She let the silence hang for a moment before continuing. “On the other hand, in the absence of a war, the SSE has the same right to the tech as anyone else. Your call, Admiral.”

She took her finger off the transmit button again and raised an eyebrow at Moore. He gave her two thumbs up.

The two stared at the intercom panel. The time stretched. Finally, there was a response, but not from the SSE admiral.

“Ma’am, comm monitoring reports leakage from a tight-beam signal, originating at the SSE flagship. Not enough signal strength to make anything out, and it’s probably encrypted anyway. Aimed at Earth, looks like.”

Moore grinned. “They’re phoning home.”

Mandelbaum did a fist pump in response. “They blinked!”

85.Aftermath

85.Aftermath

Moore looked at the backlog of communications in the in-basket on his tablet. It was small consolation to know that Mandelbaum’s was far, far worse. Recriminations, demands for more information, requests for independent confirmation, suggestions for further negotiation, outright threats, and many of them mutually contradictory. It didn’t help that the chain of command, never fully clarified in the first place, was being totally ignored.

And Strategic Space Command had no real grounds for complaint. They’d given Mandelbaum the authorization to do what she did. She’d given Moore the authorization to place the orders that he had. The SSE admiral had passed the buck to his HQ, and they’d blinked as well.

No one was in a position to take it back without losing face. Especially since, when it came down to it, mankind had won. The human race wouldn’t be destroyed or Uploaded by fiat; the SSE wouldn’t be going to war; and if preliminary discussions with Ivan were anything to go by, Earth would be considerably better off.

Subsequent exchanges with Admiral Yeltsin made it clear that he wanted partial credit for the negotiations with Ivan. It was a small price to pay, and a good way for Yeltsin to save face. Mandelbaum had assured him that was how she remembered it, and the official report would concur.

One of the more interesting documents in Moore’s in-basket was an official commendation from SSC, with a note that the charges against him were being dropped, all based apparently on Mandelbaum’s report. Suddenly the future was looking less bleak. You only got one do-over like this per lifetime, though. A nice comfy desk job from here on in would be just the ticket.

Moore sighed, and tossed his tablet on the desk. Mandelbaum looked up at the clunk, said, “Yeah,” and threw hers as well. Possibly with slightly more force than was really required. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle of very expensive-looking single-malt. Moore pushed his cup forward with a smile and Mandelbaum laughed.

“There’s no coffee in there,” she said, holding the bottle in a half-ready position.

“I have my priorities,” he replied, jiggling the cup.