Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail flotd-4

by Jack L. Chalker

  Point 5: Assuming this reproductive function, a number of very interesting possibilities arise. While protecting their young is the only solution that logic admits, then the Diamond worlds are there not only as needed protection for the eggs but also to serve as carefully controlled biomes for the young to settle. It’s a fascinating concept—colonizing worlds by first terraforming them, then planting the eggs which, when they hatch, will become the perfectly adapted indigenous population of those worlds, complete with the Warden computer links to teach them all they need to know. I admit, however, to be missing a key element here, since all this implies that space travel and terra-forming and computers are essential to their reproduction. It is patently absurd to think of such a race, since how did it get born or evolve in the first place?

  Of course, if we just accept the idea that their civilization is far older than ours, this problem partly resolves itself. After all, human beings now reproduce in technologically perfect genetic engineering laboratories throughout the civilized worlds. A race just coming upon the civilized worlds and ignorant of our history and of observing the “natural” way on a frontier world or the Diamond might well have the same puzzle the Altavar present to me here. They would wonder how we ever reproduced before we had the technology the bioengineering labs implies. Much the same must be at work here. This is not how they evolved or how nature intended them to breed, but it is the way they choose to do it now—because, for them, it’s better, easier, more efficient, or whatever. Take your choice.

  Summary: The aliens created the Diamond worlds as incubators and new homes for their young. They are slow-breeding and long-lived, and thus this must represent a whole new generation for a large mass of Altavar. They can not retreat or back down without abandoning their young, and while I doubt that the Diamond is the only breeding ground for them, it is of sufficiently large size and scope that anything interfering with the hatching and development of the young would be tantamount to genocide in their minds.

  When humans showed up, the aliens used their mechanism—the Warden organism—and their planetary computers to understand, evaluate, and assess our entire civilization. As long as the hatching, or whatever it is, was sufficiently far off, they had plenty of time in which to do so. But we obliged them by sending our greatest criminal minds and political and social deviants to the Diamond, and their attitudes shaped the human societies that grew on all four worlds. As a result, their picture of us is rather negatively slanted, to say the least. The hatch time approached—although it may still be a decade or even longer away—and they had to decide what to do. Whether for science, or study, or just out of scientific mercy, they contacted the Four Lords with a view to saving the Diamond population. But it was then also communicated to the Lords that the rest of humanity was simply too great a threat and would have to be wiped out.

  Kreegan, upon becoming Lord of Lilith, came up with and proposed his own scheme to the Altavar, who were willing to let him try it but neither expected it to work nor concerned themselves with the fates of the Four Lords. But because the Four Lords made a mistake, the Altavar now feel backed against a wall. To their minds, delaying much longer will risk genocide of their young, and if it’s them or us, they’ll naturally choose us. They know our military strengths and weaknesses, our weaponry, our military mind, and everything else an enemy dreams of knowing. Apparently none of that worries them. They are confident that they can crush us, and I believe they will attempt to do so by preemptive strike, after the Four Lords campaign has wreaked as much damage and disruption as it can. I think we are no more than weeks, and perhaps only days, away from a total war that may result in the near elimination of human—or perhaps both—civilizations.

  Conclusions and Recommendations: I think they not only can beat us, but I suspect they have fought at least one such war before. They are too supremely confident. However, we as a race would survive. We are too numerous and located on too many worlds over too much space to be wiped out totally. Pushed back into barbarism, the collapse of interstellar civilization and the death of at least a third of humanity would be the least I would expect in such a conflict, but we would survive. Our only recourse would be that we could, obviously, destroy the Diamond with a concerted, possibly suicidal all-out revenge attack—the thing they fear most, and so do I. Such an attack would enrage them and rob them of their next generation; it would be our last blow, but much of their force would remain intact.

  I may be totally wrong, and they may think in so alien a manner that they will not react in a way I can predict, but I feel I must point out how we would react under such circumstances and urge that we act as if they’re more like us emotionally than unlike us. If the situation were reversed: if humans beat the hell out of the Altavar but, in the process, the Altavar managed to destroy every human being’s ability to create children by any means, thereby ending the race in slow agony, we would then seek out Altavar wherever they were, in their ships, on their worlds, and once they were beaten and defenseless, we would then systematically wipe them out to the last one. In-other words, destroying the Diamond might well result in total human genocide.

