'We've got to get everyone out of here,' Gabriel said. 'Now!'
'There is no way!' protested Kaiste. 'There are three thousand of us! We have no ships!' 'We have two,' Gabriel said.
'Are you crazy?' Helm said over the handheld. 'How many people can we fit in our two little ships?
What's the use of saving a few when all the rest are going to be left behind?'
'We can't just give it up. We have to save as many as we can. We can't just leave them here!' Gabriel's mind was going in furious circles. They had to have help, but there was no help. Even if he called for help right now and it agreed to come, it would take five days to get here.
Above him, the contrail from the weapon's insertion into atmosphere burned bright. The refraction effect from it was fading somewhat, but spreading. Only a few hours. He looked around him at what was about to become a graveyard for three thousand sesheyans. This desperate little colony of caves and tunnels, everything kept so tidy and neat, even the discarded shipping containers and other rubbish from Phorcys and Ino all carefully stacked and stored out of the way and out of sight, because they must not be destroyed since you could never tell when you might find a way to recycle something. Nothing was wasted. Everything used carefully, cleverly, everything- Gabriel stopped.
'A few hours,' he said to himself. 'It just might be time enough.'
He turned and ran off in the direction of the cave where Sunshine was hidden. 'Gabriel,' Enda cried, 'where are you going?'
'I need my imager,' he shouted, 'then I have a few comm-calls to make.'
Chapter Eighteen
IT WAS NEARLY an hour before Gabriel was ready. He made his way through the caves and storage caverns, ignoring the frightened sesheyans as best he could while he used his little handheld portable imager-a leftover from their tourist time on Grith-to get the images he needed and then to prepare the messages that had to be stored and ready to go. At last he got back into Sunshine, got onto the Thalaassan Grid, and found the communications networks he needed. He arranged for a dual conversation-ruinously expensive though it would be- and set about getting in contact with the two people with whom he needed to speak.
It took him a long time to get connected with them. He had to start at a certain level of lackey on both Phorcys and Ino- otherwise they would just have cut him off, not knowing enough to understand what he was threatening them with-and then he had to argue with them, one after another. But he would not take no for an answer, and the work became slightly easier when Gabriel began reaching the level of lackeys who recognized him from his presence around the peace talks with Delvecchio. To each of these people, Gabriel said only one word: Rhynchus. Most of them went pale at the sound of it. Some of them blustered, some of them bluffed, some of them he had to show an image or two to get the desired result, but each of them finally passed him up a level, glad to be rid of the uncomfortable presence at the other end of the comm, the set face that seemed to promise somebody was in a world of trouble and if they acted correctly it might not be them.
Finally Gabriel had the two of them on one screen: flat-faced old Rallet, looking not a whit less dyspeptic than when Gabriel had seen him last, and ErDaishan with that mouth like a razor cut stretched tight as usual. Both were annoyed and disdainful-and both looked ever so slightly uncomfortable. They both started in on him at once. 'I hope you understand the irregularity-'
'-little chance that you would have anything of import to-' 'Rhynchus,' Gabriel said. 'Regarding the sesheyan colony here.'
The two looked suitably shocked, but neither of them said a word.
'I know all about what's been going on here,' Gabriel said, 'and specifically, I know all about what's just happened. So will many others, shortly. I intend to inform the Concord. Lorand Kharls, the Concord Administrator in these parts, has been showing great interest in your system, as you know, subsequent to the signing of the treaty. He will be very interested to see all the physical evidence on Rhynchus of your long trade with the sesheyan colony on that world that somehow managed to go completely unmentioned while the negotiations were going on-as I know very well.' Gabriel smiled nastily as something occurred to him. 'That was possibly another reason for my 'not proven' verdict, wasn't it? A verdict designed to get everyone to lose interest, to go away and let you be. Either the 'guilty' or 'innocent' verdict might have produced further investigation in the system, and who knew what that might have turned up? All that used Phorcyn and Inoan hardware scattered here and there on Rhynchus, built into the caves where the sesheyans are living, all very incriminating. It could well be badly misunderstood, certainly by the Concord and possibly by others as well.' Neither of the two former negotiators said anything.
'The sesheyans on Rhynchus are now in danger of their lives,' Gabriel continued. 'If things go the way they're going at the moment, you're going to be parties to a genocidal attack. I think once the investigations start, it'll take very little time for the investigators to turn up all kinds of proof. However, there's another way out of this that is much better for you. You don't want the sesheyans here any more? Fine. We can help you with that. They'll be more than welcome on Grith, eventually, but right now their planet is losing what little atmosphere it has. The sesheyans must leave, but they have no ships, and we only have two. So here's the plan. You send us enough ships to move them all to somewhere quiet on one of your planets-just for a few days-and after that we can arrange clandestine transfer out of the system for them so that VoidCorp won't be in any position to blame you.'
'What guarantee have we that they'll leave again?' 'Do you think they want to stay in this system?' Gabriel shouted. 'Are you crazy? After the way you've treated them in the past? After the way you were willing to let VoidCorp 'erase' your little problem for you now?'
'Young man, you will not address me in that tone!' Gabriel wished he had Delvecchio's cane. He would not have simply banged it on the table, either. It would have come right down on Rallet's head. 'You can both stuff my tone right up-' Gabriel began. Both Rallet and ErDaishan paled with genuine shock. 'Never mind. I'll start speaking to you like responsible statesmen when you start acting like them and not like cowards or thugs. The minute you earn my respect, you'll be addressed with respect. Meanwhile, I have a message ready for the Concord Administrator right now, and there are people down here gasping for breath. It's not going to go on that way for a moment more. You will give me an answer. Now.'
There was silence at the other end. Then Rallet slowly said, 'As Minister of State for Defense, this lies most easily in my remit. I will detach a small complement of ships-'
'I need transport for three thousand sesheyans as well as medical relief and food and drink for them,' Gabriel said. 'I need it in an hour. Before we break this communication, I need relay and comms information for the relieving ships, and when I contact their commanding officers in a few minutes, they had better confirm your orders to them. Otherwise Lorand Kharls gets this,' he held up a data solid, 'immediately, with no further communications from me to you. Granted there will be a delay in him receiving the message, but it won't matter. If anything happens to these people because of your inaction, he will come down on you anyway. But if you save them, you'll be heroes, and all will be forgiven.' 'I can persuade our emergency services to send ships out,' said ErDaishan. 'Much better equipped for an evacuation than theirs.'
Gabriel could have laughed out loud to see the good old Phorcyn/Inoan hostility coming out here of all times, but he was too angry for laughter now. 'Good. Send them. Send them now. I want their commcodes and the their captains' names. Now.'
He got them. Within ten minutes Enda had contacted the commanders of seven different ships and was preparing hails for eight others. 'One more thing,' Gabriel said, as he finished sorting them out and went back to his connection to the negotiators. 'How many of the ships are drive-capable?' There was some bemusement at that. 'Maybe half,' said the Phorcyn negotiator. 'All of ours.'
'We'll be loading them first,' Gabriel said. 'I'll advise them.' 'But you said you were bringing them to Phorcys-'
'I like to be prepared for accidents,' Gabriel interrupted. 'There have been too many of those lately. Get them out here. Now.' And he held up the data solid one more time. 'And when they arrive-?'
'When the sesheyans are safe,' Gabriel said, 'I will praise your statesmanlike response to the skies and to Lorand Kharls. You will look like heroes, shining examples of the newfound cooperation between Phorcys and Ino, a new era of peace and reconciliation, blah, blah, blah. I hope one or the other of you has an election scheduled
