Free The End of All Things #2: This Hollow Union by John Scalzi Page B

it.”
    “It’s not optimistic at all. It’s giving us more time to deal with the problem.”
    “And if we have no more time?”
    “Then we deal with the problem now,” I said. “But I think everyone is beginning to realize just how close the abyss is at the moment. Very few people actually want to go in.”
    “You are optimistic, then,” Tarsem said. “Because at the moment I think there are still a few who think the abyss sounds like a very good idea.”
    “That’s why I want you to convince them otherwise.”
    “I appreciate your faith in my abilities.”
    “It’s not faith,” I said. “It’s trust.”

PART FOUR
    “Which news do you want first?” Vnac Oi asked me. I was in its office again, the first meeting of the sur.
    “You have good news?” I asked.
    “No,” Oi said. “But some of the news is less objectively bad than the rest.”
    “Then by all means let us begin with that.”
    “We’re done with the first pass of semantic and data mining of the Abumwe report,” Oi said. “And we’ve cross-referenced with information we have in our own databases. The very short version is that the data are less problematic than the data in the Ocampo report.”
    “‘Less problematic.’”
    “It means there are fewer obvious untruths compared to, and contradictions with, our own data set.”
    “So you’re saying the Colonial Union, in a refreshing change of circumstances, is actually telling us the truth.”
    “I never said ‘truth,’” Oi said. “I said there were fewer untruths that we can immediately see. And even if they are largely telling the truth, which is something we still have to ascertain, the truth in itself is not necessarily a positive thing. What they are telling the truth about —what information they are sharing with us—is just as relevant. When Abumwe shared this with us what I really wanted to know is what she wasn’t sharing.”
    “I need to know whether you think this Equilibrium group exists and is the threat Abumwe says it is.”
    “Yes to the first, and inconclusive to the second. We need a couple more passes through the data to be sure. But here is the thing about that, Councilor.”
    “I am imagining this is where the less good news graduates into the bad news,” I said.
    “You are correct, because right now it does not matter whether the Abumwe information is true or not,” Oi said. “The general is correct that the Colonial Union and Abumwe dropped a bomb into our lap—a bomb you suggest we let her set off, I will remind you—and now all the chatter I’m hearing is our members triangulating toward it or away from it. We’ve introduced chaos into the usual mix of ambition and venality we lovingly call the Grand Assembly. Before, we had two primary groups in the chamber: those generally drifting away from the Conclave and those generally supporting it. Right now my analysts have identified six distinct emerging philosophical groups. Some of these believe the Ocampo report and some believe the Abumwe, and then there are some who don’t care about the truth value of either but merely whether they can be used as tools to settle political scores. The group that especially worries me at the moment is the one my analysts are calling the ‘purgers.’ You can guess what the purgers want to do.”
    “The general is addressing the Grand Assembly about this very problem.”
    “No doubt because of your advice.”
    “That sounds more accusatory than usual, Director.”
    “Apologies,” Oi said. “I don’t mean to imply it was bad advice. Just that you appear to have more influence over the general than usual recently.”
    “I don’t believe that’s true.”
    “If you say so. At the very least everyone else is too busy to notice.”
    “Do you think the general is worse off than he was before, politically?” I asked, changing the topic.
    “No,” Oi said. “Before Abumwe addressed the Grand Assembly, a large faction had targeted the general in order