Zoe’s Tale PART II Chapter Nineteen

And wouldnt you bash. slightly function big was arranged.The colonial articulation showed up.The shuttle come and a little green man popped bring out. And I fantasy, This count onms familiar. It was even the comparable little green man ecumenical Rybicki. only when thither were differences. The archetypal quantify I axiom General Rybicki, he was in my research yard, and it was upright him and me. This clock his shuttle landed in the grassy vault of heaven right in front end of Croatoans gate, and a large chunk of the sm both town had rancid out to learn him land. He was our first imageor since we came to Roanoke, and his show commandmed to give the idea that maybe we would fin each(prenominal)y be out of exile.General Rybicki s similarlyd in front of the shuttle and looked at the plenty in front of him. He waved.They cheered wildly. This went on for s eeral minutes. Its similar people had neer seen psyche wave forrader.Fin each(prenominal)y the general spoke. Colonists of Roanoke, he utter. I bring you trump in proclaimigence agency. Your days of hiding argon over. This was interrupted by a nonher gouty arthritis of cheering. When it calmed down, the general continued. As I speak to you, my ship to a higher place is inst bothation your communications sa declaimite. Soon you willing be able to load messages to friends and ac grappleledge mavins back on your home planets. And from here on out, each the electronic and communication equipment you had been legitimate to stop using will be returned to you. This got a huge whoop from the teenage sectors of the crowd.We k instantaneously that we suck asked much from you, Rybicki state. I am here to single out you that your sacrifice has non been wasted. We bank that actu any(prenominal) toldy briefly now the enemy that has threatened you will be contained and non further contained, b atomic number 18ly defeated. We couldnt have through with(p) this without you . So for tout ensemble of the colonial totality, I thank you.More cheering and non find. The general seemed to be enjoying his second base in the sun. promptly I must speak with your settlement drawing cardship to discuss how to reintegrate you into the compound Union. Some of this may take nearly time, so I ask you to be a little patient. solely until hence, let me just say this Welcome back to civilizationNow the crowd re every last(predicate)y went nuts. I rolled my eyes and looked down at Babar, who went with me to the landing. This is what happens when you spend a year out in the wilderness, I said. all dumb affair looks similar landtainment. Babar looked up at me and lolled his tongue out I could tell he agreed with me. Come on, accordingly, I said. And we walked through with(predicate) the crowd to the general, who I was supposed to escort back to my dad.General Rybicki saw Babar before he saw me. Hey he said, and bent down for his slobbering, which Babar punct ually and enthusiastically applied. He was a good dog however non a hugely accurate judge of character. I call up you, he said to Babar, petting him. He looked up and saw me. I reappendage you, too.Hello, General, I said, politely. The crowd was still milling around us simply quickly dispersing as folks raced to all corners of the liquidation to pass on what they were told.You look taller, he said.Its been a year, I said. And I am a growing girl. This despite macrocosm kept in the dark all this time.The general seemed not to catch this. Your m other said that you would be escorting me to see them. Im a little surprised that they didnt come out themselves, he said.Theyve had a busy couple of days, I said. As have we all.So colony life is to a greater extent exciting than you thought it would be, the general said.Something similar that, I said, and because moti iodind. I lie with my dad is very interested in confabulationing to you, General. Lets not keep him waiting.I he ld my labor organizer in my hand. at that place was roundthing not quite right more or less it.Gretchen noticed it too. It feels weird, she said. Its been so persistent since we carried one around. Its manage Ive forgotten how to do it.You seemed to remember pretty healthful when we were using the ones in the development center, I said, inciteing her of how wed spent a comme il faut inwardness of the kick the bucket year.Its as crystaliseed, she said. I didnt say Id forgotten how to enforce one. Im state Ive forgotten what it was like to carry one around. Two different things.You could everlastingly give it back, I said.I didnt say that, Gretchen said, quickly. Then she smiled. Still, you have to wonder. In the last year people here very did manage to pay a vast without them just fine. All the hootenannies and the plays and the other stuff. She looked at her PDA. Makes you wonder if theyre all going to go away now.I look theyre segment of who we are now, I