Thirteen
In the absence of further information, obey instructions.
I had about an hour to read the negotiation plan attached to my orders. It was detailed, but impersonal. “The negotiator shall not offer information on Earth beyond these three facts.” “The negotiations will proceed in this order.” Like I could command Mason to talk about certain topics in a specific order. I am an absolute master of the bad plan so I wasn’t qualified to judge, but this plan looked logical and rational and achievable. Each proposed exchange built on the previous one. Certain exchanges were clustered, and could take place in any order so long as all were completed. Someone back on Earth had stayed up all night to work on this.
Yes, their night matched Tritium’s night. Our working night, that is. Tritium’s
