“We do not regard that as having been so for some time now.” Nehorai was unmoved. “We have built our own civilization, far from the strife and wars that our ancestors had to face.” She glanced at her companion. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Maacah, but the last time a remote was sent here to scan this world—some time ago it was—it reported back that nothing much had improved since the time of the Removal.”

“That is correct.” The short Gadeu with the close-set eyes looked sad. “If I remember my studies correctly, it was unchanged. A world of expansion forever plagued by the usual ongoing strife and wars, ongoing and immutable.” He looked over at Zimmer, his expression a mixture of kindness and disgust. “Why would we want to partake of that ever again? Why would we want to intrude and by intruding, soil our souls?”

“Because,” Zimmer replied forcefully, “you could put a stop to it. More specifically, you could ensure that the ancient land of Israel that gave rise to and was the home of your captive ancestors is finally allowed to exist in peace. You could ensure a safe future for the descendants of the other eight tribes. That’s what I was trying to do myself when you arrived and reclaimed control of this ship.”

“Jakob …” his wife began warningly.

He looked sharply back at her. “I don’t care if they know! I’m proud of what I tried to do. I’d try to do it again if they’d let me.” He stopped cold, a sudden thought taking possession of his senses. “Would you let me?” he inquired carefully.

Nehorai had been listening to something distant via her cranial implant. Now she blinked and focused once more on the elderly Earthman. “Would we let you do what?”

Starting forward, Chiasa Katou-Zimmer tried to put her arms around her husband. He shook her off, his countenance suddenly eager, the excitement in his voice indisputable.

“I was going to instruct your golems to use one of this ship’s cargo controllers to sling a very small asteroid at an uninhabited portion of the region dominated by Israel’s enemies. The idea was to convince them that if they didn’t make a permanent peace with—your current kin, then the next big rock aimed their way might do some actual significant damage. It was a threat. A threat in the service of a worthwhile end—but never anything more than a threat. I would never, naturally, do such a thing even if I had the power to carry it out.” He hesitated a moment. “Is the meaning of the word ‘bluff’ clear to you?”

Nehorai gazed evenly back at him. “Very clear. It is fortunate that we arrived in time to prevent you from doing any such thing.”

Chiasa looked as relieved as Dev felt. But Zimmer wasn’t ready to give up on his idea.