Berserker Kill

by Fred Saberhagen

  “The commodore would definitely like to see you, young fellow.”

  Havot glanced at Thanarat. She remained silent, but looked vaguely perturbed at the prospect of having her suspect-if Havot indeed fit in that category-taken away from her.

  “Why not?” was Havot’s response to the man. “I’m not busy with anything else at the moment.” He smiled at Becky Thanarat; he much preferred to deal with two authorities rather than one, as such a situation always created some possibility of playing one off against the other. Still, he reacted rather coolly to the newcomer, and started grumbling, like your ordinary, innocent taxpaying citizen, about the unspecified suspicion to which he had just been subjected.

  And got some confirmation of his own suspicions, as soon as he and the officer from Prinsep’s staff were alone together in a groundcar, heading for a different part of the demolished spaceport. “Your real problem, Mr. Havot, may be that there were no other survivors.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I mean, there’s no one else around, in this case, for agent Thanarat and her superiors to suspect of goodlife activity.”

  “Goodlife!” Havot felt sure that his look of stunned alarm was indistinguishable from the real thing. “You mean they really suspect me? That’s ridiculous. We were just talking.”

  The officer pulled at his well-worn mustache. “I’m afraid certain people, people of the type who tend to become agents of the Human Office, may have a tendency to see goodlife, berserker lovers, everywhere.”

  “But me? They can’t be serious. Say, I hope that Commodore, uh-”

  “Commodore Prinsep.”

  “Prinsep, yes. I hope he doesn’t have any thought that I-”

  “Oh, I don’t think so, Mr. Havot.” The officer was reassuring.

  “Just a sort of routine debriefing about the attack, I expect.

  You’re about the only one who was on the scene that we have left to talk to.”

  In another moment the groundcar was slowing to a stop at the edge of a cleared-off, decontaminated corner of the spaceport once more open for business, and already busy enough to give a false impression of thriving commerce. In the square kilometer of land ahead, several ships-warships, Havot supposed-had landed and were now squatting on the ground like deformed metallic spheres or footballs. Their dimensions ranged from small to what Havot, no expert on ordnance, considered enormous. The surface details of some of the larger hulls were blurry with screens of force.

  He and the officer got out of the car, and together started walking toward one of the smaller ships.

  Currently, and Havot took comfort from the fact, there did not appear to be a crumb of evidence to support any charge of goodlife activity against him-beyond the mere fact of his survival, insofar as anyone might count that evidence.

  Nor did he see, really, how any such evidence could exist. The truth was that the machine chasing him had been crippled. It had earnestly tried for some time to kill him, and its failure had not been for want of trying. Anyway, the damned machines were known to kill goodlife as readily as they slaughtered anyone else, once they computed that the usefulness of any individual in that category had come to an end.

  Inwardly Havot’s feelings were intensely mixed when he considered that name, that swear word, being seriously applied to himself. Like everyone else he knew, he had always considered goodlife to be slimy creatures-not, of course, that he had ever actually seen such a person, to his knowledge, or even given them any serious thought. And now, all of a sudden, he himself…

  well, it certainly was not the first time he had moved on into a new category.

  As to that final moment before the crippled berserker turned away-well, something had happened, hadn’t it? Some kind of transaction had taken place between him and the machine. Or so it had seemed to Havot at the time. So he remembered it now.

  He and the killing machine had reached an understanding of some kind-? Or had they?

  At the moment Havot couldn’t decide in his own mind whether he ought to be taking this memory, this impression, seriously.

  During that last confrontation, no words had been spoken on either side, no deal spelled out. Bah. How could he know now exactly what had been going through his own mind then, let alone what the machine’s purpose might have been?

  There was no use fooling himself, though. He brought the memory back as clearly as possible. He had to admit that the machine must have meant something by its odd behavior in letting him survive. Somehow it had expected Havot living to be worth more to the berserker cause than Havot dead. Because otherwise no berserker would have turned its back and let him go. Not when another five seconds of effort would have finished him off.

  “I shouldn’t worry.” His escort, evidently misinterpreting Dirac’s grim expression, was offering reassurance. “The old man’s not that hard to deal with, as a rule.”

  Boarding the space shuttle with his escort, Havot sighed. All his private, inward signs were bad, indicating that the Fates were probably about to treat him to some new kind of trouble.

  Whereas the old familiar kinds would have been quite sufficient.

  There were indications that Commodore Prinsep might really be impatient for this interview. The small shuttle craft, carrying Havot and the officer from the fleet commander’s staff, was being granted top-priority clearance into and through the fleet’s formation space. Entering space in the steadily moving shuttle, Havot could see the surface of the water-spotted planetoid curved out below, already showing the results of the first stage of rehabilitation.

  From casual remarks dropped by some of his fellow passengers, Havot soon learned that the reconstruction work had been suspended for the time being, at the fleet commander’s order. Almost all energies were to be directed toward the coming pursuit of the enemy-as soon as everyone could be sure that the enemy was not about to double back and attack the system again.

