This Hollow Union

by John Scalzi

  “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.”

  I glanced over to Oi, who glanced back. I knew it was enjoying the dressing-down Hado was getting from a representative of the species he hated the most.

  “How arrogant of you to assume so much about me in these few ditu, Ambassador,” Hado said.

  “I didn’t,” Abumwe said. “We have a file on you.” She turned to Sca. “And on you. And on every diplomat for every nation we know has a representative in Equilibrium, including our own. It’s all in the report.”

  “I’d like to return to this report,” Tarsem said.

  “Of course,” Abumwe replied.

  “The existence of this report implied that you have a spy in Equilibrium, and have had for some time. Which makes me curious as to why you chose now to give us this information, if this group has represented a threat to both of us.”

  “Again I ask permission to be blunt.”

  “Ambassador Abumwe, at this point I cannot imagine you being otherwise.”

  “If Equilibrium had never done its own data dump, we never would have shared this,” Abumwe said. “We would have been happy to take the information and shape it, and Equilibrium, to our own needs. I reiterate that we are not sharing this information to be friendly, General.”

  “Understood.”

  “But as to our spy, the fact of the matter is that we didn’t have a spy. Equilibrium made an error and took a hostage it couldn’t control. That hostage was smarter than his captors. He stole their data and one of their ships and brought both to us.”

  “Out of loyalty to the Colonial Union?”

  “No,” Harry Wilson said. “Mostly because Equilibrium pissed him off.”
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  “Before we commit to trusting this information, perhaps we should consider the source,” Hado said. “Where is this so-called source of yours?”

  “As it happens, he’s the pilot of the Chandler,” Abumwe said.

  Hado turned to Tarsem. “Then I move he is brought here for questioning.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Wilson said.

  “Why?” Hado said, to Wilson. “Is he somehow incapable of taking a shuttle ride?”

  Wilson smiled at this for some reason.

  * * *

  “General Gau, Councilor Sorvalh, Representative Hado, and Ms. Lowen, allow me to introduce to you Rafe Daquin, pilot of the Chandler.” Wilson motioned to the box on the bridge of the Chandler, in which a human brain had been placed.

  “This seems familiar,” I said, to Wilson, as I stared into the box.

  “I thought you might think so,” he said.

  “Who did this to him?” Hado asked.

  “Sir?” Wilson said.

  “Removing brains from skulls is a thing the Colonial Union does,” Hado said. “It’s notorious for it.”

  “Are you asking me if the Colonial Union did this?”

  “Yes, although honestly I wouldn’t expect you to answer truthfully if it had,” Hado said.

  “You could ask him,” Wilson said.

  “Pardon?”

  “You could ask Rafe,” Wilson said.

  “Yes, you could,” a voice said, through speakers. “I’m literally right here.”

  “All right,” Lowen said. “Mr. Daquin, who did this to you?”

  “Put my brain in a box? That would be the group calling itself Equilibrium, Ms. Lowen,” Daquin said.

  “Why did they do it?” Tarsem asked.

  “Partly to trim down the number of working parts they needed to run the ship,” Daquin said. “Partly to make sure I stayed in their control. They assumed that I would do anything they wanted if they promised to give me back my body.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Tarsem asked.

  “Because I figured that they didn’t have any intention of ever giving it back.”

  “But the Colonial Union could give you another body,” Hado said. “They haven’t. They’re using you like this Equilibrium group had.”

  “They’re growing me a new body as we speak,” Daquin said. “It’ll be ready soon. But Harry here asked me if I wouldn’t mind being a part of the Chandler’s crew for a bit, especially for trips like these, where people might need convincing that Equilibrium is a thing and not just a convenient cover story for the Colonial Union.”

  “If this is real,” Hado said.

  “Get some scientists over here to test me if you like,” Daquin said. “I like company.”

  “It still doesn’t prove anything,” Hado said, turning to Tarsem. “We’re being asked to believe this unfortunate creature isn’t being coerced into saying these reports are his. We can’t believe that someone in his position can be expected to say anything but what his captors want him to.”

  “Captors,” Daquin said, and the derision was hard to miss. “Seriously, who is this guy?”

  “Representative Hado has a point,” I said. “You’re a brain in a box, Mr. Daquin. We have no assurance that you aren’t being used.”

  “Do you want to tell them, Harry, or should I?” Daquin asked.

  “For obvious reasons, you should,” Harry said.

  “General Gau, Councilor Sorvalh, you’re aware that your director of intelligence tried to hack into the Chandler’s systems when we arrived, yes?” Daquin asked.

  “We, we knew that,” I said.

  “Of course you did. You know what Director Oi found, right?”

  “Oi said it was a picture of someone showing their posterior.”

  “Yup, that’s called ‘mooning,’” Daquin said. “I did that, Councilor. Not the mooning, for obvious reasons. But I put the picture where Director Oi would find it. I did that because I don’t only pilot this ship, I am this ship. It is entirely and completely under my control. The Chandler has crew and they run operations—you can ask Captain Balla if you like, to confirm this—but ultimately they have only as much control over the ship as I allow them. Because this ship is me. And I choose to help. Without my cooperation, the only way the Colonial Union can control this ship is to destroy it. And I’d destroy it myself before that could happen.”

