"So ..." Juan sat back down, the throbbing in his eye had to wait.
"This was more than just a scouting mission I see."
Lucendez looked at his holo-watch. "Screw the Benitez, we need to move on this info now. The Zoners aren't going to help us. The Outcasts could be shooting everything human and the Zoners would still think it's "not in their best economical interests."
"The Liberty Rogues are too far away from Omicron space to do anything, so we'll have to depend on our old allies. But ..."
Juan started to stare into space, left eye twitching. Someone snapped him back to reality.
"Outcast society is spread out, there is no way to know who is infected and who isn't. We can ask the Rogues to keep an eye open, but other than that we'd have to hunt down every single 'cast and test them."
Juan was beating around the bush, time to talk straight.
"So, my question is: How much of Outcast society is blinded by this reverence to their "ghosts?" Should we open diplomatic channels and attempt to garner support for a purge?"
Several unnamed Elders started shouting, but Juan put his hand up.
"Listen, I know we can't be the heroes of the human race, we have our own people to look after. But. We have this information, do we just let it go? How do we know the Order is up to this kind of thing? We need to make this public, make it so that every single trader secretly scans every single Outcast that he attempts to trade with. Simply put, we need a popular acknowledgement from both of our societies that this kind of fraternizing with the enemy of mankind is not acceptable."
"The thirteen saloons that had lined the one street of Seney had not left a trace. The foundations of the Mansion House hotel stuck up above the ground. The stone was chipped and split by the fire. It was all that was left of the town of Seney. Even the surface had been burned off the ground.
Nick looked at the burned-over stretch of hillside, where he had expected to find the scattered houses of the town and then walked down the railroad track to the bridge over the river. The river was there."
