Friends in the Stars

by Mackey Chandler

  “It’s an Air Taser,” Jeff said. “a different thing entirely. It’ll stop ground cars. If you would all just slowly put your guns away, we can avoid any further demonstration. My bots will fire automatically if anybody who points a weapon at me.”

  “Why should I?” Bill demanded. “I don’t think you can get all of us. What do I have to lose? We know now that you disappeared another pair of agents. We could be next.”

  “I think Strangelove is a bigger danger to us than Singh,” Pamela said.

  “Us? There is no us. I don’t trust you either,” Bill said.

  Kirk disagreed with Pamela. He liked what Strangelove had been saying before Leonardo got stupid. Rather than argue with her, he asked, “So what will you do?”

  “About what?” Strangelove asked, confused by all the byplay.

  “About these two,” Kirk said, indicating Bill and Sam, but not Pam or himself.

  “Supposing you are right, since you can’t even name their agency, and they are some sort of spies, it’s a bit different here,” Strangelove said.

  “How so?” Kirk asked, confused.

  “I can’t really see where I’m obligated to do anything. None of you Earthies have broken into anybody’s private property like the fellows in Lee’s ship, or stolen anything like these two,” Strangelove said, waving a lower arm at Atlas and Leonardo. “That’s something the Mothers’ law addresses and town custom covers too. Passive intelligence gathering is notat all like being active saboteurs. I refuse to speculate what you may have done if we hadn’t arrived.”

  Bill held his breath, waiting to see if Victor would object the lawyers might have broken into their unit instead of Leonardo, but he frowned and stayed silent.

  “It’s not like we have a specific law against spies. The law is whatever the Mothers say it is, and I don’t remember them giving any direction at all, telling me to do anything about spies. Now if I considered you an imminent danger, I could take the initiative to do something and justify it to the Mothers after the fact. That, as you might expect has its own dangers if they disapprove.”

  Kirk nodded understanding.

  “On the other hand, I could ask the Mothers for direction, which displays a certain weakness and indecisiveness they don’t usually appreciate in their officers. Asking the Mothers outright to declare a law is fraught with hazard too. Our previous Champion declared himself personal Champion to Lee Anderson and ordered the Mothers to call her clan kin by their law or he’d put the ax to them and overturn the administration to a new set of Mothers. I don’t start to think I could carry that off.”

  “I had no idea you could do that,” Kirk said, shaken.

  “It’s rare but has solid precedent,” Strangelove said. “Assassination is a tradition in Derf politics. We are different. We settle deadlocks by trial by combat and until dealing with Man we always warred until one side was annihilated. The Mothers in their wisdom decided we had to adjust to dealing with you differently than other Derf.

  “So, if the scientists or your other Humans have some complaint with you that is their business, but I would be happy if you and your partner bring cheaper and more abundant honey to Derfhome. I certainly can’t afford it as star-goods. If as they intimated, you also passively gather information for someone, that’s fine too. With better information, maybe your masters won’t act as stupidly as they have in the past.”

  Kirk grimaced struck by the truth of that.

  “If these two lawyers are spies, I am disposed to grant them the same freedom to observe and report. Why would I want to dispose of them or chase them off? They are such a weak threat they get locked in their own storage room by amateurs. I can keep a watch on them now that I know who they are, and you too for that matter. If they are replaced it might be by somebody much more competent and harder to identify.”

  “You do realize, if you leak the fact you suspect us as spies we’ll be yanked right back home,” Bill said.

  “They won’t hear it from me,” Strangelove promised.

  Bill did a slow turn of the head and regarded Pamela, but not kindly.

  “What, you really think I’ll interfere in your operations? Don’t mess with us and we won’t mess with you. It’s that simple,” Pamela told him.

  “On the other hand, I’d be open to a quiet back-channel agreement if you really want to feed accurate information to my government,” Pamela told Strangelove.

  “I believe you should be directing that offer to the Foys or Miss Lewis,” Strangelove said. “They are spox for their governments. I’m not a proper conduit. It’s not even really my job to pass things on to the Mothers.”

  “I’m a Voice also, and interested in what you might have to say,” Jeff said, “though I’d weigh it carefully and with skepticism. You may believe what you say but be mislead by your superiors to say it as a ploy.”

  “A back-channel should flow both ways,” Pamela pointed out.

  “Oh, she wants to trade now,” Eileen said.

  “Yes, isn’t that how these things normally work?” Pamela asked.

  “Well with the other spies we drugged them up and ran brain scans on them until we had them sucked pretty dry, but that probably doesn’t appeal much,” Eileen said.

  “Yeah, I’d take a pass on that,” Pamela said, worried.

  “I have no idea what you might want,” Eileen said. “Name something on your shopping list and I’ll see if I can supply it. Heather gives us a lot of discretion and we don’t have classifications like secret and top secret. We’re mostly expected to use our own common sense about what should be kept to ourselves.”

  “This is all fascinating, but what about us?” Leonardo interrupted from the floor, scared to get up but still impatient.

