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‘Certainly not,’ said Sai-hee. ‘You know I always prefer to gamble on peace, however fleeting it might be. But let’s not pretend that you are in such a favorable position here as to be demanding gifts from me. This war has not been going terribly well for your side as of late, and I could make it go even worse. In fact, perhaps you should be offering me something to help broker this peace deal with the Vanguard.’

‘I see your arrogance remains firmly intact,’ said Dozer.

‘As does yours,’ she said.

‘I have a counteroffer,’ said Morgunov. ‘Teach me the secret of how you and Sermy are able to teleport so far, and I’ll call this whole thing off faster than you can blink. Dozy won’t even have to lift a finger to help.’

‘You surprise me, Nibas,’ she said. ‘Isn’t cracking the secret on your own the whole point? Surely, you’re not giving up and asking for help after all this time.’

Morgunov was quiet a moment. ‘...Tsk. I know you’re just tryin’ to play me... but you’re right, damn you. You’re so right, it hurts. Agh.’

‘In that case, tell me and not him,’ said Dozer.

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! No way, no how! If you can’t tell me, then you can’t tell him, either!’

‘Be silent, fool. Your nonsensical code has no relevance to my affairs.’

‘Don’t do it, Saya! No peace if you tell him! I swear!’

Sai-hee tittered again. Admittedly, she did sometimes enjoy how predictable this mad idiot was. But given how much he seemed to hate being called predictable, she also wondered if that was a concession that he was making for her sake. Another component of his strange affection.

Morgunov had to know that she would never give up that knowledge in the first place, least of all to them. If these two gained the power of long-distance teleportation, it would cause no end of new problems. No amount of peace would be worth such an exchange, especially knowing how unlikely it was that such a peace would last.

That was the real trouble when parleying with Abolish. It was always fleeting. No matter what they said, no agreement could be expected to endure indefinitely. But trying to set a more “realistic” time frame was also a trap, because shortening it would only embolden them to break it even sooner.

If she asked for a hundred years, they’d break it within fifty. If she asked for fifty, they’d break it within thirty. And so on and so forth.

That was how their twisted minds worked.