by B. V. Larson
Eventually I returned to the bridge where I found Adrienne helping to coordinate the repairs and doing a decent job of it. This didn’t surprise me, as she was a graduate student in a technical field.
While the ship was being repaired, Captain Turnbull questioned the ship’s brainbox about his inability to override the power controls. It provided no useful information about why or who had set the program that way.
I had my suspicions, though. Something occurred to me that I should have thought of before. I tapped Adrienne on the elbow and motioned with my head, let’s go. As we weren’t technically part of the crew and things were more or less under control, I felt this was a good time to slip out.
“What are we doing?” she asked as we walked down the corridor toward the brig.
“Going to talk to Marvin,” I replied.
“Why? He’s locked up.”
“Don’t count on it. He’s partly made of nano-metal, remember?”
“So?” she asked. “Kwon sealed the brig cell.”
“With smart metal.”
“Oh.” Realization showed on her face. “So all he had to do was use his own nano-metal to tap into the smart metal seal and instruct it to open up.”
“No, it’s worse than that, I think. If he can exert control over the metal, he must be able to communicate throughout the ship and connect to anything using the nanite network, right from the cell. After all, they locked him in there and told him he couldn’t leave. They didn’t tell him he couldn’t tap into the ship’s systems. And I told him I was going to try to get him access to the experiment. Maybe he took that as permission.”
“It’s like having an evil genie that always twists your words.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“But you said you told him not to make trouble!”
“I guess he has a different definition of that than I do.” We slowed our headlong rush in front of the brig cell door, checking for any marines that should have been minding the store. It looked like they were all still out helping with damage control.
Just then, Kwon came around the corner, huge in full battle armor, with a grim expression on his face. “I’m gonna destroy that son of a bitch,” he said with fire in his eyes. “I’m gonna rip him limb from limb. I just lost eight good marines.” It looked like Kwon had jumped to much the same conclusion as I had. After all, he’d known Marvin much longer.
“Just don’t kill him, Kwon. We need him.”
“Why?”
“I—” I stopped, because I wasn’t sure how to answer Kwon, so I bullshitted a bit. Dad always said a little bullshit was sometimes necessary when the stakes were high. Lesser of two evils and all that. “Whatever just happened, I’m pretty sure Marvin caused it somehow, and that means he’s probably the only one who really knows what’s going on. And that makes him the one we need to fix everything.” I realized that was half true, even as I said it.
“Whatever you say, sir,” Kwon replied, clearly not happy. “Just let me go in first. He might be dangerous.”
“Oh, he’s dangerous all right, but not to any individual in his presence, I don’t think.” Then I remembered how Dad had told me about how his old girlfriend Sandra had been healed from a coma when Marvin had “accidentally” allowed another woman to fall into the Microbe tank with her. The Microbes had apparently eaten the other one to fix Sandra.
I hoped that was an exception.
“He’s a loose cannon, and I’m gonna lock him down,” Kwon said.
“Just open it up and watch our backs.” I waved at the cell door. Kwon passed an electronic key over the nano-controlled lock. It had already occurred to me that if Marvin could hack the ship, he could hack his cell too. So, I was a little surprised to see him inside when it opened. It looked like he was just sitting quietly in the middle of the floor, his tentacles folded, all innocence in appearance.
“Marvin, what the hell did you do? Did you somehow activate the ring?”
“No.”
I gritted my teeth. Whenever he gave one-word answers, there was usually more to the story. “Bullshit, Marvin. You did this. You tapped into the ship’s network and turned that thing on, and now look what happened. We’ve got twenty or thirty people dead because of you! I should let Sergeant Major Kwon disassemble you down to a naked brainbox. How would you like to have no limbs and no sensory inputs?”
“Threats are not necessary, Cody Riggs. My orders were to not leave this cell. No one told me I should not access the ship’s network and observe the scientists while they worked on the ring.”
I made an exasperated sound in my throat. “Observe, huh? You agreed not to make trouble! You must have done a lot more than observe.”
“Not to make any unnecessary trouble was the agreement. Would you like me to play it back for you?”
“No, I…” I gave up on pinning him down for his past sins and decided to concentrate on the present and future—assuming we had one. “Marvin, did you lock out the command codes for Captain Turnbull?” I gestured at Kwon, who looked like he wanted to tear a piece off of Marvin.
Marvin fixed his cameras on the marine and apparently decided to start cooperating. “Only long enough to ensure the scientists’ experiment would be properly energized.”
“You’re claiming they started up the ring?”
“They did connect the leads and apply power and send it a series of test commands. I merely determined that their commands would accomplish nothing. They didn’t employ a checksum, and nothing would execute without one. I considered adding a small subroutine that would add a checksum and vary their command codes until a response from the ring was observed.”
“In other words, you caused this accident,” I said, thinking of my dad’s farm and all those dead chickens. Marvin really was a slithering disaster. “A big piece of the ship has been ripped away. A bunch of people died because of what you did.”
“My statements were not intended to be a confession,” Marvin replied. “I stated that I planned to add the subroutine—but I didn’t. I suspect that someone else did.”
I frowned, wondering if he was lying or evading or some combination of both. “Who could have done such a thing?” I demanded.