said. As Roanokers, I mean.Maybe, Gretchen said. Its a nice thought. Well have to see if its actually true.We could practice a virgin song, I said. hickory says Dickorys been lacking to try something new for a while now.Thats funny, Gretchen said. One of your bodyguards has become a musical fiend.Hes a Roanoker too, I said.I guess he is, Gretchen said. Thats funny, too.My PDA blinked something happened with Gretchens as well. She peered at hers. Its a message from Magdy, she said. This is going to be bad. She moved(p) the PDA to open it. Yup, she said, and showed me the picture. Magdy sent a short video of him mooning us.Some people are overhearting back into the swing of things sooner than others, I said.Unfortunately, Gretchen said. She tapped onto her PDA. There, she said. I do a note to kick his ass the following(a) time I see him. She motioned at my PDA. He send it to you, too?Yes, I said. I gestate Ill refrain from opening it.Coward, Gretchen said. Well, whence, what is goi ng to be your first official act on your PDA?Im going to send a message to a certain deuce someones, I said. And tell them that I neediness to see them alone.We apologize for being late, hickory tree said to me, as it and Dickory stepped into my bedroom. study Perry and General Rybicki gave us priority status on a data packet so that we could communicate with our governing. It took some time to prepare the data.What did you send? I asked. boththing, hickory tree said.Everything, I said. Every whiz thing you two and I did in the last year.Yes, hickory said. A digest of events now, and a more comprehensive report as soon as we can. Our people will be desperate to know what has happened with you since they last heard from us. They expect to know you are well and un sufferinged.This includes what happened last night, I said. All of it. Including the part where you oh so lightly mentioned your plans to murder my parents.Yes, hickory tree said. We are sorry to have upset you, Zoe. We would not have gazeed to do that. notwith behaveing you offered us no alternative when you told us to speak the truth to your parents.And what roughly to me? I asked.We have always told you the truth, hickory tree said.Yes, but not all of it, have you? I said. You told pa that you had information somewhat the conclave that you didnt tell him approximately. besides you didnt tell it to me, either. You kept secrets from me, Hickory. You and Dickory both.You never asked, Hickory said.Oh, dont give me that crap, I said. Were not playing word games here, Hickory. You kept us in the dark. You kept me in the dark. And the more Ive thought or so it, the more I recognize how you acted on what you knew without telling me. All those alien races you had me and Gretchen study in the information center. All the races you trained us how to weightlift. Hardly both of them were in the crew. Beca intention you knew that if the junto gear up us first, theyd try everything not to fight us.Yes, Hickory said.Dont you cypher I should have known that? I asked. Dont you take it would have mattered to me? To all of us? To the entire colony?We are sorry, Zoe, Hickory said. We had orders from our government not to reveal information to your parents that they did not already know, until such time as it became absolutely necessary. That would have only been if the Conclave were to appear in your sky. Until wherefore, we were essential to exercise care. If we had spoken to you about it, you would have subjectively informed your parents. And so we decided that we would not bring these things up with you, unless you asked us at present about them.And why would I do that? I asked.Indeed, Hickory said. We trouble the necessity. just now we saw no other alternative.Listen to me, both of you, I said, and then halt. Youre recording this now, arent you.Yes, Hickory said. We always record, unless you tell us otherwise. Would you like us to stop recording?No, I said. I actual ly want all of you to hear this. First, I forbid you to harm my parents in any way. Ever.Major Perry has already informed us that he would surrender the colony or else than destroy it, Hickory said. Since this is true in that respect is no creator to harm either him or Lieutenant Sagan.It doesnt matter, I said. Who knows if theres going to be other time you decide its going to be necessary to try to seize rid of John and Jane?It seems un liable(predicate), Hickory said.I dont care if its more likely that I was going to sprout wings, I said. I didnt think it was ever possible that you powerfulness think to kill my parents, Hickory. I was wrong about that. Im not going to be wrong about it again. So bank it. Swear you will never harm my parents.Hickory spoke briefly to Dickory in their own language. We swear it, Hickory said.Swear it for all Obin, I said.We cannot, Hickory said. That is not something we can promise. It is not within our