  And now, close above the rapidly rising shuttle, the fleet that hung in orbit seemed to be spreading out. Its fifteen or twenty ships made a hard-to-judge formation of dim points and crescents, picked out by the light of the distant Imatran sun.

  Though unified under the command of one person-a high-ranking political (Havot gathered) officer of easygoing nature named Ivan Prinsep-the fleet was composed of ships and people from several planets and societies-all of them Solarian, of course.

  Havot also overheard talk to the effect that Commodore Prinsep’s task force, which had almost caught up with the marauding berserkers here, had been chasing the same machines, or some of them, for a long time, probably for months.

  Unlike Dirac’s berserker in the days of yore, these modern machines had approached Imatra from a direction almost directly opposite from that of the Mavronari Nebula. The task force, reaching the scene just in time to salvage Havot in his broken suit from the abandoned battlefield, had arrived from the same general direction as the berserkers, but several hours too late to confront them.

  Havot was already mulling over the idea of trying to get taken along with the fleet as some kind of witness or consultant, or simply as a stranded civilian in need of help. That would certainly be preferable to waiting around on blasted Imatra or on one of the system’s inner planets until Rebecca Thanarat and her suspicious colleagues had had time to check out his background.

  Fortunately for Havot’s cause, Fleet Commander Prinsep, rather than order a hot pursuit, had delayed in the Imatran system, waiting for reinforcements. While he waited, he had been managing at least to look busy by meeting with various authorities from the inward planets.

  “Flagship’s coming up, dead ahead.”

  Looking out of the shuttle through a cleared port, Havot beheld what must be a battle craft, or ship of the line, called the Symmetry. As they drew near he could read the name, clearly marked upon a hull that dwarfed those landed ships he had so recently judged enormous.

  Moments later, the shuttle was being whisked efficiently in through a battle hatch to a la
nding on the flight deck amidships of the commodore’s flagship.

  Quickly Havot was ushered into a kind of bridge or command center, a cavernous place replete with armor and displays, everything he would have imagined the nerve center of a battleship to be.

  Despite his escort’s reassurances, he had been expecting a grim, no-nonsense warrior. Thus he was startled when he first set eyes on the commodore, a pudgy, vaguely middle-aged figure in a rumpled uniform.

  Havot blinked. A few of the other chairs in the dim, dramatic room were occupied by organic humans, faces impassive, going on about their business. At the moment, the leader of the punitive task force was giving his full attention to a holostage beside his command chair, conducting a dialogue, discoursing learnedly in a petulant voice with some expert system regarding what sounded like a complicated arrangement of food and drink. Havot learned of things called Brussels sprouts and baked Alaska. Something called guacamole. Green chili-chicken soup.

  The newcomer, realizing that he had not exactly entered the den of a tiger thirsting for combat, felt cheered by the discovery.

  So much, thought Havot, for any serious concerns he might have had about the dangers of combat if he accompanied the fleet on its departure.

  The commodore’s business with the menu had evidently been concluded. Now he turned his vaguely feminine and somewhat watery gaze on Havot, invited him to sit down, and questioned him about his experience with the berserker.

  Havot, perching on the edge of another power chair nearby, told essentially the same story as before.

  Prinsep, gazing at him sadly, prodded his own fat cheek with a forefinger, as if checking tenderly on the state of a sore tooth.

  But what the commodore said was: “The Humanity Office is interested in you, young man.”

  “I’ve discovered that, Commodore.” Havot wondered just how ingratiating and pleasant he wanted to appear. Well, he certainly wasn’t going to overdo it.

  But his pudgy questioner, for the moment at least, was again distracted from any interest in his job-or in handsome young men.

  What must be today’s dinner menu, complete with graphic illustrations, was taking now shape upon the nearby ‘stage, and this drew the commodore’s attention for a while.

  But presently he was regarding his visitor again. “Hmf. For the time being, I believe you had better eat and sleep aboard this ship. I’ll put you on as a civilian consultant; I want to talk to you at greater length about your experiences on the surface. Some of my people will want to conduct a proper debriefing.”

  Havot made a small show of hesitation, but inwardly felt ready to jump at the suggestion, not caring whether or not it really amounted to an order. Instinct told him that right now the Humanity Office were the people he had to worry about, and Prinsep seemed to offer the best chance of staying out of their clutches. Havot was still unclear on the precise nature of the HO.

  As a full-fledged organization devoted purely to anti-goodlife activity, it had no counterpart in the regions of the Solarian-settled Galaxy with which Havot was generally familiar.

  But on principle he loathed any governmental body that questioned and arrested people.

  Somewhat to Havot’s surprise, he had no sooner left the control room than he encountered Becky Thanarat again. Looking thoroughly at home here on the Symmetry, she greeted him in a friendly manner, told him she had come up to the flagship in an HO shuttle, and in general conducted herself as if she had a right to be aboard.

  Privately, Havot felt a wary contempt for the cool and seemingly confident young agent. He thought he could detect some basic insecurity in her, and had already begun to imagine with pleasure how he would attempt her seduction if the opportunity should ever arise.

  And he was ready to deal with more questions about berserkers, if the need arose. His calm denial, in his own mind, that he had ever trafficked with them did not even feel like lying.

