Once they do learn to read sign, they’re going to figure out on an emotional level, not just an intellectual one, that treecats are people, too, she thought. And when that happens, they’re not going to be worried about having them sit in on meetings like this one, either. They’ll realize the ’cats are partners…and they can’t do that a moment too soon to suit me!

Nimitz made a very soft sound of agreement and confidence from the back of her chair, and she sent him an affectionate mental caress before she looked back up the table at the two heads of state.

“So I’m afraid Ambassador Carmichael’s correct,” Langtry was saying in somber tones. “If Kolokoltsov were going to call Filareta off, he’d have already done it. In fact, unless there’s already someone en route—which I very much doubt is the case!—he doesn’t even have the option anymore. There’s not time for him to change his mind and get somebody out here to call it off, even if he wanted to.”

Heads nodded. If Filareta had managed to keep to his original operational schedule, he’d be arriving in Manticoran space within the next twenty-four hours.

“I agree with Foreign Minister Langtry.” Montrose sounded even more sober than Langtry. “They’re not going to order him to stand down.”

“They really are idiots, aren’t they?” Grantville observed caustically.

“I think it’s safe to say they don’t represent sterling examples of competence and wisdom, yes, Mr. Prime Minister,” Benton-Ramirez y Chou said dryly. “On the other hand, we really don’t know what Filareta’s orders are.” He raised one hand. “Oh, we know the basic plan for ‘Operation Raging Justice,’ but we don’t know what kind of secret clauses may have been inserted into his instructions.”

“Like a pre-existing order to abandon the operation if it turns out we really can blow his ass off, you mean, Mr. Director?” Kevin Usher inquired with a grin.

“Something like that, yes,” the Beowulfer replied with a smile of his own. Although this was the first time they’d met, Benton-Ramirez y Chou and the massively thewed Usher had already discovered they were kindred souls. And of all those present, they seemed least oppressed by thoughts of the cataclysm towards which all the entire explored galaxy seemed to be sliding.

“I think we’re all in agreement that a clause like that would represent an act of simple sanity,” Elizabeth observed. “Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any other evidence of sanity out of them!”

“Actually,” White Haven said, “I’m not at all sure letting Filareta stand down at this point would be in our interest.”