The Dead Sun (Star Force Series) (6 page)

“That’s an intriguing question, Colonel Riggs,” Marvin said brightly. “According to research I’ve been conducting on human neurological patterns, I believe the human brain is structured to behave in this fashion. The mammalian brain—in particular, the
 anterior cingulate—has a number of unusual mood-inducing properties not found in—”

“Marvin,” I interrupted, “it was a rhetorical question.”

“Oh. I see, sir.”

He finally shut up, and we all watched as the Worm ships flew steadily closer.

“Shouldn’t we prepare for the worst, Colonel?” Jasmine asked.

“Like what?”

“We could open our missile ports and prime the warheads. We could lock-on with our weapons systems.”

“Are they coming in with live guns?”

“Not that I can detect, sir. But it is a security breach to let a potential enemy get this close. We don’t know their weaponry all that well.”

“Given what we do know, put a cone of fire up.”

She did so, and I was immediately alarmed. We were already under their guns.

“Put up their trajectory. Are they slowing down?”

“Not much, sir. But Worm behavior is often like that. They tend not to slow down until the last possible second.”

I watched as she tapped the screen, and I saw the projected path displayed. As I suspected, it intercepted my ship perfectly.

“Not slowing down…” I said thoughtfully. “They drive like kids in a Porsche.”

Marvin watched us closely with a single camera trained on Jasmine’s face and mine. Most of his stalks and electronic eyes were focused on the screens. I thought this was odd. He really didn’t need to look at the screens at all. Since he was linked in with the computers directly, he could see the data in his own mind the way the computer saw it. Maybe he liked getting our limited, angled version too. Maybe it gave him a more human perspective. As always, I found myself wondering what he was thinking. All too often during a crisis, it turned out later that Marvin knew more than he had been letting on about the nature of it.

“So, we’re already within range of their particle beam weaponry,” I said. “They’re heading directly toward this ship, and they haven’t applied braking jets.”

Without being told, Jasmine displayed a timer. We had ninety seconds to go before they rammed us.

I knew I should fire on the Worms, change course, or at least warn them off. I chose none of these options.

“Marvin, transmit a set of pictograms,” I said. “Tell them we welcome them on the field of honor.”

Suddenly, I had the majority of his cameras on me. A few more swooped close to Jasmine to get her reaction.

“That might not be wise, Colonel,” Jasmine said. “They might take the response as meaning their challenge has been accepted and that a duel should begin.”

“Objection noted, Captain Sarin,” I told her. “But that is exactly what I mean to say to them. Transmit the message, Marvin.”

I heard a gargling sound somewhere behind me. I turned to see Admiral Newcome. He’d snuck in behind me and had apparently been watching the proceedings in horror. His face, normally florid, was nearly as white as his hair.

“Ah, hello, Admiral. Glad you could meet me here. Someone must have alerted you that we might be having a crisis.”

I gave Jasmine a reproachful glance, which she dodged artfully, keeping her eyes down on the console.

“Colonel,” Jasmine said. “The CAG aboard
Elixir
is requesting operational authority to launch his fighters.”

“Request denied. There are only three Worm ships.”

“Our protocols have been breached, Colonel,” Newcome said, speaking up for the first time. “They are in too close. We are within our rights to defend ourselves.”

“What you’re seeing here isn’t a battle, Admiral. It’s a political negotiation.”

“Then I request permission to engage in evasive maneuvers.”

“Request denied.”

“They’re flying their ships right into us!” Newcome objected. “Even if they don’t fire, they might well ram us. The kinetic force of even a glancing blow from a single ship would destroy our vessel!”

“A reasonable assumption, Admiral. But I don’t think it’s going to go down that way.”

“You’re gambling all our lives upon a hunch?” he asked incredulously.

“If I might interject, sirs,” Marvin said.

We both looked at him.

“Admiral,” Marvin said. “Colonel Riggs often bases command decisions upon criteria others do not comprehend at the time they’re made. Frequently, command personnel object, but their objections are virtually always overruled.”

“What the hell is your robot telling me? We have less than thirty seconds left!”

“Tell him, Jasmine,” I said.

She turned to Newcome. “He said Riggs often does crazy things, and you’d just better get used to it.”

I nodded my head slowly. “Exactly.”

When the final seconds ticked away, I could see Newcome squirm, wince and squint, but the Worms broke off before they rammed us, their trio of ships splitting apart and taking three separate spiraling paths.

