And little as he had given notice to these professionals, he gave it to the freckled man that commanded the group from Saber.
“Galey,” he said.
The regular looked at him, tried to stiffen his back, turned it into a shrug. “I got this because I knew you. Sir, come along. The admiral will see you. Let’s keep this quiet, all right?”
“I came here to see him,” Duncan said. Galey looked relieved.
“You all right? You walked in, they said. You’re coming in of your own accord?”
Duncan nodded, mri-wise. “Yes,” he amended. “Of my choice.”
“I have to search you.”
Duncan considered it, considered Galey, who had no choice, and nodded consent, stood with his arms wide while Galey performed the cursory search himself. When Galey was done, he rearranged his robes and stood still.
“I’ve got a uniform might fit,” Galey said.
“No.”
Galey looked taken aback at that He nodded at the others.
They started to move, and Duncan went beside Galey, but there were rifles before and rifles at his back.
A taint was in the ah”, an old and familiar smell, dank and musky. Humanity, Duncan thought; but there was an edge of it he had not noticed on the other ship.
Regul.
Duncan stopped. A rifle prodded his back. He drew a full breath of the tainted air and started walking again, keeping with Galey.
The office door was open; he turned where he knew he must, and Galey went with him into the office, into the admiral’s presence.
Koch occupied the desk chair.
And beside him was a regul, sled-bound. Duncan looked into that bony countenance with his heart slamming against his ribs: the feeling was reciprocated. The regul’s nostrils snapped shut.
“Ally, sir?” Duncan asked of Koch, before he had been invited to speak, before anyone had spoken.
“Sharn Alagn-ni.” The admiral’s eyes were dark and narrow as the regul’s. His white, close-shaven head was balder than it had been, his face thinner and harder. “Sit down, SurTac.”
Duncan sat, on the chair at the corner of the desk, leaned back and stared from Koch to the regul. “Am I going to have to give my report in front of a stranger?”
“An ally. This is a joint command.”
Pieces sorted into order. “An ally,” Duncan said, looking full at Sharn, “who tried to kill us and who destroyed my ship.”
The regul hissed. “Bai Koch, this is a mri. This is nothing of yours. It speaks for its own purposes, this youngling-with-out-a-nest. We have seen the way these mri have passed, the places without life. We have seen their work. This impressionable youngling has been impressed by them, and it is theirs.”
“I left beacons,” Duncan said, looking at Koch, “to explain. Did you read them? Did anyone listen to my messages before you started firing or did someone get to them first?”
Koch’s eyes flickered, no more than that. Darker color came to Sham’s rough skin.
“I told you in those messages that the mri were inclined to friendship. That we reached agreement.”
Sharn hissed suddenly: the color fled. ‘Treachery.”
“In both our houses,” Duncan said. “Bai Sharn, I was sent to approach the mri as you were surely sent to stop me. We may be the only ones in this room who really understand each other.”
“You are doing yourself no good,” said Koch.
Duncan shrugged. “Am I right about the beacons? Was it Sharn who chose to move against the cities?”
“We were fired on,” Koch said.
“From my ship? Was it not the regul that came in first?”
Koch was silent.
“You have done murder,” Duncan said. “The mri would have chosen to talk; but you let the regul come in ahead of you. Defenses have been triggered. The mri no longer have control of them. You are fighting against machines. And when you stop, they will stop. If you go on, you will wipe out a planet.”
“That might be the safest course.”
Duncan retreated to a distant cold place within himself, continued to stare at the admiral. “Flower witnesses what you do. What you do here will be told; and it will change humankind. Perhaps.you don’t understand that, but it will change you if you do this. You will put the finishing touch on the desert of stars that you have traveled. You will be the monsters.”