The End of All Things #2: This Hollow Union (7 page)

“It’s nice they thought of you.”

“It’s less nice that their computer systems are now firewalled too well for us to get into them.”

“You have other sources in the Colonial Union, I’m sure.”

“I do,” Oi said. “But not for this. This is why this is not a good idea, Hafte. You have no idea what this human is about to say. You don’t know what damage it can do.”

“It’s the general’s choice to do it this way, not mine,” I said, which was technically true.

“Please.” Oi gave me a small look. “This has your smell all over it. Don’t pretend I don’t know who put this idea into his head.”

“I put lots of ideas into his head,” I said. “And so do you. That’s our role. He decides what to do with them. That’s
his
role. And look.” I pointed. Ambassador Abumwe had emerged from behind the central point and was moving to the lectern that had been provided for her. “It’s time.”

“Not a good idea,” Oi repeated.

“Maybe not,” I allowed. “We’re about to find out.”

The sounds of hundreds of species of intelligent beings quieted as Abumwe reached the lectern and placed, unusually, several sheaves of paper on them. Usually human diplomats kept their notes on handheld computers they called PDAs. This information was apparently sensitive enough that Abumwe chose to keep it in a format difficult to replicate electronically. Next to me I heard Oi make a sound of annoyance; it had seen the paper too.

“To General Tarsem Gau, Chancellor Ristin Lause, and the representatives of the constituent nations of the Conclave, I, Ambassador Ode Abumwe of the Colonial Union, send honorable greeting and offer humble thanks for this opportunity to address you,” Abumwe began. In headsets, her words were being translated into hundreds of different languages. “I wish that these circumstances were happier.

“As many of you know, very recently information has come into the possession of many of your governments. This information appears to detail both historical records relating to Colonial Union activity against many of you, and against the Conclave generally. It also purports to outline future plans against the Conclave and several of your nations generally, as well as against the Earth, the original home of humanity.

“Much of the information in this report—specifically information relating to past action—is true.”

There was an eruption of noise in the chamber to this. I understood why and yet I was not impressed. Abumwe had essentially admitted that things we already knew to be true were in fact true; that the Colonial Union had warred against many of us, and against the Conclave. This was not news to anyone, or should not have been. I scanned the room for the affronted, as opposed to the unimpressed.

“However—
however,
” Abumwe continued, holding up a hand for silence. “I have not come here to either justify or to apologize for past action. What I am here to do is to warn you that the other information in the report is false, and that it represents a danger to all of us. To the Colonial Union, to the Conclave, and to the nations of Earth.

“We believe, we have believed, that each of us is the other’s enemy. Let me suggest today that there is another enemy out there, one that threatens human and Conclave nations alike. That this enemy, though small in numbers, has been extraordinarily adept in strategy, using dramatic action for outsized effect, terrorizing each of us while allowing us to believe we are terrorizing each other. That this enemy means to destroy both the Colonial Union and the Conclave for its own dogmatic ends.”

Abumwe looked up to her staff two levels down from me and nodded. One of them, who I recognized as Hart Schmidt, tapped the PDA he was holding. Beside me Oi grunted and pulled out its own computer. “I’ll be damned,” it said softly, and then was entirely lost into its screen.

“I have just authorized my staff to release to Vnac Oi, your director of intelligence, a complete accounting by the Colonial Union of our knowledge of this mutual enemy, a group which calls itself Equilibrium,” Abumwe said. “This group is comprised of members of species unaffiliated with either the Conclave or the Colonial Union, including, prominently, the Rraey. But it also has active in it traitors from other governments and nations, including Tyson Ocampo, former undersecretary of state for the Colonial Union, Ake Bae of the Eyr, Utur Nove of the Elpri, and Paola Gaddis of Earth. Their schemes include, among many others, a planned assassination of General Gau.”

The chamber erupted in chaos.

I scanned quickly to where I knew Unli Hado sat. He was up from his seat, screaming. Around him several other representatives were screaming and gesturing at him. I scanned again, to the Eyr representative, Ohn Sca. Sca was pushing past several other representatives, trying to exit the chamber; other representatives were pushing back, trying to force Sca back into its seat. I glanced up to the humans; a couple of the ones from Earth were yelling at the ones from the Colonial Union. In the middle, three figures were leaning into each other, apparently conferring. I recognized them as Danielle Lowen, Harry Wilson, and Hart Schmidt.

