Dave could have picked up on that and used it to convince Dimitri to agree to the mind merge, probably because it couldn't be done against his will. He had to be an active participant for that to happen.
For now, the discussion about the merge had been pushed aside in favor of other more pressing matters, but that was thefoundation for everything else, and he still had to make up his mind about it.
"What about the timing?" Number One asked.
"That's what we need to decide." Dimitri moved to Number Four. "Since most of the work is on your part, you should be the one to evaluate this."
"Tomorrow night," Number One said.
Dimitri looked up from the injection. "Tomorrow?"
"Is there an advantage to waiting longer? I thought one day would be enough for us to formulate our strategy. The opening sentences will be crucial, and I will leave it up to you to come up with something clever for us."
One day might not be enough. Dimitri hadn't even thought about what he was going to say and how he was going to present his proposal, and winging it wasn't an option. They had one shot at this, and they needed to make the best of it.
"Do you want to do this quickly because you're curious?" Mattie asked Dave.
Number One turned to her. "We are curious," he admitted. "The clan offers a window into another way of being for immortals. They are a different civilization with a different worldview. Our interest is not purely strategic."
"It's also emotional," Mattie said.
All eight of Dave nodded.
"Yes," Number One said, and the impact of simple admission made Dimitri pause mid-injection.
Dave wanted to talk to the clan. Not just as a tactical necessity, but because the collective consciousness that had spent its entire existence on this island, surrounded by a power structure built on fear, wanted to know that there was something else out there. Something different. Perhaps something better.
Dimitri understood that.
"All right," he said. "Tomorrow night. But I want to make it clear that you bring the phone to the lab, and Petrov and I do the talking."
All eight heads tilted simultaneously. "We assumed that we would initiate the conversation. We know more about the Brotherhood's operations than either of you, and we can provide intelligence that the clan would find valuable."
"All true," Dimitri said. "But think about it from the clan's perspective. They're going to answer a call from Losham, but instead of Losham, they hear a voice claiming to be an enhanced soldier with a collective consciousness who wants to negotiate. What's their first assumption?"
Number One considered this. "That Losham was compromised."
"Yes. And the second one is that you are trying to trick them and get information out of them. You're a Brotherhood weapon. The person on the other end will be defensive and probably hostile. Certainly suspicious."
"And you believe that hearing a scientist with a Russian accent will produce a different reaction?"
"I believe it will produce a less alarming reaction. Petrov and I are prisoners, not soldiers. We were brought here under duress and forced to work on a project with questionablemorality. That's a story the clan can sympathize with, and more importantly, it's a story they can verify. If they've been monitoring this island, they may already know about the enhancement program and the Russian scientists running it. Our identity is checkable. Yours is not."
Number One's expression didn't change, but the collective processing pause that followed was longer than usual. Dave was weighing the argument, turning it over in his hive mind.
"We see the logic," Number One said. "We don't like it."
"You don't have to like it. You just have to agree that it gives us the best chance of being taken seriously."
"There is something else," Petrov said from his workstation. He'd been listening with his back turned, but now swiveled his stool to face them again. "First impression is important. A Russian accent on the phone is unexpected. It will make whoever answers pause and listen out of curiosity. A soldier calling from the Brotherhood's secure line sounds like a threat. A Russian prisoner calling from the same line sounds like a mystery."
"So, what would our role be during the call?" Number One asked.
"You'll be there," Dimitri said. "Listening. If we're asked about tactical intelligence, you provide it. If questions come up about the military situation, the warriors, the defenses, you're the expert. But the initial contact, the first impression, needs to come from us."
"I'll be there too," Mattie said.
"Mattie—" Dimitri began.
