"Please, Colonel," said Mazer. "I'd hate for you to be bothered any further. I assure you the boy's punishment will be swift and severe."
The colonel nodded, content. Then he scowled once more at Bingwen and left.
Mazer took Bingwen by the arm, "Major Shenzu, please excuse us for a moment."
He roughly led Bingwen out of the room. As soon as the door was closed behind them, he released Bingwen and said, "Follow me."
His tone was sharp. He was not happy. He led Bingwen down a hall, through a series of doors and into a large empty cafeteria.
"I'm going to assume you have a very good reason for the stunt you just pulled," said Mazer. "A very, very good reason. Because telling a lie like that was an enormously stupid thing to do, Bing. I hope you know that."
"It had to be a bad lie or the colonel wouldn't have brought me here. It was the best one I could come up with in the time that I had. I couldn't have reached you otherwise. I'm sorry."
Mazer sighed, sat down on the floor, and leaned against the wall. The holopad was still in his hand. "Why bring me this? What's on it?"
"Uplinks to a team on Luna who have infiltrated the Formic ship and who know how to destroy it. They want to team up with you and the MOPs. You're supposed to call them."
Mazer stared at him. "How did you get this information?"
"From Dr. Arnsbrach," said Bingwen. "Well, she connected me to them anyway."
Mazer looked surprised. "You spoke to Kim?"
"She helped me set up the holo hospital."
"Holo hospital?"
"Long story," said Bingwen. "Do you really want to hear about that now?"
"Later," said Mazer. He started typing on his wrist pad.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm asking Wit to join us. He needs to hear this as well."
Wit arrived a moment later, and Bingwen told them everything he knew. When he was done, Wit said, "Victor Delgado. That's the name of the kid who uploaded the vid and tried to warn Earth." He turned to Bingwen. "And the vid you saw of the interior, it looked real?"
"Looked legit to me," said Bingwen.
Wit thought for a moment then said, "We take this to Shenzu and make the call together. We need a hard line to make the connection anyway. We can't do it in here. We'll put it on the big table and see what they have to say."
"The Chinese won't like this," said Mazer. "We're helping command their army. They'll think we're abandoning them."
"We won't abandon the op. We'll suggest they bring in Major Ketkar from India to help run things here. There are other Chinese officers who have been shadowing us who show promise. Shenzu can do plenty. The op is practically on autopilot anyway."
"Are we winning?" asked Bingwen.
"I wouldn't say that," said Wit. "Not even close. But we're certainly doing better than we were. The counteragent is working. It's devastating the death squads. We've retaken a few of the coastal cities. No one can go back there yet--not for a long time to come. Maybe years. But it gives us a little hope."
Wit turned to Mazer. "You're right to worry about the operation. But this is the mothership we're talking about. Their supply line, their home base. If there's a chance we can destroy that, that flips this war on its head."
"Agreed," said Mazer.
Wit turned to Bingwen. "You did good, Bingwen. But next time be more careful with your lies."
CHAPTER 17
Cocoons