by David Liss
“Of course I was telling the truth,” I snapped, feeling a little hurt. “Did you help me break into a government facility because you thought I was making it up—or crazy?”
“It’s one thing to trust someone,” Jacinto said, also staring at Urch, “and even to completely believe them, but it’s another to actually meet an alien. Especially one who’s so scary.”
Urch sighed.
“Time to make sure we’re all on the same page,” Colonel Rage began. “As you can see from this alien creature here—”
Urch waved hello.
“—your friends from the Confederation have sent an envoy. I know you’ve been eluding us for days. It’s a good thing we figured out where you were headed. We only got here in time to keep you from completely wrecking the place.”
“I don’t get it,” I said. “If you’re here, Urch, why did my mother signal for me to run?”
“She made an honest mistake,” Colonel Rage said, looking more than a little exasperated. “Five dark sedans, escorted by several local police cars with flashing lights, pulled up to your house, and she feared the worst, especially with false reports of flying saucers showing up all over the Internet. It took us a while to convince her we weren’t out to harm you, and after that she couldn’t get in touch to clear things up. You had already ditched your phone, which was the right thing to do, by the way, if you believed the bad guys were onto you. If you hadn’t tried to break into a government facility, I’m not sure how long it would have taken us to find you.”
“Okay,” I said. “Why is the Confederation looking for me?”
“You and your friends altered many things, Zeke,” Urch explained. “You set a great number of changes in motion, and not all of them good, but while I have many grievances with how things are going in the Confederation, I cannot argue with the most significant difference. The Phandic ships you and your associates captured were examined, and the secrets of their weaponry discovered. Our own ships have been upgraded with this technology, and since then, every military advance the Phands have attempted has been pushed back with no loss of Confederation life. Their civilization continues to exist, of course, and the worlds they have captured remain in their power, but the Phandic Empire’s ability to conquer and grow has been brought to a halt.”
This was big news. In spite of our setbacks, it turned out that everything we had done had mattered. I’d risked my life, my friends’ lives, even my father’s life, because I’d believed that giving the Confederation a Phandic ship would save lives—including those on Earth. To learn that, in spite of Junup’s threats, the stolen ships had been put to good use, made me feel like it had all been worth it. We had turned things around for the Confederation.
“Why is that alien growling at us?” Alice said.
“Oh, right. You can’t understand him.” I turned to Urch. “I don’t suppose they can get translation nanites, can they?”
“There can be no unauthorized distribution of nanites,” Urch said, looking at me a little intensely.
“Seems the Confederation has rules about that sort of thing,” Colonel Rage said. “I’m serving as a liaison, so I let them shoot me with those little machines, though I can’t say I much like it. But I need to be able to talk to this creature here. As for your friends, we don’t want them knowing more than they have to. These people have already become security problems, and the less information they have, the less they can spill.”
“So, what are the bad changes?” I asked Urch.
“You may recall that Chief Justice Junup wanted to return the cruisers to the Phands. By alerting the news outputs, however, you effectively forced his hand and prevented him from surrendering the ships.”
I nodded.
“Instead he took credit for their capture. He has risen to underdirector of the Committee of Grand Oversight, which governs all other committees. In effect he is now the second most powerful being in the Confederation.”
“How can anyone trust him?” I asked. “At best he’s a gutless weenie. At worst he’s working with the Phands.”
“I agree,” Urch said, “but he knows the political game, and he has played it extremely well. As a result he is widely regarded as a hero. Most beings would identify him as the mastermind behind the raid you and your friends led on the Phandic prison. Others may have done the actual physical labor, but it was Junup who captured the two cruisers, and who prevented the Phands from getting hold of some ancient Former tech that would have changed everything.”
“He didn’t do any of those things,” I said, reeling with anger. Whatever Phands had the tree activated in their system were probably working twenty-six hours a day to acquire levels and master new military skills. The Confederation was resting easy, but it probably should have been gearing up for war, because that empire, as soon as it was ready, was not going to hesitate to strike back.
“There’s more,” Urch said. “In rising to power, Junup decided it was time to eliminate some old enemies. Captain Qwlessl has been dismissed from her post in the fleet, and I have been reduced in rank. We have been punished for our testimony at your hearing.”
I couldn’t believe it. Big, lumbering Captain Qwlessl, with her trunk and her hammerhead-shark eyes, was a great captain and an even better friend. Getting rid of her just because she’d told the truth at a hearing—a place you are required to tell the truth—was completely unfair. I shook my head. There was nothing to say that wouldn’t trivialize what Junup had done.
“Do not think to blame yourself,” Urch said. “You cannot be held responsible for how dishonorable beings respond to being outplayed.”
“Still, the captain loved her job. She must be miserable.”
“There are many options for a being with her knowledge and experience,” Urch said. “She was unhappy, and no one likes to suffer injustice, but I can assure you she has found new purpose. I fear things are even worse for your old friend Dr. Roop.”
