He looked up and was relieved to see Margaret and Louis returning to the camp at last. The Klikiss robots also noticed. Their optical sensors glowed, and their articulated limbs retracted into their body cores.

Politely, DD said, “Thank you for a fascinating conversation. Your point of view is very interesting.”

Turning around, somewhat unsettled by the suggestions the three alien robots had made, he walked back into the tent to serve a fine dinner for his masters.

63: BASIL WENCESLAS

63BASIL WENCESLAS

When Basil received the Roamer message informing him of the destroyed Golgen skymine—apparently destroyed by the same enemy that had pulverized the Oncier station—he called an emergency war council. The Speaker for the Roamers, an old woman named Jhy Okiah, had sent a communiqué to Earth. Without question, the mysterious and devastating aggressor had struck again.

Basil raised his voice in a meeting for the first time in many years. “I want to know what the hell is going on!”

The representatives had gathered in his private offices in the top floor of Hansa headquarters. Functionaries had already brought in refreshments and food, because Basil suspected this meeting might take hours. Now he barricaded the doors and turned to look at his angry, confused, and uneasy advisers. Nobody would leave until they had reached some sort of decision.

Basil narrowed his eyes and glared from face to face, waiting for an answer. General Kurt Lanyan, wearing relaxed clothing instead of his formal public uniform, sat behind a sheaf of documents he had brought with him from the EDF command center. Next to him, his subordinate, Admiral Lev Stromo, fidgeted and waited for the General to speak. The other nine Admirals remained on high alert in their assigned spacial grids, and would receive a summary of the meeting as fast as carrier ships could be dispatched.

King Frederick was also present, though he knew to keep his mouth shut and sit quietly at the end of the table. Frederick would make no decisions here, but Basil thought the King might need the background information. The Chairman had considered bringing Prince Peter to the meeting as well, just so the young man could begin to get a better grasp of the duties in store for him … but he wasn’t ready to introduce Frederick to his successor, and this crisis was too severe to be used as a simple schooling exercise.

After an uncomfortably long moment, Basil snapped, “Does anyone have ideas? Data? Something to share?”

“Mr. Chairman, you can’t mean to suggest that we are withholding information from you,” Admiral Stromo said.

“Of course not, but I’m open to ideas. Don’t hold yourselves back.”

General Lanyan steepled his fingers, looked at his documents, then raised his ice-blue eyes in a hard stare. “One observation: Since the Roamers have also come under attack by these unknown enemies, we can assume they are not the aggressors. Eliminate one suspect.”