But Qonits knocked and identified himself as usual. "Come in!" they called, almost in unison.
Had Qonits been better able to read the nuances in human voices, he might have recognized relief. He entered, his bodyguards with blasters at port arms. So far, so good, David thought. To his eyes, Qonits seemed normal.
"Good day, humans," said the chief scholar. It had become his usual greeting. "I am sure you noticed the-uproar? The uproar earlier."
"It would have been impossible not to," David answered. "What happened?"
"Can you not guess?"
"There must have been a fight. Between your fleet and some of our warships. It was to be expected." Actually, only when it happened had he and Yukiko realized how little they'd expected it.
"What do you know about your people's warships?" Qonits asked.
This time Yukiko answered. "Very little. We are not of the soldier or spacer classes. Perhaps captives from one of them could tell you something."
"But you know about ships."
"Not warships," David said. "Not weapon systems."
Probably, Qonits told himself, they actually are poorly informed on warfare. They'd have some general knowledge of it, but clearly they were not of the warrior gender. Or "class" as they called it. He could not imagine people like these carrying out so daring and fierce an attack. I may know more about their warships and tactics than they do.
"You didn't tell us whether we were right," Yukiko put in. "Was it a small fight? It didn't seem long enough to be a full-scale battle."
"Quite small. Your people fought well, but there were far too few of them."
"Ah." David nodded thoughtfully. "A scout group, feeling you out."
"Feeling out? What is feeling out?" Qonits thought he understood, but preferred not to make assumptions.
"To feel out is to test. See how you respond; how easy you'll be, or how difficult."
Yukiko nodded. "If they learned enough this time, maybe next time they'll launch a fleet attack."
David looked around nervously. "Maybe it will come soon. Maybe the main fleet is nearby."
"Or perhaps… " Yukiko began, then stopped.
"Continue."
"Perhaps they plan to contest your conquest of this system. I suppose you were in F-space during the fight. So you must have been in some star system."
"Yes, we were, we are, in F-space. But your ships have fled away. Those not destroyed."
"Perhaps the next system then," David suggested absently.
Qonits frowned. "Your rulers-" he said thoughtfully. "Are they elected by all the nobles? Or only by the high nobles?"
Yukiko actually laughed. "Neither," she said. "They're elected by all adults."
Loosely speaking, it was true.
Qonits didn't stay long, and left thoughtfully.
Chapter 47
Battlefield Proxies
Paddy Davies' corner office was too small for a quorum meeting of the Peace Council. So the utility room, used for coffee breaks, all-hands briefings, etc., had been cleaned up. Thermal coffee mugs had been set at twelve places, while cookies and assorted raw veggies occupied trays and bowls.
The council members were from several continents, and usually convened via the Ether. But not this time. Gunther Genovesi, the Peace Front's attorney, treasury secretary, and sometime emergency financier, had called for this meeting, insisting it be live. And the entire suite boasted effective anti-snooping equipment. So the complete council was there except for Francesca Yoshinori, currently being held without bond on weapons charges, in Concepcion, in the Chilean Autonomy. Her proxy on the council was Yolanda Guzman.
Jaromir Horvath rapped the gavel plate. "Gunther asked for this meeting," Horvath said, "so I'll turn it over to him." He paused, then added drily, "He didn't confide in me, beyond telling me it has to do with membership and finances." Laying the gavel down, he turned to the heavy, Levantine-looking man to his left, the one council member who was truly wealthy. "The chair is yours, Gunther."
Genovesi stood, and got down to business without acknowledging Horvath's comments. "I asked for this meeting for three reasons. First, you're aware that over the past eleven months, our membership has declined by eighteen percent. The reduction in income is troublesome, but even more troublesome is the weakening of leverage caused by our decline. Not that we've publicized it, but none of you is naive enough to suppose the government doesn't know.
"Second, and much more important, we've had no significant effect on the war plans of this government. We need to discuss changes in strategy. New ideas.
"And third-" Finally he looked at Horvath. "Third, we need a change of leadership. Yaro, you are the chairman and cofounder of the Peace Front, and more to the point, you've been our chief theorist and strategist. But when an organization needs to grow-in size, influence and results-and instead shrinks… " Genovesi shrugged. "It's time to change leaders."
He scanned the men and women sitting around the long table. No one shook their head, not even Horvath, who hadn't changed expression. "I will not," Genovesi continued, "propose someone for the chairmanship yet. But keep the matter in mind while we discuss this lamentable decline. This failure."
He turned to a stocky, militant-looking woman. "Kuei-Fei, give us your thoughts on the matter."
Kuei-Fei the complainer, Horvath told himself. He'd never gotten along with her. She wanted his chairmanship, and no doubt Moneybags would see that she got it. As for himself-he'd be better off rid of it.
He could taste the bile rising in his gorge.
She got to her feet and began. "The basic strategy has been wrong," she said, "based almost entirely on demonstrations that only a small fraction of the population could get to, take part in. Seen on the telly or holo, they draw attention. And sometimes new members, too many of whom later leave because there is no active role for them. No role most of them could afford."
Or because, Horvath thought, between the media and the government, they end up convinced by stories of more and more human worlds conquered by murdering aliens.
It was Paddy Davies who interrupted the woman. "And what would you have us do?" he asked. "Mind you, I'm not challenging what you say. I'm asking for examples."
She scowled, not trusting his disclaimer. "An example? We publicized the African Bee Project, and staged demonstrations against it in over forty cities. But few attended except for the demonstrators and the media. Those who watched, watched at home, safe from involvement. Most of them thought the bees were a good idea. Even most mainstream Gaians approved."
Horvath scowled. What do you expect when a movement goes mainstream? he thought. But beneath the thought lay a realization-that without the mainstream, their job was impossible. They needed to capture the mainstream, turn it against its government masters.
"But suppose… " Kuei-Fei went on, "suppose we'd arranged to have African bees collected? Whole colonies. And had them released in major cities here on Terra? Then people would have looked differently at the bee project."
When she paused, Horvath had his chance. "They'd have looked differently at us," he growled. "We'd have multiplied our enemies tenfold, to no good purpose."
Coloring, she went grimly on. "Our demonstrations over capturing and murdering Wyzhnyny colonists backfired; another poorly chosen issue. People considered the dead marines heroes, and resented our calling them murderous kidnappers who'd endangered any possible negotiations. And even though the dead Wyzhnyny won't be seen on Terra for months, word that they're being brought here for display and study has weakened those of our allies who claim the invasion is a hoax. Meanwhile, Paddy's public proposal to negotiate-invite the Wyzhnyny to settle on worlds not already colonized-was lost sight of in the bombast and furor of the demonstrations."
She turned to Paddy. "The media prefer a show to ideas, but without the show, it's the ideas they'd feature."