Destroyer of Worlds Part 31

"How can we know that?" Sigmund asked.

Thssthfok gestured at the computer still in Sigmund's hand. "Perhaps from more data like what you showed me. How much do you have?"

Sigmund tapped at his device. "Similar long-range observations spanning about two hundred days."

"Seen over what distance?"

A truthful response might reveal the distance to the Pak vanguard, and Sigmund chose not to answer. "Would the full set of imagery be useful?"

"Very much."

Sigmund tapped some more on the computer. A slightly different stars-and-starships image appeared. "Here is the full data set in time-lapse form."

The dots representing ships shifted against the nebula and stars and, more intricately and subtly, with respect to each other. Counting heartbeats as a crude clock, Thssthfok watched the images morph. The steadiness of his heartbeat was the least of his a.s.sumptions as he estimated angles and inferred course pa ram e ters. If by day day, Sigmund meant the dark/light cycle on this planet, and if Sigmund had told the truth about the images representing two hundred days of observations, the vanguard approached at about half light speed.

"I will have to think about what I have seen," Thssthfok said.

"Can you identify your clan's ships?"

So that you can threaten them to coerce me? Thssthfok said, "I need to think about what I have seen. Much has changed in my absence."

Sigmund stood. "I'll check with you tomorrow."

"All right."

Sigmund left, and Thssthfok began circling the cell. The static image had revealed little. But the animation! The subtle dance-of dominated volumes shrinking and expanding, of squadrons gaining and losing ships, of swirling realignments as coalitions formed and were betrayed-told a story. Different clans favored different tactical deployments. They responded in time-tested ways to feints and attacks. Their weakest ships constrained their maneuvering. To one with the knowledge to read it, the jitter of the dots told a great deal.

He replayed the animation in his thoughts, focusing one by one on the midsized cl.u.s.ters within the third wave. The squadron he had first looked to for his clan-wasn't. But among the last of the candidates, having fallen back defensively, their numbers depleted, he found a bunch of ships whose tactics he knew well. The comet-dweller/Rilchuk alliance still survived. He might yet have breeders in cold sleep- And they needed his protection more than ever.

53.

Sigmund strode across the broad plaza, the air crisp and fresh, sunlight warm on his face. People streamed all around, chatting or laughing or lost in thought. New Terra felt strange and wonderful at the same time. Strings of suns and the occasional red-and-purple plant beat deep s.p.a.ce, let alone hypers.p.a.ce, anytime.

Far better would have been a day at home with Penny and the kids, but he had work to do.

He met Alice at the security checkpoint outside Governor's Building. She stood out like a sore thumb: taller than everyone and looking all around like a tourist. Still, with her Belter crest removed (that had been a struggle) and her bald head covered by a wig, and wearing clothes Kirsten had programmed, Alice could pa.s.s for New Terran. When her pregnancy began to show, he would find her a progeny ring. had been a struggle) and her bald head covered by a wig, and wearing clothes Kirsten had programmed, Alice could pa.s.s for New Terran. When her pregnancy began to show, he would find her a progeny ring.

He had smuggled Alice by stepping disc directly from Don Quixote Don Quixote to the Office of Strategic a.n.a.lyses headquarters. Would Puppeteers grab her from New Terra, as Nessus had grabbed him? Who could say? For her own safety, he had kept her origins a secret. Only a to the Office of Strategic a.n.a.lyses headquarters. Would Puppeteers grab her from New Terra, as Nessus had grabbed him? Who could say? For her own safety, he had kept her origins a secret. Only a very very select few had the need to know. At this morning's meeting, only Sabrina knew. select few had the need to know. At this morning's meeting, only Sabrina knew.

Guards saluted smartly. "Good morning, Minister," the guard lieutenant said. He nodded to Alice. "IDs, please."

"Good morning, Lieutenant, soldiers." It pleased Sigmund that security hadn't slipped during his long absence. Not that an escaped Pak could go unnoticed.

Sigmund offered his ID disc, one thumb on the biometric pad. Alice followed his lead. Her ID gave her rank as colonel: senior enough to have authority and not so senior that anyone would think twice about not already knowing her.

"Very good, sirs. The others have arrived and the governor will join you shortly." The squad leader nodded at two of his men. "We'll escort you."

The guards led them to a private dining chamber. The oval table had padded chairs along one side and mounds of pillows along the other. Human and Puppeteer foods covered the semi-oval side table. Brunch justified meeting someplace the Puppeteers hadn't bugged-without revealing Sigmund's knowledge that many offices, including Sabrina's, were were bugged. bugged.

Baedeker and Nessus were waiting, with two guards "there if they needed anything" so that the room stayed unbugged. Sigmund dismissed both sets of the guards. He wasn't surprised to find Nessus with an unkempt mane. But Baedeker was also disheveled, and that was a bad omen.

They exchanged greetings all around and again when Sabrina, looking wearier than Sigmund had ever seen her, arrived. Sigmund introduced Alice as "One of my aides." Alice managed to stay casual even though these were the first Puppeteers she had ever met.