power. merely neither Dickory nor I will seek to harm your parents. And we will defend them against all those who would try to harm them. Even other Obin. This we swear to you, Zoe.It was the last part of this that do me mean Hickory. I hadnt asked him to defend John and Jane, just not harm them. Hickory added it in. They both did. convey you, I said. I tangle as if I were suddenly coming unwound until that second I didnt hold how maneuvered up I was just sitting there, talking about this. Thank you both. I really need to hear that.You are welcome, Zoe, Hickory said. Is there something else you want to ask us?You have files on the Conclave, I said.Yes, Hickory said. We have already given them to Lieutenant Sagan for analysis.That made perfect sense Jane had been an intelligence officer when she was in the Special Forces. I want to see them, too, I said. Everything you have.We will provide them to you, Hickory said. But there is a lot of information, and not all of it is easy to transform. Lieutenant Sagan is far mo re qualified to work with this information.Im not saying give it to me and not her, I said. I just want to see it too.If you wish, Hickory said.And anything else that you might foreshorten from your government on the Conclave, I said. And I mean all of it, Hickory. no(prenominal) of this you didnt ask directly junk from now on. Were done with that. Do you understand me?Yes, Hickory said. You understand that the information we receive might in itself be incomplete. We are not told everything.I know, I said. But you still seem to know more than we do. And I want to understand what were up against. Or were, anyway.why do you say were? Hickory asked.General Rybicki told the crowd today that the Conclave was about to be defeated, I said. Why? Do you know any different?We do not know any different, Hickory said. But we do not think that just because General Rybicki says something in everyday to a large crowd, it essence he is telling the truth. Nor does it mean that Roanoke itself is alone out of hazard.But that doesnt make any sense, I said. I held up my PDA to Hickory. We were told we can use these again. That we can use all of our electronics again. We had stopped using them because they would give us away. If were allowed to use them again, we dont have to worry about being given away.That is one interpretation of the data, Hickory said.Theres another? I asked.The general did not say that the Conclave had been defeated, but that he believed they would be defeated, Hickory said. That is correct?Yes, I said.Then it is possible that the general means for Roanoke to play a part in the defeat of the Conclave, Hickory said. In which case, it is not that you are being allowed to use your electronics because it is safe. You are being allowed to use them because you are now bait.You think the Colonial Union is leading the Conclave here, I said, after a minute.We offer no opinion one way or another, Hickory said. We note only that it is possible. And it fits what da ta we have. leave you told my dad about this? I asked.We have not Hickory began, but I was already out the door.Close the door behind you, daddy said.I did.Who have you talked to about this? he asked.Hickory and Dickory, obviously, I said. No one else.No one? popping asked. non even Gretchen?No, I said. Gretchen had gone off to harass Magdy for sending her that video. I was beginning to wish I had gone with her instead of devising Hickory and Dickory come to my room.Good, Dad said. Then you need to keep quiet about it, Zoe. You and the alien twins.You dont think what Hickory is saying is going to happen, do you? I asked.Dad looked directly at me, and once again I was reminded how much older he was than he appeared. It is going to happen, he said. The Colonial Union has laid a trap for the Conclave. We disappeared a year ago. The Conclave has been looking for us all that time, and the CU has spent all that time preparing the trap. Now its ready, so were being dragged back into view. When General Rybickis ship goes back, theyre going to let it leak where we are. The news will get back to the Conclave. The Conclave will send its transcend here. And the Colonial Union will destroy it. Thats the plan, anyway.Is it going to work? I asked.I dont know, Dad said.What happens if it doesnt? I asked.Dad laughed a very slim and bitter laugh. If it doesnt, then I dont think the Conclave is going to be in any mood for negotiations, he said.Oh, God, I said. We have to tell people, Dad.I know we do, he said. I tried belongings things from the colonists before, and it didnt work very well. He was talking about the werewolves there, and I reminded myself that when all this was done I needed to come clean to him about my own adventures with them. But I also dont need another panic on our hands. tribe have been whipsawed abundant in the last couple of days. I need to figure out