  “You still need sustenance, I assume,” Tarsem said. “Your ship still needs energy. You have to rely on the Colonial Union for that.”

  “Do I?” Daquin said. “General, if I were to ask you for asylum right now, would you give it to me?”

  “Yes,” Tarsem said.

  “And I assume you wouldn’t let me starve.”

  “No,”

  “Then you’ve just invalidated your own assertion.”

  “But you still need the Colonial Union to get your body back,” Lowen said.

  “To grow a new one, you mean.”

  “Yes.”

  “Ms. Lowen, there’s a door to your left. When the ship was built, it was the captain’s ready room. Go ahead and open it.”

  Lowen found the door and opened it. “Oh my god,” she said. She opened the door fully so the rest of us could see.

  Inside was a container with a human body in it.

  “That’s me,” Daquin said. “Or will be me, anyway, once it’s done growing and once I decide to put myself into it. Representative Hado, you can have your scientists check its DNA against the DNA in my brain here. It checks out. But the point is that no, the Colonial Union isn’t holding my body hostage. It’s not holding me hostage. It’s not coercing me. Now, you can still believe it or not, but at this point, if you don’t believe me, it’s not because we haven’t made an effort to make it easy for you to believe.”

  “Mr. Daquin,” I said.

  “Yes, Councilor Sorvalh.”

  “You were the one piloting during the rescue of the diplomats.”

  “Yes, I was,” Daquin said. “We have two other pilots, but I was the one at the helm for that.”

  “I know a pilot who called it an amazing piece of piloting, and wants to buy you several drinks to commemorate it.”

  “Tell your pilot friend I accept, in theory,” Daquin said. “The actual drinking part will have to wait.”

  * * *

  “Are you happy?” I asked Tarsem, when he and I were again alone in his office.

  “Happy?” he said. “What an odd question.”

  “I mean did everything you plan for the day happen.”

  “All I planned for was to have Abumwe give her speech, and that wasn’t even my plan,” Tarsem said. “That was yours. So I suppose I should ask you if you’re happy.”

  “Not yet,” I said.

  “Why not?” Tarsem said. “Abumwe’s speech entirely disrupted the momentum Unli Hado and his partisans had in pushing a no confidence vote. The fact I assured Hado and Sca that I don’t consider them traitors doesn’t mean their reputations aren’t irretrievably destroyed. Even if they stay on as representatives.”

  “I’m not going to pretend I didn’t enjoy seeing Hado get crushed today,” I said. “That vainglorious martinet deserved the thumping. But now we have the somewhat larger problem that both the Elpri and the Eyr have been smeared with the accusation of, if not treason, then treachery of the worst sort. And you know they’re not going to be the only nations who harbor members of this Equilibrium group. Vnac is sifting through the data right now.”

  “You’re worried about what’s going to come out in the sifting.”

  “No,” I said. “I’m worried that you’re going to get accused of using it to start picking off political opponents, including entire nations. As much as I liked seeing Hado shut down, it didn’t help that the Elpri, of all people, are one of the two peoples called out by name in Abumwe’s report. No matter if Vnac clears her entire report—no matter if all of it is unimpeachably true—there will still be those who will see it only as a chan
ce for you to settle scores at a moment when you were vulnerable.”

  “You ordered Oi to release the data to avoid that.”

  “I ordered it to release the data so it didn’t look like you were colluding with the Colonial Union,” I said. “That problem is solved. The other problem remains.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “I think you need to address this directly and personally and on the floor of the Grand Assembly.”

  “And what would you have me say there?”

  “What you said to Hado and Sca,” I said. “Only writ larger. Encompassing nations, not diplomats.”

  “We’re going to find traitors,” Tarsem said.

  “Yes, but they are people. Individuals.”

  “Individuals who might be able to persuade their governments to leave the Conclave.”

  “All the more reason to make it clear that the actions of a misguided few don’t reflect on the people as a whole.”

  “You think this will work.”

  “I think it’s better than encouraging our members to start accusing each other of undermining the Conclave. That road goes nowhere we want to go.”

  “How committed are you to this idea?” Tarsem asked. “Presuming the Colonial Union isn’t running a long con on us, which is a thing you’ve begged me to consider and so I shall, it’s possible that entire member state governments are working to end the Conclave. We’ve had attempts before. We’d be allowing them to get away with it.”

  “No. We’d be offering them a way to step back from the abyss before we tumble into it.”

  “That’s an optimistic way of looking at it.”

  “It’s not optimistic at all. It’s giving us more time to deal with the problem.”

  “And if we have no more time?”

  “Then we deal with the problem now,” I said. “But I think everyone is beginning to realize just how close the abyss is at the moment. Very few people actually want to go in.”

  “You are optimistic, then,” Tarsem said. “Because at the moment I think there are still a few who think the abyss sounds like a very good idea.”

  “That’s why I want you to convince them otherwise.”