Quiet Invasion(34)
She looked down between the crests and tattooed wings and spotted D’seun’s distinctive and overmarked back. He was practically touching the polling box. T’sha wondered whom he had made promises to and if he had anyone as powerful as Z’eth sponsoring his cause. If he’d managed to bring in H’tair or Sh’vaid on his side, the vote might not be as set as Z’eth believed. The mood of the meeting tightened rapidly around her. The announcement would come soon. Her bones shifted. Soon. Soon.
The polling box had been grown in the image of a person without wings or eyes. Its neural net ran straight into the floor of the voting chamber and was watched over by the High Law Meet itself. It would not be moved, and it looked with favor on no one. It was solid and impartial.
The box lifted its muzzle and spoke in a voice that rippled strongly through the chamber.
“The poll has been taken, recognized, and counted. Does any ambassador wish to register doubt as to the validity of the count contained in this box?”
No one spoke. T’sha tried to breathe evenly and hold her bones still.
“No doubt has been registered,” said the box. “A poll has been taken of the ambassadors to the High Law Meet on the following questions. First, should candidate world Seven be designated New Home? If this is decided positively, the second question is, should the current investigative team whose names are listed in the record continue under the leadership of Ambassador D’seun Te’eff Kan K’edch D’ai Gathad to establish the life base necessary for the growth of a canopy and the establishment of life ways for the People, with such expansion and promises as this project shall require?”
T’sha’s wings rippled. Her skin felt alert, open to every sensation from the brash of her own crest to the gentle waft of a whisper on the other side of the chamber.
“Is there any ambassador within the touch of these words who has not been polled on these questions?” asked the box. Silence, waiting, and tension strained her bones as if they were mooring ligaments in a high wind.
“No ambassador indicates not having been polled,” said the box. “Then, the consensus of the High Law Meet is as follows. On the first question, the consensus is yes, candidate world Seven is New Home.”
The rumble and ripple of hundreds of voices filled the chamber. T’sha remained still and silent. That was never the real question. The vote had to be yes. D’seun was right about that much. His peremptory poll of Ca’aed had confirmed that all the families agreed with the choice.
“On the second question,” the box went on, “the consensus is that Ambassador D’seun Te’eff Kan K’edch D’ai Gathad shall continue as the leader of the investigative team, that the current team will continue in the task of creating a life base with such expansions as are required for that task, provided that one of those expansions shall be the addition of Ambassador T’sha So Br’ei Taith Kan Ca’aed for the purpose of observing and studying the life currently named the New People. She shall ensure that these New People have no legitimate claim to New Home world that might counteract the validity of the consensus on the first question.”
There it was. She could now go to New Home herself and make sure the New People had no legitimate claim on the world. T’sha’s relief was so complete, she almost didn’t feel the congratulations erupting around her. When she was able to focus outward, she found herself in a storm of good-luck wishes and a hundred questions. She answered all she could, as fast as she could, while mentally cataloging the messages and calls she’d have to make as soon as the chamber opened again.
It might have been a moment or a lifetime later when D’seun rose to meet her.
“An interesting addendum, Ambassador T’sha,” he said flatly and coolly. “You have been working toward this for some time, I take it.”
T’sha met D’seun’s gaze and spoke her words straight to him. “Surely, you could not have been unaware of what I was doing. I was hardly secretive.”
D’seun’s bones contracted under his tattoos, and T’sha felt a swirl of exasperation. She shrank herself a little to match him. “D’seun, there is no reason for us to be enemies on this. We both want the same thing. We both want to make New Home a reality. If that is to happen, we cannot discount the New People.”
“We cannot let their presence override everything we must do, either.” He thrust his muzzle forward. “You question and delay, you counter and debate everything! Every time we try to warn people what happened to Gaith, there you are, assuring us all that it isn’t so very bad, that we must just wait until its disease is understood, that we have the resources to understand.” His words tumbled harshly over her. “There is no more time. There is no way to understand. We must leave.”