"Your spies have reported accurately."
He expected her to get sidetracked on whether her informants were spies or not, since they were ordinary citizens who freely attended public events and then talked about them afterward. But apparently she was as weary of that topic as he was. And besides, she clearly had an urgent agenda.
"A starship is arriving here in about a month," said Virlomi. "It comes from Shakespeare Colony, and it's bringing us several of their highly successful hybrids and genetic alterations to augment our agricultural resources. A very important visit."
"I'm not a farmer," said Achilles.
"When starships come here," said Virlomi, "it's never permanent. They come, and then they go."
Now Achilles understood exactly what she was offering him. If it was an offer, and not an involuntary exile. "Go where?" he asked.
"In this case, I am assured that the pilot is taking his starship back to Earth--well, near to Earth--so that the samples from Shakespeare, along with our own poor offerings, can be examined, propagated, studied, and shared with all the colonies. Some may even be cultivated on Earth itself, because the high yields and climatic adaptations are so favorable."
"Are they naming one of the species after you?" asked Achilles.
"I'm offering you a chance to go to that big wide world and see it for yourself. Indians are only about a quarter of Earth's population at the moment, and there are many places you can go where you'll almost never see an Indian."
"It's not Indians that I don't like," said Achilles blandly.
"Oh?"
"It's smug authoritarian government pretending to be democratic."
"Indians are in the majority here. By definition democratic, even if smug," said Virlomi.
"Earth is ruled by an evil dictatorship."
"Earth is ruled by an elected Congress, and presided over by an elected hegemon."
"A hegemony established through the murder of--"
"Of the man you mistakenly believe to be your father," said Virlomi.
That sentence struck Achilles like a blow with a sledgehammer. In all his life, he and his mother had kept his parentage a secret, just as no one had ever heard him called by his secret--but true--name, Achilles. It was always Randall this and Randall that; only in moments of tender privacy did Mother ever speak to him as Achilles. Only in his own mind did he call himself that name.
But Virlomi knew. How?
"I watched your supposed father murder children in cold blood," said Virlomi. "He murdered a good friend of mine. There was no provocation."
"That's a lie," said Achilles.
"Ah. You have a witness who will contradict me?"
"There was provocation. He was trying to unite the world and establish peace."
"He was a psychotic who murdered everyone who ever helped him--or saw him helpless."
"Not everyone," said Achilles. "He let you live."
"I didn't help him. I didn't thwart him. I stayed invisible, until at last I was able to escape from him. Then I set out to liberate my country from the cruel oppression he had unleashed upon us."
"Achilles Flandres was establishing world peace, and you brought war back to a country that he had pacified."
"But you have no problem with admitting that you believe the fantasy that he is your father."
"I think my mother knows more than anyone else about that."
"Your mother knows only what she was told. Because she's a surrogate--not your genetic mother. Your embryo was implanted in her. She was lied to. She has passed that lie down to you. You are nothing but another of Achilles' kidnap victims. And your imprisonment by him continues to this day. You are his last and most pathetic victim."