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I’m the latest stumbling block, aren’t I?”
    D’Omaha
nodded. “I told you that you were above suspicion. As for delaying the
decision, we’ve all had a turn. I . . . guess you were too angry
to notice how quickly we adjourned for the winter. No discussion, no attempt to
dissuade. It was prearranged. Had you failed us, Bentham was prepared to whine
about due representation for the new worlds, and Koh would have declared recess
out of desperation.”
    Macduhi
pursed her lips thoughtfully. “You know, we just might smoke out the traitor
here, Calla. When the Decemvirate officially reconvenes, we could all forestall
another winter recess. The traitor would be in a position of needing recess to
have time to go to this Mutare planet and return, yet would have to be certain
no decision was made until after that recess. He’d get desperate, perhaps
reveal himself.”
    “I’d
be very glad to learn my mission was in vain,” Calla said. She smiled for the
first time. “There are five other decemviri. We believe four of them are
innocent, and each of the four could have just reasons for not wanting the
recess.”
    Macduhi
smiled, too. “I didn’t say it would be easy, just possible. At least you’ve cut
down the odds by having my cooperation.”
    “Koh
pointed that out.”
    “You
didn’t agree?”
    “For
my mission, the fewer who know, the better. For hers . . .” Calla
shrugged. “It was a tradeoff.”
    “Koh’s
very persuasive,” D’Omaha said.
    Calla
shook her head. “She didn’t convince me. She bribed me with an offer I couldn’t
refuse.”
    “What?”
    “I’ll
tell you at dinner. The others don’t know either.” Calla pushed back her chair
and stood up. “I imagine we’ve delayed Stairnon’s dinner long enough. I’ll let
her know we can begin.”
    When
Calla had stepped out of the sound shield, Macduhi turned to D’Omaha. “This
must be the first time the Decemvirate is not acting as a unanimous body,” she
said.
    D’Omaha
closed his eyes. “Unique decemvir seals, secret meetings of decemviri who are
nothing more than self-appointed patriots, deliberate deception of our peers,
manipulating the innocent. We have not even told our own imperator general what
we are doing. We’ve taken one of his subordinates into our confidence and
excluded Mahdi.” D’Omaha opened one eye. “Pray the Timekeeper we’re never found
out. Our benevolent little subterfuge is indistinguishable from high treason.”
    “Highly
irregular,” Macduhi said thoughtfully. “But the better to foul the traitor’s
probability trees, don’t you think?”
    “Only
if we’re right.”
    “Your
selection of Commander Calla was right. She’s a wily old woman. And the
alternative to this subterfuge is the billions of lives you were talking about
this afternoon. I’m not ready to condemn them.”
    “You’re
learning, Macduhi,” D’Omaha said. “You’re learning.”
    ***
    Neither Calla nor Koh disturbed Stairnon’s fine meal with
any hint of business. But the moment the last of the silverberry compote had
been consumed, Macduhi pulled the silk nap from her lap and turned to Calla. “Commander,
you mentioned a change in plans.”
    “Not
a change so much as an enhancement,” Calla said, folding her own nap into a
neat square. “Marmion here has been studying all the available data on the
successful elixir gardens. As chief of the perfection engineers it will be his
job on Mutare to ensure the success of the new elixir garden. It’s tricky, as
you well know, to get good yields. He tells me we’ll improve our chances if
there’s a decemvir sharing the responsibility with, him. The data shows the
best yields are from the gardens with retired decemvir running them. I want D’Omaha
to come to Mutare.”
    “Me?”
D’Omaha said, startled.
    “But
we’re your cover here at Aquae Solis,” Stairnon protested. “It’s D’Omaha and I
who must make certain your absence isn’t discovered.”
    “I
believe