20a. Decision

Monday, 16 March 2572

Shannon had sent Blackfeather home to get ready for her trip, and was
distracting himself from her loss by studying. He hadn't wasted his
time in Odeon's mind; besides teaching the priest how to remove the
compulsions he'd put Sara under--and, more pleasantly, just how much
agony a human could be subjected to with the proper support--he had
extracted considerable information.

Most of it was useless, though some was mildly interesting; it was
Cortin's fears that intrigued him. She was primarily afraid of the
confrontation--decision point, actually, which concerned him as well,
though for different reasons--but there was fear for her people, for
the Church, and of what he would do about the Families.

Shayan sighed, feeling all too human in his frustration. He had
enjoyed Odeon's pain, no question about that, but the tempering did
mean the confrontation both he and Cortin dreaded was less than half a
year away.

Which meant he had his own choice to make, right now. Just how badly
did he want to live?

There was no guarantee he would, of course, even if Odeon made the
correct choice; there was no guarantee any life at all in this universe
would survive the invasion that was to come. It had been easy enough,
four centuries ago, to promise cooperation--but he'd had private
reservations, cooperating on the surface while continuing to pursue his
own goals and pleasures.

Now, though, with the decision point so close and the invasion to
follow shortly afterward, that no longer seemed adequate. To improve
his odds, he'd have to go further. As much as the idea galled him,
he'd have to put aside his own agenda until things returned to normal
after the invasion--if they did--and cooperate to the best of his
ability.

That would be tremendously difficult. Even his grudged cooperation
hadn't been easy . . . He took a deep breath, sighed again. Life was
more important than the pride that had been his downfall; he'd do what
was necessary to preserve that life now, and worry about pride later.
If Odeon made the correct decision and the invasion resulted in war
rather than simple massacre, faith and worship would be far more
important weapons than ships and disruptors; he'd have to begin
actively promoting both, even though he didn't share either.

He took time to grimace at that repulsive thought, then he settled down
to work with the information he'd gotten from Odeon. What