The atmosphere inside the Government Center at Thurios was strained and tense. All of the Terran group from McClusky were present with Calazar, Showm, and a selection of engineering and technical experts that included Eesyan’s deputy, Morizal. They were already six hours into the ultimatum period.
“But there must be something you can do,” Caldwell protested, stamping backward and forward across the center of the room in frustration. “Couldn’t you try using remote-controlled ships to ram them? Couldn’t VISAR make a few black holes to suck them into or something? There has to be a way.”
“I agree,” Showm said, looking at Calazar. “We should try. I know it’s distasteful, but the Jevlenese have made the rules. Have you considered the alternatives?”
“They could pick off ramships long before they even got near,” Morizal said. “And they could detect a black hole forming and evade it long before it could trap them. And even then you could only hope to get a few at the most. The rest would incinerate Thurien then and there without waiting for the deadline.”
“And besides, that’s not the way,” Calazar said at last, throwing up his hands. “Ganymeans have never sought solutions by war or violence. I couldn’t condone anything like that. We will not descend to the level of Jevlenese barbarism.”
“You’ve never faced this kind of threat before,” Karen Heller pointed out. “What other way is there to meet it?”
“She’s right,” Showm said. “The Jevlenese force is not large. There’s a good chance that it’s all they possess right now. Six months from now that could change. Earth’s logic is harsh, but nevertheless realistic in this kind of situation: losing some people now could buy the time to save many more later. It’s a lesson they have learned, and we may have to as well.”
“It’s not the way,” Calazar said again. “You’ve seen Earth’s history. That kind of logic always leads to escalation without limits. It’s insane. I won’t allow us to start down that road.”
“Broghuilio is insane,” Showm insisted. “There’s no other way.”
“There must be. We need time to consider.”
“We don’t have any time.”
A heavy silence descended. On one side of the room, Hunt caught Lyn’s eye and shrugged hopelessly. She raised her eyebrows and sighed. There was nothing to say. The situation didn’t look good. A short distance away Danchekker was becoming restless. He removed his spectacles, squinted through them while he twisted them first this way and then that in front of his face, then replaced them and began pinching his nose with his thumb and forefinger. Something was going through his mind. Hunt watched him curiously and waited.
“Suppose . . .” Danchekker began, thought for a second longer, then swung his head toward Calazar and Morizal. “Suppose we could induce the Jevlenese to postpone their offensive intentions and switch their force to the defensive . . . in other words take it back to Jevlen,” he said. “That would gain us some time.”
Calazar looked at him, puzzled. “Why should they do that? To defend against what? We have nothing to threaten any attack against them with, and neither have you.”
“Agreed,” Danchekker said. “But perhaps there is a way in which we could persuade them that we do.” The Ganymeans stared back at him nonplussed. He explained, “Lyn and Vic were talking recently about an idea to simulate an all-out assault on Jevien inside vis~it and inject it into JEVEX, assuming ZORAC gains access of course. And by suitably manipulating JEVEX’S internal records, ws~ could, perhaps, then instill in JEVEX the conviction that the existence of such forces was consistent with what it has been observing for years. You see my point? Such a ruse might create enough confusion inside the Jevienese camp for them to withdraw their forces. And given a sufficient level of uncertainty, they would probably not risk firing upon Thurien until they had determined the true situation. What we would do then I have no idea, but it would at least gain us some respite from the current predicament.”
Showm was listening with a strange look on her face. “That would be almost identical to what they did to us,” she murmured. “We’d be turning their own tactic right back at them.”