“Of course.” Shey raises one brow as if she can’t imagine why she’s being questioned. “This is my entourage. Is there a problem?”

The clerk struggles for words for a moment before bowing her head respectfully.

“Not at all,” she says. “Right this way.”

She leads us down a long hallway that curves into the interior of the building and gradually upward in a spiral. After passing through scanners and past a number of security guards, we enter the Nibiran council room. Several more guards stand at the doors, each of them eyeing us suspiciously as we pass.

The chamber is huge and circular, with high ceilings and especially intricate stained-glass windows. The colorful designs dye the light different hues as it filters into the room, painting the white tile in rainbow light. The council members sit in a raised half circle of seats. Each is dressed in uniform silk robes belted at the waist, the deep blue fabric pooling around wrists and ankles. It’s silent when we enter, but the air is laden with the quiet tension of a conversation abruptly ended.

Seven people sit on the Nibiran Council, each representing one of the islands of Nibiru. Each representative holds equal weight on the council, though the largest island, Vil Hava, holds three times the population of the smallest, Lan Iroh. The council does not make decisions unless at least five of its seven members vote in accordance. But in especially important matters, it will often postpone its final decision until a unanimous agreement is reached. For an issue as colossal as the one we’re bringing to the chamber, I’m sure that will be the case today. Which means we have to convince not most, but all of these officials that they should provide refuge to a planet whose people have been their enemy for half a century. Even among the many disagreements between planets, Nibiru and Gaia have a particularly complicated history, considering their disagreements over Primus tech and the whole issue of the plague.

Bringing Gaian refugees to this planet will cause civil unrest at best, and at worst, endanger innocent Nibiran citizens. But Nibiru is the only planet close enough to be viable for a swift evacuation, and even so, it will take a week to travel here. According to Shey, the Gaians lose more lives every day, so they need to begin evacuations as soon as possible. At the very least, the Gaians will need to use this planet as a temporary stop before moving onward. So the Nibirans have to agree on this. We have to make them agree.