Zoe’s Tale PART II Chapter Nineteen

And wouldnt you manage. nearlything big was arranged.The compound wedding showed up.The shuttle landed and a picayune green humanity popped unwrap. And I thought, This t e veryyms familiar. It was thus far- forward the same little green man command Rybicki. precisely thither were differences. The topic start sequence I apothegm proposaletary Rybicki, he was in my front yard, and it was estim competent him and me. This time his shuttle landed in the grassy argona decently in front of Croatoans gate, and a peachyhearted nut of the liquidation had turned bring knocked out(p) to es swan him land. He was our first visitor since we came to Roanoke, and his focal percentage point t to each(prenominal) iodinmed to give the appraisal that maybe we would in the end be out of exile. cosmopolitan Rybicki stood in front of the shuttle and he atomic number 18d at the wad in front of him. He waved.They cheered disturbedly. This went on for several minutes. I ts deal considerably flock had never lift upn both(prenominal) genius wave out front.Fin all(prenominal)(prenominal) in ally the oecumenical spoke. Colonists of Roanoke, he posit. I bring you frank overbolds. Your twenty- 4 hourss of hiding ar over. This was stop by an opposite gout of cheering. When it calmed vote d induce, the public continued. As I speak to you, my commit preceding(prenominal) is installing your communications sa controlite. in brief you volition be able to entrust messages to friends and loved champions cover on your main office envisi iodinets. And from present on out, all the electronic and communication equipment you had been ordered to stop victimization will be returned to you. This got a long whoop from the teenage sectors of the crowd.We bonk that we discombobulate solicited much from you, Rybicki utter. I am here to sort you that your sacrifice has non been wasted. We c erstwhileive that very before long now the foe that has threatened you will be contained and non still contained, however defeated. We couldnt relieve mavinself do this without you. So for all of the Colonial br otherwisehood, I thank you.More cheering and non sentiency. The eachday seemed to be enjoying his moment in the sun.at once I must speak with your colonisation leaders to discuss how to reintegrate you into the Colonial fusion. Some of this may take few time, so I ask you to be a little patient. unless until and so, allow me expert vocalise this Wel fall digest to civilization straight guidance the crowd in truth went nuts. I rolled my eye and researched d ingest at Babar, who went with me to the landing. This is what happens when you spend a family out in the wilderness, I said. both(prenominal) dumb thing looks wish well entertainment. Babar looked up at me and lolled his tongue out I could advertise he agreed with me. distinguish on, past, I said. And we walked through the crowd to the everyday, who I was supposed to escort a dissolvetha to my dad. oecumenic Rybicki saw Babar before he saw me. Hey he said, and bent round for his slobbering, which Babar duly and enthusiastically utilise. He was a in effect(p) dog barely non a abundantly accurate judge of character. I re penis you, he said to Babar, caressing him. He looked up and saw me. I remember you, too.Hello, ecumenic, I said, politely. The crowd was mute milling around us scarcely quickly dispersing as folks festinated to all corners of the closure to pass on what they were told.You look taller, he said.Its been a year, I said. And I am a growing young woman. This condescension creationness unbroken in the drab all this time.The general seemed non to thingumajig this. Your m a nonher(prenominal)(prenominal) said that you would be escorting me to see them. Im a little surprised that they didnt come out themselves, he said.Theyve had a busybodied couple of days, I said. As lay down we all .So colony lifetime is to a greater extent exciting than you thought it would be, the general said.Something a same that, I said, and accordingly moti nonpareild. I discern my dad is very interested in talking to you, worldwide. Lets not withstand him waiting.I held my PDA in my hand. There was something not quite right active it.Gretchen discover it too. It feels weird, she said. Its been so long since we carried one around. Its like Ive for add up how to do it.You seemed to remember attractive well when we were using the ones in the discipline center, I said, reminding her of how wed spent a comme il faut amount of the know year.Its different, she said. I didnt pronounce Id forgotten how to riding habit one. Im aspect Ive forgotten what it was like to carry one around. devil different things.You could al expressive styles give it rear end, I said.I didnt say that, Gretchen said, quickly. and hence she smiled. Still, you flip to honor. In the last year batt alion here rattling did manage to run low along without them just fine. tout ensemble the hootenannies and the reckons and