By the time Akeamla had arrived the call had ended. An emergency council was convened, with Dena present. For once, every single man and woman present was lost for words. There were no shouting matches, no strong opinions. The only decision they reached was that for the moment, they could not inform the people.

  Before he had decided whether or not to tell his wife—a secrecy level had not yet been agreed—she had already noticed his strange mood, and had begun to tease it out of him. Before long he had realized it was no use, and he had decided to tell her everything. Or at least, to try to explain it to her.

  So far, it's not going well. She's giggling at the whole thing, and clearly thinks that Dena and his coworkers have been taken for a ride.

  "So what do these aliens look like?"

  "They're not aliens. They're human beings, ultimately. They look like you and me."

  "But with silver skin?"

  "They've given their skins a slight silver sheen, apparently, to help us to recognize them."

  "But they came from the stars to visit us? That makes them aliens."

  "Can you take this seriously? I know it sounds weird, but it's what they told us. An official high-ranking assembly diplomat. I looked her up, she's pretty much the most important diplomat on the planet."

  "If you want me to take it seriously, then explain it better. I still don't get why you believe this. You're saying that these human aliens with silver skin made all of us."

  "They didn't. Look, basically, the key point is that the regime told us life started here, on Ard. It's a lie. All the life you see around you, not just people, all plants and animals, it was all brought here. By them."

  "From this Earth planet?"

  "Well, ultimately, but they left Earth millions of years ago. They've done this to thousands of planets over the years. They seed it with life, and they act as a kind of guardians as the population matures. They call it a vigil."

  "So they've been watching over us for millions of years?"

  "Yes. Well, yes they've been watching over us. But not millions of years. That was a regime lie. We've only been on this planet for twelve thousand years."

  She stares ahead and smokes her cigarette. Dena is still not sure whether she believes any of it. He doesn't know whether he does either. If he's honest, the reason he's arguing the point is that she's suggesting he was taken in. That he somehow made a fool of himself, and so did everybody else.

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  "Well, if they're supposed to be guardians, they sure left us in the shit for five generations."

  "Yes."

  "Are you going to tell the people? I mean, if it's all true? Will you tell them? That's your department isn't it?"

  "That's the difficult part. I mean, we've been so scrupulously honest. We never lie, never. I mean, the truth, it's a weapon."

  "Is it, you never told me that. Should I be writing this down, professor?"

  "Sorry, sorry. I know you know all this. What I mean is, right now, we're damned either way. The longer we keep going, the bigger the lie. They'll find out eventually, and with it exactly how long we kept it from them."

  "So tell them."

  "I told you. Your first reaction was to laugh in my face."

  "Sorry, honey."

  "No, it's fine. I had the same reaction. But so will they. It sounds stupid, no matter how true it is. We lose face either way."

  They sit in silence for a while. Her smoking, him drinking his wine.

  "So you told them you were the minister?"

  "Yeah, I'm lucky they dropped such a bombshell. It was kind of forgotten in the chaos."

  "So are you the minister now?"

  "No, I mean, maybe they'll make me interim minister, just to keep up the pretense. I suppose it looks better for the assembly."

  "But then surely, they have to give you the job when the government forms."

  "It's not that easy, my dear. I haven't shown my political skill yet. For now, they just need somebody to manage their documents for them."

  "Stop talking yourself down. Don't you have a hundred people working for you?"

  "Forty-five. But I'm not a politician. I can manage the archive. I can surface the truth. I give them the ammunition they need. Who knows what's needed of a real minister. Especially in the new government"

  His wife smiles at him. She seems a little drunk. It's a long time since either of them had access to alcohol, but Akeamla let him keep one of the bottles of wine they found in the palace.

  "I know you better than this. You're thinking about it."

  He can't hide anything from her. Not a single damn thing.

  "I knew it! You want the job. You want to be minister."

  "Fine. I have been thinking about it. I think that I could do it. Hell, I think they need me. Not just to dig through the archive. To manage the transition to peace. I don't think any of them understand how hard this is going to be. It's... there are so many ways we could...We need to build the country up properly. With proper safeguards."

  "My husband the minister."

  "Oh, stop it."

  If he can't deny it to his wife, then he can't deny it to himself any more either. Dena doesn't sleep that night. At first he lies awake, with his mind racing. Then he goes to his desk and writes. Or draws, perhaps describes it better. Diagrams, lists, timelines.