“Sir?” Jasmine said, but I was too busy gloating to pay attention to her.

“See that?” I demanded, pointing at the twirling Worm ships. “They didn’t hit us. This was some kind of test, some kind of show of bravery. We did our part by not blinking first.”

“Blinking, sir?” asked Newcome. “I don’t understand.”

“Haven’t you ever played chicken with your friends—or your enemies—on a dark road at night?” I asked him.

“I most certainly have not!”

“Come on, not even when you were young and crazy?”

“I don’t think that description ever fit my station in life.”

I looked him over and sighed. “No, I don’t suppose it ever did. Well, anyway, the Worms were just having a little fun. Now—”

“Colonel Riggs?” Jasmine asked again, more insistently.

“Yes, what is it, Captain?”

“There is another contact closing on our position.”

Frowning, I looked down at the board, then up at the holotank. An orange contact flickered there. It was small, no more than a cluster of pixels.

“What the hell is that?” I asked.

“Unknown, sir,” she said. “The Worms released it as they made their final approach.”

“Released it?” demanded Newcome, perking up. “It must be a bomb or a mine of some kind. Please sir, allow me to maneuver out of its path or shoot it down.”

I frowned at the screen, uncertain. I’d understood we were involved in a show of bravery between our two species, two warriors meeting on an open plain and beating their chests before clasping arms—something like that. But why drop an object into our path?

“I don’t get this.”

Newcome sensed my uncertainty and grew braver.

“May I take action to protect my ship in that case, Colonel?”

I glanced up at him. It was a reasonable request. “All right. Don’t shoot it down, but you have the helm.”

He shouted a stream of orders. The navigational people all went into action, and we evaded the incoming object. It sailed past us at a rather sedate pace.

“If that was an attack, it was a pretty lame one,” I said.

“You can never be too careful, sir,” Newcome said.

I tossed him an annoyed glance. That was all I needed, another nervous officer on my bridge. I was already regretting bringing Newcome along.

“May I shoot it down now, Colonel?” Newcome asked.

“What? Certainly not. For all we know it’s a Worm fruit basket. There’s no need to—”

“Sir?” Jasmine said, speaking up again.

This time, I gave her my immediate attention.

“We’re being hailed, sir.”

“Ah, good. Finally, the Worms are going to explain their bizarre behavior. It’s about time.”

“Possibly, Colonel, but the transmission isn’t coming from the Worm ships or Helios. It’s coming from the object.”

My frown returned. “Well, pipe it through.”

She did, and a familiar voice echoed on the command deck. It was faint, but I recognized it immediately.

“Star Force ship?” Kwon hailed us. “Could you maybe pick me up or something? I’m drifting, and the Worms didn’t give me any kind of propulsion.”

-6-

We slowed down, turned around and hauled Kwon into our vessel. Newcome was even paranoid and objecting about that, spouting some nonsense about fake Kwons and parasitically infected personnel.

“I assure you, Admiral,” I told him, “the Worms have neither the technology, motivation, nor the personality to try something like that. They just gave him back to us, that’s all. They probably got tired of him. He eats a lot.”

Glowering, Newcome followed me to the sally portal where we deployed marines in battle—or in this case, retrieved them.

We processed him through the airlock and, when there was enough air in the chamber to talk, I opened my visor.

“Kwon, you have some serious explaining to do,” I told him.

“Good to be back, Colonel.”

“I beg your pardon, Colonel,” Newcome said. “But can’t we at least bring him through the decontamination center? It is standard operating procedure.”

“All right, all right,” I said, closing my visor again.

Ten minutes later, I met up with Kwon again in a small pressure-sealed chamber. Only the Imperial ships had rooms like this, designed to hold people who’d done space exploration before they were allowed back into the general population of the crew. They were quarantine centers, really. I didn’t see the point, but I figured since we had the facility we might as well use it.

“It was very interesting living with the Worms, sir,” Kwon told me.

“I’m sure it must have been quite
an interesting experience for the Worms too, since they dumped you out of their hold like a sack of trash.”

“Oh, I don’t know. That’s just their way. They aren’t a soft people, you understand.”

He laughed then, and I realized belatedly that Kwon had made a joke. The Worms were squishy, like huge leather pillows filled with squirming muscle. Physically, they
were
soft people.

