“They’d turn on us,” Zach admitted.
Liam had no idea if by “us” Zach was talking about humans or the Rownt on theCalti, but the answer would be the same in either case. “Yes. They would lose their collective Rownt minds.”
Zach leaned closer. “So what are we going to do?”
“The first thing we need to do is reassure the children that they’re safe,” Liam said. This was the part he hadn’t wanted any Rownt to hear. “They’re scared and being surrounded by giants is making it worse.” Liam kept his voice down and prayed no Rownt were eavesdropping. He wasn’t sure how they would react to being the source of a child’s fear. “I’m hoping you'll come over with Duke. The oldest boy was very excited about the idea of seeing an Earth dog.”
“So they're not from Earth?”
“There are a lot of generational ships and colonies and bootleg habitats floating around this part of the universe. Space has not been the barrier humans once assumed. So those kids could be from an Earth-aligned ship, from one of the colonies, or from Ribelo. They could be from a pirate ship or one of the religious breakaways’ habitats.”
Zach grimaced. Maybe he had just realized the scope of the difficulties they would face trying to find any living family for these children. The war had scattered humanity, and despite Earth’s best efforts, no records existed for most of space. “Will the Grandmothers even care if these kids are from a rebelling planet?” Zach asked.
For every time Zach's lack of insight surprised Liam, he turned around and surprised Liam with his ability to see through to the heart of the problem. “Not even a little. They don’t consider trading with Command the same as aligning themselves with Earth. Even when two towns are in an alliance—that is a natural relationship that develops over thousands of years. They don’t feel that way about Earth, and they will have no trouble seeking out rebels.”
“And once they’re in rebel territory, they’ll trade with them.” Zach sounded upset.
Liam got it. Hell, he was the one who had bled to retake Earth territory. If this had happened a few years earlier, the rebels could have turned a trading relationship with the Rownt to their advantage. The rebels had distance and better pilots, by far. With Rownt trade goods, they could have won the war.
However, at this point, they didn’t have a single planet left except Ribelo, and Earth controlled the only jump platform that could reach it. The rebellion was over.
That didn’t mean Earth would appreciate a Rownt ship crawling all over rebel planets, nor would the rebels. Liam had fought these people. Even if their planets were occupied, they would fight any way they could.
“Shit.” Zach rubbed his face.
“The Rownt will want the children somewhere safe, and they won’t care about the political affiliations of the adults involved.”
“Could they keep them?”
Liam sank onto one of the benches scattered around the temple. “I don't know. Our Grandmothers are old and cautious. These Grandmothers are young. There's only one that's large enough to stand with our Grandmothers.”
“So, young and rash?” Zach summarized. That was a very Rownt way of seeing creatures who had to be four or five hundred years old.
“They’re upset. They’re trying to hide it, but noses narrowed and tails twitched throughout the whole damn ship.”
“Maybe we shouldn't tell Earth.” Zach winced. He definitely still had loyalties to Command.
“It might be safest,” Liam agreed. That wouldn’t solve the problem of a Rownt ship visiting every damn planet with humans in search of genetic matches, but if Earth didn’t know why Rownt were suddenly interested, it might be easier to avoid the press trying to draw parallels to the Anla plot to kidnap human children.
“We’d be helping the Rownt kidnap children,” Zach said. Liam opened his mouth to protest, but Zach raised his hand. “If those Grandmothers keep those kids long enough while trying to find genetic matches, they’ll get emotionally attached.” He sighed. “More emotionally attached. But they won’t be able to give away children they personally know and love. And Earth will consider that kidnapping.”
This time, Liam grimaced. That was the problem in a nutshell.
“I'm the one who pulled together those statistics on orphanages, so I can't blame the Rownt for not trusting the government to have children's best interest at heart. And with the war, there are so damn many orphans. The whole war is a fucking mess, and now Rownt are going to end up in the middle of it. Maybe we should have the Grandmothers hack the genetic database and see if there are relatives on Earth. I know we’re avoiding Earth, but this would be a good reason to make an exception.” He sounded so damn hopeful.
“I think the kids are from rebel territory.”
“Why?”
“Congenital deafness.”
Zach scrubbed his face with an open palm. “Well, fuck. I don’t want my Grandmother looking at the rebel planets too closely. I don’t think the war makes Earth look sane. Not even a little. And I don’t know how to explain my motives for joining the war effort. How do I tell her that the chance at an education and a steady income outweighed the potential damage I was willing to inflict on my fellow humans?” Now Zach sounded miserable.
Liam understood his fear, but the difference was that Liam trusted Ondry to always love him, even when Liam made morally questionable choices.
“I know. When I was fighting, I was so in the middle of the violence that I didn't see the bigger picture,” Liam admitted. “All I cared about was surviving one more day of no man's land or of passing one more test to try to get my linguistic certification. Everything outside that was background noise. And now that I've had a chance to step back and look at some of those bigger pieces, I know how limited my morality was. However, your Grandmother will love and support you no matter how insane she judges the rest of the human race.”
Zach gave him a doubtful look.
