“We agree with both you and Wachiru, in that our first order of business must be the fortification of our borders.” Jaha consults her notes. “The Dimka move to immediately suspend all trade talks with O.E.”

“That hadn’t happened immediately after the bombing?” Bayard asks.

“We still had operations in motion that took time to wind down.” Her eyes, hard pinpricks, sharpen at his implied criticism. He’s done stepped in it for real. “Speaking of some of those operations. Where do we stand on the Ring?”

“The Ring stands fully operational,” I report. I shove a series of holovids to each of the security council representatives’ displays. Full schematics, capabilities, and projections. “The Nguni are making the final preparations before bringing it fully on line.”

“That’s much faster than we anticipated,” Wachiru says.

“Circumstances have forced us to move faster than we anticipated.” I level my eyes at Jaha. At her insistence, I read in both Amachi and her obroni cultural attaché. Jaha is not one to be denied, especially when she is right. She upticks her chin in my direction. “I do wonder in light of recent events, if we ought to reconsider our position in regard to the Orun Gate.”

“How so?” Selamault asks.

“It poses an extreme security risk.”

“And it’s one of our chief assets,” Wachiru interjects.

“That’s ‘Yo’ thinking,” I say in the slang of his generation. “It was never ours.”

“We control the space around it.”

“That’s like saying we control a star. It merely is while we are in proximity to it. The question before us is: What level of threat does it represent?”

“That doesn’t hold. It’s an artificial wormhole, one that wasn’t built by us. But we now have the technology to be able to utilize it. We aren’t about giving up assets that can benefit the entire community,” Wachiru says.

“As does O.E. As do its original creators. Who could come through at any time and we’d never know,” I remind him. “This asset is proving to have too steep a cost.”

“You personally authorized an exploratory HOVA unit to post up on the other side,” Wachiru said.

We see how that worked out, I can almost hear him say.

“One whom we’ve lost contact with.” I pause. My silence allows them to picture Fela’s last words in their minds. One of my assistants rushes in. She whispers in my ear. “What? On screen.”

“What are we looking at?” Selamault stands.

“A new problem.” I gesture to enlarge the image. “Have the Nguni bring the Ring fully on line. An unauthorized ship is on a collision course with the Orun Gate.”

24 STACIA CHIKEKE
The Cypher (Returning to Titan)