I sat up straight now. From the moment I met him, Dr. Roop had done everything he could to look out for me. Even before I met him: The giraffelike being had been my father’s friend, and he’d worked to help bring me to the Confederation. After my father was captured, Dr. Roop had gone on to bring in the randoms who would help me save my father—Steve and Tamret. I felt like I owed Dr. Roop everything, and the news that things had gone badly for him hit me hard.
“Roop is, in my view, an honorable being, but there is no doubt that he broke Confederation law. His role in selecting the specific randoms to participate in the initiation program was discovered,” Urch continued. “Peace officers were sent to arrest him, but he fled. I’m afraid Dr. Roop is now a fugitive, his whereabouts unknown.”
“That doesn’t sound like him,” I said. “He struck me as a face-the-music sort of being.”
“I agree. On my world, and I suspect on yours, fleeing from the authorities is common among the accused, but in the Confederation it is virtually unknown. Beings accept the consequences of their actions without complaint. Junup has stated that Dr. Roop was corrupted by his exposure to primitive species. This is the song he sings—along with his Movement for Peace, an organization that seeks to eradicate the influence of primitive and carnivorous species.”
“What do you mean, ‘eradicate the influence’?” I asked.
“Beings believed to be too ‘primitive’ are being dismissed from government positions. Had I not had a personal connection with you, Zeke, I would never have been sent on a mission of this importance—not when my species is so widely regarded as savage. The Movement for Peace hates violence so much that they attack violent species in the street.”
“The Movement for Peace is attacking and hurting peaceful beings because they are too inclined to violence?” I asked.
Urch grunted. “It is exactly that stupid.”
“Gets messy when the good guys don’t behave like the good guys,” Colonel Rage said, shaking his head.
“The Confederation remains a fair and just pl
ace,” Urch assured Colonel Rage. “I would not serve it otherwise. The Movement for Peace is not a controlling voice in our political system. The anger toward ‘primitives’ is a minority position, though I see it growing faster than makes me comfortable.”
I shook my head. “Okay, that is a whole lot of bad news.”
“It’s not all bad. While Junup is your bitter enemy, Ghli Wixxix, director of the Committee of Grand Oversight, feels otherwise. The second most powerful being in the Confederation may hate the smell of your entrails, Zeke, but the most powerful being recognizes exactly what you have done for us, and she is grateful.”
“I don’t think I’ve met this Ghli Wixxix. I’m glad she likes me, but I’m guessing you didn’t come all this way to get my autograph.”
“Ghli Wixxix is on board my ship,” Urch said. “She has chosen to come here herself to escort you back to Confederation Central.”
Okay, this was interesting. All I’d wanted since getting back to Earth was to return to the Confederation, but now that I was being offered the chance, I found myself growing suspicious. “Why do they want me?”
Urch grunted. “I do not know, but the director understands what you have accomplished, and you have impressed her so much that she believes your presence on the station is vital to the future of the Confederation.”
I had no idea what this director might hope to get out of me, but I wasn’t going to worry about that right now. All I needed to know was if I was being set up for some kind of trap. “You’re my friend, Urch, and I know you wouldn’t sugarcoat it. Can I trust her?”
“I believe you can. I have voted for her in every election. I know she and Junup were once friends, but they have publicly broken ties. She has always behaved honorable for a politician. If she says she needs you for something important, then she believes it to be so.”
“Wow,” I said, thinking things through. “The fact that you vouch for her goes a long way, but if I am going to put myself in her power, I’m going to need certain things before I agree to anything. I’m not going to hold out for a payout at the end. I’ve been burned by Confederation politics before. I’ll meet with this Ghli Wixxix, and I’ll do what she asks of me within reason, but only after I get what I want. That’s the deal, and she can take it or leave it.”
“Ghli Wixxix is a politician, Zeke, but she is not stupid,” Urch said.
“Meaning what?” I asked.
“Meaning,” said a voice from behind me, “the director figured you’d say something like that.”
The person who’d spoken came into the office. It was my father.
CHAPTER TEN
* * *
The last time I’d seen my father, he had been big and green and fictionally Martian, his appearance altered by a process called conversion. Now he had been converted back, and here he was, the man I remembered from when I was seven years old. He looked like he hadn’t aged a day, and was maybe even a little younger. While he no longer had J’onn J’onzz’s superhero physique, he was still a little more buff than I remembered him. Clearly he’d taken advantage of the conversion parameters. Either that or his Confederation prison featured a pretty good gym.
I gave him a hug.
He squeezed me back, hard. “It’s so good to see you,” he told me. “It’s so good to be home, and to know that the planet is safe.”
I was still trying to process the fact that my father was out of prison. “They just let you go?” I asked, as soon as my father was done squeezing me.
“Pretty much,” he said. “I think Ghli Wixxix knew you wouldn’t trust her to deliver in the end, so she decided to grant me a pardon and deliver up front.”
“And what if I say no?” I asked. “Is Urch supposed to take you back into custody?”
“She knows better than to demand that of me,” Urch said.
“I’m a freebie,” my father said. “A good-faith gesture. No matter what you decide, I’m here to stay. I’m sure the director had to call in some favors for that, though I have to imagine our old friend Junup was glad to get me out of the Confederation.”
