"I was in charge, and I did everything I could to prevent the war. I failed. So I can't really say how I am, just yet. Maybe not too well. I don't know. I'm giving them tit for tat in the negotiations. But I'm very tired."

She tapped his hand with her fingers and nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on his. "Okay. You still have my full confidence. You know that, Garry?"

"Yes."

"After things settle down, we can all take our turn sticking our heads through the hole in the Sisyphus mural. Now tell me about the invasion and everything that's happened since."

Lanier had a vague daydream of taking Mirsky to the second chamber library alone, or with at most only one bodyguard apiece. When he arrived at the cafeteria negotiating tables, Mirsky, Garabedian, two of the three surviving political officers—Belozersky and Major Yazykov—and four armed SSTs awaited him. He quickly asked Gerhardt and Jaeger to accompany him, and to balance the forces, four marines joined the group.

They rode in silence from the first chamber to the second chamber's zero bridge. One of Mirsky's troopers drove the truck for the first half of the short journey. Mirsky glanced at Lanier several times during the trip through the city, sizing him up, Lanier suspected. The Russian lieutenant general was a closed book to Lanier; not once had Mirsky revealed any of his private side. Still, Lanier had a much higher regard for Mirsky than for Belozerksy. Mirsky might listen to reason; Belozersky wouldn't even know what reason was.

Halfway across the bridge, the truck stopped and a marine took over the driving duties. They passed through the shopping district Patricia had described as "quaint" and then disembarked in the library plaza. One marine and one SST stayed behind to guard the truck. They squared off at opposite corners of the vehicle and studiously avoided conversation.

Gerhardt engaged Belozerksy in conversation through Jaeger. This gave Lanier an opportunity to lead Mirsky a few steps ahead and prepare him for what they would find.

"I'm not sure what your commanders told you about the Stone," he began, "but I doubt you had the complete story."

Mirsky stared ahead stonily. "The Stone is a better name than the Potato," he admitted, lifting his eyebrows. "Calling it the Potato makes us worms, no? I have been told the Stone was built by humans."

"That's not the half of it."

"Then I am interested to hear the rest."

Lanier told him the story in some detail as they entered the library and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

In the reading room, Lanier found a section of Russian volumes in the stacks and emerged with three, handing one to Mirsky—a translation of the Brief History of the Death—and one each to Belozersky and Yazykov.