“Maybe it has.” Thomas Theisman’s tone was sharp, and the look he bestowed upon the Secretary of State was not one of unalloyed friendliness. “At the same time, however, there’s one point in this note of theirs which strikes me as particularly significant.”

“The question about Trevor’s Star?” Pritchart asked.

“Exactly.” Theisman nodded. “They’re specifically asking whether or not we intended to include Trevor’s Star in our demand that they acknowledge in principle our sovereignty over the occupied star systems. It seems obvious to me that we didn’t, but I suppose, looking back at our own note, that I can see how its wording might have been misconstrued. If they believe we’re upping the ante by demanding the return of a star system which they’ve formally annexed, then I’d have to call that a fairly ominous development.”

“In the greater scheme of things, it’s only one of several strands that worry me,” Pritchart told him. “And if they’d ever actually sit down to talk with us in good faith, we could tie up all of the confusion in a day or two. On the other hand, I see your point.”

“But there’s another side to it, too,” Denis LePic said. The Attorney General tapped the hardcopy of Descroix’s note where it lay on the conference table in front of him. “They’re asking for clarification,” he pointed out. “I think that’s significant. Especially when you couple it with this part at the end where they’re talking about the need to ‘break the logjam of mutually antagonistic positions.’ ”

“That last part is nothing more than self-serving eyewash!” Tony Nesbitt retorted. The Secretary of Commerce snorted disdainfully. “It sounds good, and they probably expect it to play well to the ’faxes and their own public opinion, but it doesn’t really mean anything. If it did, then they would have offered to give at least a little ground in response to our last note.”

“You may be right,” LePic replied, although it was fairly obvious from his tone that he didn’t think anything of the sort. “On the other hand, their request for clarification could be a sort of backhanded way of suggesting both that they have a genuine concern over the issue and that there’s some room for movement. If all they wanted to do was to prepare their own public opinion for some sort of resumption of hostilities, then they wouldn’t have asked the question. They’d simply have deliberately assumed that we intended to demand the return of Trevor’s Star and rejected our ‘presumption’ indignantly.”

“That’s certainly possible,” Pritchart said thoughtfully.

“Well, anything’s possible,” Nesbitt conceded. “I just think some things are more likely than others.”

“As we’re all well aware,” LePic shot back. Nesbitt glared at him, but that was as far as he was prepared to go under Pritchart’s cold eye.

“All right,” the President said. “We can sit here and argue over exactly what they meant all day, but I don’t really think that’s going to get us anywhere. I think we’re all generally in agreement that this isn’t precisely a forthcoming response to our last note to them?”