between its negative reaction to the combination of the Havenites' new naval units and their new, more confrontational attitude, on the one hand, and the excitement and enthusiasm
Janacek made a sound of protest, but she continued over it, speaking directly to High Ridge.
'I understand your party's fundamental opposition to expansionism, Michael. But this is a God-given chance to recapture any public support we may have lost in the wake of developments in Haven. For that matter, if we play it properly, we should be able to do one hell of a lot better than simply regain lost ground!'
Eloise Pritchart walked briskly to her chair at the head of the table, sat down in it, and turned to face the rest of her assembled Cabinet. No one who didn't know her well could have suspected her anxiety level for a moment from her expression or body language.
'Thank you all for coming, Ladies and Gentlemen,' she said with her normal courtesy. 'I apologize for convening this meeting on such relatively short notice, but given the nature of the latest reports out of Manticore, I felt it would be wise for all of us to discuss them before the press gets hold of them.
'May I assume all of you have reviewed Director Trajan's report?'
She let her gaze circle the table, and one by one, the Cabinet secretaries nodded.
'Good. In that case, I suppose, we should start with State. Arnold?'
It said volumes for her thespian skills that her tone was pleasant and her smile apparently genuine as she turned to the Secretary of State.
'At first glance,' Giancola said after the briefest of pauses, 'it's relatively straightforward. The Manty government hadn't taken an official stance before Wilhelm's people dispatched their reports through Trevor's Star, but it was pretty clear which way High Ridge was inclining. They're going to go ahead and annex Lynx as well as the actual terminus system, however much they may be pussyfooting around announcing that fact.'
'You're really confident that it's that cut and dried?' Secretary of the Treasury Hanriot asked.
'In the end?' Giancola shrugged. 'Yes, I am. They may go through the motions of public debate, but I can't see High Ridge or Descroix commenting so positively on the economic opportunities that decision would offer if annexation wasn't what they ultimately intended. Or, especially in Descroix's case, carrying on at such absurd length about how membership in the Star Kingdom would help to safeguard the human rights and self-determination of the citizens of the Cluster. I might have put some credence in an argument like that out of someone like New Kiev, but Descroix—?'
He shook his head.
'Speaking of New Kiev,' Secretary of Commerce Nesbitt put in, 'what's your read on her, Arnold?'
'I think she's unhappy about it,' Giancola said promptly. 'But I also think she's been overruled by High Ridge, and that she's not going to break ranks with him at this point.'
'I see.' Pritchart cocked her head, regarding him thoughtfully. 'I noticed, though, that you said their positions seemed relatively straightforward 'at first glance.' Would you care to elaborate on that?'
'Of course.' Giancola tipped his chair back slightly, resting his elbows on the arms and half-turning it in her direction.
'Basically, what I meant was that while all of the arguments they've put forward are rational enough on the surface, particularly from their perspective, I don't believe that they're publicly stating their complete rationale for pursuing this expansion into Talbott.'
'What they have publicly stated seems comprehensive enough to me,' Thomas Theisman observed mildly.
'On the surface,' Giancola repeated, 'I'd have to agree with you. Certainly it's in accordance with their established policy where control of termini of their wormhole junction is concerned. And the economic possibilities this new terminus offers certainly aren't anything to be sneered at.' He chuckled suddenly, the sound completely— and surprisingly, for some of his audience—genuine. 'Speaking from my own experience with the Committee of Public Safety's treasury, I only wish our economy had access to something like the Junction! So, yes, Thomas. I'd have to agree that the reasons they and their spokesmen have offered are completely sufficient in their own right to justify their actions. I just don't think they've made their full reasoning public.'
'In what way?' Pritchart asked.
'I think a part of their private reasoning is that playing this up as a major achievement is one way for them to distract their public from the shift in our own negotiating posture and the change in the balance of naval power.'
'I'm sure I'd be thinking very much the same way in their place,' Attorney General LePic said just a bit testily. Of all of the Cabinet secretaries, LePic was probably the poorest at concealing his emotions, and all of them were aware of his fundamental antipathy towards Giancola. And of his equally fundamental distrust of the Secretary of State. 'If they are aware of those possibilities, I hardly think it represents any sort of Machiavellian secretiveness on their parts.'
'If all they were doing was trying to distract public attention from the negotiations with us, then I probably wouldn't be particularly concerned myself,' Giancola said calmly. 'Unfortunately, I think there's probably another strand to their reasoning.'
'Which is?' Pritchart asked.
'I think they're laying the groundwork for a complete revision of the traditional Manty foreign policy,' Giancola said flatly.
'A complete revision?' Theisman regarded him narrowly. 'Excuse me, but I was under the impression that we'd just agreed it was part of their long-standing policy—that very 'traditional' policy you're talking about—to exploit the Junction thoroughly and to secure control of its termini.'
'Yes, we had. But I would point out to you that they decided to annex Basilisk only after an extremely acrimonious and protracted domestic debate. A debate, I might add, in which the parties which comprise the current Manty government were, almost without exception, on the side arguing
'Now we're talking about Lynx and the rest of an entire cluster, and the very parties which were most strongly opposed to the annexation of Basilisk are the ones which have started coming out in favor of this new, larger annexation. And, I might add, they'd begun to do so within less than two weeks of discovering where this new terminus lies.'
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
