His gaze shifted. "Alb Bijnath, because you wish to distance yourself from the invasion question, I'll ask you to look into something else entirely. You, more than most, have worked with SUMBAA. If you will consult with it on the danger, if any, of the non-humans invading us…"
Bijnath nodded. "Of course, Your Reverence."
"And, Drova-"
"Your Reverence?"
"After tomorrow's meeting of the College, I'd like you to poll the remainder of our colleagues regarding a proposal to elevate The Book of the Mountain to the status of a commentary by The Prophet. Without speaking against it or for it yourself."
The old man's face was glum. "As you wish, Your Reverence."
The Kalif looked again at his lieutenant. "And, Alb Jilsomo, I would also like you to evaluate political factions, whatever factions you'd care to define for the purpose, and their probable reactions to the hypothetical invasion Alb Bijnath suspected me of intending."
Jilsomo nodded. "As you wish, Your Reverence."
Alb Tariil spoke then. "You have said what you want each of us to do. What will you be doing?"
The Kalif pursed his lips thoughtfully. "The report refers to extensive backup information. Presumably this was in the cubes for SUMBAA, and SUMBAA is better suited to sorting it out and correlating it than I am. So I will question SUMBAA. I'm also going to send an order to Rashti to promptly ship us everyone who might have valuable first-hand information about the Confederation's military strengths and weaknesses. There may be information that wasn't brought out in debriefing. I want to know as much as possible before taking a firm position or speaking publicly about it at all."
The Kalif broadened his attention from Jilsomo to the entire council. "Meanwhile," he went on, "our colleagues will receive copies of the cube at supper. They'll no doubt want to question you when they've had a chance to look it over. Refuse to discuss it. I want as much of the raw discussion as possible to be in formal session and recorded."
He paused to look them over. Alb Thoga sat tight-lipped, and Tariil seemed willing to let be for a while. "All right," said the Kalif. "What else do we need to discuss here this morning?"
When the council broke up half an hour later, Alb Jilsomo started for his office, reviewing the situation mentally as he walked. Bijnath had been right, of course: The Kalif had been thinking about conquest-probably as early as a year ago. The evening before, with a sort of ferocious verve, he'd begun listing arguments for and against an invasion, trying them out on him. He'd hidden the strength of his interest well in council, though. Or turned it off; that was more like it. He'd seen him do it before.
Jilsomo's computer screen held message notices, but he ignored them for the moment as he settled his bulk at his desk. I can handle conflict, he told himself, and handle it well. But I prefer its absence. The Kalif, on the other hand… The exarch shook his head. He savors it. He doesn't invite it, but when it comes, he savors it.
There'd be plenty of conflict before this was done, Jilsomo told himself, and turned his attention to the screen. He wondered if the Kalif's appetite for it could possibly match the supply.
Nine
Eighteen exarchs sat around the long oval table, their eyes on the Kalif at one end. One had a hand in the air.
The Kalif recognized him. "Alb Riisav," he said.
Riisav spoke without rising. "Rashti has dumped a basket of snakes on us! We need to do something about him!"
"Ah. He did indeed, in a manner of speaking. Well… The Prophet wrote that while results are the harm, it is evil intentions and heedlessness that are reprehensible. Rashti's intention was not to harm. He wanted to find a planet or planets for colonization, to bleed off the discontented of his world, and turn men's attention outward instead of in. As for heedless-He sent his flotilla into unknown dangers, true, but I suggest we forbear with him for that. If Lord Gardhiroopala hadn't rocketed off into unknown dangers, three thousand years ago, or someone like him at sometime since, we'd be living in poverty on a single world, its resources long since used up.
"I agree completely, though, that something needs to be done about the basket of snakes." He scanned around the eighteen exarchs. "Would someone like to identify those snakes?"
Hands shot up. The Kalif called first on Alb Riisav again, then on others. The same points were made and elaborated as had been made in council the day before: The finding of numerous inhabited worlds would dash The Prophet's seeming infallibility, and harm his aura of clairvoyance, which would weaken Karghanik, and the fabric of civilization. While finding the non-human empire gave credence to the oral tradition of a lost Book of Shatim. Also, the presumed non-human empire now knew about humans, posing a possible threat to the security of humanity.
The Kalif or others answered those points much as he'd answered them in council the day before.
The possibility of invading the Confederation was brought up, but the Kalif didn't accept it for discussion till they were done with Alb Riisav's "snakes." Finally he pointed.
"Alb Varso, you wanted to discuss a possible conquest of the Confederation. This was brought up in council yesterday, but we didn't discuss it at any length. Would you like to address the matter now?"
The man spoke seated. "I wasn't thinking in terms of conquering the entire Confederation, Your Reverence. I mean-twenty-seven member worlds and even more subject worlds? Even with our superior weaponry, that's far too many. It would be more practical to conquer one or two of their lesser worlds. Subject worlds."
The Kalif's thick brows jumped; the exarch's military naivete had taken him by surprise. "I haven't given the matter much thought yet," he answered, "but I am interested. Depending on how we go about it, I think we can follow your suggestion, yet have them all."
He gave them a moment to puzzle at that. Jilsomo repressed a wry smile: Haven't given the matter much thought yet!
"Keep in mind," the Kalif went on, "that I'm speaking offhand-thinking out loud. First let's consider their naval strength. Three years ago, according to our best information, they had between seven and ten battle cruisers and fifteen or twenty of what they call frigates, apparently similar in function to light cruisers. As far as fighting vessels are concerned, that's all. Remember, the Confederation worlds have no navies of their own; only their central government has warships. They are a people whose wars have been minor, and fought almost entirely on the surfaces of tributary planets. It seems their major worlds have not fought each other for a very long time. Also, at any one time, most of their fleet is stationed near or on their central world, a planet they call Iryala. Other units are visiting other planets, generally singly, or hunting smugglers; things of that sort.
"Of course, the Confederation may well have begun work on enlarging their fleet since the Klestron incursion. I'd expect them to. Our information, though, is that they've had no active program of building warships for a long time, so it's unlikely that they started with significant naval shipyards and armories. It will take time for them to make major progress toward a powerful fleet, time we mustn't give them. If, in fact, we're going to invade.
"Now suppose we capture a single system, the system of one of their lesser worlds. Presumably we'd start with just one in any case. Should we send a force we consider sufficient to take and hopefully protect just one? Or as powerful a force as we can?
"Suppose we send half our imperial navy: four battle cruisers and ten light cruisers, along with troopships and supply ships, and then pause for a year or so to consolidate our control and organize our new possession. Let's say we also deploy a defensive pattern of T-bots in the surrounds.
"Meanwhile, the Confederation would have built new shipyards and be adding to its fleet, perhaps significantly improving its weaponry at the same time. When they were ready, they'd strike to recover their lost planet. Logical? And their lines of supply and reinforcement would be far shorter than ours. Far shorter. Depending on how great our advantage in weaponry actually is, if their strategy and tactics were good enough, they might hound us and drive us out."