“I suppose you have no reason to trust me,” she said at last, leaning back. “However we both know you already have plans underway to meet this threat. Plans you have made on your own terms and in your own way.”
He was a little startled. Was he that easy to read?
“Only this time,” she said, “the stakes are higher then normal, are they not? If you fail it could well follow that Earth is lost, correct?”
She was probably right. Manoba said nothing.
“But the two of us could swing the Board of Regents to do things our way, couldn’t we?” she prodded softly. “But to do that, I would have to know what you had in mind, and I’d have to agree with it – which I’m sure I would, knowing how thorough you are,” she added quickly.
Manoba got up and walked over to a fan of delicate coral that crowned a narrow stand next to an imposing bookcase. All his political training cried ‘no!’ each time he thought about her proposal.
Information was only useful if it was not shared. Each step along an information chain doubled the chance of a leak. Understanding this fact was how he had survived, and then prospered. He couldn’t take the risk of sharing any information with her. Not her, or anybody else. He walked back to his chair and sat down, not sure how he was going to say that.
“I’m sorry to have backed you into this particular corner,” she said softly. “Believe me I understand what I am asking of you. I am only the Regent of the Asian block because no one else knows what I know.” She smiled wanly.
So she did know how it was, thought Manoba. But trust never lasted in politics. What would he gain by trusting her on this occasion? He could lose the South Am Regency so quickly!
Then he looked into her eyes and saw the loneliness there, and he understood it. It was the loneliness of command. He coped with those feelings by burying himself in his work. Everything else was under too much scrutiny by others.
Friendships, lovers, hobbies, all had to exist in the public eye, and that was why they didn’t last. The sense of isolation hurt her more than it hurt him, it seemed. Though hadn’t she come to power earlier than he had? Perhaps in a few years he would have that same haunted look on his face in unguarded moments.
For once in his life, something other than political usefulness made a decision for him. He surprised himself when he smiled and took her hand. She looked a little taken aback, and then she squeezed his fingers gently.
On a whim he asked her if she had any of the dark-brewed cane spirit he remembered from his early days growing up in Brazil. She found him something similar from the kitchen and placed it on a table nearby. Then she sat in a chair next to him.
He looked at her again, and was reassured by what he saw in her eyes. He took a small sip of the fiery spirit, and remembered those days long ago when he was young, and everything was new, and anything was possible. Why did this time with Asura feel like that again?
Then he told her about his plans for the Mersa, and his suspicions about a secretive race he called the Druanii.
Her eyes opened wide. She hadn’t expected anything like this!
CHAPTER 13
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It was the day after the Board of Regents had finally concluded its business, and individual Regents had made their way back to their own countries. Asura was letting the events of the past few days settle inside her mind. Chief among them was her time with Manoba Cordez.
She was still finding it hard to take in what he had said. Manoba believed the Mersa civilisation, though it did not have star drive, was intellectually at least as advanced as Earth, and might even be ahead of Earth in the development of some scientific theories.
Her confusion was partly due to the natural assumption of races with star drive to assume planets without that capability were backward. Apparently this was not true for the inhabitants of Alamos.
Cordez had been building up his understanding of the Mersa for some time. He already had linguist earpieces loaded with the main language, and he had sent an agent to the planet to pave the way for Human arrival. She very much wanted to see the recordings this agent, this Fedic Vits, had taken.
To visit such planets was highly illegal of course, and it would spark a serious incident with the Sumerians if they ever found out. She shook her head in wonderment. It was the sort of thing she did sometimes on Earth, to make sure she stayed Regent of the Asian trading block – but to do it on such a grand scale!
She felt a growing admiration for the South Am Regent. Her first instincts that the man was sophisticated in his thinking, while also somehow ‘moral’ in his actions, were proving to be correct.
Then he had told her about some sort of space phantom he called ‘Druanii’. That had been a bit harder to believe. His conclusions were part guesswork from strange incidents he had come across over his time in office, and part conjecture.
He believed there were a race of beings who lived on the fringes of the Spiral Arm, furtherest from the Core, with occasional contact since the human race achieved star drive capability. There was never any hard evidence of these creatures, as if they made every effort to cover up the fact of their existence, but Manoba had spoken to a few eyewitnesses and the reports always tallied.
If the human race was going to survive contact with the Reaper ships (as they had now been dubbed in most public reports), its only chance lay with the improbable and the impossible, such as the people of Alamos or the elusive Druanii. Earth’s current technological level wasn’t going to be enough against such vastly superior forces as the Reaper ships.
Asura took a moment to reflect on what Manoba had told her, but she already knew where her duty lay. It was firstly to the Asian trading block, but also to Earth itself. She would support Manoba in any way she could, at least on these two issues.
The first thing to be done was get the full support of the Board of Regents for contact with Alamos, and then convince the Sumerians of the merits of such contact. Manoba had told her about the work he had already done to convince the Sumerians. She had been impressed.
