Fire with Fire(165)

Caine grimaced. “Loads. And you?”

“The Hkh’Rkh sure don’t have a lot of variety in their conversation. Honor. Conquest. Family. More honor. Treachery and punishment. Honor. Tactics. Still more honor. Oh, and did I mention that they like to talk about honor?”

“We get the picture. Sounds like bushido on steroids.”

“Yup, just about. I’m heading back to the barn and relieving Opal. Try not to dance on the tables.”

“We’ll contain ourselves somehow.”

Thandla emerged from the main alcove as Trevor ducked around the corner. Hwang stared down at the deck. “Wise-Speech certainly made an interesting—and damning—slip.”

“What do you mean?”

“His reference to the sixth bloc initiative and Indonesia. The Ktor can’t have known that yet—not legally.”

Caine shook his head. “That was no slip.”

“What do you mean?”

Downing sipped his glass of water. “Caine means that Wise-Speech wanted us to realize that the Ktor are not only aware of the state of affairs on Earth, but are determined to get what they want, even if they have to break a few rules—or a few necks—to get it.”

“And what makes them think we won’t report them to the Dornaani?”

“Frankly, I don’t think they care if we tattle. They’re trying to determine if we will support them, or if we will support the Dornaani. If we respond to their signal at midnight, they’ve got their answer. If we run and tell the Dornaani—again, they’ve got their answer.”

Visser looked at Caine. “And what do you think of their proposition to us?”

“I think that Wise-Speech is Ribbentrop and we’re getting to choose whether we’re going to play the part of Neville Chamberlain or Winston Churchill.”

Wasserman frowned. “Sorry; not up on my history.”

“Long story made short: Britain’s Chamberlain tried to appease Germany before World War Two, agreeing to look the other way while the Nazis gobbled up chunks of the continent. All to avoid war.”

“Some great plan: look what happened.”

“My point exactly—and I think that’s the lesson we should remember right now.”

“You mean, we should side with the Dornaani?”

“Yes.”

“Who want to hem us in?”

“No, Lemuel. The accords set limits. And the Dornaani have given clear indications that the time may be ripe to redefine or even reduce those limits. But they are also trying to follow the law.”

“You mean, they’re being anal-retentive.”

“Look: the Dornaani may be somewhat elusive, and they’re not exactly the life of the party, but they’ve risked losing their official validation as Custodians over the principles—and integrity—of their duties. And if they lose that validation, what happens next? War? Or do the Ktor create a new Accord with new rules? And what do the Dornaani do if the Ktor’s new Accord violates the limits set by the Dornaani Accord? Do the Dornaani go to war—start hostilities to enforce compliance to a set of restrictions that are no longer recognized by the majority of species? I think that the Dornaani, despite their technological edge, have become the underdogs—and the wronged party—in all of this.”

Visser nodded. “And the Ktor smell like wolves.”

“Actually, they smell like ammonia.”

Caine, along with everyone else, turned to stare at Thandla. “What do you mean, Sanjay?”

“The Ktor must be native to a very cold environment: the heat exhausts of their cooling system were extremely obvious. From what I can gather, they must exist at less than minus eighty degrees centigrade.”

“How can that be?”

Hwang shrugged. “It’s theoretically possible. Goes along with the ammonia his chemical sniffers picked up: methane and hydrogen fluorine are two low-temperature alternatives to carbon as a potential basis for life.”

Visser, arms folded, stared at the floor. “We are fortunate to have this information, but we do not have the time to consider its significance at length. For now, we must simply prepare ourselves for tomorrow, for the vote on whether we are to be offered membership or not.”

“Sounds like we’ve got another choice to make before then.” Lemuel stuck his hands in his pockets, looked around the informal council circle. “What do we do when Wise-Speech calls us at midnight? Because if we don’t pick up the phone and make nice, I think it’s pretty clear he’s going to vote against us tomorrow.”

Silence. Then Durniak shrugged. “I will propose ideas as—how do you say it?—as devil’s advocate. So: if we show interest in the Ktor’s proposition tonight, how does this benefit us?”