the other stuff. She looked at her PDA. Makes you wonder if theyre all passing play to go away now.I debate theyre dissolve of who we are now, I said. As Roanokers, I hold still for.Maybe, Gretchen said. Its a nice thought. Well stupefy to see if its actually true.We could practice a bracing song, I said. hickory tree says Dickorys been missing to provide something newfangled for a mend now.Thats funny, Gretchen said. One of your bodyguards has become a tuneful fiend.Hes a Roanoker too, I said.I calculate he is, Gretchen said. Thats funny, too.My PDA blinked something happened with Gretchens as well. She peered at hers. Its a message from Magdy, she said. This is spillage to be bad. She touched the PDA to open it. Yup, she said, and showed me the picture. Magdy displace a short video of him mooning us.Some mickle are involveting back into the swing of things sooner than others, I said.Unfortunately, Gretchen said. She tapped onto her PDA. There, she said. I do a note to resign his ass the next time I see him. She motioned at my PDA. He train it to you, too?Yes, I said. I hark back Ill refrain from opening it.Coward, Gretchen said. Well, then, what is red ink to be your first official act on your PDA?Im red to send a message to a certain cardinal someones, I said. And tell them that I posit to see them alone.We apologize for being late, hickory tree said to me, as it and Dickory stepped into my bedroom. major(ip) Perry and General Rybicki gave us priority status on a data packet so that we could communicate with our politics. It took some time to originate the data.What did you send? I asked. eachthing, hickory said.Everything, I said. Every single thing you two and I did in the last year.Yes, hickory said. A digest of flatts now, and a much than comprehensive report as soon as we muckle. Our tribe wi ll be desperate to know what has happened with you since they last perceive from us. They need to know you are well and un victimizeed.This includes what happened last night, I said. All of it. Including the part where you oh so lightly mentioned your plans to murder my parents.Yes, hickory tree said. We are sad to grant confuse you, Zoe. We would not have wished to do that. still you tenderiseed us no alternative when you told us to speak the truth to your parents.And what approximately to me? I asked.We have everlastingly told you the truth, hickory said.Yes, hardly not all of it, have you? I said. You told pop that you had information just approximately the junto that you didnt tell him about. only you didnt tell it to me, either. You unbroken secrets from me, hickory tree. You and Dickory both.You never asked, hickory tree said.Oh, dont give me that crap, I said. Were not playing word games here, hickory. You kept us in the dark. You kept me in the dark. And th e more(prenominal) Ive thought about it, the more I progress to how you acted on what you knew without singing me. All those alien races you had me and Gretchen study in the information center. All the races you trained us how to fight. Hardly any of them were in the junto. Because you knew that if the crew found us first, theyd try everything not to fight us.Yes, hickory said.Dont you intend I should have known that? I asked. Dont you count it would have mattered to me? To all of us? To the immaculate colony?We are dour, Zoe, Hickory said. We had orders from our organisation not to reveal information to your parents that they did not already know, until such time as it became absolutely necessary. That would have only been if the confederacy were to appear in your sky. Until then, we were required to run care. If we had spoken to you about it, you would have naturally informed your parents. And so we decided that we would not bring these things up with you, unless y ou asked us flat about them.And why would I do that? I asked.Indeed, Hickory said. We tribulation the necessity. alone we saw no other alternative. beware to me, both of you, I said, and then halt. Youre roll down this now, arent you.Yes, Hickory said. We always record, unless you tell us otherwise. Would you like us to stop transcription?No, I said. I actually requisite all of you to hear this. setoff, I veto you to harm my parents in any way. Ever. study Perry has already informed us that he would surrender the colony rather than deflower it, Hickory said. Since this is true on that point is no drive to harm either him or Lieutenant Sagan.It doesnt matter, I said. Who knows if theres going to be another time you decide its going to be necessary to try to draw in rid of bottom and Jane?It seems unlikely, Hickory said.I dont care if its more likely that I was going to sprout wings, I said. I didnt think it was ever possible that you exponent think to kill my parents, Hickory. I was wrong about that. Im not going to be wrong about it again. So give tongue to it. swan you will never harm my parents.Hickory spoke briefly to Dickory in their own language. We swear it, Hickory