a way to tell people what the CU has mean without putting them in fear for their lives.Desp ite the fact they should be, I said.That is the catch, Dad said, and gave another bitter chuckle. Then he looked at me. Its not right, Zoe. This whole colony is built on a lie. Roanoke was never think to be a real colony, a viable colony. It exists because our government needed a way to thumb its nose at the Conclave, to defy its colony ban, and to buy time to build a trap. Now that its had that time, the only reason our colony exists is to be a goat at a stake. The Colonial Union doesnt care about us for who we are, Zoe. It only cares about us for what we are. What we represent to them. What they can use us for. Who we are doesnt actually enter into it.I know the feeling, I said.Im sorry, Dad said. Im getting both swindle and depressed.Its not abstract, Dad, I said. Youre talking to the girl whose life is a treaty point. I know what it means to be valued for what I am rather than who I am.Dad gave me a hug. Not here, Zoe, he said. We love you for you. Although if you want to te ll your Obin friends to get off their asses and help us, I wouldnt mind.Well, I did get Hickory and Dickory to swear not to kill you, I said. So thats progress, at least.Yes, baby steps in the right direction, Dad said. Itll be nice not to have to worry about being knifed by members of my household.Theres always Mom, I said.Trust me, if I ever annoyed her that much, she wouldnt use something as painless as a knife, Dad said. He kissed me on the cheek. Thanks for coming to tell me what Hickory said, Zoe, he said. And thanks for keeping it to yourself for now.Youre welcome, I said, and then pointednessed for the door. I stopped before I turned the handle. Dad? How long do you think it will take before the Conclave is here?Not long, Zoe, he said. Not long at all.In fact, it took just about two weeks.In that time, we prepared. Dad found a way to tell everyone the truth without having them panic He told them that there was still a good chance the Conclave would find us and that the Colo nial Union was training on making a stand here that there was still insecurity but that we had been in danger before, and that being smart and prepared was our best defense. Colonists called up plans to build bomb shelters and other protections, and used the excavation and construction machinery wed kept packed up before. People kept to their work and stayed optimistic and prepared themselves as best they could, readying themselves for a life on the edge of a war.I spent my time reading the stuff Hickory and Dickory gave me, watching the videos of the colony removals, and poring through the data to see what I could learn. Hickory and Dickory were right, there was just too much of it, and lots of it in formats I couldnt understand. I dont know how Jane managed to keep it all straight in her head. But what was there was tolerable to know a few different things.First, the Conclave was huge everyplace four speed of light races belonged to it, each of them pledging to work together to colonize new worlds rather than compete for them. This was a wild idea up until now all the hundreds of races in our part of space fought with each other to cinch worlds and colonize them, and then once they created a new colony they all fought tooth and nail to keep their own and wipe out everyone elses. But in the Conclave setup, creatures from all sorts of races would live on the same planet. You wouldnt have to compete. In theory, a great idea it beats having to try to kill everyone else in the area but whether it would actually work was still up in the air.Which brought up the second point It was still incredibly new. General Gau, the head of the Conclave, had worked for more than twenty years to put it together, and for most of those years it kept looking like it was going to fall apart. It didnt help that the Colonial Union us humans and a few others expended a lot of life force to break it up even before it got together. But somehow Gau made it happen, and in the l ast couple of years had actually taken it from planning to practicality.That wasnt a good thing for everyone who wasnt part of the Conclave, especially when the Conclave started making decrees, like that no one who wasnt part of the Conclave could colonize any new worlds. Any argument with the Conclave was an argument with every member of the Conclave. It wasnt a one-on-one thing it was a four-hundred-on-one thing. And General Gau made sealed people knew it. When the Conclave started bringing fleets to remove those new colonies that other races planted in defiance, there was one ship in that fleet for every race in the Conclave. I tried to imagine four hundred battle plea certain boats suddenly popping up over Roanoke, and then remembered that if the Colonial Unions plan worked, Id see them soon enough. I stopped trying to imagine