"I don't know about that," I said.

"Indeed," Gau said. "Let me ask you, Administrator Perry, how many of humanity's planets were freshly discovered? And how many were simply taken from other races? How many planets have humans lost to other races?"

I thought back to the day we arrived above the other planet, the fake Roanoke, and remembered the questions of journalists, asking who we took the planet from. It was assumed it was taken; it didn't occur to them to ask if it was newly discovered. "This planet is new," I said.

"And the reason for that is that your government was trying to hide you," Gau said. "Even a culture as vital as your own now explores primarily out of desperation. You're trapped in the same stagnant patterns as the rest of us. Your civilization will slowly run down like the rest of ours would."

"And you think the Conclave will change this," I said.

"In any system, there is a factor that limits growth," Gau said. "Our civilizations operate as a system, and our limiting factor is war. Remove that factor and the system thrives. We can focus on cooperation. We can explore rather than fight. If there had been a Conclave, perhaps we would have met you before you came out and met us. Perhaps we'll explore now and find new races."

"And do what with them?" I asked. "There's an intelligent race on this planet. Besides mine, I mean. We met them in a rather unfortunate way, and some of us ended up dead. It took some doing on my part to convince our colonists not to kill every one of them we could find. What will you do, General, when you meet a new race on a planet you want for the Conclave?"

"I don't know," General Gau said.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Well, I don't," Gau said. "It hasn't happened yet. We've been busy consolidating our positions with the races we know about and the worlds that have already been explored. We haven't had time to explore. It hasn't come up."

"I'm sorry," I said. "That wasn't an answer I was expecting."

"We're at a very sensitive moment, Administrator Perry, concerning the future of your colonists," Gau said. "I won't unnecessarily complicate things by lying. Especially not about something as trivial to our current situation as a hypothetical."

"At the very least, General Gau, I'd like to believe that," I said.

"That's a start, then," Gau said. He looked me up and down. "You said that you were in your Colonial Defense Forces," he said. "From what I know about humans, that means you're not originally from the Colonial Union. You're from Earth. Is that right?"

"That's right," I said.

"Humans are really very interesting," Gau said. "You're the only race who has chosen to change your home world. Voluntarily, that is. You're not the only ones to recruit your military from only one world, but you are the only ones to do it from a world that is not your primary world. I'm afraid we've never quite understood the relationship between Earth and Phoenix, and with the rest of the colonies. It doesn't make much sense to the rest of us. Perhaps one day I can get you to explain it to me."

"Perhaps," I said, carefully.

Gau took the tone for what he thought it was. "But not today," he said.

"I'm afraid not," I said.

"A pity," Gau said. "This has been an interesting conversation. We've done thirty-six removals. This is the last one. And in all but this and the first, the leaders of the colonies have not had much to say."

"It's difficult to have a casual conversation with someone who is ready to vaporize you if you don't give in to his demands," I said.

"This is true enough," Gau said. "But leadership is at least a little about character. So many of these colony leaders seemed to lack that. It makes me wonder if these colonies were begun at all seriously, or simply to see if we meant to enforce our ban on colonies. Although there was the one who tried to assassinate me."

"Clearly not successful," I said.

"No, not at all," Gau said, and motioned toward his soldiers, who were attentive but kept a respectful distance. "One of my soldiers shot her before she could stab me. There's a reason I have these meetings in the open."

"Not just for the sunsets, then," I said.

"Sadly, no," Gau said. "And as you might imagine, killing the colony leader made dealing with her second-in-command a tense affair. But this was a colony we eventually evacuated. Aside from the colony leader, there was no bloodshed."

"But you haven't turned away from bloodshed," I said. "If I refuse to evacuate this colony, you won't hesitate to destroy it."

"No," Gau said.

"And from what I understand, none of the races whose colonies you've removed—violently or otherwise—have since joined the Conclave," I said.

"That's true," Gau said.

"You're not exactly winning hearts and minds," I said.

"I'm not familiar with this term of yours," Gau said. "But I understand it well enough. No, these races haven't become part of the Conclave. But it's unrealistic to assume they would. We've just removed their colonies, and they were unable to stop us from doing so. You don't humiliate someone like that and expect them to come around to your way of thinking."

"They could become a threat if they joined together," I said.

"I'm aware your Colonial Union is trying to make that happen," Gau said. "There's not much that happens now that we're not aware of, Administrator Perry, including that. But the Colonial Union has tried this before; it helped create a 'Counter-Conclave' while we were still forming. It didn't work then. We're rot convinced it will work now."

"You could be wrong," I said.

"I could be," Gau said. "We will see. In the meantime, however, I must come to it. Administrator Perry, I am asking you to surrender your colony to me. If you will, we will help your colonists safely return to their home worlds. Or you may choose to become part of the Conclave, independent of your government. Or you may refuse and be destroyed."

"Let me make you a counteroffer," I said. "Leave this colony alone. Send a drone to your fleet, which I know is at skip distance and ready to arrive. Tell it to stay where it is. Gather up your soldiers over there, return to your ship, and go. Pretend you never found us. Just let us be."

"It's too late for that," General Gau said.

"I figured it would be," I said. "But I want you to remember the offer was there."

Gau looked at me quietly for a long moment. "I suspect I know what you are going to say to my offer, Administrator Perry," he said. "Before you say it, let me beg you to reconsider. Remember that you have options here, true options. I know the Colonial Union has given you orders, but remember that you can be led by your own conscience. The Colonial Union is humanity's government, but there is more to humanity than the Colonial Union. And you don't seem to be a man who is pushed into things, by me, by the Colonial Union or by anyone else."

"If you think I'm tough, you should meet my wife," I said.

"I would like that," Gau said. "I think I would like that very much."

"I would like to say that you are right," I said. "I would like to say that I can't be pushed into things. But I suspect that I can be. Or perhaps I can have things pushed into me that I can't resist.

This is one of those times. Right now, General, I have no options, except one option that I shouldn't be offering you. And that is to ask you to leave now, before you call your fleet, and let Roanoke stay lost. Please consider it."

"I can't," Gau said. "I'm sorry."

"I can't surrender this colony," I said. "Do what you will, General."

Gau looked back toward one of his soldiers and gave him a signal.

"How long will this take?" I asked.

"Not long," Gau said.

He was right. Within minutes, the first ships arrived, new stars in the sky. Less than ten minutes later, they had all arrived.