I hugged my father again. Did my mother know? Had anyone prepared her, or was she going to be surprised? “I’m glad you’re back, but I still don’t know what’s really going on. Do you have any idea what the director wants from me?”
He shook his head. “As near as I can tell. Ghli Wixxix is one of the good guys, but she’s still a politician, Zeke, so she is always thinking about the big picture, not individuals. Remember that you don’t owe her anything. They owe you. I’ve been gone now almost half your life. We can finally be a family again. There’s something to be said for telling her you don’t want any part of it. Whatever the director is going to ask you to do, it will be dangerous, and you’ve risked enough for the Confederation already. Let someone else have a turn.”
I missed the Confederation. I missed the feeling of being on a massive space station built by mysterious precursor aliens when the Earth was still just a ball of hot fire. I missed the sight of space from viewscreens while traveling on a ship that hurled past stars and planets, and I missed the inexplicable and disorienting sensation as we jumped from reality into something else when we tunneled from one spot in the galaxy to another. I missed the adventure and the excitement and the wonder and the nearly endless variety of alien life. In spite of everything that had gone wrong, the challenges I’d faced, and the injustices I’d endured, I’d never felt I belonged anywhere as much as I had on Confederation Central. For all that, though, I would have refused to go back if it weren’t for the one thing I missed the most: my friends.
“I want Tamret to be offered political asylum,” I said to Urch. “She needs to be given a home on the station, and she needs immunity from all crimes, past and future.”
“Future crimes? That’s a lot to ask,” my dad said.
“We’re talking about Tamret,” I told him. “She breaks half a dozen laws between getting out of bed and brushing her teeth. I’m not going to agree to anything unless I know she’s safe.”
Urch tapped on his data bracelet, and a document hovered in the air between us. “You can read this over later, but Ghli Wixxix’s office has already agreed, essentially, to what you are asking. Even getting this agreement has cost her a great deal of political capital—I can assure you, Junup fought her every inch of the way—but the director has many allies, and you’ll find that the asylum terms are most generous. Crimes against the physical well-being of others are not included, and neither are crimes against the security of the Confederation, but otherwise they are offering Tamret full diplomatic immunity. She’ll also be given enough credits that she won’t need to commit crimes. She’ll be very comfortable.”
“Comfort probably won’t stop her,” I said, “but it’s a start. And I’m going to need the same offer to be extended to Steve. I want him to be given the chance to come back.”
Urch grunted. “This, too, has been anticipated and approved.”
“And if I’m heading back to the Confederation, I’ll need a team,” I said. “People I know and trust. I want Charles, Nayana, and Mi Sun to come along, if they’re up for it. And Steve. He needs to be given a chance to come back from Ish-hi.”
“Those are all requests that serve other beings,” my father said. “Don’t you want anything for yourself?”
I shook my head. “That’s all I care about. If you and my friends are safe, then I’ll try to do what she wants.”
“Your mom isn’t going to like this,” my dad said.
“His mother would be living on a world ruled by the Phandic Empire if it weren’t for Zeke,” Urch said. “It is best if she counts her blessings.”
“But my dad has a good point,” I said. “I don’t want to be away indefinitely. I want to make sure I can get back to Earth, and then back to the Confederation.” I swallowed hard before I said this, because I knew it was a crazy thing to ask for. Still, I had to try. “I want my own ship.”
Urch hissed his laughin
g noise.
“Are you laughing because that’s a ridiculous request?”
“I’m laughing because the director has already made the offer. She cannot give you everything you want before you complete her task—otherwise she has no power over you—so here is what the director proposes: Tamret will be rescued simply as payment for agreeing to meet with the director and hear her request. As for the rest you, and whichever of your old associates that choose to join you, will have to return to Confederation Central in order to perform such services as the director requires. If you are successful on all points, then you will receive three items as payment for services. First, limited citizenship, so you can, if you choose, reside on Confederation Central or on any planet in the Confederation; second, an artifact carrier as your personal property, so you can visit your home world, or any other world, at your own convenience; and, finally, the third reward: the planets originally selected to apply for membership will receive another opportunity to join. Earth, Rarel, Ish-hi, and Ganar will all provide a new group of initiates. None of those young people previously selected will be chosen again, and this opportunity will be offered within two standard years of the completion of your assignment.”
I sat down. That pretty much nailed it. I was on board before, but this gave me all the ammunition I would need for my mother. Membership in the Confederation meant access to their incredible technology, which boiled down to an end to sickness and poverty and hunger. Earth could become a place of happiness and prosperity and peace. If I refused to play along, I’d be standing in the way. I had no idea what the director wanted, and for all I knew it would be something I wouldn’t want to do, but if it was at all possible, I’d help her.
My father seemed to understand what I was thinking. “You do have a choice,” he told me.
I shook my head, trying to sort it all out. I understood what my father was saying, but he was acting like I could walk away from this offer, and I didn’t think that was true. “I have a choice, but there’s only one right one, isn’t there?”