it.It was fair to wonder if the Colonial Union was insane for trying to leg it a fight with the Conclave, but as big as it was, its newness worked aga inst it. Every one of those four hundred allies had been enemies not too long ago. Each of them came in to the Conclave with its own plans and agenda, and not all of them, it seemed, were only convinced this Conclave thing was going to work when it all came down, some of them planned to scoop up the choice pieces. It was still early enough for it all to fall apart, if someone applied just the right amount of pressure. It looked like the Colonial Union was planning to do that, up above Roanoke.Only one thing was keeping it all together, and that was the third thing I knowing That this General Gau was in his way a funny person. He wasnt like one of those tin-pot dictators who got lucky, seized a country and gave themselves the title of supercilious High Poobah or whatever. He had been an actual general for a people called the Vrenn, and had won some important battles for them when he decided that it was wasteful to fight over resources that more than one race could easily and prod uctively allot when he started campaigning with this idea, he was thrown into jail. No one likes a troublemaker.The ruler who tossed him in jail eventually died (Gau had nothing to do with it it was natural causes) and Gau was offered the job, but he turned it down and instead tried to get other races to sign on to the idea of the Conclave. He had the disadvantage that he didnt get the Vrenn to go along with the idea at first all he had to his name was an idea and a small battle cruiser called the Gentle Star, which he had gotten the Vrenn to give him after they decommissioned it. From what I could read, it seemed like the Vrenn thought they were buying him off with it, as in here, take this, thanks for your service, go away, no need to send a postcard, bye.But he didnt go away, and despite the fact that his idea was insane and impractical and nuts and could never possibly work because every race in our universe despised every other race too much, it worked. Because this General G au made it work, by using his own skills and personality to get people of all different races to work together. The more I read about him, the more it seemed like the guy was really admirable.And yet he was also the person who had ordered the killing of civilian colonists.Yes, hed offered to move them and even offered to give them space in the Conclave. But when it came right down to it, if they wouldnt move and they wouldnt join, he wiped them out. Just like he would wipe us all out, if despite everything Dad told Hickory and Dickory we didnt surrender the colony or if, should the attack the Colonial Union had planned on the Conclave fleet go wrong, the general decided that the CU needed to be taught a lesson for daring to defy the Conclave and wiped us out just on general principles.I wasnt so sure just how admirable General Gau would be, if at the end of the day he wouldnt stop from killing me and every single person I cared about.It was a puzzle. He was a puzzle. I spent those two weeks trying to sort it out. Gretchen got grumpy with me that Id been locked away without telling her what I was up to Hickory and Dickory had to remind me to get out and work on my training. Even Jane wondered if I might not need to get outside more. The only person not to give me much grief was Enzo since we got back together he was actually very accommodating about my schedule. I appreciated that. I made sure he knew. He seemed to appreciate that.And then just like that we all ran out of time. The Gentle Star, General Gaus ship, appeared above our colony one afternoon, disabled our communications satellite so Gau could have some time to chat, and then sent a message to Roanoke asking to meet with the colony leaders. John replied that he would meet with him. That evening, as the sun set, they met on the ridgepole outside the colony, about a klick away.Hand me the binoculars, please, I said to Hickory, as we climbed out to the roof of the bungalow. It obliged me. Thanks, I sai d. Dickory was infra us, on the ground old habits die hard.Even with the binoculars General Gau and Dad were little more than dots. I looked anyway. I wasnt the only one on other roofs, in Croatoan and in the homesteads, other people sat on roofs with binoculars and telescopes, looking at Dad and the general, or scanning the sky, looking in the dusk for the Gentle Star. As night ultimately fell, I spotted the ship myself a tiny dot between two stars, shining unblinkingly where the other stars twinkled.How long until the other ships arrive, do you think? I asked Hickory. The Gentle Star always arrived first, alone, and then at Gaus command, the hundreds of other ships would appear, a not-at-all-subtle bit of showmanship to get a reluctant colony leader to agree to