“I realize that. But I think that situation is more controllable than letting Arnold ricochet around Nouveau Paris like an out of control null-grav bowling ball. At the very least, it’s going to take the better part of a month for word of the press releases on Bolthole to reach Manticore. We’ll time the diplomatic note announcing our new, firmer position to arrive a few days after it gets there, and we’ll be careful to couch it in nonconfrontational terms.”

“You’re going to demand that they stop wasting our time in a ‘nonconfrontational’ way?” Theisman cocked a quizzical eyebrow, and she snorted.

“I didn’t say they were going to like hearing about it. But we can be firm and make our point without sounding like some bunch of reckless lunatics who’re just itching to try out their new military toys!”

“As the person whose toybox those toys are in, I can certainly approve of that,” Theisman agreed fervently. Then he scratched his chin and frowned thoughtfully. “Still, I’d feel happier if Giancola weren’t the Secretary of State. There’s too much opportunity for him to put his own twist on anything we say to the Manties to make me happy.”

“The same thought had occurred to me,” Pritchart confessed. “Unfortunately, if we can’t fire him and we can’t indict him, then we’re stuck with him. There are times I wish our system was a bit more like the Manties. Mind you, I think the stability of ours has its own major advantages—such as avoiding sudden, unanticipated shifts in government policy like what happened to them when Cromarty died. But since our cabinet officers require Congressional confirmation for specific posts, we can’t just shuffle portfolios whenever it’s convenient like they can. And as long as he’s Secretary of State, we can’t cut him out of the diplomatic channel.

“But by the same token, he already knows he’s scarcely on my Christmas card list, however cordial our relationships have to appear in public. So I’m not going to lose any sleep over the possibility of hurting his tender feelings when I insist on reviewing any notes we send the Manties before they’re dispatched.” She snorted again, and this time there was an edge of true humor in her fleeting smile. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll get offended enough to do us all a favor and resign!”

“Don’t hold your breath waiting for that,” Theisman advised. “Anoxia is a fairly miserable way to go.”

“A woman can always hope,” she shot back.

“I suppose.” he thought for a few more moments. “So how exactly do you want to handle the initial disclosure about Bolthole? Should it come out of your office, or out of mine?”

“Yours,” Pritchart said promptly. “I’m sure I’ll be asked all sorts of questions about it at my next press conference, but the initial announcement should be a Navy affair.”

“And if someone asks me how it happens that Bolthole never appeared in any of our official budgets?”

“As a matter of fact, I’m sort of hoping someone will ask you exactly that,” Pritchart admitted. “If they do, I want you to point out to whoever asks that in the absence of a formal treaty with the Star Kingdom of Manticore, the Republic is still in a state of war. And that publicizing the naval budget would clearly be of enormous help to any potential adversary. Don’t go out of your way to link Manticore and ‘any potential adversary,’ but don’t back away from it if someone else suggests the linkage. It won’t hurt to jar the Manties’ thinking a little before we start sending them any formal diplomatic notes. And getting that argument out early should help to undercut anyone—like our own esteemed Secretary of State and his political allies—if they try to argue that we’ve been overly timid. I doubt that anyone’s completely forgotten what the Manty Navy was in the process of doing to us a few years back, but it won’t hurt to remind them of it.”