Now she called her private secretary, and checked for the next meeting of the board. These were regularly scheduled at the moment, in light of the present upheavals, and she noted the day. She and Manoba would have to be prepared for that meeting. Then she contacted Manoba and arranged to meet him to view the Fedic Vits records. What she saw then convinced her more than ever that Manoba was right about the Mersa.
They were an extraordinarily creative people, that was clear, but how would the two of them get the other Regents to agree to an alliance with Alamos? They couldn’t show the Board the recordings, so they would have to think of something else. They had four days to get ready.
“Why do we want more problems, and more expense, when the fox is in the hen house and we need to build a fox-proof yard?” said Hoover Runciman in exasperation.
The North Am Regent stood most to gain from the building of a Deep Space Navy for Earth’s peacekeeping forces, and he didn’t want to waste time on what he saw as side issues.
“Because we know the Mersa have the resources we badly need, and because they might have some useful ideas to offer in our fight against the Reaper ships,” said Asura.
Hoover’s small eyes narrowed in his pudgy face. Why was Asura Ming now supporting Cordez? What was in it for her, and had they struck some sort of a deal he didn’t know about?
“Think long-term,” said Asura reassuringly. “We need resources from Alamos, and they will want the goods and services Earth can provide. It’s an ideal trading relationship.”
One that would be very profitable for you, she added under her breath, but she wouldn’t need to tell him that.
“We seem to have covered the main points,” said Victor Emens smoothly. The Euro-Russian Regent had been selected by ballot to chair the meeting of the board on this occasion.
“If members will prepare their votes, and proxy votes, we will vote on the initiative put forward by Regent Cordez, with amendments by,” his eyes
flicked to his notes, “Regents Rhodes and Padoulos.”
Each Regent held a certain number of votes that derived from a combination of the raw materials and refined output supplied by their trading block. Some smaller regions were loosely allied with the larger trading blocks and their votes were often cast on a “best interest” basis by those Regents.
Each of the six Regents present keyed in their votes. Manoba looked a little nervous. Even with Asura’s support, he would need some of the more independent votes. Asura was feeling very relaxed, because she had pulled in some favours and already knew the outcome.
She would tell Manoba later what she had done. It would be nice to have him beholding to her. Trust was a delicate thing that needed a little reinforcing from time to time!
“A total of 117 votes for the proposal, and 91 against,” said Victor Emens. “I declare that the Board of Regents now considers an alliance with the planet Alamos to be a high priority, and that Uruk should be approached to condone this through the combined Earth governments with all possible urgency.”
Hoover Runciman did not look pleased. The other Regents looked a little bemused. Most of them were content just to see the North Am Regent have his wings clipped for a change.
Moving on to other business, Emens detailed the production rates and capabilities of the new extreme-range satellites. These had been ordered by Earth Gov to screen off the Core from the Spiral Arm. The Reaper ships had retired to the Core for the moment, but it was generally agreed they would be back.
Each satellite was capable of sensing Reaper ship energy signatures at long range, and each held a miniature ‘carrier pigeon’ that would take the message of approaching Reaper ships to the nearest settlement.
These were expensive machines, and the North Am and Pacific trading blocks in particular were going to benefit from the production of thousands of them. Building the remote-sensing barrier had already begun, and some of the new pigeons had been put in place.
This was a relatively straightforward piece of business, but the next item on the agenda was not so simple.
The Sumerian government on Uruk had recently authorised full production of warships at Rokar, the mining world of the Sumerians and their main industrial base, and initiated a huge intake in personnel at their training academies. The Sumerian Imperial Deep Space Navy was expected to double in size over the next two years.
“That’s what we want to hear!” exclaimed Hoover Runciman enthusiastically. “Everybody doing their bit! If we rustle up a thousand ships and the Sumerians double the size of their forces, well, those Reaper ships will head for home at the sight of the mighty fleet that comes sailing out to meet them.
“Why, your little boys from Alamos could even send up a tugboat or two and be of some use,” he said, turning to Cordez.
The man’s an idiot, thought Manoba. Several of the other Regents shook their heads despairingly. Hadn’t Runciman read the European research team’s report on the Reaper ships, or the damage report from SiRoth and Ba’H’Roth that the Sumerians had provided?
Cordez couldn’t believe the man was suggesting sending Human and Sumerian warships against the Reaper ships. It would be like sending bows and arrows against energy weapon fire.
Runciman probably had been briefed on the reality of the situation, but he was thinking that the best chance of himself remaining as Regent in his trading block, and his hangers-on staying in power, was to act tough. His only interest was to stimulate his local economy by building the pointless deep space ships.
Cordez took a deep breath. Runciman was best ignored for the moment.
“Do we know if the new Sumerian warships will be standard issue?” he asked the board at large. “Will they have any improved capabilities over the existing warships?”
Most of the members of the board looked blank.
“I’ve had a team working on that,” said Asura. “We all know how traditional the Sumerians are, so I wouldn’t be expecting any change in the basic warship design they’ve been using for thousands of years.
