He shrugged.

“What all of that suggests to me, Thomas, is that the Star Kingdom of Manticore has become expansionist.”

Several members of the Cabinet looked at him in exasperation. Others looked much more thoughtful, and Eloise Pritchart felt a sudden tingle of concern as she realized how many of them fell into the second category.

“In all fairness, Arnold,” she said after a moment, “I have to say you’ve been, um, predisposed, if I may be permitted the word, to view the Star Kingdom as expansionist for some time now.”

“And you wonder if my predisposition in that direction is causing me to view current events with undue alarm,” Giancola agreed affably. He smiled at her, and Pritchart made herself smile back when what she really would have preferred would have been to punch him. But much as he infuriated her, she was forced to acknowledge that she couldn’t simply dismiss his analysis out of hand, however much she might have wanted to. Just as she had to admit he truly did have a presence. One which she wished was far, far away from this meeting.

“To be honest, yes,” she told him.

“Well, to be equally honest, I can’t say positively that it isn’t. On the other hand, that may be because there’s a sound basis for my feelings. I agree that annexation of the terminus system itself would represent no more than a continuation of their long-term security policies. But we’re not talking just about that star system. We’re also talking about Lynx and, quite possibly, the other inhabited star systems of the Talbott Cluster. All seventeen of them. That’s an enormous jump from annexing a single star system populated solely by primitive aliens like Basilisk, or even a strategically vital star system whose long-established population asked to be annexed, like Trevor’s Star.”

He shook his head.

“No, Madame President. I think that what this represents is an aggressive, arrogant expansionism. I think the Manty perception that they soundly defeated the Pierre Regime has fueled an imperialistic drive which was always latent in the Star Kingdom’s foreign policy. I think you can see another manifestation of that same arrogance and imperialism in their attitude towards their current confrontation with the Andermani over Silesia. Obviously, they regard Silesia as their own private fishing pond, and no one else is welcome to drop a line into it. It’s only a relatively small step from regarding a sovereign star nation as an economic dependency to embracing the outright annexation of individual star systems which aren’t exactly in a position to resist.”

“But according to Wilhelm’s reports, the original impetus towards annexation apparently came from Lynx, not the Manties,” Hanriot objected.

“How do we know that?” Secretary of the Interior Sanderson put in, and Pritchart’s eyes narrowed. She’d thought Walter Sanderson was firmly in “her” camp, but suddenly she felt less confident of that. And she felt even less so as Sanderson continued. “The only contact anyone in Manticore has had with Lynx was via their own survey ship,” he pointed out. “We have no way to know what they actually said; only what their survey ship crew allegedly reported they said. According to their government.”