'Yes, you did.' Honor smiled. 'It should be arriving in Nouveau Paris in about three more days.'
'Oh. That.' Elizabeth couldn't quite restrain a slight grimace, but Honor only nodded.
'I can think of much worse christening gifts than a peace treaty ending an interstellar war, Elizabeth.'
Chapter Fifty
'It's on, Tom.'
Thomas Theisman looked at the smiling face on his com and felt himself smiling in response.
'The official reply is here?' he asked, and Eloise Pritchart nodded.
'The dispatch boat got in about five hours ago. The Manticoran delegation will meet us on Torch in two months. We'll have to depart in about three weeks-twenty days, to be precise-to meet them.'
'That's wonderful, Eloise!'
'Yes, it is,' Pritchart agreed, but then her face sobered. 'In a way, though, it's even worse.'
'Worse?' Theisman repeated, surprised.
'I've got to sit down across the table from a woman who detests everything she thinks the Republic of Haven stands for and somehow convince her to make peace with the people who attacked her star nation on my personal orders.' She shook her head. 'I've had easier chores in my life.'
'I know,' he replied. 'But we've got to try.'
'We've got to do more than try, Tom.' Pritchart's expression firmed up, and she shook her head again, this time with a completely different emphasis. 'I'm coming home with a peace treaty. One way or the other. Even if it means telling Elizabeth what we suspect about Giancola.'
'Are you certain about that? About telling her, I mean? It could blow up in our faces, you know. We've all heard about her temper, and if anyone ever had a right to be pissed to the max, she does. If she finds out we let Giancola manipulate us, especially after we accused her government of being the guilty party, Lord only knows how she may react.'
'She's going to find out eventually, anyway,' Pritchart pointed out. 'And as you suggested, Harrington's going to be present. Hopefully, she really will have a moderating influence. But I actually suspect the treecats are going to be even more important, assuming the Manty reports on their capabilities are accurate. I think I'm willing to take a chance on telling her the truth, as long as I can do it face-to-face, with the treecats there to prove to her that I am telling the truth.'
'I hope you haven't mentioned this particular brainstorm to Leslie?' Theisman's smile was only half humorous, and Pritchart chuckled.
'She's unhappy enough about going to Torch for the summit in the first place. I don't think she needs to know exactly what sort of diplomatic faux pas I'm prepared to commit if it seems necessary after we get there.'
Admiral Sir James Bowie Webster, Baron of New Dallas, and the Star Kingdom of Manticore's ambassador to the Solarian League, regarded his morning's schedule with scant favor.
'This is goddamned ridiculous,' he grumbled to Sir Lyman Carmichael, his assistant ambassador.
'What's ridiculous?' Carmichael responded, as if they hadn't had this identical conversation every Monday morning since Webster's arrival on Old Earth.
'This.' Webster thumped a rather large fist on the hardcopy printout of his agenda, then opened his hand and waved it around his palatial office. 'All this crap! I'm a naval officer, not a frigging diplomat!'
'Traditional prejudices aside,' Carmichael replied mildly, 'a career in diplomacy isn't quite the same as seeking employment in a brothel. And don't-' he raised an admonishing index finger as Webster opened his mouth '-don't tell me that's because whores have more principles!'
'All right, I won't. Especially,' Webster grinned, 'since you already appear to realize that yourself.'
'One of these days,' Carmichael promised him. 'One of these days.'
Webster laughed and leaned back behind his desk.
'Actually, my cousin, the Duke, would be better at this than I am, Lyman. You know that as well as I do.'
'I've had the pleasure of knowing your cousin for many years now,' Carmichael said. 'I have immense respect for him, and he really is a skilled diplomat. Having said all that, I truly don't think he could do the job you've been doing.'
'Now that,' Webster said, ' really is ridiculous!'
'No, it isn't. Your status as a naval officer, especially one who's held the offices you've held, is part of the reason, of course.' Carmichael smiled. 'One reason the Star Kingdom's traditionally assigned military officers and ex-military officers as our ambassadors to the League is the fact that they have a certain fascinating effect on Solly politicos. They don't see very many real military people at this level, and that rather blunt directness you Navy types seem to acquire contrasts quite nicely with the mouthfuls of platitudes and careful political maneuvering they're accustomed to.
'But mostly, in your case, to be honest, it's the fact that you don't lie worth a damn, Jim.'
'I beg your pardon?' Webster blinked, and Carmichael chuckled.
'I said you don't lie worth a damn. In fact, you're so bad at it that the two or three times I've seen you try, the people you were talking to simply assumed you were deliberately pretending to lie in order to make a point.'
Webster regarded him narrowly, and Carmichael shrugged.
'You're simply an honest man. It comes across. And that's rare-very rare-for someone operating at the level you currently are. Especially here.' Carmichael grimaced. 'There's a taint of decadence in the air here on Old Earth, which may be why honesty's so rare. But whatever it is, they don't really understand you, in a lot of ways, because you do come out of the military, and very few of them do. But when you say something, personally or as the Queen's representative, they're confident you're telling them the truth. At the moment, especially with the dispute over our correspondence with the Peeps and the shenanigans in the Talbott Cluster, that's incredibly important, Jim. Don't undervalue yourself.'
Webster waved one hand, as if he were uncomfortable with Carmichael's explanation.
'Maybe,' he said, then shook himself. 'Speaking of the Peeps, how do you feel about this summit meeting Pritchart's proposed?'
'I was surprised,' Carmichael admitted, accepting the change of subject. 'It's a very unusual departure, especially for the Havenites. In fact, it's so unusual, I'm inclined to think she really must be serious.'
'God, that would be an enormous relief,' Webster said frankly. 'I don't like this Talbott business. There's more going on than we think. I'm sure of it. I just can't put my finger on what it is. But it's there, and I can't shake the feeling that in the long run, it may be even more dangerous to us than the Peeps are.'
Carmichael sat back in his chair, even his trained diplomat's face showing surprise, and Webster barked a harsh laugh.
'I haven't lost my mind, Lyman. And I'm not blind to the current military situation-trust me on that one. But the Republic of Haven is small beer compared to the Solarian League, and if Mesa-and you know as well as I do that Terekhov is right about Mesa's involvement-can maneuver Frontier Security into doing its dirty work, the situation will be a thousand times worse. And the Sollies are arrogant enough that a lot of their so-called political leaders wouldn't even care.'
'You're probably right,' Carmichael said, forced to concede the point, however much he disliked doing so. 'But you seriously think there's more to what's going on in Talbott than Mesa's traditional efforts to keep us as far away from them as possible?'
'Look at the scale of their effort,' Webster said. 'We're talking billions-lots of billions-of dollars worth of battlecruisers. Somebody ponied up the cash to pay for them, not to mention obviously orchestrating the efforts of OFS, local terrorists, and an entire star nation as a proxy. That's a huge effort, and it's also more direct then Mesa or Manpower have been in the last couple of centuries. Hell, since Edward Saganami!'
'But couldn't that simply be because of how threatening they find our proximity and because they know how distracted by Haven we are? I mean, they know we don't have a lot of resources to commit against them.'
'I'm convinced that's an element in their thinking,' Webster agreed, 'but they're still coming further out of the shadows-not just with us; with the Sollies, as well. They're running the risk of coming to the surface, and they've