  “What about you?” Strangelove asked back. “Why are you still here? The scientists said they don’t want to make a fuss about it even though you are thieves and liars. You waved a tool threatening the wrong people. You’re lucky to be breathing. You should be happy if they don’t tell the world what scum you are. Get out of here before Singh demonstrates the next power level of that drone on your big furry butt.”

  Leonardo and Atlas took that for dismissal and headed for the door.

  “Perhaps we could trade privately,” Pamela suggested and looked at Bill and Sam.

  “Oh, give them a freebie and let them listen in,” Eileen said.

  Pamela didn’t like sharing but had little choice.

  “We’d very much like to know why you are collecting such an increased range of biological specimens off Earth. Combine that with storing up food here and we worry you might have plans to hit Earth so hard there won’t be anything left to collect.”

  “I have no idea,” Eileen said. “We got orders to buy long-term storable food and did that, but nobody told us why. The second question I have no idea at all.”

  “You’re in luck,” Jeff said. “I’m one of the three who formulate these policies.”

  Pamela looked confused and a little skeptical. “Is Central a triumvirate then?”

  “My Lady April and I have an association with her that precedes Heather founding Central,” Jeff assured her. “We are full partners in some business interests, yet each of us still has individual companies and associations the others don’t.”

  “Where does one end, and the other start? Doesn’t it get confusing?” Pamela asked.

  “Fortunately, we get along really well and can discuss things and arrive at a consensus,” Jeff said. “Then after my ladies inform me of our consensus, I discharge it to the best of my ability, and everybody is happy.”

  Vic was snorting and laughing. “That’s what I always suspected,” he told Jeff.

  “Such is the natural order of things I’m starting to see,” Jeff said.

  “Ok, then why are you guys expanding your biological library?” Pamela asked.

  “You and the Chinese are both making thoroughly dishonest accusations against each other and approaching a line that would trigger
war as closely as you can. One mistake or miscalculation will leave the northern hemisphere in such horrible shape it will be difficult to gather a wider sampling of specimens, so we are getting them while it is relatively easy.”

  “They think playing games with spy planes and such is just the normal posturing that has been going on forever, and it’s contained by unspoken rules,” Pamela said, “but they worry you could be planning an extinction level event.”

  “They’re fools,” Jeff said. “You do realize, if we wanted to precipitate a war between you, all we would have to do is shoot one or the other of these idiots playing chicken along one of your borders and the other side would have to react to it?

  “They don’t worry about the Chinese who do threaten them, and then they do worry about us when we don’t threaten them.”

  Jeff made a show of turning his palms up and looking at each like he was comparing them with a bewildered expression. “Since they seem stuck in reverse thinking mode, should we then threaten them to assure them of our good intentions?” Jeff asked.

  “It does sound insane when you describe it like that,” Pamela admitted.

  “What’s insane is speaking freely like this,” Bill said. “It has no value.”

  “Do you really think he could anticipate all the events of the day and have prepared answers that can pass muster with our software?” Pamela asked.

  “I know I couldn’t,” Bill granted, “but when you look at this guy it’s easy to forget he is somewhere around a hundred and thirty to forty years old and has so much life experience you are like a child to him.”

  “No, I don’t believe he’s any sort of super-human,” Pamela protested. “He has the same cultural tools to work with we do. Experience can give you a polish on skills but it isn’t some limitless magic that keeps growing until you are god-like.”

  “You also have no idea what abilities he has from gene editing,” Bill said.

  Jeff looked surprised, and then it shifted to amused. “People usually make the opposite claim that our genetic modifications drive us crazy. They cite the Wiz Kids in Germany that were attempts at creating prodigies. They did display early development, but almost all of them ended up institutionalized once they hit adolescence. It was a pretty sad story.

  “The fellow who developed the modifications I carry found markers for some mental attributes like perfect pitch and a variation on extreme memory. In every case, he found that applying the treatment had undesirable side effects. It changed the person’s personality, and never for the better.”

  “You don’t have any mods for mental abilities?” Bill demanded. That direct of a question would be very hard to evade analysis by veracity software.

  “I only need about half the sleep you do. If you consider that mod a mental alteration, then yes, but otherwise nothing at all. I’ve been advised by my ladies that my personality is different enough and they don’t wish to see all the work they have put into molding it wasted by chasing talents of dubious advantage.”

  “What about her second question?” Bill asked, still suspicious.

  “The food?” Jeff asked.

  Bill nodded yes.

  “If you do manage to blow yourselves back a couple of centuries worth of civilization, there would be little reason to stay in the solar system. We wish to be able to evacuate Central and any of the Home habitats that wish to come along,” Jeff said.

  “Nobody has that much transport,” Bill objected.

  “We do,” Jeff said.

  “There’s thirty-five hundred on Home alone,” Bill said. “How many round trips are needed in how many vessels to bring just the original hab here, much less the sisters?”

  “It’s closer to forty-five hundred, with the zero-g satellite housing, if everybody came along. The other two are a bit bigger. We could transport just the people without much in the way of their stuff by putting temporary decking in some large mining vessels we have. But, truth is, we’d grab the whole thing and bring it at one go,” Jeff said, making a grab and jerk motion with his hand.

