Quiet Invasion(149)

“Didn’t do anything?” Vee stared at her in complete disbelief. “You just got an alien race involved in a pissant bid for revolution that they can’t possibly understand. You called yourself an ambassador, for God’s sake. Do you know what that means to them? It means you speak for a whole city, that you have the right to make decisions for an entire population!”

“I do speak for a whole city,” replied Helen.

“Did Michael and Ben know what you were going to say?” asked Josh from his position in the back of the cabin. They’d rigged up a monitoring station in the Discovery so that he wouldn’t have to leave the scarab to keep an eye on the equipment.

“They knew.” Helen nodded once. But she did not, Vee noticed, look at either of them.

“Did they approve?” inquired Josh.

Helen turned and gave him an icy glare. “That is none of your business.”

“The U.N. could be doing anything,” said Vee hoarsely. “They could be planning an embargo. They could be sending in soldiers!”

“Maybe.” Helen’s voice was flat and practical, just like the expression on her face. “That’s their problem.”

Vee got slowly to her feet, her hands shaking with rage. Josh scraped his chair back a little, and she saw his expression urging her to caution. She didn’t care. He didn’t get it. None of them got it.

“You idiot!” she rasped at Failia. “You stupid, bloody-minded, idiot! If we get them involved with this, they may decide the Terrans are greedy or crazy. Do you know what that means to them?”

“No.” Helen regarded her calmly. “And neither do you. Sit down, Dr. Hatch.”

“And remember who I’m talking to?” shot back Vee. She swept out her hand. “How could I forget? I’m talking to a woman who is willing to get an entire alien race involved in her stupid little pissing games!”

Helen’s face flushed a dark purple, even though her voice remained soft and calm. Her gnarled hands clenched the seat’s arms.

“Dr. Hatch, thank you for your help in facilitating communication with the People. I think, however, you had better be aboard the shuttle which will be returning your colleagues to Earth.”

Josh laid a hand on Vee’s shoulder. He opened his mouth to start to say something.

“No, Josh,” said Vee, coldly. “I think you’d better distance yourself from me.” She met Dr. Failia’s gaze without blinking. “I think I’m a very bad person to be near right now.”

But if you think I’m going to let this happen, Dr. Failia, think again. Think hard.

They held their ground, staring each other down. There was no way for her to win here, Vee knew, and her only exit options lacked dignity. But a display of petulant vulnerability now might be beneficial later on.

God Almighty, Vee you have been doing this for too long.

“They shipped all the dissenters out of Bradbury too.” She whirled around and stormed down the central corridor and into her cabin. The door swished shut behind her. She wished it would slam.

Vee dropped onto the edge of her couch and pressed her fingers against her temples. Think, think. This has to handled. You can’t let them do this to T’sha. To the world. To everything. A sad realization came over her. Nobody even asked about T’sha. We don’t know what’s happening to her.

She stayed like that until she heard the door swish open again. She unfolded herself. Josh stepped over the threshold and let the door close behind him.

“How’s life outside?” she asked lightly.

He sat on the edge of the couch facing her. “Helen’s calling up to the base to say mission accomplished. Adrian is going a little nuts checking and rechecking the soundness of the scarab.” He glanced at the door. “I think he really does not want to be here.”

Vee laughed, once. “That makes two of us.” She looked down at her fingertips. “What are you going to do?”

Josh sighed and looked around the cabin, a little bleak, a little annoyed. Vee sympathized. This was a lousy place to be having this discussion. Neither one of them could stand up straight. The crash-couches weren’t comfortable to sit up in. Her shoulders ached and she bet his did too, and who knew when Helen was going to come walking through the door to see what they were conspiring about. The whole situation stank.

“You know what’s the worst?” Josh asked suddenly, as if reading her thoughts. Vee shook her head. “That I can’t win. If I go home, I’m turning my back on what might be the most important thing that’s ever happened to humanity. On the other hand, if the Venerans start anything, you know the propaganda machine on Mother Earth’s going to paint Venera as a bunch of mindless Fullerite rebels. So, if I stay, it’ll look like I’d rather be with traitors and aliens than my friends and family.” He glanced at Vee and shook his head again. “It’ll look like I’m a traitor.”