Roth’Orsa showed little emotion or reaction while she waited for the President’s reply. Though, the constant, unblinking stare she was giving towards DeWinter might have been somewhat unnerving. “We do not think that is a choice for any of us. That is…to say, we think that is a choice that will be forced onto all of us. We have spent weeks discussing this over the last few hours. We have run innumerable calculations…projections of our possible futures. This is a situation with frustratingly many unknown variables; we can make no guarantees. But…the words of the being imply that war may be difficult to avoid without substantial sacrifices.”

No doubt, everyone present had seen the recordings many times, but Roth still took a moment to play the relevant portions aloud for reference: [i]Our…home. It’s begun…waking, hasn’t it?/ I’m so sorry. I fear that means our foe draws nearer, and that puts you in grave danger. You must help us return home, so we may escape. Otherwise, they will destroy us all./ They will crush you if they discover you harboured us. They oppose our desire to spread life throughout the universe. They seek to control it all./ But if you return us to our home, we can start to heal. And then we can lead them away from your civilization. You’ve hidden our home well, behind our shields and underneath your city. But it won’t take long for them to join the dots once they arrive.[/i]

Roth continued immediately once she had played back the words. “If the intelligence speaks true, their enemy will attack us when they arrive, because we are on the worlds that harbour them. The being’s plan seems to be to leave with the Cradle to guide the Hegemon away from you. We lack knowledge of the variables to know if the plan will work, but it may. If your choice is to avoid a war, the options we have calculated are for you to allow the Cradle to leave your world, or to evacuate your people from Outremer.”