  Obviously I’m telling you that we can not win in this situation. If you refuse to face that fact, refuse to accept my report and its conclusions, then I believe both races could die. The impossible, the unthinkable, will happen. When man first went into space and colonized other worlds, a great pressure was lifted from the collective psyche. The human race would not be totally destroyed by itself in war, at least not easily. And when, finally, we grew so large and so expansive and merged into the single system that the Confederacy represents, we thought we had put any possibility of racial destruction behind us. People could die, even whole suns could explode and take their worlds and populations with them, but humanity would survive.

  If this chain is now started, it will be impossible to stop. We have finally come face to face with the horror once again, and we have only ugly choices.

  The Four Lords are now meeting in Council and are waiting for my call. The only hope we have is to do everything right, and, therefore, it is essential that you follow all of my recommendations immediately and without fail.

  (1) No matter how this sabotage campaign is going, it is essential that only reports of complete disarray and disaster reach this picket ship, which is totally infiltrated with the robots. At all times from this point the Four Lords and the Altavar must be convinced that Kreegan’s war is winning, that his plan is working perfectly. If the Altavar receive the slightest hint that it is not, they will probably launch a massive preemptive strike on us.

  (2) Negotiations must be opened immediately. I will be the go-between, because, having three surviving alter egos down there, I will be one they will trust. However, we must be linked directly to the Confederacy Inner Council, who must all be on call to appear on visual transmission. It must be clear that they are dealing with someone—me—: who speaks for the Council and that I have the force sufficient to make my agreements binding on the Confederacy.

  (3) As much of the fleet as can be depended upon not to be needed for emergency actions against the current war campaign must be rushed to the Diamond on full alert. Only with the threat of immediate destruction of the Diamond will we have any leverage at all. Put your best military minds in that fleet and get it here—fast, and on full war alert. You can expect ship-to-ship attack if negotiations fail or if they decide to test us.

  (4) No matter what you think of the Four Lords and their organizations, they are not stupid and they will not be lulled into any false agreements. They know that their own worlds are on the line, which will keep them honest, but as agents of the Altavar they also know our real position, which isn’t great. They have also, obviously, been promised safe evacuation in the event of an attack by us, so they are only concerned about their populations, not their own hides. I must warn the Council that the demands the Altavar will make will be stiff and severe. We must negotiate and be prepared to give up a grea
t deal, perhaps much that we hold dear. But we must find a solution that will result in the Altavar feeling safe and secure—and we must mean it and guarantee it with our actions, not just words. They know us too well to accept our promises or a treaty.

  This is Warden Control, awaiting your decision and instructions.

  “Well? What do you think?”

  “It is the only logical solution given the data,” the computer replied. “You should have been a computer.”

  “High praise. Well, they got it now. How do you think they’ll take it?”

  “They will refuse to accept your conclusions, of course, but they will play along with you and the Four Lords for now. Did you expect anything else?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I doubt it. Given what you know, can you compute the current probabilities of all-out war?”

  “Too many variables. But I would say you have a ten-percent chance of pulling something, out of this.”

  He sighed. “Ten percent. I guess that’ll have to do. Wake me when they call back.” He paused a moment. “Well, it doesn’t look like you will be ordered to kill me, anyway.”

  The computer did not reply.

  It took them almost five hours to reach some kind of consensus, which, considering the complexity of the Confederacy and its bureaucracy, was almost miraculous time.

  “We can arrange for a complete visual hookup,” Krega told him, “but we’ll have to do an open broadcast. I suppose that doesn’t matter, since they should be able to see and hear your communication with Base.”

  He nodded. “They will insist on a remote location. I will try and stall to give the fleet as much time to position itself as I can, but I must have one secure line and this is the only one I’m reasonably sure about. The computer tells me that I can transmit back to this module from anywhere within the Warden system and that it will do the rest. The Council stays on the public and visual band; you stay on this one, and if I have to get word to the Council I will tell you and you will personally tell the Council.”