I chuckled politely, then continued to question him. On hand, I had Admiral Newcome, who looked as if he smelled rotten meat. Marvin had managed to tag along as well, and seemed very interested in the discussion. He wasn’t saying much, but his interest in unusual events was always alarming to me. He often knew or suspected more than he was letting on. I knew enough not to ask him what he was thinking, of course. Marvin would only clam-up harder if he thought I was on to him. The best thing to do would be to watch him closely for clues as to what he was thinking.

“All right, let’s hear your report, Kwon. Where is the rest of the delegation I sent to Helios?”

“I don’t know, sir,” he said. “But I think they all died.”

“
Died?
How?”

“The Worms had a contest with us. A constriction contest. That’s what they like to do for fun, you know. They squeeze each other. It’s like wrestling for them.”

I nodded slowly. “Let me guess, they squeezed you, and you won.”

“Yeah. The other guys didn’t make it, though. Internal injuries, probably.”

“How the hell did all this start?”

“It was the chief emissary’s fault, I think. She didn’t quite understand the Worms. She talked about learning their customs. She told them she wanted to form a relationship with them—to be treated as a Worm citizen.”

“Uh-huh. So the Worms took her at her word and wrestled with her.”

“Right. I don’t think she was even nanotized. She made a funny little sound, and then there was blood all over the inside of her visor.”

Newcome was squirming like a Worm himself. “Beastly barbarians,” he mumbled.

I glanced at him. “True,” I said. “The Worms are probably the most culturally barbaric species we’ve encountered. They’re kind of tribal and believe in blood sports. If it was anyone else, I’d take this personally and be angry with them, but they might not understand. After all, the ambassador asked for it.”

I turned back to Kwon. “What happened after the Ambassador died?”

“Well, the rest of the diplomatic team kind of freaked out. They shot a few Worms—it didn’t go too well.”

“Hmm,” I said, sighing. “A diplomatic incident. Now I understand their message better. The Worms were speaking of mending our lost ways. I would wager from their behavior they’re angry and considered a warlike response.”

“I think they were pissed off, yes, sir.”

Newcome was still eyeing Kwon suspiciously. “Your story is quite fantastic, First Sergeant. What was your part in it? How did you survive?”

“Well, I didn’t pull a gun. Instead, I got up like this.”

Kwon stood and crouched with his hands out to his sides. His knees were bent, and his hulking form was clearly in the posture of a wrestler. In fact, he looked like a sumo wrestler to me.

“They didn’t try to kill you, then?”

“Well—they tried. They sent in a Worm about my size. I was glad he wasn’t one of the really big ones—you know, the Granddaddy Worms. Anyway, he was tough, and strong, and I didn’t have an armored suit or a knife or anything. We thrashed around, but I finally managed to tear him apart.”

“How do you even go about getting a wrestling hold on a Worm?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “No, no, I didn’t do a wrestling move. I grabbed one half with my arms locked around the middle, see, and I squeezed him until he came apart in two halves.”

“Ah, you
literally
tore him apart.”

“It was the only way I could figure out to win, sir.”

I chuckled. Admiral Newcome looked disgusted.

“So then they were impressed,” I said. “They decided you could live, and they shipped you up here when we came by. When did the wrestling happen?”

“About a week ago, if I had to guess. I’ve been living in my suit. Not much to do. Not much to eat, either. Could I go to the mess now, Colonel?”

“You certainly can, Kwon. You’ve earned it.”

I clapped him on the back and sent him on his way.

Newcome turned on me the moment he was out of earshot. “Do you believe all that nonsense, Colonel? I mean, seriously?”

“It makes sense, sir,” said Marvin suddenly. He hadn’t spoken much throughout the briefing, but he came to life now that Kwon was gone.

“
Sense?
” demanded Newcome. “What kind of
sense?
These aliens crushed our entire diplomatic team without a warning, and Kwon is returned by ejection from their ships? This isn’t civilized behavior.”

“Agreed,” I said. “But Marvin’s right. You have to understand the Worms, Admiral. They aren’t like you or me in personality or culture. They’re rough around the edges compared to us.”

“Rough around the—I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You’re defending them.”

“Maybe,” I said. “Like I said, you have to understand them. Our chief emissary clearly failed to do so. She went into a shark tank, then invited the sharks to do what came naturally to them. I recall certain British explorers making similar mistakes a few centuries back. These are
aliens
, Admiral. Not primitive people who need more education. You have to deal with them as they are, not as you wish them to be.”