“Oi,” I said, over the din.

“She’s not lying,” Oi said, still looking at its screen. “About the file, I mean. It’s huge. And it’s here.”

“Send it out,” I said.

“What?” Oi looked up at me.

“Send it out,” I repeated. “All of it.”

“I haven’t had time to mine it.”

“You didn’t have time to mine the Ocampo data either,” I said.

“That’s not a recommendation for sending
this
out.”

“The longer you have it solely in your possession, the better position you give those who just now got accused that we are massaging the data, in collusion with the Colonial Union. Send it out. Now.”

“To whom?”

“To everyone.”

Oi’s tendrils danced across its screen. “I don’t think this is a good idea, either,” it said.

I turned my attention back to Abumwe, who was waiting silently at the lectern. I was beginning to wonder if I should have assigned her a security detail. I also wondered when she was going to speak again.

That, at least, was answered momentarily. “None of us is innocent,” she said, forcefully. The chaos began to settle. “
None
of us is innocent,” she said again. “The Colonial Union and the Conclave, those from Earth and those outside of our governments. All of us have people who saw weaknesses, who saw pressure points, and who saw ways to use our own ways and stubbornness against us. This threat is real. This threat is both practical and existential. If it isn’t met by all of us, all of us are likely to be destroyed.”

“You are the enemy!” someone shouted to Abumwe.

“I may be,” Abumwe said. “But right now, I’m not the enemy you should worry about.” She walked off the podium, to a rising chorus of anger.

*   *   *

“How
dare
you,” Unli Hado spat at Abumwe.

We were in the conference room adjacent to Tarsem’s public office, the impressive one he used for formal events. In the room were Tarsem, me, Oi, Lause, Abumwe, Hado, Sca, Byrne, Lowen, and Harry Wilson; essentially, representatives of every group called out in Abumwe’s speech. Tarsem had us all pulled into the room immediately after the speech.

“How dare you,” Hado said again. “How dare you question my loyalty, or the loyalty of my nation to the Conclave. How dare you suggest that any of my people would conspire against it, or conspire with
you.
”

“I didn’t
dare,
Representative Hado,” Abumwe said. She sat at the conference room table, impassive. “I merely told the truth.”

“The truth!” Hado said. “As if the Colonial Union had ever bothered with
that
particular concept.”

“Where is Utur Nove, Representative Hado?” Abumwe asked. “Our information about him tells us that he was a diplomat of some note among the Elpri. If you doubt the information that we’ve provided, why not ask him?”

“I’m not obliged to stay apprised of the whereabouts of every member of the Elpri diplomatic corps,” Hado said.

“That may be, but it’s of interest to me,” Oi said. “And I’ve just looked at the cached version of his information. We have Utur Nove allegedly retired for several Elpri years, and offered a sinecure at a research foundation. The foundation’s contact information for Nove has him ‘on sabbatical,’ with no additional information.”

“Are you serious, Director Oi?” Hado said. “The absence of information is not the same as the presence of information. I knew Utur Nove. There is nothing in his past that even suggests he would act against Elpri or the Conclave.”

“Not against Elpri, I’m sure,” Oi said. “But against the Conclave?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you have been immensely critical of the Conclave recently. It’s not unreasonable to assume you are offering a perspective shared by your government at large.”

“I have been critical of
them!
” Hado flung an arm in the direction of Abumwe, who continued to sit impassively. “These humans, who represent the single largest material threat to the Conclave in our history. Or have you forgotten Roanoke, Oi?” Hado turned to Tarsem. “Have
you,
General?”

“I don’t recall the Colonial Union pretending to be an ally, Hado,” Oi said.

“Do that again,” Hado said, turning his attention back to Oi. “Accuse me of treason one more time, Director Oi.”

“Enough, both of you,” Tarsem said. Hado and Oi quieted. “No one will accuse anyone here of treason, or of faithlessness to the Conclave.”

“It’s too late for that, General,” Sca said, speaking for the first time. It glowered at Abumwe.

“Then let me say it plainly,” Tarsem said. “
I
have not accused either you or Unli Hado of treason or faithlessness, nor will I. In this particular case, this is a statement that matters.”

