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down.
    â€œOnce you start asking questions, it’s hard to stop, isn’t it?” she asked.
    He turned to her, visibly relieved by her calmer tone. “Yes, it is.”
    â€œAnd then you begin to feel angry at the ones who lied to you.”
    Andira glanced at her, one eyebrow hitching up. “Is that why you don’t want to go back? The whole truth,” she added when Rax hesitated.
    â€œThat’s…part of it. Some of us would still go back if we could. But we committed treason. We killed our own.”
    â€œBut that wasn’t your fault,” Bylwytin said. “You were empathically forced.”
    He laughed, a shocking sound given the charged emotions in the room. “You don’t know our commanders. Telling them ‘the primitives made us do it’ won’t get us very far.”
    â€œWhat will the penalty be? Death?” Shantu had retrieved his chair and seemed much calmer.
    Rax shook his head. “No, worse. Lifetime slavery at hard labor. No chance of buying or working your way out. The only out is when they work you to death. And they will.”
    The room was silent as everyone digested this information.
    â€œThen I have to wonder why nineteen of you do want to go back,” Andira said.
    â€œSome of them are officers. They’re citizens; they won’t get put into the grinder like we would. The others are true believers. They follow the orders because they enjoy it. They’re the ones who tell the higher-ups when somebody asks a question and make people disappear. They want to go back because they have connections, and now they have inside information. They’ll find a way to get rewarded for it, just like the officers will. I know some of the ones you’re talking about. You don’t want them here.”
    â€œWhy would we want the rest of you here?” Andira asked, though her tone was not unkind. “You’re asking a lot of us. What do you have to offer in return?”
    His hope blossomed on Lanaril’s senses. “Anything we can. We’ve already offered to teach you how to maintain and operate the pacifiers—”
    â€œBut for a price,” Yaserka said. “You asked for access to the Alseans who turned you. That price was too high for us to pay.”
    â€œI know. We’ve talked about it, and it’s hard for the ones whose hearts got taken. But they’ve agreed to offer their service without conditions.”
    Andira and Shantu exchanged looks.
    â€œAnd we’ll tell you anything we can about our military structure, invasion strategies, weaponry…whatever any of us know. You’ve got some good engineers in that group, too. And a few scientists. I’m not much use that way; I’m just a producer’s son—but I’d gladly serve you as a soldier. So would many of us. There are some that don’t ever want to see the inside of a pacifier again, but they’re anxious to offer anything that might be of use.” He looked around, his hope rising as the High Council members remained silent. “Can we work out a deal?”
    â€œWe can’t give you an answer now,” Andira said. “We’ll have to discuss it and then bring it before the full Council. I can only promise to give you an answer as soon as we have one.”
    Lanaril actually felt sorry for him as his anticipation crashed. She didn’t know why he would have expected an answer right away, but perhaps that was his experience in the Voloth military.
    â€œWell…thank you for hearing me out. I appreciate that you even listened to me.”
    Andira nodded. “Thank you for your honesty. But there’s one thing you need to take back to your people.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œ If we decide to grant political asylum, it will come with a non-negotiable condition. What I did to you—binding you to Alsea—will have to be done to all the others. They will all have to