Newcome didn’t seem to get what I was saying, and I lost interest in the conversation. I knew I didn’t really need to explain it to him. If he stayed alive long enough out here on the frontier, he’d figure it out on his own as Kwon had. You just couldn’t judge aliens by human standards—and if you did, you’d likely make a fatal mistake at some point.

I dismissed Newcome and turned to Marvin.

“What do you think we ought to say to the Worms, Marvin?”

“You’re asking me, Colonel?”

“I believe I just did.”

“I rarely am queried for advice in diplomatic matters.”

I rolled my eyes. Marvin had served as my translator on countless occasions. He was the best at it as his brainbox contained the best set of neural chains in the known cosmos. But, although he’d asked for more autonomy in his communications, I’d always denied it to him. I just plain didn’t trust him to negotiate on Earth’s behalf as a free agent.

“Well, I’m asking for your advice now, robot,” I said.

“Sometimes I wonder if the term ‘robot’ has a negative connotation for you, Colonel. Your usage in this instance suggests—”

“Look, let’s just stick to the subject. I asked what you would suggest, and I still haven’t heard anything but complaints. How can you expect me to elevate your status in these matters if you don’t even provide constructive input?”

That comment seemed to get Marvin’s attention. His cameras reshuffled themselves, and his tentacles stopped rasping on the floor.

“You’re suggesting a promotion in my status?”

“We’re not cutting a bargain if that’s what you mean. I want to hear what you’re thinking about this situation.”

“We have several viable options,” Marvin said at last. “We could declare war on the Worms for their misconduct, for example.”

“Not going to happen. What else?”

“I wasn’t suggesting that course of action. I was simply offering up alternatives.”

“Well, keep going.”

“We could send a scathing communication to them, telling them of our displeasure. Or we could send our apologies for the behavior of our envoys.”

“Both sound weak, but plausible. Is that it?”

“No, sir. There is one other option: we could ignore the incident entirely.”

I looked at him. “What would that do?”

“It would show that we understood their actions, but that we neither applaud nor condemn them. That we haven’t changed the nature of our relationship over the incident.”

I thought it over and rubbed my chin. I nodded at last.

“I like that,” I said. “They’ve got to be wondering what we’ll do. When they came at us playing chicken, I resolutely flew onward. They broke off. That shows they aren’t angry enough to start a war themselves.”

“Not angry enough nor foolish enough.”

I shook my head. “No, that’s not how they think. The Worms would rather fight to the last and die than hide in their holes as a beaten people. If they wanted to fight us, they would have attacked regardless of their poor odds. But they didn’t. That means they’re annoyed, but the situation can be repaired.”

I stood up and slammed my fist on the table. It rang and dented with the impact. I loved smart-metal furniture as it allowed me to express myself fully and then quietly self-repaired afterward.

“I’m going to take your advice, Marvin. I’m going sail on by the Helios system without a complaint, an apology or a single missile fired. As far as I’m concerned, we’re still allied peoples, and when the time comes, we’ll fight to the death against the machines side by side.”

“Your statements are appealing, but I can’t take credit for your reasoning. My advice was merely a matter of listing options and consequences.”

I laughed as I left the room. “Don’t sell yourself short, robot. Sometimes, the best advisor is one that serves as a sounding board for his commander’s thoughts.”

I left him then and moved back to the bridge. My flotilla accelerated without a transmission to the Worms. We headed toward the Eden ring at flank speed. The Worm ships silently watched us slip away. They didn’t fire or follow us. They just waited until we exited their system a few days later and then returned to their home space and parked in orbit over their planet.

By that time, I’d had the opportunity to second-guess my choices. In particular, I wondered about Marvin’s “advice”. He’d made a point of giving it to me, then clearly stating that he
hadn’t
given it to me. Why would he want to play both sides of the issue?

I had to wonder about Marvin’s true motivations. He always had his own private, oddball goals.

I knew he really wanted to perform an experiment out in the Thor system. Could that be why he’d suggested doing nothing? He’d known that if I did shoot at the Worms, it might have created a distraction, delaying us. There was nothing that slowed down an expedition like a diplomatic incident that needed cleaning up.

“Damn,” I said aloud to no one.

The trouble was rooted in a simple fact: the robot was at least as smart as I was. He always had been. That was the real problem. How could a mere human outthink an artificial genius?