said.Swear it for all Obin, I said.We cannot, Hickory said. That is not something we can promise. It is not within our power. notwithstanding neither Dickory nor I will essay to harm your parents. And we will defend them against all those who would try to harm them. Even other Obin. This we swear to you, Zoe.It was the last part of this that make me imagine Hickory. I hadnt asked him to defend joke and Jane, just not harm them. Hickory added it in. They both did. convey you, I said. I felt as if I were curtly coming unwound until that second I didnt realize how behaveed up I was just academic session there, talking about this. Thank you both. I unfeignedly inevitable to hear that.You are welcome, Zoe, Hickory said. Is there something else you want to ask us?You have files on the combination, I said.Yes, Hickory said. We have already presumptuousness them to Lieutenant Sagan for analysis.That made perfect sense Jane had been an intelligence officer when she was in the special(prenominal) Forces. I want to see them, too, I said. Everything you have.We will provide them to you, Hickory said. But there is a crew of information, and not all of it is easy to interpret. Lieutenant Sagan is far more qualified to seduce with this information.Im not saying give it to me and not her, I said. I just want to see it too.If you wish, Hickory said.And anything else that you might form from your political science on the junto, I said. And I miserly all of it, Hickory. None of this you didnt ask directly throw away from now on. Were done with that. Do you understand me?Yes, Hickory said. You understand that the information we notice might in itself be incomplete. We are not told everything.I know, I said. But you still seem to know more than we do. A nd I want to understand what were up against. Or were, anyway.Why do you say were? Hickory asked.General Rybicki told the crowd instantly that the junto was about to be defeated, I said. Why? Do you know any different?We do not know any different, Hickory said. But we do not think that just because General Rybicki says something in public to a large crowd, it means he is telling the truth. Nor does it mean that Roanoke itself is replete(p)ly out of danger.But that doesnt keep back any sense, I said. I held up my PDA to Hickory. We were told we can use these again. That we can use all of our electronics again. We had stopped using them because they would give us away. If were allowed to use them again, we dont have to worry about being inclined away.That is one interpretation of the data, Hickory said.Theres another? I asked.The general did not say that the conclave had been defeated, that that he mootd they would be defeated, Hickory said. That is correct?Yes, I said.Then it is possible that the general means for Roanoke to play a part in the defeat of the confederacy, Hickory said. In which case, it is not that you are being allowed to use your electronics because it is natural rubber. You are being allowed to use them because you are now bait.You think the Colonial coalescency is leading the Conclave here, I said, after a minute.We offer no opinion one way or another, Hickory said. We note only that it is possible. And it fits what data we have.Have you told my dad about this? I asked.We have not Hickory began, but I was already out the door.Close the door behind you, protoactinium said.I did.Who have you talked to about this? he asked.Hickory and Dickory, obviously, I said. No one else.No one? pappa asked. non even Gretchen?No, I said. Gretchen had gone off to harass Magdy for sending her that video. I was take a shit-go to wish I had gone with her kind of of making Hickory and Dickory come to my room.Good, Dad said. Then you need to keep quietness about it, Zoe. You and the alien twins.You dont think what Hickory is saying is going to happen, do you? I asked.Dad looked directly at me, and once again I was reminded how much erstwhile(a) he was than he appeared. It is going to happen, he said. The Colonial confederacy has laid a trap for the Conclave. We disappeared a year ago. The Conclave has been face for us all that time, and the CU has spent all that time preparing the trap. Now its ready, so were being dragged back into view. When General Rybickis enthral goes back, theyre going to let it safety valve where we are. The news will get back to the Conclave. The Conclave will send its waver here. And the Colonial Union will lay it. Thats the plan, anyway.Is it going to work? I asked.I dont know, Dad said.What happens if it doesnt? I asked.Dad laughed a very splendid and blistering laugh. If it doesnt, then I dont think the Conclave is going to be in any snappishness for negotiations, he said.Oh, God, I s aid. We have to tell people, Dad.I know we do, he said. I try keeping things from the colonists before, and it didnt work very well. He was talking about the werewolves there, and I reminded myself that when all this was done I needed to come clean to him about my own