  Bill’s mouth was hanging open. “Software be damned, I believe you because it is too outrageous a claim to try to pass off as a lie.”

  More to the point he holstered his pistol.

  “Big lies are easier than little ones,” Jeff said. “At least that’s what I’ve seen dealing with the Earth journalists.”

  “You sold me. Don’t start undoing it.”

  “I suppose my ladies would say the same thing,” Jeff admitted. “I know it hurts you more than me if you don’t believe. So I guess that wasn’t very kind of me, I apologize.”

  “People don’t really do apologies in this business,” Sam, usually quiet, said.

  “It’s not a part of some folks’ life at all,” Pamela said.

  “Yes, we get that you loathe him, and vice versa. It’s a bit tiresome,” Sam said.

  “Then you’ll pass our thinking along to Earth?” Jeff asked.

  “No way!” Bill said. “I said I believe you. My supervisors could never believe such a claim. Besides, they would be horrified. You don’t sit around with the enemy and trade information. You couldn’t possibly trust anything you got that way. I’d be ruining my own credibility with them thoroughly.”

  Pamela made a funny little noise but managed to not say anything to that.

  “I shall pass it along to my superiors,” Pamela said. “I trust they can judge it for themselves.”

  “That would be your father?” Sam asked innocently.

  “My superiors at the State Department,” Pamela said. “I left on quite good terms and have no doubt they would welcome reports from the field. I hope to take another turn back at the department after I have a bit more experience and enough years to be considered for a higher-ranking post.”

  Bill just rolled his eyes.

  “If I understand how your system works correctly, that inside routing may affect policy more than an intelligence report anyhow,” Jeff said. “We have former Earth intelligence agents in our employ and they often try to explain how things work. I must say, they would disagree with the idea there can be no frank exchange. One fellow has told me repeatedly that the only thing that keeps the whole mess from grinding to a stop is cross system networking.”

  “And has he ever passed anything along you could be sure was effective?” Bill asked.

  “Once upon a time he sent a message to China for me that I indeed did intend to nuke the entire district in which Beijing resides off the map if they didn’t back off. I don’t think it was a coincidence they had a coup and replaced the leadership immediately after.

  “I’d just blown their main spaceport off the map, which I suspect gave the threat some credibility. I’d have felt really bad to do that to the Forbidden City and all the historical artifacts, but I would have,” Jeff said.

  “If you ever have such a direct warning, that I’d pass it along,” Bill promised.

  “Thank you, that’s sufficient,” Jeff said. When he looked around everybody had put their weapons away while they were talking. The stand-off was defused.

  “I think we are done here. Do you have the security situation settled to your liking?” Jeff asked Strangelove.

  “I’m leaving a man here tonight and installing both surveillance and anti-intrusion systems,” Strangelove said. “The Derf are much less restrained about using active defenses than Humans.”

  “Will you have your man keep an eye on our rooms too?” Eileen requested. “We’ll get back in the morning with a new lock.”

  “No need. My man will put a new lock on the scientist’s room, and deliver keys to both of you tomorrow.”

  Strangelove looked thoughtful. “It would be no particular burden to do the same for you, if you’d trust me not to keep copies of the key,” he told Pamela. It was interesting that that didn’t make the same offer to the lawyers.

  “That’s kind of you, but the need for the room has passed, and I believe we’ll just let the rent run out an
d lapse now.”

  Strangelove got an amused smile and there were significant looks all around.

  “I’d like to go back to the hotel then,” Jeff requested of Strangelove, “and I’d like to talk to you two tomorrow,” he told Born and Musical.

  “Are we still riding with you?” Born asked Jeff.

  “Of course, if it’s closer to drop you along the way just tell Strangelove.”

  Chapter 22

  “I’m glad we got that sorted out in time,” Jeff said in the car. “If we let that idiot from the university get any details of a superior star-drive, he’d sell them off as fast as he could. I wouldn’t even trust him to get a decent price.”

  “Not all Derf are like that,” Strangelove said, embarrassed.

  “I hadn’t formed that opinion,” Jeff assured him. “I assume any race capable of building a civilization will have some outliers who buck the standards of their society. Actually, I think Humans are probably worse that way.”

  Strangelove tactfully didn’t agree.

  “The food the Foys are storing… does that mean you’d send refugees here if things got bad in the solar system?” Lee asked.

  “We might ask to do that,” Jeff said, “or we might take the food to them. We didn’t want to buy it on Earth for fear it would be taken as a signal of our intent. The whole thing is so complicated we should sit and have a long talk about it, but not tonight.”

  “What other operations do you have in motion here?” Lee asked.

  “Nothing else and I intended to tell you about the food before I left.”

  Lee considered that silently a moment. Jeff refused to try to convince her if she didn’t believe him.

  “Well, crap…” Lee suddenly muttered.

  “Did we forget something?” Strangelove asked, worried.

  “No, it’s that I just now realized we should soon have a much better star drive and I spent a fortune building a specialized ship that will be obsolete far too fast.”

  “Chances are, we can retrofit a new drive for you,” Jeff said. “You may have more Delta-V than you need, but that’s not exactly a bad thing.”