“Yeah.”
“But not too heavy?”
He looked down into the pecan-colored eyes, tried to chase away an after-image of wider, green ones that had been burned into the retina of his imagination. He leaned close, so he could concentrate on her, not the imaginary green eyes. “No: not too heavy,” he answered.
He felt her arms go up either side of his back. “Good. No reason to lose tonight worrying about tomorrow.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
ODYSSEUS
“So-are you worried?”
Caine glanced at Trevor. “Me? No,” he lied.
The other galleries became transparent-except for the Arat Kur’s and the Slaasriithi’s. Alnduul’s voice announced the outcome of the second day’s first item of business: “The Accord is pleased to announce that its member states have unanimously elected to extend the Hkh’Rkh an offer of membership, and will expect a formal response at the next Convocation, to be held in one year’s time.”
First Voice rose, his spine-fur almost touching the ceiling of his gallery’s canopy. “As First Voice of the First Family, I give my formal response now. The Hkh’Rkh accept this offer.”
Alnduul made a waving gesture. “We acknowledge, but cannot recognize, your acceptance at this time. It must wait until the next Convocation. Now, we call for a vote on the membership of-”
The yellow quatrefoil winked on. “Uh oh,” Trevor sat up. “Here it comes.”
“The Arat Kur must insist that before the vote on the human candidacy may be called, a matter of territorial violation must be addressed.”
Visser came to stand alongside Caine. “Just as the Ktor told us: 70 Ophiuchi.”
Alnduul was pressing on. “We must remind the Arat Kur delegation that this matter is on our agenda for the afternoon-the agenda that was unanimously agreed to.”
Zirsoo’s voice sounded somewhat ragged. “The Arat Kur originally agreed to that agenda based on the presumption that there would be no vote, since the human dossier would surely be rejected on the first day. Since that did not occur, we are compelled to raise this issue now. The humans’ violation of their permitted pathway of expansion is clear and unequivocal. They must agree to vacate the 70 Ophiuchi system before the Accord can justly vote on their candidacy.”
Visser nodded at Caine, who stepped into the communications node. “We wish to extend our greetings and apologies to the Arat Kur delegation. However, we must point out that we entered 70 Ophiuchi before we were contacted, and thus had no knowledge that we were violating your space.”
“We acknowledge this; the fault is not with you, but with the Custodians. However, we insist that the border correction is mandated before human candidacy is resolved.”
Alnduul held out his arms. “This cannot be. I remind the Arat Kur delegation that neither the Accord nor the Custodians are empowered to discuss, much less mandate, Earth’s territorial policies until it has been confirmed as a provisional member.”
Zirsoo’s voice was singularly flat. “Then the Arat Kur member state must call for an immediate suspension of the proceedings of this Convocation, until the following three issues have been resolved.
“Firstly, the failure of the Custodians to convene the Accord to consider the question of human membership before the humans settled the system they designate 70 Ophiuchi.
“Secondly, the failure of the Custodians to suspend these proceedings pending an investigation into the failings and prevarications in the human government’s legitimacy documentation.
“Thirdly, as a consequence of the preceding, an investigation into whether the Dornaani should be allowed to continue as the Accord’s Custodians.”
Alnduul rose to a fully erect posture. “These charges will be considered for inclusion on next year’s Convocation agenda. However none of them are grounds for suspending the proceedings of this Convocation.”
After a long pause, Zirsoo’s voice announced, “It seems you refuse to hear us. Under these circumstances, we cannot participate in this stage of the Convocation’s proceedings. Accordingly, we shall withdraw.”
“With apologies, we must become involved.” The voice came from Wise-Speech’s image. “There is only one way to end these disagreements, because there is one common thread that binds them together. The fault does not lie with the Custodians, or with the humans, or with the Arat Kur. The culprit here is not a living creature but a document: the insufficiencies of the accords themselves.
“Consider how all these insufficiencies are brought into sharp relief by the current crisis concerning 70 Ophiuchi. The Custodians are empowered to censure member states that refuse to comply with the accords. However, there is no definition of the punitive dimensions of such censure. There is no legal mechanism whereby the Accord may address possible abuses of power by its Custodians. And there is no way to convene an unbiased commission to promulgate the necessary corrective emendations to the accords themselves, since the Custodians have the procedural right to ban such initiatives as groundless obstructions.
“That none of these quandaries have answers indicates that it is not the members of the Accord, but the accords themselves, which are flawed. Therefore, before further action can be undertaken, the accords must be subjected to thorough review and revision.”
Alnduul’s fingers flexed briefly. “There is wisdom in your words, but they fail to address the procedural precedents under which we operate. We must first complete the agenda we jointly agreed upon, and do so under the guidelines which were in place when today’s agenda was passed. Accordingly, I must now call for the vote on human membership.”
“The Ktor abstain. And we lodge a further protest over the illegal exclusion of the Hkh’Rkh member state.”
“As do the Arat Kur: we, too, abstain.”
“Vishnaaswii’ah of the Slaasriithi?”
“We are distressed by the disharmony of this Convocation. We see merits to both sides in the procedural debate. However, it seems to us that the human Confederation-while new and imperfect-has not substantively misrepresented itself. We feel that a call for an investigatory commission on the matter is overzealous.”
“Hmmm,” Downing muttered with a nod. “The Arat Kur won’t like that.”
Durniak matched his nod. “A gentle slap in face, but a slap in face, even so.”
Vishnaaswii’ah was concluding. “Therefore, we find no reason to doubt the humans’ self-representation, or their basic veracity. Consequently, we find no juridical basis for setting aside today’s agenda. We vote to offer the humans membership in the Accord.”
In the central half-dome, Glayaazh stood. “The Dornaani, also, vote in the affirmative.”
Alnduul nodded as Glayaazh resumed her seat. “All votes have been recorded. This closes-”
First Voice’s bellow drowned out Alnduul’s attempt to close the proceedings. “The Hkh’Rkh abstain and we add our voices to those of the Arat Kur and Ktor in calling for a revision of Accord protocols and policies, particularly those which facilitate the dictatorial behavior of the Custodians.”
“The statement is duly noted, but the Hkh’Rkh vote is ineligible at this time, and so, not recorded. The final vote is two affirmative, two abstentions-”
“Three!” roared First Voice of the Hkh’Rkh. “Three abstentions!” The thin veneer of his accommodation to pluralistic process was almost gone.
“The First Accord dictates that abstentions are to be construed as rejections. Therefore, the vote is tied.”
“We object,” intoned Wise-Speech calmly. “We hold that, given the acceptance of the Hkh’Rkh, the final vote is two-to-three and membership is, at this point, not offered to the humans.”
Alnduul had not stopped speaking; he continued straight over the top of Wise-Speech. “Accordingly, until such time as a definitive outcome can be reached, the Custodians will outline the particulars of the interim status of the prospective human member state.” He looked toward Caine and the delegation. “Although as Custodians, we could choose to break the tie with a directed decision, we elect not to do so. Instead, the question of your membership is deemed to remain ‘in process’ until such time as all the member states agree to follow the extant voting protocols. At that time, another vote will be called. In the meantime, protections consistent with a provisional membership will be extended to the humans. You are thus protected against aggression and trespass as per the accords, so long as you also constrain your own actions to those permitted therein. We apologize for this unprecedented disruption of your membership process.” He turned slightly. “We also address regrets to First Voice of the Hkh’Rkh.”