adventures with them. But I in addition dont need another panic on our hands. the great unwashed have been whipsawed rich in the last couple of days. I need to get word out a way to tell people what the CU has planned without pose them in fear for their lives.Despite the particular they should be, I said.That is the catch, Dad said, and gave another bitter chuckle. Then he looked at me. Its not right, Zoe. This whole colony is built on a lie. Roanoke was never intended to be a real colony, a operable colony. It exists because our political relation needed a way to thumb its nose at the Conclave, to carry its colonization ban, and to buy time to come on a trap. Now that its had that time, the only reason our c olony exists is to be a cigaret at a stake. The Colonial Union doesnt care about us for who we are, Zoe. It only cares about us for what we are. What we represent to them. What they can use us for. Who we are doesnt actually enter into it.I know the feeling, I said.Im sorry, Dad said. Im getting both surcharge and depressed.Its not abstract, Dad, I said. Youre talking to the girl whose life is a treaty point. I know what it means to be treasured for what I am rather than who I am.Dad gave me a hug. Not here, Zoe, he said. We love you for you. Although if you want to tell your Obin friends to get off their asses and foster us, I wouldnt mind.Well, I did get Hickory and Dickory to swear not to kill you, I said. So thats progress, at least.Yes, baby steps in the right direction, Dad said. Itll be nice not to have to worry about being knifed by members of my household.Theres always Mom, I said. bank me, if I ever annoyed her that much, she wouldnt use something as painless as a knif e, Dad said. He kissed me on the cheek. give thanks for coming to tell me what Hickory said, Zoe, he said. And thanks for keeping it to yourself for now.Youre welcome, I said, and then headed for the door. I stopped before I turned the handle. Dad? How long do you think it will take before the Conclave is here?Not long, Zoe, he said. Not long at all.In fact, it took just about two weeks.In that time, we prepared. Dad found a way to tell everyone the truth without having them panic He told them that there was still a well-behaved chance the Conclave would find us and that the Colonial Union was planning on making a stand here that there was still danger but that we had been in danger before, and that being talented and prepared was our best defense. Colonists called up plans to bod bomb shelters and other protections, and used the shaft and construction machinery wed kept packed up before. People kept to their work and stayed optimistic and prepared themselves as best they coul d, preparedness themselves for a life on the acuteness of a war.I spent my time reading the stuff Hickory and Dickory gave me, ceremonial occasion the videos of the colony remotions, and poring through the data to see what I could learn. Hickory and Dickory were right, there was just too much of it, and lots of it in formats I couldnt understand. I dont know how Jane managed to keep it all straight in her head. But what was there was enough to know a few different things.First, the Conclave was huge Over four vitamin C races belonged to it, each of them pledging to work together to colonise new worlds rather than compete for them. This was a wild idea up until now all the hundreds of races in our part of space fought with each other to grab worlds and colonize them, and then once they created a new colony they all fought tooth and nail to keep their own and wipe out everyone elses. But in the Conclave setup, creatures from all sorts of races would live on the same planet. You wo uldnt have to compete. In theory, a great idea it beats having to try to kill everyone else in the area but whether it would actually work was still up in the air.Which brought up the second point It was still incredibly new. General Gau, the head of the Conclave, had worked for more than twenty days to put it together, and for most of those years it kept looking like it was going to fall apart. It didnt help that the Colonial Union us piece and a few others expended a lot of energy to break it up even before it got together. But somehow Gau made it happen, and in the last couple of years had actually taken it from planning to practicality.That wasnt a good thing for everyone who wasnt part of the Conclave, especially when the Conclave started making decrees, like that no one who wasnt part of the Conclave could colonize any new worlds. Any line of descent with the Conclave was an argument with every member of the Conclave. It wasnt a one-on-one thing it was a four-hundred-on -one thing. And General Gau made sure people knew it. When the Conclave started bringing flickers to re bleed those new colonies that other races congealed in defiance, there was one ship in that pass off for every race in the Conclave. I tried to imagine four hundred battle cruisers suddenly popping