“Thank you, General,” Sca said, after a moment. Hado said nothing.

Tarsem turned to Abumwe. “You’ve dropped a bomb on us, haven’t you?”

“I offered to share this information with you alone, General,” Abumwe said.

“Yes you did, but that’s not the relevant part,” Tarsem said. “The relevant part is that you’ve accused us of having traitors in our midst.”

“Yes,” Abumwe said. “Traitors. And spies. And opportunists. And all of the above, in one or more combinations. Just like we have.” Abumwe nodded to Byrne and Lowen. “Just like they have. But that’s not the real problem, General. There have always been traitors and spies and opportunists. Our current problem is that all of our traitors and spies and opportunists have found each other and decided to work against us, for their own ends.”

“And what do you propose we do about it?” Oi asked Abumwe.

“I am not proposing
we
do anything about it,” Abumwe said, and turned back to Tarsem. “Allow me to be blunt, General.”

“By all means,” Tarsem said.

“We need to be clear why I am here,” Abumwe said, turning her attention back to Oi. “I am not here because the Colonial Union feels fondly toward the Conclave or because we believe sharing this information will allow our two unions to move in a more friendly direction.” Abumwe motioned to Hado, who gave every impression of being offended that a human would dare to bring attention his way. “Representative Hado may be wrong about his obvious suspicions concerning this information, but he’s not wrong that the Colonial Union has been a material threat to you. We have been.”

“Thank you,” Hado said, and then immediately appeared to realize the inappropriateness of his comment.

“It’s nothing I need to be thanked for,” Abumwe said, and I admired the subtle stomp of the statement, adding to Hado’s embarrassment. “I am merely stating an obvious fact. This isn’t an overture or a thawing of relations. I am here because we have no other choice but to share this information with you. If we allow the Equilibrium’s lies about our intentions to spread unchallenged, two things are very likely to happen. One,” Abumwe motioned again to Hado, “he or someone like him would be demanding the Conclave attack and destroy the Colonial Union.”

“Which it could do,” Sca said.

“We do not disagree,” Abumwe said. “But the cost of doing so would be high, and it would not be nearly as easy as some people would want to suggest it is, despite the Colonial Union’s current situation with regard to the Earth.” She looked at Tarsem directly. “Humans have a term called ‘pyrrhic victory,’ sir.”

“‘Another such victory and we are undone,’” Tarsem said.

“You’re familiar with the term, then.”

“It pays to know one’s enemy.”

“No doubt,” Abumwe said. “And no doubt you are aware that we know you as well as you know us. You could destroy us. But we would take you with us.”

“Not all of us,” Hado said.

“We would take the Conclave,” Abumwe said, looking directly at Hado again. “Which is the only enemy here that matters, Representative Hado. And that is the second thing. Once we have bloodied the Conclave, diminished its vaunted reputation of being too big to fail, and have bled the fear of it out into the vacuum of the stars, the Conclave itself will crack.” She pointed rather than motioned to Hado. “This one or someone like him will do it. Especially if, during this struggle with the Colonial Union, the Conclave moves to bring the Earth into its ranks.”

“We have no official interest in joining the Conclave,” Lowen said.

“Of course you don’t,” Abumwe said, looking at her. “At this point why would you, because at the moment you’re getting the benefits of an association with the Conclave without any of the obligation. But if the Conclave and the Colonial Union go to war, you will start to worry that we will come to you and take what you used to give to us: soldiers. And then you’ll ask to join the Conclave. And that will be the leverage someone like Representative Hado needs.”

“Again we come to my alleged treason,” Hado said.

“No, not treason, Representative Hado,” Abumwe said. “Allow me to give you the compliment of assuming you are too intelligent for that. No, I imagine you, or someone like you, will position yourself as the savior of the Conclave, someone to rescue it from the shadow of itself that it’s become. And if you can’t get enough other members to come along, then perhaps you’ll break away, with a few other like-minded nations, and call yourself the New Conclave or something. And after that, it won’t take long. Because while you are too intelligent to commit treason, Representative Hado, I sense that you are not nearly intelligent enough to realize how your ambitions outweigh your ability to keep four hundred species together. Once again, bluntly: You’re not good enough, sir. Only one person in this room is.”