ABOUT 2 HOURS LATER. PUEBLO, COLORADO. 9 AM MST. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2025.
As James was laying
out the copies of all the available Castle charters, at the request
of the Olympia delegation, his knack for invisibility seemed to be
holding: they weren’t waiting for him to leave to start the
argument.
“Graham,” Allie said,
“this has to be your dumbest ever. You should have said no when
Cameron proposed it. Didn’t it even occur to you that the TNG is
militarily far superior to us, and if we ally with the California
Castles, maybe even support some Castles in Temper territory, we
can balance—”
Norm McIntyre shook
his head. “No, no, no. Too high a
price. The TNG is right on this one, and it’s more important for us
than it is for them. The only thing we’ve got over the Tempers is a
better claim on the Constitution, and the Constitution says the
United States has no hereditary nobility, period. No recognition for the Castles.”
“But in six months
when we need the help of the Castles—,” Allie began.
“If that’s ever the
case, it will be time for us to go out of business,” McIntyre said.
“If we cut a deal with the Castles . . . what’s next, recognizing
the tribes?”
“That was just
brainstorming an idea!”
“Okay, we’re
settled,” Graham said. “Allie, I note your objections, I’m just
overriding them.” He picked up the paper. “Read fast. If there’s
some trap in here, we need to see it in within two
minutes.”
“Maybe I can propose
a compromise?” Allie said. “Let’s say we need another day or two to
go over our exact response. That way if we need something to trade,
we have it. Then instead of just agreeing, we can make giving them
what they want a big favor. I mean, isn’t that more practical,
doing the same thing we were going to do anyway, but getting
something for doing it?”
Reluctantly, Graham
nodded. “All right, we’ll do it your way.”
As they filed out,
James was still laying down papers. He waited till they closed the
door before shaking his head. Not that it mattered, but this was
the third straight time they’d asked for research on a subject, and
then argued it out and decided without ever consulting the
materials he’d brought them. James smirked at himself; it had
actually hurt his feelings that the invisible man was being treated
like he wasn’t there.