Chang's only comment was his wry expression. "Call a cabinet meeting," he said, "for ten hundred hours if possible, with Shin and Kulikov sitting in. Invite Thorkelsdottir to sit in for Faith. By Faith standards she's a pragmatist; she will actually listen to what others say." Against a set of 20th century preconceptions! "We face the biggest threat in the history of the human species.

"We need a plan on how to contact the invaders, and a strategy for negotiation. Establish a peace committee; Thorkelsdottir can be vice chair. Then keep it focused on specifics: how to contact the alien, how to communicate with them. How to begin learning their psychology. How! How! How! We must focus!"

As Chang spoke, the enormity of the task struck Peixoto.

"There will be a language problem," Chang went on. "And the invaders will travel in hyperspace. Probably in an invasion corridor centered on the Tagus-Gem axis. We'll have to predict where they'll emerge, and decide on how to intercept them."

The prime minister nodded, but his heart was a stone in his chest. The prospect of negotiation seemed zero.

"Meanwhile I'll meet with Diderot and Gordeenko. We need to plan the evacuation of colonists in and near that corridor." The president paused. "Sixteen thousand ships! Phew!" The number itself was overwhelming. "You realize what this means," he said.

Peixoto had no idea what Chang referred to, and waited for him to answer his own question.

"We may face a folk migration instead of simply a war."

Peixoto gnawed a lip; he could see the logic. "If that's true," he said, "the situation is less severe than it might be. Every transport means one fewer warship."

"Ah, but my friend, a folk migration suggests they do not have the option of returning home, wherever that may be. And they are a different life-form than we are. They may all be warriors. Born warriors. Then every transport is a troopship!"

Again the president paused, then the flow of words resumed, more measured now. "We must see to the requisition and conversion of all available shipping, to evacuate colonies. And expand our war and shipbuilding industries as rapidly as possible. Recruit and train armies! Build hundreds on hundreds of warships, and train crews for them! It will require complete and rapid mobilization of human and industrial resources-the biggest challenge in human history!"

The prime minister almost stared, attention fixed less on the enormity of the task than by the president's sudden energy. "With a population that hasn't fought for centuries," Peixoto pointed out. "Many with the conviction that to fight is immoral. That in the long run, the results of surrender are best. But seemingly this is an enemy that does not accept surrender."

Chang seemed not to hear. His mind was busy. "Evacuees will be our best source of recruits. Their lives will already have been disrupted." His focus returned to his prime minister. "We must approach negotiation as if there were no chance at all of winning a war, and we must prepare for war as if there were no chance of successful negotiation. In the meantime, victories in battle may give us leverage."

Chang Lung-Chi rubbed his hands.

Good God, the prime minister thought, he is savoring the challenge!

Peixoto watched the president leave, then breathed a deep sigh. We have no actual defense forces at all, beyond a few squadrons to suppress pirates. Contingency plans and industrial mobilization plans-yes. A small cadre of warfolk, yes, some active, some retired, but none with combat experience. Trained on sophisticated electronic war games. Limited experience with prototype weapons and virtuality trainers. But armed forces? A war industry?

We'll have to start with recruitment and industrial mobilization. He realized he didn't know enough to evaluate either the problems or the prospects realistically. Kulikov and Shin will know as much about that as anyone, he thought, and reaching, keyed his phone.

Chapter 4

Chief Scholar

Quanshuk shu-Gorlak touched keys on his* command panel, then spoke into his communicator. "Chief Scholar, please report to my quarters at once."

"As you command, Admiral."

Quanshuk turned and crossed the bridge, his dull claws inaudible on the acoustical surface. He was aware that his executive officer, Rear Admiral Tualurog, was following him with his eyes. I have been brooding, Quanshuk realized, and now I will discuss my thoughts with Qonits instead of with him. On a flagship, a certain tension was natural between the XO, who was operations officer, and the chief scholar, who was not military. It would rarely cause serious difficulties-the separation of functions was hard-wired-but it could distract the XO. I will, Quanshuk decided, set his mind at ease later. Somewhere other than on the bridge.

When the grand admiral arrived at his suite, Qonits zu-Kitku was waiting in the corridor. Quanshuk placed a palm on the security plate, then pushed the stateroom door open, and gestured. Both stepped inside, the door closing behind them. The admiral poured nuts into two bowls, handing one of them to Qonits with a brief, casual gesture of blessing. Then he lowered his hindquarters onto a cushion, much as a dog might sit.

Qonits followed his example, then ate several nuts. "How can I serve you, my lord?" he asked.

"I need your ears and your responses." Quanshuk paused, gathering his thoughts. "I have been analyzing our experience in this new region. It has troubling aspects."

"Ah."

"The three worlds we have taken were all occupied by the same species. And their ships generated strange-space, which almost certainly means they have hyperdrive.* Is that not so?"

"It is hard to imagine otherwise, your lordship, considering that the ships were small for faring deep space in warpdrive."

"Yet the sapient populations of all three worlds were very small. One was no more than an outpost. Correct?"

"Unarguably."

"Therefore they could not have been self-sustaining. They must have been part of an empire."

Qonits bobbed his torso from the waist, a formal Wyzhnyny nod. "True."

"And clearly they were only recently colonized, so this is an expanding empire. But even so, within a month or two-three at most-we will reach their core worlds. And with their technological level, they will no doubt defend themselves vigorously."

Qonits shrugged with his hands. "One would think so."

"Ours is the greatest swarm ever assembled, and far the most powerful. So we will continue in the traditional manner, neither hastening nor dawdling. Thrust into the heart of this empire like a great spear, pausing to put a tribe or tribes on every suitable world along the way. That should force their warfleet to come to us, away from the advantages of established defenses.

"And if they will not be drawn, we will continue. Eventually they must fight, and we will crush them. After that, the remainder of their worlds can be occupied without concern."

Qonits bowed deeply. "Your lordship," he said quietly, "you did not call me here to lecture me on the obvious."

"True. But it was necessary to set the table." Quanshuk's thick lids lowered to half-mast, a Wyzhnyny frown. "But there are peculiarities in this situation, are there not? Why have these aliens not provided their outposts with meaningful defenses? Warships parked outside the radiation belts. Things to bleed us."

His fly-whisk tail waving slowly, Qonits considered the statement. "Who knows how these aliens think," he replied, "or what they value and do not value? Perhaps, my lord, they are sufficiently powerful, sufficiently dominant in this sector, that they did not foresee an invasion."

Quanshuk filed the reply and continued. "The rulers will soon know of our arrival, if they do not already. Ships escaped worlds one and three, and presumably world two as well. After a day or so, they would have emerged into F-space to launch message pods, warning their nearer colonies, the nearer core worlds, and their crown world." Absently Quanshuk nibbled nuts. "But…" His gaze intensified. "Does it not seem that on the worlds we captured, their ships escaped with remarkable alacrity? As if they already knew of us, and were prepared?"