Spinneret

"You just like the UN less?"

"I like the idea of UN control of Astra less," he corrected. "Like you, I believe all of us here can do a better job of administering the Spi

"Of course," Meredith nodded. "You might as well all go. I'll need you alert by midmoming when I a

"Don't worry, Colonel," Hafner said, yawning prodigiously as he levered himself out of his chair. "We'll probably even have a national anthem written by di

Meredith sat quietly for a few moments after they were gone, his own eyelids feeling like stone tablets. National anthem, indeed, he thought. You can tell right away how much experience he's had working with people.

His phone buzzed: Major Brown. "The UN shuttle's ready to lift, Colonel," he reported. "Shall I let 'em go?"

"Sure." He paused, waiting. A moment later the roar of repulsers filled the room, oddly deadened by the soundproofing they'd packed into the walls. The sound faded slowly, finally reaching the point where normal conversation was possible.

"Major? You still there?"

"Yes, sir," Brown growled. "Damn dizzy yahoo took it low and slow; probably trying to wake up as many people in Unie as he could."

"More likely trying to pick out the Spi

"Yes, sir."

"Friday at sixteen hundred; right," Brown said. "What do I give as the purpose of the meeting?"

"To discuss our marketing plans for the Spi

Brown was silent for a moment. "You don't seriously think Saleh would send troops here, do you?"

"I don't know, but if I were him I'd take some kind of action pretty damn fast. You see, as a sovereign nation, we can make trade deals with other countries without going through the UN bureaucracy—and if that trade includes Rooshrike-supplied technology, we'll be bypassing the UN's monopoly. Saleh'll go from master of the universe back to chief referee at the world's biggest nursery school, and I can guarantee he's not going to go quietly."

"Mm. So you're meeting the aliens here to keep Msuya from eavesdropping?"

"More or less. Also to underline our new independence—I doubt that the aliens much care where we talk, but it's a symbol of authority on Earth to have people come to you instead of vice versa."

"If you don't mind my saying so. Colonel, I think we have more important things to worry about than taking symbolic pot shots at Msuya's backside. How in the world are you going to sell this to the troops and civilians, good U.S. citizens all?"

"I don't know," Meredith said frankly. "I'm sure we would have come to this point eventually—we couldn't stay UN territory forever—so it's not like the idea will be totally unimaginable. It is going to be a mess, though. I just hope we can keep people from going off half-cocked one way or the other before they've thought about all the pros and cons."

"We'll have to keep an eye on the troops, especially," Brown pointed out.

"Leading a 'loyalist coup' might be some ambitious lieutenant's idea of a shortcut to captain."

"A lieutenant or someone higher," Meredith grimaced. "Maybe you'd better try and sound out the other area commanders before the a

"Especially Dunlop, given all the friction you've had," Brown said. "Maybe we'll be lucky and he'll decide to go back to Earth."

"Don't I wish," Meredith said sourly. "But chances are he'll stay. After all the pride he had to swallow to keep his Ceres post we probably couldn't get him out of there without a crowbar."

"Um. Well, maybe we can persuade him he's too patriotic to continue breathing this freshly sullied Astran air." Brown snorted. "Sorry—he still gets to me sometimes. One other thing I thought of, Colonel: do you think we should ask the Rooshrike to jam any attempts at broadcast communication from the UN ship?"

"Keep our propaganda unsullied by theirs?"

"Well-l-l … I know it sounds totalitarian, but I still think it would be a good idea.

At least until you've had a chance to present our case."

"I don't really like it … but go ahead. Besides, Astra can't possibly qualify as a dictatorship as long as Perez is ru

Brown chuckled. "He'd be almost fu

"Well, for once that talent's going to come in handy. Perez helped dig us into this position, and he's damn well going to help us sell it."

"I hope he can do it. Frankly, I don't know myself whether or not we're making too much of a fuss over the Spi

Meredith smiled wanly. Right again, Carmen; it does make a difference. "Remind me to take you down to the Spi

"Yeah." Brown paused. "Colonel, did you read how the Rooshrike went about testing their Spi

Meredith frowned. "No, I never got to that section of their report. Why?—is it important?"

"Oh, not really. They attached a couple of five-ton asteroids to the ends and started the whole thing spi

And the Rooshrike are supposed to be technologically behind the other races, Meredith reminded himself. "Me, too," he told Brown. "Let's hope we can avoid a private demonstration. Get those messages off; I'll talk to you again after I've had some sleep."

"Yes, sir. Pleasant dreams."

Chapter 22

The roar of descending alien shuttles had long since faded away by the time Perez brought his motorboat to a stop by the Martello Base dock. "Cristobal Perez; Council member," he identified himself to the two soldiers guarding the boats.

Like those at the Unie docks, they looked skeptical; but, also like the others, they called in for instructions, and a minute later Perez was walking toward the conference room. Only forty hours since Astra became its own master—at least on paper, he thought, his head aching with too little sleep and too much conversation. Feels more like a week.

Meredith had made his broadcast at ten o'clock that first morning; and while he hadn't done a bad job of describing Astra's new status, he'd left out the answers to several popular questions, and Perez had spent a great deal of the time since then giving those selfsame answers to various individuals and small groups. The worries generally revolved around the Astrans' status with the U.S. or the possible reprisals that could be taken against families and friends back on Earth. It was those conversations that lay behind most of his headache. The rest had come from the project that had kept him up most of the night.

The guards at the conference room door were a bit more stubborn, but in the end they too passed him through … and though Perez knew what to expect, the scene was still something of a shock. He'd seen photos of all five alien races, but there was nothing like seeing them up close and in person to drive home how alien they really were. The Ctencri, with his loose skin and batwing head crest, sat stiffly in his chair, his darting head movements vaguely reminiscent of a chicken pecking.