The End of All Things: The Fourth Instalment by John Scalzi Page A

analysis, please.”
    “This is a lot, Premier,” Oi said. “And from a people we have no historical reason to trust. At all.”
    “I understand that,” Sorvalh said. “For the moment, treat the information given as accurate.”
    “Then leaving aside the moral issue of leaving a planet open to a genocidal attack, there’s very little upside here for the Conclave,” Oi said. “Both the Earth and the Colonial Union need something from us but offer no benefit to us outside the destruction of Equilibrium, which we could now attack ourselves and cripple operationally. They need us but we don’t need them. And bluntly, there are hundreds of our member species who would be happy to be rid of either or both. There’s still no way politically that we could bring Earth into the Conclave without tearing it apart.”
    “You’re saying we shouldn’t be involved,” Sorvalh said.
    “‘Should’ is a relative term,” Oi said. “Remember that I am leaving aside the moral dimension of this for the moment. What I am saying is that if we do get involved, there is almost no upside to it for us.”
    “Except, perhaps, the gratitude of the two houses of humanity,” Sorvalh said.
    Oi snorted at this. “With no offense to our human friends here, Premier, I wouldn’t set any great store in the gratitude of humanity.”
    “Too true,” Sorvalh agreed.
    “So you won’t help us,” Abumwe said.
    “No, I won’t,” Sorvalh said. “Not without obvious benefit for me. For the Conclave.”
    “What do you want?” Lowen asked.
    “What do I want?” Sorvalh repeated to Lowen, and leaned in toward the human ambassadors, accentuating just how large a creature she was relative to our species, and also, how exasperated. “I want to not have to think of you, Ambassador Lowen! Or of you, Ambassador Abumwe! Or of humanity. At all. Can you understand this, Madams Ambassador? Do you understand how truly tiring your people are? How much of my time has gone into dealing with humans?”
    Sorvalh threw up her hands. “Do you realize that I have seen the two of you—and you, Lieutenant Wilson—more in the past two of your years than I have seen the representatives of most of the Conclave’s constituent members? Do you know how much of my predecessor’s time was taken up with you? If I could magically wish humanity away, I would do it. Instantly.”
    “It’s a fair call,” I said. Abumwe turned to look at me, incredulously, and I was reminded that not too long ago, she could hardly stand me. It might be we were about to be headed back down that road.
    Sorvalh noticed. “Don’t glare at the lieutenant, Ambassador. “He’s perfectly correct, and I think you know it. It is a fair call. Humanity is more trouble than it’s worth. However.”
    Here the reluctance in Sorvalh’s voice was palpable. “I cannot magically wish humanity away. I am stuck with you, both of you. And you with us. So. Here is what I want in order to help you.”
    Sorvalh pointed to Abumwe. “From the Colonial Union, I want a comprehensive non-aggression treaty with full diplomatic trade relations. Meaning no more of these nonsense back channels and saber rattling. Once we eradicate Equilibrium, we can jointly reveal everything we knew about it, end all speculation, and make the argument that a great deal of our recent hostility was manufactured by them. I can use that to push the treaty through the Grand Assembly, and you can use it to convince whoever it is you need to as well.”
    “You’re asking me to sell the Conclave an ally,” Abumwe said.
    “Not at all. I don’t think either of our governments is ready for that. I’m merely asking to no longer so actively and intentionally be at each other’s throats.”
    Sorvalh turned to Lowen. “Likewise, a non-aggression pact and full diplomatic and trade relations with Earth.”
    “I don’t see how we can be aggressive toward the Conclave,” Lowen said.
    “You can’t,” Sorvalh agreed. “But it’s