He watched her thoughtful eyes. She was even prettier than he'd allowed himself to notice before. Finally she nodded. "Thank you, Isaiah," she said. "You've been a big help." Then she got up and left, leaving him sitting there.
Feeling guilty, because he hadn't been entirely honest with her. It seemed to him they wouldn't be resurrected in a body at all. He'd thought that when he was a child, and had gradually come to believe that when the time came, folks would have no interest in bodies. They'd just be souls.
Which of course brought up a lot of questions about the Testaments themselves. That was why he seldom let himself think about such things. The thing to do was trust in the Lord, and hope God would forgive his errors. Elder Hofer-and his own father-had always stressed that God was love.
Three more trainees of 2nd Platoon went to the orderly room that evening and signed warbot agreements. Jael Wesley was not one of them; she wasn't ready yet, if she'd ever be. The company as a whole signed 10 more; given those who'd signed earlier, that made 15. Now, Mulvaney thought, if we can get the other 145 signed up…
Chapter 25
Status Review
The mahogany table and wall panels glowed with golden sunlight, the ten-foot-tall window fields adjusting both the intensity and the blend of wavelengths. The entire Commonwealth cabinet was there, along with several high-ranking officials of War House and the Office of War Mobilization. Elsewhere, selected others watched on live, closed-circuit video. Whether in person or electronically, attendance was by invitation only. For some, this cabinet meeting was their first.
Prime Minister Foster Peixoto presided, with Chang Lung-Chi beside him; since the invasion, the president invariably attended.
The prime minister began with a brief caveat. "First you must all remember-MUST ALL REMEMBER-that what you hear in this meeting is confidential. Repeating any of it without authorization can result in a charge of insubordination or even treason. The Ministry of Information decides what will be released and when, and clears those releases with myself, in consultation with the president."
He looked them over, allowing his injunction to sink in. "Most of you are well informed on one aspect or another of our plans and progress, but not on all of it. What I will do here is summarize major areas. Others may elaborate on them.
"Our central strategy is and must be to stop the alien advance. At some point we must defeat their armada in space, which requires a great fleet well crewed. Which of course we do not have. Meanwhile the aliens are not waiting for us to get ready, and the course of their advance will bring them here to Terra as surely as if they knew where we are."
High on each wall, a screen showed a diagram of the Commonwealth and the alien progress, the captive worlds glowing redly.
"So far we have not challenged them," Peixoto went on. "Until very recently we've had no force that could fight a meaningful action. Even to draw a small demonstration of their armaments, we depended on Morgan's refugee pirate squadron. It was like a mosquito annoying a man, and what we learned from it was very limited. But very important."
Amazing, Chang thought, that he can sound so worried when he and I talk privately, yet so calm and assured when speaking to others. It is a gift from the Tao.
"Now we do have a significant space force: the First Sol Provisional Battle Force, commanded by Admiral Alvaro Soong. It is far smaller than the enemy's, but powerful enough to draw a broad display of alien armaments and tactics, and inflict significant damage.
"Soong's ships are ready. What remains is to finish training their crews. The crews of battleships have all handled battleships in test runs. Those on cruisers have flown actual cruisers. Every officer and man has carried out his flight duties and manned his battle stations and damage stations, in a ship of the kind he's assigned to.
"But they have not flown them through battle evolutions; not in reality. What they have done is fight numerous actions in simulation drills-actions in virtual F-space and virtual warpspace. And every officer has manned his station in war games against every tactic and combination of tactics that generations of officers could think of. Against the weapons we know the enemy has, and others we think he might have, given what is known of physics."
He picked up a glass and sipped, then scanned his audience, the president watching beside him. Part of the impression he makes, Chang decided, is due to his height. And his eyebrows, like crows' wings! But mostly it is his intelligence and honesty. He speaks the truth, so far as he knows it.
"Within days," Peixoto said, "Soong's force-they call themselves the `Provos'-will generate warpspace and fly to the outer fringe of the Sol System. There its officers and men will carry out every sort of battle evolution in reality. And when Soong feels they are ready, but no later than four weeks after leaving the vicinity of Terra, they will journey outward to meet the enemy.
"The progress of alien conquests is direct and predictable. The flagship's savant will be in touch with ours, and we will keep the admiral informed of the enemy's progress, world by unfortunate world. At some point, when the alien armada emerges from hyperspace, Soong's force will be waiting for it."
A hand raised.
"Yes, Mister Bawadin?"
"Suppose the alien armada breaks up into separate task forces. What then?"
"At present we know little about alien psychology, but the possibility has been considered." He didn't mention the human prisoners on the Wyzhnyny flagship. It would be a distraction. The few who needed to know already did. And at any rate, though what had been learned was interesting, it was of limited use. "The aliens haven't subdivided so far, except to establish colonies on the captured worlds. And of course, this sector of the galaxy is unknown to them. They don't know what they may encounter. And if they lack instantaneous communication, they'll be very effectively out of touch with each other."
"Suppose they do have instantaneous communication," Bawadin said. "What then?"
"There is every reason to believe they do not. That we have it ourselves grew out of fortuitous observations in unlikely research on unpromising subjects."
Another hand had raised, and Peixoto pointed. "Yes, Ms. Syrkin?"
"Why a Sol battle force? Why not a force more broadly integrated?"
"The answer is time and shipyards. Shipyards here in the Sol System were able to begin large-scale production of warships more quickly. Also, the majority of available training cadre were here, thus the Sol System has been able to produce crews earlier than the other core worlds. Construction and training in the Indi and Eridani Systems are well under way now, but their trainees aren't ready yet. In a few weeks that situation will have changed."
"What makes this force `provisional'? Why not simply call it a fleet?" Syrkin asked. "Do you have misgivings about it?"
"We could call it a fleet. But what we learn from the first action may dictate major changes in force makeup, organization, and tactics. Thus it seemed appropriate to call it a provisional force."
"You said `action,' not `battle.' Why?"