“I would suspect a crewmember from Valiant.”
I snorted. “That’s a big help. You’ve eliminated Adrienne and me but left us with a list of seventy or so suspects.”
“I’ve also eliminated myself from the list as I’m technically part of Greyhound’s crew as well.”
Adrienne had been frowning with increasing intensity.
“I don’t believe you, robot,” she said.
“I suspected as much,” Marvin said, swinging an extra camera her way. “I’ve been monitoring your facial contortions and body rhythms.”
Adrienne turned to me. “We should torture him or something until he confesses.”
Marvin’s cameras perked up a fraction. “Torture? What form might this attempted coercion take?”
I wasn’t sure if he was curious or worried. Maybe both. I threw up my hands and shook my head.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s assume you’re innocent—or nearly innocent. I suspect the real story is that you created these subroutines but didn’t employ them. Someone else found them and installed them.”
Marvin just stared at me.
“You’re not denying my accusation?” I asked.
“I do not see it as an accusation. It is more of a clarification of past events. An insignificant detail I overlooked in my report.”
“Yeah, insignificant. You built the gun, but someone else fired it. Well, anyway, let’s move on. Why would someone employ your routines blindly without checking with you? Did you discuss them with anyone else?”
“We’ve only just arrived. I barely had time to create them and store them in Valiant’s database. Someone else must have accessed and installed them.”
Adrienne made a clucking sound with her tongue. “I still don’t buy it. This robot is evil.”
“A non sequitur,” Marvin said. “I have no alignment with supernatural forces.”
She rolled her eyes, and I lifted my hands to gain their attention.
“I think we should figure this out. If there is a saboteur aboard, we need to know who it is. These events might even be related to the sabotage that killed Olivia.”
Adrienne’s eyes widened. “This robot did both!” she said. “It’s obvious. Marvin was there when we first refueled, he stowed away when we returned and then he helped activate the ring. Why do you want to kill Cody so badly, Marvin?”
I frowned. She had some good points, but I found it hard to believe Marvin could be the assassin. I shook my head.
“I don’t think he did it,” I said. “I would probably be dead by now if he was behind this.”
“Thank you, Cody Riggs,” Marvin said. He’d been watching the two of us closely.
“For what?” I asked him.
“For complimenting my effectiveness.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I guess I did. You’re a better assassin than this, and you wouldn’t have missed twice.”
“No, I would not have. Moreover, there were ample opportunities during the long flight out to the Thor system for me to sabotage the ship. I could have evacuated the internal pressure, for example, as I don’t need to breathe. Or, I could have—”
I could see Adrienne was becoming upset with his list of possible ways he could have killed us, so I stopped him.
“That’s enough,” I said. “Let’s focus on figuring out who is guilty. We’re wasting time.”
“I must agree,” Marvin said, “and we don’t have much time to waste.”
“Why not?” Adrienne asked suspiciously.
“Because this system is inhabited.”
“Inhabited? How do you know?” I asked.
“During our conversation, I’ve been monitoring our sensors and collating the input. The local stellar configuration indicates we’re over three hundred light years from Earth at a star designated HD 95086. The star is also known as Tullax. We’re now picking up radio transmissions that are either in code or a language different from any I’ve encountered.”
“Anything else you’d like to share with us?” I asked.
“Yes. There is a squadron of warships headed this way.”
-8-
I’d trained all my life to be a Star Force officer. Like my Dad, I never had much of a problem making snap decisions. Thinking them through? That was another matter. “Kwon, grab Marvin. We’re going aboard Greyhound.”
Kwon did grab Marvin, but then stopped, obviously torn between his natural desire to obey the guy who reminded him of his old boss and friend, and his loyalty to his commander, Captain Turnbull. “He’s supposed to stay in the brig.”
“Look, Kwon, the captain has enough trouble right now without worrying about a robot who fiddles with everything like a disobedient child.” I was rubbing it in a little. Marvin deserved it, in my book. “I’ll take responsibility as the officer on the scene. Once he’s back aboard Greyhound, Marvin will be out of Fleet’s way and Turnbull can concentrate on dealing with the approaching alien ships. Besides, once we’re there, we can cast off and pop back through the ring to report what happened and call for reinforcements.”
“Right. Okay.” Kwon decided to go with my ideas and began dragging Marvin along as Adrienne and I hurried for the airlock.
“Am I under arrest?” Marvin asked politely.
“Yes,” Kwon said. “Permanent arrest.”
Marvin rasped his tentacles unhappily but didn’t resist.
Fortunately the smart metal tube between the two ships was still connected, though we did have to cycle through the airlocks in the normal fashion. Apparently the brainboxes of both ships were taking no chances. Once Kwon packed Marvin into our side’s airlock chamber, he returned to his duties aboard his own ship, looking relieved. I had to say I was sorry to see him go. He was sure a good man to have at your back.
Inside, Marvin straightened up and decided to walk on his own. I reached over and slapped one of his cameras hard enough to rattle it. “Marvin, listen to me. I just saved you from a lot of whatever passes for pain in that mechanical mind of yours. You should be grateful to me. Now I need you to stay out of everyone’s way unless someone asks you for help. If they do, then help.”
