
“Do we really have time for this?” she asked, hands on her hips. Her whiskers shot back in a way I knew meant she was irritated.
“I don’t know,” I said, “but I really don’t want to go into a dangerous mission distracted by the fact that you’re shutting me out. I know you have things on your mind, responsibilities, but I don’t get why you’re angry with me.”
“I’m not angry with you,” she snapped.
“That would be more convincing if you didn’t sound angry,” I told her.
“Well, I’m getting angry now because you won’t stop insisting that I’m angry.”
I sighed. “Come on, Tamret.”
“Fine,” she said. “You tell me how you reactivated your abilities, and I’ll tell you why I’m not angry.”
I turned away.
“That’s what I thought,” she said.