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No, she had to do this. There was no other way. She couldn’t have lived with herself knowing that she’d had a chance to make a real difference in the course of human history and failed to do so because of her weakness for one particular K – for someone who regarded her as nothing more than his plaything.
Arriving at her apartment, Mia was surprised to see that John was already there. So were Jessie and Edgar, the actor her roommate had apparently started seeing.
As soon as she walked through the door, John asked if they could speak in private. Mia nodded and led him into her room, closing the door behind her. Before the door was fully shut, Mia heard Edgar ask Jessie if her roommate was seeing John as well, but Jessie’s reply was already inaudible.
“I think I have it,” said Mia without any preamble.
John’s entire face lit up. “You do? That’s great! How did you manage it so quickly?” Seeing the color flooding her face, he added hastily, “Never mind, that’s not important.”
Mia shrugged and pulled the ring off her finger. There was a little indentation left behind on her skin. She sincerely hoped that Korum was not particularly observant when it came to women’s jewelry; otherwise, he might wonder why she’d worn that ring once and never again.
“I need you to promise me something,” Mia said slowly, still holding on to the ring.
“What?”
“Promise me that Korum will not be harmed in whatever you’re planning to do.”
John hesitated, and Mia’s eyes narrowed. “Promise me, John. You owe me that much.”
“Why? He doesn’t deserve it –”
“It doesn’t matter what he does or does not deserve. This is my condition for helping you. Korum gets safe passage home.”
John looked at her and then sighed heavily. “All right, Mia, if that’s what you truly want. We’ll make sure that he gets safely deported.”
Mia nodded and handed him the ring. “So what now?” she asked. “How long do you think it will take your Keiths to do something with this information?”
He grinned at her, looking like a kid at Christmas. “They’ll have to look at it and make sure that it’s not more complicated than they think, but if they’re right . . . we could be looking at a potential attack within days.”
Days? That was much faster than Mia had ever thought possible.
“Won’t it take them time to make . . . well, whatever it is that those blueprints are for?” she asked hesitantly.
He shook his head. “No, not that much time at all. Remember what I told you about how they manufacture everything using nanotechnology – and can make things almost instantly if they have the design for it?”
Mia vague
ly recalled something like that, so she nodded.
“Well, they will now have the blueprints, and they already have the technology to create those designs. They just need to get that technology to a safe location outside of their settlements, and then they can manufacture the necessary weapons to penetrate the K Center shields. Once the shields are gone, the human forces will be ready.”
Forces?
“Is the government in on this?” asked Mia with surprise.
John hesitated. “Not exactly. But there are those within the government who believe that it was wrong to sign the Coexistence Treaty, to allow them to build the settlements. These individuals are sympathetic to our cause and they have the ability to bring us reinforcements. Some of these are highly placed people in the Army and the Navy, as well as within the CIA and other equivalent agencies worldwide.”
Mia looked at him in shock. She hadn’t realized the full scope of the anti-K movement. For some reason, she’d envisioned it as being a few hundred suicidal individuals within the Resistance – or those like John, who had a personal vendetta against the Ks – helped by a few human-sympathizing aliens. But it made sense, of course, that the freedom fighters couldn’t have come as far as they did – and gained the assistance of the Keiths – if they hadn’t had at least a decent chance of success.
“Wow,” she said softly, “so it’s really happening then? We’re kicking them off our planet?”
John nodded with barely contained glee. “It’s happening, Mia. If the information on this ring is as good as we hope it is, we’re looking at Earth’s liberation within a week – a couple of weeks at the most.”
That was crazy. Mia tried to imagine what would happen when the Ks learned that they were being attacked. She remembered the days of the Great Panic and shuddered.
“John,” she said slowly, “would they really go without a big fight? You know what happened before . . . how much damage they could do even with bare hands –”
“That’s true,” agreed John, “they could definitely fight back – and it could get very bloody for both sides. That’s why the information you got for us is so crucial. You see, if the Keiths are right, these blueprints also contain the design for one of their most advanced weapons. Once the shields are down and we let the Ks know that we have this weapon, they would be suicidal to do anything but surrender. Because if they fight, we will use it – and every K in their colonies would be turned to dust.”
