Reunion

[Hydro]

UN Headquarters, MY 2197

Pravin rushed to the Council room. His faithful Simon pulled his chair back, and there were a bevy of Delegates in the wings, just out of the view of the camera. After a moment Pravin nodded to Simon, who activated the active link.

An image formed: Academician Prokhor Zakharov. He looked older, and but he still had his trademark slightly unkempt white hair. Now, however, he sported an array of devices around his eyes, and an odd set of what looked like metallic implants near his temples.

Pravin did not have to force a smile. “Dr. Zakharov! I am delighted to see that you survived after all these years! Simply delighted…”

“I am not interested in your platitudes, Pravin,” he said, almost spitting out the words. “Nor am I interested in your recitations of the dead Charter, or any other of your mindless idiocies of the long dead, incompetent, and hardly lamented UN. While you have been stewing in your insipid broth of ideology my people have been prospering, and expanding the frontiers of knowledge, which is the true salvation of humanity. Whether you acknowledge this fact or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is that you may have found some small tidbit of knowledge that is useful to us. You will give the University of Planet your files on Gene Splicing. I will not accept no for an answer.”

Lal was stunned. Was this the same Zakharov from Unity? Surely not. But, he recovered quickly. “Well…I’m sure we can work out an agreement, and equitable trade.”

“Then you are senile as well as incompetent. You will surrender these files immediately. There will be no more discussion.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Prokhor. The Parliament must…”

“More tired and useless excuses. You had your chance, and that chance is now gone. What you have withheld from us will be taken by force.”

The line went dead, and the ornate granite Council room was silent, deadly silent. Everyone was still, except Simon, who was hunched over and touching the communication unit at his ear. No one noticed, but he nodded once and stood straight up.

“Sir,” he said, looking at Pravin and breaking the silence. “Military units have landed near HQ, just outside of town.”

[Hydro]

UN Headquarters, MY 2198

“I am pleased we could come to an agreement, Coronal Santiago. We would be delighted to give you 10 megacredits for Foreman Domai’s communication frequency. I hope this can be the start of a very fruitful relationship.”

The severe Coronal Santiago’s image gave away nothing. She didn’t even nod before she terminated the active link.

“We have the data, sir,” Simon stated, “and we have verification that our energy transfer is complete.”

Three representatives from the Parliament were visibly relieved. After the fiasco with Zakharov, the shock of finding that the rover and infantry that had landed near their capital were from another faction had sent shock waves through the entire Peacekeeper society. At least Santiago had been reasonable, if immovable: the troops were still outside of UN Headquarters, and negotiations were too delicate to request their removal. Defenses at HQ were adequate for the moment, and that would be changing for the better now that their armored transport was complete.

“I thought I knew Zakharov and Santiago, and my reception with them is the exact opposite of what I had thought it might be. I have no idea who this Domai is.” Lal looked over at the Representatives and all of them shook their heads. “Considering the situation, we do not have time to do more than a cursor inventory of our datalinks on this man. Simon, please put me through to Forman Domai.”

It took only a moment to sequence and activate the link. Shortly a Drone technician appeared, and it took a while to explain and verify that this ‘Commissioner Pravin Lal’ merited a discussion with Forman Domai, who she held in very high esteem, apparently. Pravin waited patiently.

Then a man appeared. He was stocky, with a thick shock of brown hair and an odd collar-like ring around his neck. A mark of status? Rank? It was impossible to tell.

“I am Forman Domai of the Free Drones, leader of all the workers and oppressed masses of Chiron. Your reputation precedes you as one of the leaders of the failed Unity mission, Pravin Lal. Your elitist society did much damage to the peoples of the world in the past. Now, what do you want?”

“We are a peaceful people, and dedicated to the UN Charter, which guarantees basic freedoms for all people,” Pravin started. “We have much in common. Perhaps a treaty of friendship might lead to a greater understanding?”

Domai’s eyes narrowed. “Such friendship and trust must be earned, not given.”

“Well then,” Pravin continued. “Perhaps a straight-forward exchange would be in order. We would be willing to trade technology or other information in kind or for energy. This, Foreman Domai, may be a start of such trust.”

Domai thought it over for a moment. “Give me…50 megacredits for my map of Chiron.” Domai looked smug, perhaps thinking this was a large amount of energy.

Pravin didn’t hesitate. “Done. Our assistants can arrange the transfer of energy and data. I am very pleased we have made this first step, Foreman Domai, and hope we can build a beneficial relationship.”

Domai did not look happy, but he also didn’t back out on the deal. He nodded once, and then ended the transmission. Evidently he had an assistant as efficient as Simon since the transfer was complete in a manner of minutes. Simon then uploaded the rather primitive datastream into the holographic projector, and everyone gathered around the display.

“Oh, my god,” Representative Sanchez said. The rest were speechless. The Drones had either acquired or explored a huge area of Chiron, and their map showed the entire map of the far-flung holdings of the University, as well as a the continent held by the Drones and a faction labeled as ‘Believers’.

“Miriam,” Pravin said. “It has to be. She survived!” But, Pravin wasn’t sure if he was pleased or worried. Zakharov and Santiago had changed considerably, and Forman Domai was an unknown. Moreover, she was a long way away. There were more pressing matters to attend to first, such as worm invasions at UN Education Agency and UN Enforcement Base in the northwest. There was also the seething Zakharov, and unfortunately he was an immediate neighbor.

Life on Chiron was now very complicated.