get his or her people to leave their homes. I had watched it on previous colony removal videos. It would happen here, too.Not long now, Hickory said. By now Major Perry will have refused to surrender the colony.I took dow n my binoculars and glanced over to Hickory in the gloom. You dont seem have-to doe with about this, I said. Thats a different tune than you were singing before.Things have changed, Hickory said.I wish I had your confidence, I said.Look, Hickory said. It has begun.I glanced up. New stars had begun to appear in the sky. First one or two, then small groups, and then entire constellations. So many had begun to appear it was insufferable to track every single appearance. I knew there were four hundred. It seemed like thousands.Dear God, I said, and I was afraid. Truly afraid. Look at them all.Do not fear this attack, Zoe, Hickory said. We believe this plan will work.You know the plan? I asked. I didnt take my eyes off the sky.We learned of it this afternoon, Hickory said. Major Perry told us, as a courtesy to our government.You didnt tell me, I said.We thought you knew, Hickory said. You said you had spoken to Major Perry about it.We talked about the Colonial Union attacking the Concl ave fleet, I said. But we didnt talk about how.My apologies, Zoe, Hickory said. I would have told you.Tell me now, I said, and then something happened in the sky.The new stars started going nova.First one or two, then small groups, and then entire constellations. So many expanded and brightened that they had begun to combine into each other, forming an arm of a small and violent galaxy. It was beautiful. And it was the worst thing I had ever seen.Antimatter bombs, Hickory said. The Colonial Union learned the identicalness of the ships in the Conclave fleet. It assigned members of your Special Forces to locate them and plant the bombs just before the jump here. Another Special Forces member here emotional them.Bombs on how many ships? I asked.All of them, Hickory said. All but the Gentle Star.I tried to turn to look at Hickory but I couldnt move my eyes from the sky. Thats impossible, I said.No, Hickory said. Not impossible. Extraordinarily difficult. But not impossible.From other roofs and from the streets of Croatoan, cheers and shouts lifted into the air. I finally turned away, and wiped the tears off my face.Hickory noticed. You cry for the Conclave fleet, it said.Yes, I said. For the people on those ships.Those ships were here to destroy the colony, Hickory said.I know, I said.You are sorry they were destroyed, Hickory said.I am sorry that we couldnt think of anything better, I said. Im sorry that it had to be us or them.The Colonial Union believes this will be a great victory, Hickory said. It believes that destroying the Conclaves fleet in one engagement will cause the Conclave to collapse, ending its threat. This is what it has told my government.Oh, I said.It is to be hoped they are correct, Hickory said.I was finally able to look away and face Hickory. The afterimages of the explosions placed blotches all around it. Do you believe they are correct? I asked. Would your government believe it?Zoe, Hickory said. You will recall that just before you lef t for Roanoke, my government invited you to visit our worlds.I remember, I said.We invited you because our people longed to see you, and to see you among us, Hickory said. We also invited you because we believed that your government was going to use Roanoke as a ruse to open a battle against the Conclave. And while we did not know whether this ruse would be successful, we believed strongly that you would have been safer with us. There is no doubt that your life has been in danger here, Zoe, both in ways we had foreseen and in ways that we could not. We invited you, Zoe, because we feared for you. Do you understand what I am saying to you?I do, I said.You asked me if I believe the Colonial Union is correct, that this is a great victory, and if my government would believe the same, Hickory said. My response is to say that once again my government extends an invitation to you, Zoe, to come visit our worlds, and to travel safe among them.I nodded, and looked back to the sky, where star s were still going nova. And when would you want this trip to begin? I asked.Now, Hickory said. Or as near to now as possible.I didnt say anything to that. I looked up to the sky, and then closed my eyes and for the first time, started to pray. I prayed for the crews of the ships above me. I prayed for the colonists below me. I prayed for John and Jane. For Gretchen and her father. For Magdy and for Enzo and their families. For Hickory and Dickory. I prayed for General Gau. I prayed for everyone.I prayed.Zoe, Hickory said.I opened my eyes.Thank you for the invitation, I said. I regret I must decline.Hickory was silent.Thank you, Hickory, I said. Really, thank you. But I am right where I belong.