"I don't know that I blame them," I said.

"You could very well die," Szilard said. "But as I said, you have certain advantages. One of them is your relationship to the Obin.

Another is your wife. Between them you might manage to help Roanoke survive, and you with it."

"But we're back to the problem," I said. "The way you tell it, the Colonial Union needs Roanoke to die. By helping me to save Roanoke, you're working against the Colonial Union, General. You're a traitor."

"That's my problem, not yours," Szilard said. "I'm not worried about being branded a traitor. I'm worried about what happens if Roanoke falls."

"If Roanoke falls, the Colonial Union gets its soldiers," I said.

"And then it will go to war with most of the races in this part of space," Szilard said. "And it will lose. And in losing, humanity will be wiped out. All of it, from Roanoke all the way up. Even Earth will die, Perry. It will be wiped out and the billions there will have no idea why they're dying. Nothing will be saved. Humanity is on the brink of genocide. And it's a genocide we will have inflicted on ourselves. Unless you can stop it. Unless you can save Roanoke."

"I don't know if I can do that," I said. "Just before I came here, Roanoke was attacked. Just five missiles, but it took everything we had to keep them from wiping us out. If a whole group of Conclave races wants to grind us into dirt I don't know how we can stop them."

"You need to find a way," Szilard said.

"You're a general," I said. "You do it."

"I am doing it," Szilard said. "By giving the responsibility to you. I can't do any more than that without losing my place in the Colonial Union hierarchy And then I would be powerless. I've been doing what I can since this insane plan to attack the Conclave was formed. I used you as long as I could without letting you know, but we're beyond that now. Now you know. It's your job to save humanity, Perry."

"No pressure there," I said.

"You did it for years," Szilard said. "Don't you remember what they told you the job of Colonial Defense Forces was? To keep a place for humanity among the stars.' You did it then. You need to do it now."

"Then it was me and every other member of the CDF," I said. "The responsibility is a little more focused now."

"Then let me help," Szrard said. "Again, and for the last time. My intelligence corps has :old me that General Gau is going to be assassinated by a member of his own circle of advisers. Someone he trusts; indeed, someone he loves. This assassination will happen within the month. We have no other information. We have no way of informing GeneraI Gau of the assassination attempt, and even if we had a way, there's no way we could inform him, and no chance he would accept the information as genuine even if we could. If Gau dies, then alI the Conclave will reform around Ner-bros Eser, who plans to destroy the Colonial Union. If Nerbros Eser takes power, it's all over. The Colonial Union will fall. Humanity dies."

"What am I supposed to do with this information?" I asked.

"Find a way to use it," Szilard said. "And find it fast. And then ) be ready for everything that happens afterward. And one other thing, Perry. Tell Sagan that while I don't apologize for enhancing her abilities, I do regret the necessity. Let her also know that I suspect she has not yet explored the full range of her capabilities. Tell her that her BrainPal offers the complete range of command functions. Use those words, please."

"What does 'complete range of command functions' mean here?" I asked.

"Sagan can explain it to you if she likes," Szilard said. He reached over to the dash, pressed a button. Phoenix and Phoenix Station reappeared in the windows.

"Now," Szilard said. "Time to get you back to Roanoke, Administrator Perry. You've been gone too long, and you have much to do. Time to get to it, I'd say."

Save for Roanoke itself, the colony of Everest was the youngest human colony, settled just before the Conclave gave its warning tc other races not to colonize any longer. Like Roanoke, Everest defenses were modest: a pair of defense satellites and six beam turrets, three each for the two settlements, and one CDF cruiser on rotation. When Everest was hit, it was the Des Moines stationed over the settlements. A good ship and a good crew, but the Des Moines was not enough to counter the six Arrisian ships that skipped with daring precision into Everest space, firing missiles at the Des Moines and the defense satellites as they arrived. The Des Moines '

sheared down its length and began the long fall toward the Everest j surface; the defense satellites were rendered into so much floating junk.

The planet's defenses collapsed, the Arrisian ships took their time searing the Everest settlements from orbit, finally dispatching a company to clean up the straggling colonists who remained. In the end 5,800 Everest colonists were dead. The Arrisians left behind no colonists or garrison and made no claim to the planet. They simply eradicated the human presence there.

Erie was no Everest—it was one of the oldest and most heavily populated of the human worlds, with a planetary defense grid and permanent CDF presence that would make it impossible for all but the most insanely ambitious races to make a play for. But even planetary defense grids can't track every single chunk of ice or rock that falls into the gravity well. Several dozen such apparent chunks fell into Erie's atmosphere, over the Erie city of New Cork. As they fell, the heat generated by the friction of the atmosphere was channeled and focused, powering the compact chemical lasers hidden within the rock.

Several of the beams struck strategic manufacturing concerns in New Cork, related to CDF weapons systems. Several more appeared to strike randomly, slashing through homes, schools and markets, killing hundreds. Their beams spent, the lasers burned up in the atmosphere, leaving no clue who had sent them or why.

This happened as Trujillo, Beata, Kranjic and I made our way back to Roanoke. We were unaware of it at the time, of course. We were unaware of the specific attacks that were going on around the Colonial Union, because the news was kept from us, and because we were focused on our own survival.

"You've offered us the protection of the Obin," I said to Hickory within hours of my return to Roanoke. "We'd like to take advantage of that offer."

"There are complications," Hickory said.

I glanced over at Jane, and then back to Hickory. "Well, of course there are," I said. "It wouldn't be fun without complications."

"I sense sarcasm," Hickory said, with utterly no sense of humor whatsoever.

"I apologize, Hickory," I said. "I'm having a bad week and it's not getting any better. Please tell what these complications might be."

"After you left, a skip drone arrived from Obinur, and we were finally able to communicate with our government. We have been told that once the Magellan disappeared, the Colonial Union formally requssted that the Obin not interfere with the Roanoke colony, openly or covertly."

"Roanoke was specified," Jane said.

"Yes," said Hickory.

"Why?" I asked.

"The Colonial Union did not explain," Hickory said. "We now assume it was because an Obin attempt to locate the planet could have disrupted the Colonial Union's attack on the Conclave fleet. Our government agreed not to interfere but noted that should any harm come to Zoe, we would be greatly displeased. The Colonial Union assured our government that Zoe was reasonably safe. As she was."

"The Colonial Union's attack on the Conclave fleet is over," I said.

"The agreement did not specify when it would be acceptable to interfere," Hickory said, again with no trace of humor. "We are( still bound to it." ^