Nessus attended as the Hindmost's personal representative. No one brought up Sigmund's refusal to meet on Hearth. Whatever the venue, both governments had had to coordinate. They had many possible courses of action to consider. to coordinate. They had many possible courses of action to consider.

None, so far, that could work.

Neither New Terra nor the Fleet had a navy with which even to attempt a defense. Nessus trilled softly at Sigmund's implied rebuke, but did not attempt a justification.

Outsider drives worked over long periods of time, delivering a gentle but continuous acceleration. New Terra and the Fleet could not get out of the Pak's way in time, nor do anything to help the Gw'oth.

Puppeteers reflexively ran or hid from any possible threat and Pak preemptively destroyed any possible threat. Neither species believed in diplomacy. The Concordance did did understand commerce, and Nessus wondered if they could buy peace with supplies or technology. Everything Sigmund knew said the Pak would not honor a deal. The Pak would take everything offered and understand commerce, and Nessus wondered if they could buy peace with supplies or technology. Everything Sigmund knew said the Pak would not honor a deal. The Pak would take everything offered and still still attack. That took negotiation for safe pa.s.sage off the table. attack. That took negotiation for safe pa.s.sage off the table.

Sigmund had toyed with using Thssthfok-somehow-to bluff the Pak fleets. Thssthfok was happy to talk, but every scenario he came up with involved giving him a ship. Seeing who was manipulating whom, Sigmund had abandoned that idea, too.

Even the genocidal weapon of last resort, a kinetic planet-buster, offered no hope. The Pak had spread themselves across a widely distributed fleet-while planet-bound New Terrans and Puppeteers alike were sitting ducks. (Alice had been to Earth and seen ducks. She got the metaphor but froze mid-nod when Sabrina looked puzzled.) The longer the meeting went on, the more Baedeker plucked at his mane. Reluctantly, as all eyes turned toward him, Baedeker spoke. "So our survival depends on better planetary drives." A hint of rising inflection made the words a question, a plea for the burden of worlds to be lifted from his shoulders.

"It seems so," Nessus said, and yet he looked to Sigmund rather than Baedeker.

"Tell us about your progress," Sigmund said.

From a head plunged deep into his mane, Baedeker answered, "The prototypes continue to demonstrate instability problems."

Sabrina cleared her throat. "Please explain."

Baedeker did, with specifics that made Sigmund's head hurt. From their months spent together, Sigmund had a pretty good idea that the torrent of words masked a lack lack of progress. of progress.

Or maybe cop training was what led him to that conclusion, because Alice got there, too. "How soon, exactly, does instability set in?"

"Up to sixteen on the last trial, before we had to shut it down."

"Sixteen what?" Alice persisted, a bit impatiently, and Sabrina shot Alice a sharp glance. New Terrans had centuries of indoctrination deferring to their former masters.

"Your aide, indeed, Sigmund." Nessus briefly looked himself in the eyes. "I see your influence. Alice, I am afraid the answer is sixteen nanoseconds."

"Can anyone else make a drive work-at all?" With a jerk, Baedeker removed the head from his mane. He straightened both necks to stare boldly, one person at a time, at everyone in the room. "I thought not."

"Perhaps," Sigmund began. He had to laugh at Nessus' two-headed double take. "No, not I. Shipmates on Don Quixote Don Quixote."

"Eric? Surely a talented engineer, but-"

Baedeker cut off Nessus. "Shipmates, plural. He means the Gw'oth, Nessus. It is unacceptable to expose them to this level of advanced physics."

The Puppeteers burst into full-throated cacophony, music and crashing metal and tortured animals combined. An argument, the details of which Sigmund hoped Jeeves could translate, while doubting the hidden recorder would capture it. Puppeteers built impressive jammers.

"You will stop," Sabrina said softly. Those were her first words for some time, and the Puppeteers twitched and fell silent. "And speak English." She turned to Sigmund. "Please continue."

Sigmund took a deep breath. Imminent existential danger trumped long-term risks every time. "Our Gw'oth friends friends are why we're here. Their superior astronomy first noticed the enemy. They helped us capture Thssthfok." While Baedeker cowered in his cabin. "Their quick thinking saved us more than once. We need their talents." are why we're here. Their superior astronomy first noticed the enemy. They helped us capture Thssthfok." While Baedeker cowered in his cabin. "Their quick thinking saved us more than once. We need their talents."

Nessus swiveled one head toward Baedeker. "Sigmund makes a good argument."

Baedeker spewed a short arpeggio, stopped, and began again. "Yes, it sounds reasonable, but at least these particular Gw'oth, this group mind, learns astonishingly fast."

"Isn't quickness just what we need?" Nessus asked.

"Enough!" Sabrina pushed back her chair and stood. "Baedeker, forty-two humans are a.s.sisting your project. Neither you nor they have given me any reason to expect success. I'll make it simple. Accept the Gw'oth scientists on the project, or I order my team home."

There was a second, brief eruption of noise, from which Baedeker was the first to subside. Nessus said, "Understood, Sabrina. On behalf of the Hindmost, I accept your terms."

