"What happened?"
"We were shown trumped-up documents proving we were mentally unstable… histories of our inventing complaints to get back at superiors who were only doing their jobs. The frameup was quite thorough. Maybe we could defeat it in court, if we had enough resources to expose the lies; but we didn't." She spread her hands wide, then let them fall. "What could we do? And the alternative they offered looked better than getting locked up as liars or paranoids."
"The alternative was becoming one of them!" I protested. "How could you stomach that?"
"I may have become an admiral," Seele said, "but I was never one of them. That's an important distinction. The Outward Fleet has many admirals: seven different ranks of them. Only the top rank sits on the High Council. Most other admirals do reasonably honest work — pushing papers, organizing this project or that, keeping the wheels turning. The council are the ones who make policy. Chee and I weren't even traditional admirals. We were officers without portfolio, so to speak. Or perhaps, officers without politics — without obligations to people who had paid us favors and without the ambition to seize more power. The shrewd half of the council realized they needed people like us to be troubleshooters and muckrakers… just as they needed Explorers for the same work. They need people to do the job, Festina. To stand apart from the mentality that says, 'It's someone else's problem,' and to do the thing that needs doing.
"Chee set up his spy network to keep an eye on planetary bureaucracies," Seele went on. "I did the same within the Admiralty itself. We did good work, Festina. We saved lives that would have been lost through greed and negligence. I'm proud of what I've done, even if I had to put on an admiral's uniform to do it."
"But you still let them send Explorers to Melaquin," I said.
"How could I stop it?" she asked. "The High Council likes using Melaquin to solve their problems. It's convenient. And the League of Peoples doesn't object. That's what makes the council happiest; the League doesn't give a damn. If the League ever intervened — if there was even a suggestion the League might intervene — the council would cower and back off. They're terrified of being labeled a non-sentient governing body.
"Like the Greenstriders," I said.
"Precisely. But for forty years, I've tried to think of a way to involve the League in Melaquin, and haven't made a millimeter of headway. Sending humans to an Earthlike world doesn't put them in lethal danger… not when you compare Melaquin to almost every other planet in the galaxy."
"No…" I said slowly.
"I promise you," Seele went on, "I've tried to rescue Explorers from time to time, but I've always been stopped by the picket ships. You're the first person I've got out, and that was only because the ship with the other Explorers distracted the sentries. I've tried to help as much as I could. Most of the time, I hear advance rumors about missions to Melaquin, and I tip off the Explorers involved. Unfortunately, the council moved on Chee while I was distracted with other business. I only found out when I received your eggs…"
Her voice trailed off, but I was only half paying attention. "Admiral," I said, "I know what I want to do with my future."
"What?"
"First, we head for the High Council chambers on New Earth…"
The Chamber of the High Council
Guards saluted crisply as we marched into Admiralty headquarters — saluted Admiral Seele, of course, not me. I wore nondescript black coveralls, without insignia. It was one of the five recognized uniforms for Explorers, but it was also the sort of drab attire any civilian worker might wear. Since I had no apparent blemishes or flaws, the guards likely took me for nothing more than a repair-worker.
Gaining admittance to the High Council chamber took more work: mostly bluster on Seele's part. She repeated the word "urgent" to more than a dozen obstructionist deputies before we were grudgingly passed through. Anyone else might never have bullied the gatekeepers into surrender; but as semiofficial troublespotter for the Outward Fleet, Seele could demand immediate attention in a crisis. When the last bureaucrat buckled under to Seele's insistence, we only had to wait in the council's anteroom for five minutes: just long enough to be scanned for hidden weapons and for Seele's identity to be verified.
They can't have bothered to identify me. If they had, they might not have blithely admitted an Explorer who was supposed to be on Melaquin.
The doors in front of us opened. Admiral Seele strode forward, with me matching step two paces behind.
The president of the council, Admiral Vincence, smiled politely as Seele reached the foot of the Round Table. He did not invite her to take a chair. "Admiral Seele," Vincence said, "you have an urgent need to address us?"
"There is a pressing matter for the council to consider," Seele replied. "But I will not be the one to address you." She gestured for me to come forward. "Proceed, Explorer."
Several admirals whispered at the word "Explorer." Apart from Chee and Seele, I may have been the only Explorer who'd ever entered the chamber. I saluted with perfect crispness. "Admirals," I said, "my name is Explorer First Class Festina Ramos, and I bring important news from Melaquin."
The whispers swelled into hostile murmurs. I kept my eyes aimed straight ahead, on Vincence. He stared back, unruffled; when the mumbling receded he said, "I've heard of you, Ramos. Were you not assigned to explore Melaquin under the command of Admiral Chee?"
"Yes, sir." For a moment, I was surprised he had bothered to learn which Explorers were sent with Chee. Then I remembered I had probably been handpicked for the Landing because Admiral Seele had shown interest in me.
"I suppose," Vincence said, "that this pressing matter concerns Admiral Chee? Or is it the Explorers who recently attempted to leave Melaquin? You must be aware that they failed. Their ship has been confiscated and they themselves returned to the planet's surface. Do you and Admiral Seele think you can blackmail this council into changing that?"
"No, sir," I replied.
"Then what do you wish to tell us?" He spoke with an air of languid condescension.
"I wish to inform the council that it transported a dangerous non-sentient creature to Melaquin."
The sharp intakes of breath around the table were the most satisfying sounds I have ever heard in my life.
"The creature was Explorer First Class Laminir Jelca," I went on. "To my certain knowledge, he murdered two sentient beings on Melaquin, and attempted genocide on an entire sentient species. Jelca could only have traveled to Melaquin under the express orders of this council. Therefore, the council must be held responsible."
"How do we know this is true?" a nearby admiral asked.
"Because I say it's true," Seele answered from my side. "Have I ever lied to the council? And do you think I'd lie about something as serious as this? Jelca nearly destroyed Melaquin's entire biosphere."
"But that has nothing to do with us!" blurted a man on my right. "He couldn't have been a murderer at the time we sent him."
"You're right," I agreed. "In fact, it was the action of this council that drove Jelca to non-sentience. His rage at being marooned turned him into a killer."
Admiral Vincence wasn't looking nearly as languid now.
"Furthermore," I continued, "I must inform this council that the introduction of Explorers to Melaquin has severely disrupted the native society. There have been incidents of rape, property destruction, and ruinous cultural pollution. Even if such acts are not explicit violations of League statutes, they demonstrate a pattern of jeopardy this council cannot ignore."