John Scalzi - Zoe`s Tale

"You're welcome," I said.

"Thank you," said Gau. "Now, of course, I would like them to go away. But it's my understanding that they're here to make sure we don't do anything foolish with our Consu guest while he's here. The ships are fighter drones, not even manned, but this is Consu technology. I don't imagine if they opened fire on us we'd stand much of a chance. So we have an enforced peace here at the moment. Since it works for me, not against me, I shouldn't complain."

"Have you found out any more about Nerbros Eser and what his plans are?" I asked. I didn't feel like thinking about the Consu anymore.

"Yes," Gau said. "Lernin has been quite forthcoming now that he's trying to avoid being executed for treason. It's been a wonderful motivator. He tells me that Eser plans to take Roanoke with a small force of soldiers. The idea there is to show that he can take with a hundred soldiers what I couldn't take with four hundred battle cruisers. But 'take' is the wrong word for it, I'm afraid. Eser plans to destroy the colony and everyone in it."

"That was your plan too," I reminded the general.

He bobbed his head in what I assumed was an acknowledgment. "You know by now, I hope, that I would have much preferred not to have killed the colonists," he said. "Eser does not intend to offer that option."

I skipped over that piece of data in my head. "When will he attack?" I asked.

"Soon, I think," Gau said. "Lernin doesn't think Eser has assembled his troops yet, but this failed assassination attempt is going to force him to move sooner than later."

"Great," I said.

"There's still time," Gau said. "Don't give up hope yet, Zoë."

"I haven't," I said. "But I've still got a lot on my mind."

"Have you found enough volunteers?" Gau asked.

"We have," I said, and my face tightened up as I said it.

"What's wrong?" Gau said.

"One of the volunteers," I said, and stopped. I tried again. "One of the volunteers is an Obin named Dickory," I said. "My friend and my bodyguard. When it volunteered I told it no. Demanded that it take back its offer. But it refused."

"Having it volunteer could be a powerful thing," Gau said. "It probably encouraged others to step forward."

I nodded. "But Dickory is still my friend," I said. "Still my family. Maybe it shouldn't make a difference but it does."

"Of course it makes a difference," Gau said. "The reason you're here is to try to keep the people you love from being hurt."

"I'm asking people I don't know to sacrifice themselves for people I do," I said.

"That's why you're asking them to volunteer," Gau said. "But it seems to me the reason they're volunteering is for you."

I nodded and looked out at the bay, and imagined the fight that was coming.

"I have a proposition for you," the Consu said to me.

The two of us sat in the operations room of the cargo bay, ten meters above the floor of the bay. On the floor were two groups of beings. In the first group were the one hundred Obin who had volunteered to fight for me. In the other group were the one hundred Consu criminals, who would be forced to fight the Obin for a chance to regain their honor. The Consu looked scary big next to the Obin. The contest would be modified hand-to-hand combat: The Obin were allowed a combat knife, while the Consu, with their slashing arms, would fight bare-handed, if you called being able to wield two razor-sharp limbs attached to your own body "bare-handed."

I was getting very nervous about the Obin's chances.

"A proposition," the Consu repeated.

I glanced over at the Consu, who in himself nearly filled the operations room. He'd been there when I had come up; I wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten himself through the door. The two of us were there with Hickory and Dock and General Gau, who had taken it upon himself to act as the official arbiter for the contest.

Dickory was on the floor. Getting ready to fight.

"Are you interested in hearing it?" the Consu asked.

"We're about to start," I said.

"It's about the contest," the Consu said. "I have a way that you can get what you want without having the contest at all."

I closed my eyes. "Tell me," I said.

"I will help you keep your colony safe by providing you a piece of our technology," the Consu said. "A machine that produces an energy field that robs projectiles of their momentum. A sapper field. It makes your bullets fall out of the air and sucks the power from missiles before they strike their targets. If you are clever your colony can use it to defeat those who attack it. This is what I am allowed and prepared to give to you."

"And what do you want in return?" I asked.

"A simple demonstration," the Consu said. It unfolded and pointed toward the Obin on the floor. "A demand from you was enough to cause hundreds of Obin to willingly sacrifice themselves for the mere purpose of getting my attention. This power you have interests me. I want to see it. Tell this one hundred to sacrifice themselves here and now, and I will give you what you need in order to save your colony."

"I can't do that," I said.

"It is not an issue of whether it is possible," the Consu said. It leaned its bulk over and then addressed Dock. "Would the Obin here kill themselves if this human asked it?"

"Without doubt," Dock said.

"They would not hesitate," the Consu said.

"No," Dock said.

The Consu turned back to me. "Then all you need to do is give the order."

"No," I said.

"Don't be stupid, human," the Consu said. "You have been assured by me that I will assist you. You have been assured by this Obin that your pets here will gladly sacrifice themselves for your benefit, without delay or complaint. You will be assured of helping your family and friends survive imminent attack. And you have done it before. You thought nothing of sending hundred to their death to speak to me. It should not be a difficult decision now."

He waved again toward the floor. "Tell me honestly, human. Look at your pets, and then look at the Consu. Do you think your pets will be the ones left standing when this is over? Do you want to risk the safety of your friends and family on them?

"I offer you an alternative. It carries no risk. It costs you nothing but your assent. Your pets will not object. They will be happy to do this for you. Simply say that you require this of them. That you demand it of them. And if it makes you feel any better, you can tell them to turn off their consciousness before they kill themselves. Then they will not fear their sacrifice. They will simply do it. They will do it for you. They will do it for what you are to them."

I considered what the Consu had said.

I turned to Dock. "You have no doubt that those Obin would do this for me," I said.

"There is no doubt," Dock said. "They are there to fight at your request, Zoë. They know they may die. They have already accepted that possibility, just as the Obin who sacrificed themselves to bring you this Consu knew what was required of them."

"And what about you," I said to Hickory. "Your friend and partner is down there, Hickory. For ten years, at least, you've spent your life with Dickory. What do you say?"

Hickory's trembling was so slight that I almost doubted that I saw it. "Dickory will do as you ask, Zoë," Hickory said. "You should know this already." It turned away after that.

I looked at General Gau. "I have no advice to offer you," he said. "But I am very interested to find out what you choose."

I closed my eyes and I thought of my family. Of John and Jane. Of Savitri, who traveled to a new world with us. I thought of Gretchen and Magdy and the future they could have together. I thought of Enzo and his family and everything that was taken from them. I thought of Roanoke, my home.