HOME.

Sigmund sat in his favorite chair, little Athena on his knee-only she wasn't so little. She must have shot up another two inches. She squirmed, and he knew suddenly that she had outgrown the bedtime story he was reading. He tousled her hair. "You can read this yourself, can't you?"

"Yes, Daddy. But it's all right." She smiled up at him shyly: You mean well.

Hermes sat nearby, acting busy with a pocket comp as he guarded his baby sister. That I'm-the-man-of-the-house protectiveness touched Sigmund-and it wounded him even more deeply than the boy's aloofness.

I'm gone so much that I'm losing them, Sigmund thought. It hurt. He handed Athena his comp. "Why don't you read to me?"

Penny was in the kitchen, speaking in clipped, urgent tones. She wasn't standoffish-only rarely available. The spreading dead zone off Arcadia's western coast had decimated the kelp farms. Huge ma.s.ses of Hearthian sea life had died, and the stench from the ocean had become unbearable. Penny was on the emergency task force, up to her neck in evacuation planning.

"What's this word, Daddy?"

He looked where she pointed. "Neighbor," he said. "The gee-aitch is silent."

All for want of a moon. "Give New Terra its own moon and it regains some tides."

Athena stopped, midsentence. "What, Daddy?"

"Nothing, sweetie. Something a friend once said to me." Back when Baedeker naively thought he could build a planetary drive and deliver a moon. Now the stakes were higher.

Two screens before the story ended, Sigmund's comp rang with the subtle, minor-key trill of a priority call. He kissed the top of Athena's head. "I have to take this. Hop off."

She slid from Sigmund's lap and he went into his den and shut the door. With the bedtime story closed, the OSA icon blinked on the display.

Kirsten was tonight's duty officer at the Office of Strategic a.n.a.lyses. Most nights nothing happened, but someone had to cover just in case. She had volunteered, wanting some quality time alone with Brennan's singleship. The protector's modifications continued to baffle her.

Sigmund took her call. "What's up?"

"Nessus just filed a flight plan, Sigmund. He wants to take off immediately."

Finagle. "There are things he and I still need to discuss. He's been avoiding me."

Kirsten grinned. "There's an air-traffic delay, as it happens."

"Good job." He thought fast. "I need ten minutes to wrap up something. Let Nessus know I'm coming."

"Will do. Anything else?"

"That's it, Kirsten. Thanks."

He hung up and opened the den door. "All right, sweetie. Let's finish this story."

SIGMUND HALF EXPECTED NESSUS would not allow him aboard Aegis Aegis, but the Puppeteer sent a stepping-disc address. It delivered Sigmund into an isolation booth. Of course.

"It's good of you to wait for me," Sigmund began.

A hoof sc.r.a.ped at the deck. "To take off without the cooperation of traffic control would be dangerous."

"After we talk, I think I can get you authorized for departure." Nessus looked himself in the eyes. "I am much relieved."

"Maybe together, the Gw'oth and Baedeker can make new planetary drives work." Only everything Twenty-three had said made success seem vanishingly unlikely. "We can't afford to bet on it."

"And our choices are?"

We need more help, tanj it! If only only Alice could point them toward Earth. The best psychologists on New Terra had had even less success with her than they had with Sigmund. Alice had no interstellar-navigational memories to recover. "Bring me to Earth, Nessus." Alice could point them toward Earth. The best psychologists on New Terra had had even less success with her than they had with Sigmund. Alice had no interstellar-navigational memories to recover. "Bring me to Earth, Nessus."

"There is no point. The Pak have destroyed it."

Aid for the survivors would be a purpose, wouldn't it? "Then there is no harm in bringing me."

Nessus backed up a step. "It would be a long voyage to no purpose, and I am needed on Hearth."

"We both know you're lying." Sigmund's hands yearned to become fists, and no good could come of that-helpless as he was in this cell. He jammed his hands into his pockets.

"If Earth remained as you remember it, I still could not bring you. Concordance policy would forbid it."

Did Concordance policy allow kidnapping Earth citizens and erasing their memories, or am I the exception? "Nessus, you trust"-for some insane reason-"my ability to solve your problems. It can't can't be so hard for you to believe that other humans also have useful skills. Permit me some help, some other experts. For both our worlds' sake." Memories of the innocent little girl sitting on his lap only a few minutes earlier broke his heart. be so hard for you to believe that other humans also have useful skills. Permit me some help, some other experts. For both our worlds' sake." Memories of the innocent little girl sitting on his lap only a few minutes earlier broke his heart.

"More ARMs?" Nessus plucked at his mane. "Had you not been near death that day, I would never have dared to approach you."

"Not ARMs. More ... specialized talent. While in Human s.p.a.ce, I know know you hired humans." Often criminals. "Do it again, Nessus." Don't bet worlds on me! you hired humans." Often criminals. "Do it again, Nessus." Don't bet worlds on me!

"Tempting, but unacceptable. Why would mercenaries fight Pak when they could raid Hearth instead?"