“Understood. Program set.”
“Uh-huh.” I stared at him a moment longer, and then said to Adrienne, “Let’s go.”
Once on the cramped bridge, we cast off from Valiant. I wasn’t comfortable with Greyhound stuck onto the damaged battlecruiser like a nursing whale calf. “We’re going back through the ring. Valiant doesn’t need us in the way, and Star Force has to know what happened.”
“Good idea,” she said. “I’ll plot a course.”
“Thank you, Adrienne. Greyhound, hail Valiant. Adrienne, when you finish with the computer please contact your uncle. He’s really not happy with me right now.”
“Okay.”
“On speaker,” the brainbox said after a few minutes.
“Uncle William, this is Adrienne. We’re going to pop through the ring and broadcast what’s happened, and then we’ll come right back, all right? We won’t leave you in the lurch.”
I thought it was ironic that she was assuring a Fleet battlecruiser that we, in an unarmed yacht, wouldn’t abandon them to their fate.
Sir William’s voice came back. “Good idea, girl. There’s a squadron of alien warships bearing down on us, arriving in about five hours. They don’t look like Macros—but who knows? We still have some repairs to make then we’ll join you. Let us know what you discover about the ring.”
“Yes, Uncle, we will. Greyhound out.”
“The ring is coming up.” I pointed. As we approached, we could see it with the naked eye, floating like a vast circle in space. “How come more stuff isn’t coming through?” I wondered aloud.
“Maybe it’s stabilized.”
“We’ll have to be very careful going in. We might end up running smack into Yale itself, so we’ll have to ease through dead slow.” We pulled up to the ring and decelerated using repellers. The star-stuff of the ring itself was so dense that it exerted its own small gravitic force, about two percent of a G. I did sweat a little when I slipped the ship through.
Unfortunately we merely sailed through to the other side, no transport.
“The ring must be slowly flipping,” I said aloud, “so all we have to do is reverse course and ease through from this side…”
That didn’t do anything either. We were left floating in the middle of a huge ring in the same system where we’d arrived a couple of hours ago.
“Bollocks,” Adrienne said, sounding a lot like Olivia. “Why isn’t the ring working?”
“It means we’re stuck here three hundred light years from home.” I snapped my fingers. “Marvin!”
The bridge portal opened, and Marvin ambled through.
“Were you just waiting outside the door?” I asked.
“Of course. I knew you would need me soon, but my presence seems to cause you agitation, Cody Riggs, so like any polite and considerate being I tried to take your feelings into account and remain out of sight. I wouldn’t want to screw the pooch.”
I wondered whether I hadn’t overdone it by teaching him that particular piece of idiomatic phraseology, but it was too late now. “Marvin, why isn’t the ring working?”
“Because it has no power.”
“I thought you started it up.”
“It appears that applying ship power from the battlecruiser activated it for a certain short period of time, but the usual ring inverted quantum flux self-sustainment calibrated energy matrix has failed to take hold in this case.”
“That sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook,” I said. “I don’t care, though. Can we power it again to go through?”
“Not with Greyhound, no. It doesn’t have enough energy. We will need Valiant’s reactors as well.”
“And we’ll have to overload, if it’s like last time,” Adrienne observed. “I’ll hail Uncle William again.” She informed Turnbull of the situation, and we heard from him that the alien squadron was composed of six identical cruiser-sized ships. They had come from Tullax 4, a hot wet Earthlike world fourth out from its sun with a large airless moon rather like Earth’s. Well, at least the ships weren’t Macros. Hopefully they were biotics of some kind that we could relate to.
“Maybe Marvin can figure out their language,” I said. I turned to the robot, who was stealthily extending a rivulet of nano-metal toward a nearby console. “Stop that! Marvin, do not try to access ship systems without permission.”
Marvin froze the forming metal tentacle, but did not retract it. “You already gave me permission.”
“That was before you decided to sneak aboard Valiant and play with the ring.” I mused on the squadron headed our way for a moment. “It would be quite a challenge for us to learn and translate the language of the aliens native to this system.”
“That is true,” Marvin said.
“I bet it would be an even bigger challenge for you,” I went on. I had to keep Marvin occupied doing something useful or he’d get into even more trouble.
Marvin stared at me with all his cameras. “I deduce you are trying to manipulate me, but there is no need. Anything is better than constantly being told to do nothing.”
“Fine. Greyhound, set Marvin’s station to receive and process only and disconnect all other external functions.”
“Parameters accepted. Implemented.”
“All right, Marvin. Let me know when you’ve figured out enough to understand what they’re saying and to talk back to them.”
Marvin wedged himself in behind the console and connected in. The chair he didn’t need was forced to resorb back into the floor. I hoped he would follow instructions and just do what he was supposed to. Probably a vain hope.
“Valiant is moving toward the ring,” I said as I scanned the displays. “Looks like they will join us shortly. Maybe they can turn this thing back on and we can return to Thor.” Now that I was stuck so far from known space, I remembered something Dad had quoted to the effect that adventures are just tales of someone else being miserable, far, far away. I was starting to see his point.