  That confrontation with the killer machine had been quite real, but it had been a separate and distinct reality from this one-Havot was no stranger to this kind of dichotomy. It greatly facilitated effective lying-he had never yet met the lie detector that could catch him out.

  Superintendent Gazin of the Imatran HO office, accompanied by Lieutenant Ariari, evidently one of his more senior agents, presently came to reinforce Becky Thanarat aboard the flagship.

  Superintendent Gazin was a dark, bitter, and ascetic-looking man, and Ariari his paler-looking shadow. Both men gave Havot the impression of nursing a fanatical hatred not only of berserkers and goodlife, but of the world in general. That was not Havot’s way; he rarely thought of himself as hating anyone.

  It was soon plain that the superintendent and his trusted aide had come up to the flagship solely to see Havot, whom they now quickly summoned to a meeting.

  The meeting took place in quarters assigned to the Office of Humanity representatives. The results, thought Havot, were inconclusive. He was not exactly threatened, but it was obvious that the OH was preparing, or trying to prepare, some kind of case against him.

  Becky Thanarat seemed drawn to Havot by something other than sheer duty. Waiting for him in the semi-public corridor at the conclusion of the formal meeting, she informed him of word, or at least rumor, which had reached her, to the effect that legal minds at high levels were even now wrangling over a proposed declaration of martial law on the planetoid of Imatra. This would give prosecutors locally considerable power beyond what they were ordinarily permitted to exercise.

  “Just wanted to warn you,” she concluded.

  “Thanks. Though I don’t suppose there’s much I can do about it. By the way, aren’t you worried that your boss will see you socializing on jolly terms with me?”

  “Not a bit. He’s directed me to do just that.”

  “Oh. I see. To win my confidence?”

  “And having done so, be witness to some damning admissions from your own lips.”

  “I take it you’re not recording this?”

  “Not yet, but I’m about to start. Ready?… there.” He couldn’t see that Becky had made any overt physical movement to turn anything on. Some alphatriggered device, no doubt.

  Ultimately, Havot felt sure it would be up to the commodore to decide whether martial law should be declared, because Prinsep was camped here with the weapons and the power to do just about anything he liked.

  The fleet commander did take action of a sort. Calling before him the people chiefly concerned, Prinsep, looking vaguely distressed in the presence of Havot and the OH people, considered the question of martial law.

  “I don’t understand this request.” His voice, as usual, was petulant. “What smattering of legal knowledge I possess whispers to me that the purpose of martial law is the control of an otherwise unmanageable population.”

  One of his own aides nodded briskly. “That is correct, Commodore.”

  “Then I really fail to understand.” He stared with watery eyes at the OH people. “What population are you trying to control, anyway? I get the idea, don’t you know, that they’re all dead hereabouts.” The statement concluded with a final little shudder of repugnance.

  At that point Humanity Office Superintendent Gazin, no doubt confident of his target, decided to try a lightly veiled threat.

  “There is only one proper way to approach the situation, Fleet Commander. Or perhaps for some reason you don’t approve of the Humanitarian point of view in general?”

  Prinsep only blinked at him and looked distressed. “Dear me.

  But whatever personal feelings I might have in the matter must surely be put aside. No, as a matter of military necessity, Superintendent, our only living witness to the attack must be kept available to the military, for ah, continued debriefing.”

  This was all, as far as Havot could see, political sparring. In fact the commodore and his advisers hadn’t bothered Havot very much with questions so far. And however much Havot might have been willing to help, the fact was that he honestly could giv
e them very little about berserkers. He thought of trying to fabricate some interesting tidbits, just to confirm the commodore’s conviction of his usefulness, but decided that would be too risky.

  Still Havot, despite his earlier forebodings, was convinced that things were now going well for him. Fortune still smiled, the furious Fates were held at bay, and he was content for the time being to wait in his newly assigned cabin, small but adequate, aboard the flagship Symmetry. In a day or two this impressive weapon was going to carry him safely out of the chaos of the Imatran system, whisk him away before any word of his true identity and legal status could arrive in-system and reach the anxious hands of Superintendent Gazin and his HO cohorts.

  Havot had one worry: delay. He doubted very much that the gourmandizing commodore was going to break his neck hurrying after the fleeing berserker fleet. With fine wines and exotic foods to be enjoyed, why risk bringing about a real confrontation with that murderous collection of machines?

  Now, having got through what he could hope would be his last unpleasant confrontation with the superintendent, Havot spent most of his time inspecting one shipboard display or another, or chatting with any crew members who happened to be free. He also took note of the fact that additional Solarian fighting ships kept appearing in-system at irregular intervals of hours or minutes, and attaching themselves to the fleet.

  The continuing buildup of force was impressive. Arguably ominous. But Havot was not personally very much afraid of combat; and he still doubted seriously that Prinsep was the type of leader to make serious use of the strength he was being given.

  He enjoyed arguing this, and other matters, with Becky Thanarat. And of course he took it for granted that she was recording him, even, or especially, when she assured him she was not.