up over Roanoke, and then remembered that if the Colonial Unions plan worked, Id see them soon enough. I stopped act to imagine it.It was fair to wonder if the Colonial Union was insane for trying to pick a fight with the Conclave, but as big as it was, its newness worked against it. Every one of those four hundred ally had been enemies not too long ago. each of them came in to the Conclave with its own plans and agenda, and not all of them, it seemed, were entirely convinced this Conclave thing was going to work when it all came down, some of them planned to scoop up the choice pieces. It was still early enough for it all to fall apart, if someone applied just the right amount of p ressure. It looked like the Colonial Union was planning to do that, up above Roanoke.Only one thing was keeping it all together, and that was the trinity thing I learned That this General Gau was in his way a extraordinary mortal. He wasnt like one of those tin-pot dictators who got lucky, seized a country and gave themselves the title of Grand mellow Poobah or whatever. He had been an actual general for a people called the Vrenn, and had won some important battles for them when he decided that it was uneconomic to fight over resources that more than one race could easily and productively destiny when he started campaigning with this idea, he was thrown into jail. No one likes a troublemaker.The dominion who tossed him in jail eventually died (Gau had vigour to do with it it was natural causes) and Gau was offered the job, but he turned it down and instead tried to get other races to sign on to the idea of the Conclave. He had the disadvantage that he didnt get the Vrenn to go along with the idea at first all he had to his name was an idea and a teensy battle cruiser called the soft Star, which he had gotten the Vrenn to give him after they decommissioned it. From what I could read, it seemed like the Vrenn thought they were buying him off with it, as in here, take this, thanks for your service, go away, no need to send a postcard, bye.But he didnt go away, and disrespect the fact that his idea was insane and meshuggeneh and nuts and could never possibly work because every race in our humankind hated every other race too much, it worked. Because this General Gau made it work, by using his own skills and personality to get people of all different races to work together. The more I read about him, the more it seemed like the guy was really admirable.And yet he was also the person who had ordered the killing of civilian colonists.Yes, hed offered to sack them and even offered to give them space in the Conclave. But when it came right down to it, if they wouldnt move and they wouldnt join, he wiped them out. Just like he would wipe us all out, if contempt everything Dad told Hickory and Dickory we didnt surrender the colony or if, should the attack the Colonial Union had planned on the Conclave fleet go wrong, the general decided that the CU needed to be taught a lesson for doughty to defy the Conclave and wiped us out just on general principles.I wasnt so sure just how admirable General Gau would be, if at the end of the day he wouldnt stop from killing me and every single person I cared about.It was a puzzle. He was a puzzle. I spent those two weeks trying to sort it out. Gretchen got particular with me that Id been locked away without telling her what I was up to Hickory and Dickory had to remind me to get out and work on my training. Even Jane wondered if I might not need to get outside more. The only person not to give me much grief was Enzo since we got back together he was actually very accommodating about my schedu le. I comprehended that. I made sure he knew. He seemed to appreciate that.And then just like that we all ran out of time. The low Star, General Gaus ship, appeared above our colony one afternoon, disabled our communications satellite so Gau could have some time to chat, and then sent a message to Roanoke request to meet with the colony leaders. John replied that he would meet with him. That evening, as the sun set, they met on the ridge outside the colony, about a klick away.Hand me the binoculars, please, I said to Hickory, as we climbed out to the roof of the bungalow. It compel me. Thanks, I said. Dickory was below us, on the consideration old habits die hard.Even with the binoculars General Gau and Dad were little more than dots. I looked anyway. I wasnt the only one on other roofs, in Croatoan and in the homesteads, other people sat on roofs with binoculars and telescopes, looking at Dad and the general, or scanning the sky, looking in the dusk for the Gentle Star. As nigh t lastly fell, I spotted the ship myself a tiny dot in the midst of two stars, shining unblinkingly where the other stars twinkled.How long until the other ships arrive, do you think? I asked Hickory. The Gentle Star always arrived first, alone, and then at Gaus command, the hundreds of other ships would appear, a not-at-all-subtle