“However, there does seem to be evidence they are making slow progress in some areas of science, and are not entirely dependent on Rothii technology.” She paused.
“In some ways,” she continued, “the appearance of Humans might be placing pressure on the Sumerians to innovate.
“In this case, though, I think the designs of the new warships will be taken from the old plans. One of the areas where we do work well with the Sumerians is in areas of trade. Perhaps Human and Sumerian traders are the ones who think most alike.
“I have information from traders in the Asian trading block that Sumerian traders are expecting the usual requisition orders for standard warship metals and parts. Nothing new.
“I think the Sumerians intend to double the size of their Navy, but the new ships will be exactly the same as the ones they already have,” she concluded.
“Aren’t these the same ships that got soundly beaten at Ba’H’Roth,” said Cordez, his voice rising in frustration. “Why would the Sumerians build more of a losing design?”
“It’s not that bad,” said Victor Emens from his position as Chair. “They did take out a few of the groundships that were doing so much damage on the surface.”
“Right,” said Cordez, calling on his knowledge of military history, “because a tank can take out a landing craft, you think it can sink a heavily armoured destroyer off shore.”
Asura cast him a warning glance. Cordez put his head down until he had his emotions under control. She was right, he was not going to achieve anything like this. Not here, not today.
The last item on the agenda concerned the alarming reports coming in from Aqua Regis. It was a medieval planet, and neither Human or Sumerian ships did more than skirt the system, but it was clear the Reaper ships had done something to increase the brightness of the planet’s sun.
This had caused catastrophic results for the planets in the system. There was now a substantial jump in atmospheric temperature across Aqua Regis, and continuous cloud cover over its surface.
“Are the Sumerians doing anything about this?” asked the Regent for the Pacific.
“Not as far as we know,” answered Victor Emens. “I’m not sure even the Sumerians have the sort of energy capability to stabilise the atmosphere of a whole planet, and they won’t want to break their rules on non-interference where a civilisation has not yet developed star drive.”
“Well we have to do something!” said Asura Ming. “Most of the species on the planet are almost certain to be wiped out. It’s going to be the biggest mass extinction event the planet has ever known!
“Can we at least set up a team to look at solutions? If it turns out there’s nothing we can do, at least we’ll know we’ve tried.”
After much discussion, a team was set up to consider ways of helping Aqua Regis. It would include the Sumerians as much as possible, and in particular get permission from them to fly research ships closer to the planet than normal.
When the meeting closed, Cordez was exhausted. There were plenty of problems to be dealt with and very few solutions.
The only bright spot of the whole day was Asura’s skilful support. He looked at her across the dinner table as they discussed the day’s events, waited on by her staff. She was a beautiful woman, he noted, but there were a lot of beautiful women in the world.
Some of the most attractive women he knew would never come to public attention for their physical beauty, but they were alluring in an unconventional way, and they were profoundly beautiful to him.
For some reason he found Asura uncomfortably attractive, and he stopped for a moment to consider why this might be. What was it about her? In the end he decided it was that mixture of power and loneliness, intelligence and vulnerability, that was the key for him.
Not, of course, that this was anything but academic. Neither of them could afford to be romantically involved with anyone else, particularly not another powerful figure in world poli
tics.
That would create a ‘conflict of interests’ between the trading blocks, though that was not the real problem. The real problem was that the media would have a field day, and probably hound them both out of office.
Still, this is a pleasant moment with very acceptable company, he decided, proposing a toast to cooperation between them. Then he added his hope that Earth would survive its current set of problems.
Why did Asura look at him so softly over the edge of her glass? He dismissed the thought. The lighting must be playing tricks on his mind.
CHAPTER 14
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Finch read the message again. Manoba Cordez, Regent of the South Am trading block, and technically his boss’, boss’, untold boss’ boss, wanted to talk to him. Less than twelve hours after receiving the message he was rattling around in a claustrophobic little room on a South Am freighter taking processed rare metals to Earth.
Why didn’t Cordez meet him in simspace? The hand controls and wraparound headgear provided a ‘reality’ that was almost as good as being there. Simcomm units were restricted technology (UfEta equipment), but there was a unit back at the mining base, and the Regent of the South Am trading block would have no trouble finding one if he needed it. Why did the Regent have to see him in person?
He figured the Regent wouldn’t bring him back to Earth to fire him, and there hadn’t been any adverse publicity about the mining sites on Neptune’s moons lately. In fact his team had been keeping quiet and running exactly to the production schedule.
There had been a few days lost when the Druanii came to call – which still made his nerves tingle, to think they existed out there somewhere – but a little extra effort over the following weeks had made up for that.
As long as it wasn’t about that scandal four years ago. That still made him burn with anger. Some Rothii technology had been discovered at a mining site on Mars and traced back to a Human research site on GolRoth, one of the abandoned Rothii worlds. It wasn’t surprising that Rothii technology had been stolen. Some of the miners working on the Mars bases were as rough as they came, and a law unto themselves.
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