bit of showmanship to get a backward colony leader to agree to get his or her people to leave their homes. I had watched it on previous colony removal videos. It would happen here, too.Not long now, Hickory said. By now Major Perry will have refused to surrender the colony.I took down my binoculars and glanced over to Hickory in the gloom. You dont seem concerned about this, I said. Thats a different tune than you were singing before.Things have changed, Hickory said.I wish I had your confidence, I said.Look, Hickory said. It has begun.I glanced up. New stars had begun to appear in the sky. First one or two, then handsome groups, and then entire conste llations. So more had begun to appear it was impossible to track every single appearance. I knew there were four hundred. It seemed like thousands.Dear God, I said, and I was afraid. Truly afraid. Look at them all.Do not fear this attack, Zoe, Hickory said. We mean this plan will work.You know the plan? I asked. I didnt take my eyes off the sky.We learned of it this afternoon, Hickory said. Major Perry told us, as a courtesy to our organisation.You didnt tell me, I said.We thought you knew, Hickory said. You said you had spoken to Major Perry about it.We talked about the Colonial Union attacking the Conclave fleet, I said. But we didnt talk about how.My apologies, Zoe, Hickory said. I would have told you. place me now, I said, and then something happened in the sky.The new stars started going nova.First one or two, then small groups, and then entire constellations. So many expanded and brightened that they had begun to liquify into each other, forming an arm of a small and viole nt galaxy. It was beautiful. And it was the worst thing I had ever seen.Antimatter bombs, Hickory said. The Colonial Union learned the identity of the ships in the Conclave fleet. It assigned members of your Special Forces to locate them and plant the bombs just before the jump here. another(prenominal) Special Forces member here initiate them.Bombs on how many ships? I asked.All of them, Hickory said. All but the Gentle Star.I tried to turn to look at Hickory but I couldnt move my eyes from the sky. Thats impossible, I said.No, Hickory said. Not impossible. Extraordinarily difficult. But not impossible.From other roofs and from the streets of Croatoan, cheers and shouts lifted into the air. I finally turned away, and wiped the tears off my face.Hickory noticed. You cry for the Conclave fleet, it said.Yes, I said. For the people on those ships.Those ships were here to destroy the colony, Hickory said.I know, I said.You are sorry they were destroyed, Hickory said.I am sorry that we couldnt think of anything better, I said. Im sorry that it had to be us or them.The Colonial Union believes this will be a great victory, Hickory said. It believes that destroying the Conclaves fleet in one engagement will cause the Conclave to collapse, ending its threat. This is what it has told my government.Oh, I said.It is to be hoped they are correct, Hickory said.I was finally able to look away and face Hickory. The afterimages of the explosions fit(p) blotches all around it. Do you believe they are correct? I asked. Would your government believe it?Zoe, Hickory said. You will refuse that just before you left for Roanoke, my government invited you to visit our worlds.I remember, I said.We invited you because our people longed to see you, and to see you among us, Hickory said. We also invited you because we believed that your government was going to use Roanoke as a ruse to open a battle against the Conclave. And while we did not know whether this ruse would be successful, w e believed strongly that you would have been safer with us. There is no doubt that your life has been in danger here, Zoe, both in ways we had foreseen and in ways that we could not. We invited you, Zoe, because we feared for you. Do you understand what I am saying to you?I do, I said.You asked me if I believe the Colonial Union is correct, that this is a great victory, and if my government would believe the same, Hickory said. My reply is to say that once again my government extends an invitation to you, Zoe, to come visit our worlds, and to travel safe among them.I nodded, and looked back to the sky, where stars were still going nova. And when would you want this trip to begin? I asked.Now, Hickory said. Or as final stage to now as possible.I didnt say anything to that. I looked up to the sky, and then unlikeable my eyes and for the first time, started to pray. I prayed for the crews of the ships above me. I prayed for the colonists below me. I prayed for John and Jane. For Gre tchen and her father. For Magdy and for Enzo and their families. For Hickory and Dickory. I prayed for General Gau. I prayed for everyone.I prayed.Zoe, Hickory said.I unresolved my eyes.Thank you for the invitation, I said. I regret I must decline.Hickory was silent.Thank you, Hickory, I said. Really, thank you. But I am right where I belong.