  “Agreed. Uh—if you go down there you’re going to be stuck along with the rest you know.”

  “I’m not worried by the prospect. However, I don’t believe that it’s necessarily true, either. I think they now have their Warden organism under pretty complete control. No matter, though. This is a time of ugly choices, and given the choice of being blown to hell in a war or having to live on a Diamond world, my choice is pretty well made. Commander, no matter what, I’m convinced that, after this, all that we know will never be the same again.”

  He switched off, then turned to the other side. “Get me Morah on the Lilith satellite.”

  It took only a couple of minutes to fetch the dark, eerie Chief of Security. “We had about given you up,” Morah told him.

  “These things take time. Your moves against the Confederacy are having major disastrous effects and they’re worried, but they want to talk.” Briefly he outlined his proposal for himself as negotiator with the Council following by direct link, site to be selected.

  Morah thought the proposition over. “This is not simply a trick to bring up the fleet?”

  “We don’t have to. A major task force has been lying only a couple of days off the Diamond for weeks, waiting for any hard evidence from me so they could act. They’re going to come in reasonably close no matter what, but I think the Council will keep its word as long as we keep talking. It seems to me that delay now is in the best interests of the Altavar as well, since we are already in position while they can use the extra time to position then” own forces.”

  Morah seemed to consider the idea, then nodded absently. “All right, then. But any move by the task force to attack positions on the Diamond will terminate everything right then and there. You understand?”

  “I understand. You name the place and time.”

  “Boojum is the seventh moon of Momrath. We have an all-purpose communications center there, with sufficient room and comfortable facilities. Can you reach it by 1600 standard time tomorrow?”

  He nodded. “I’ll be there, along with the comm codes needed to plug us all in. However, I want certain people present from the Diamond as well.”

  “Oh? Who?”

  “First, I want a senior Altavar empowered to deal for its people. The Council insists on it. Second, I’m not clear on the political situation on the Diamond itself right now. Who will represent Charon?”

  “I will, as temporary, or acting Lord,” Morah replied. “Kobe will represent Lilith, and the two surviving Lords the other two.”

  “I’ll have to have a psych named Dumonia from Cerberus there.”

  “Indeed? Why? Who is he?”

  “One of my wild cards. Dumonia is Lord of Cerberus but neither you nor Laroo realize it. Laroo is nothing more than an unnecessary puppet at this point.” He enjoyed the total sense of shock and surprise Morah conveyed. Score one, he thought with satisfaction. Now Morah could not be so absolutely certain of anything. “I also would like, if possible, Park Lacoch from Charon, Cal Tremon from Lilith, and Qwin Zhang from Cerberus present.”

  Morah found that amusing. “Indeed? And which side do they represent?”

  “Good faith,” he responded. “You were going to bring Lacoch anyway, so why not have them all? Who better to evaluate my own sincerity and behavior?”

  “Done, then.”

  “I notice you aren’t surprised that I want nobody from Medusa except Ypsir.”

  Morah cleared his throat and seemed a bit embarrassed. “We are all well aware of what happened on Medusa. I’m afraid Ypsir hasn’t stopped crowing about it yet. A most brilliant and ruthless but totally unpleasant man, the sort of man that turned us against the Confederacy in the old days.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Um—it will be unavoidable that you and Ypsir and his—pet—will meet. I can assume no personal vendetta as long as we are negotiating?”

  “Until we are finished with this business, yes. The stakes here are much too high to allow myself the luxury of personal revenge, right now.”

  Morah looked back into the screen with those piercing, inhuman eyes. “I have the strange feeling that you are not telling me all.”

  He grinned. “Tell me, if you don’t mind—where did you pick up those interesting eyes.”

  Morah paused for a moment, then said softly, “I went to the Mount once too often.”

  It was arranged that he would go by picket boat to Momrath. The boat would be completely automated except for him, and would return automatically without him and be totally sterilized. Later, he was assured, if he could leave the Diamond at all, he would be picked up.

  Curiously, he found himself reluctant to leave what, only the day before, he had regarded as his tomb.

  “We will be in continuous touch,” the computer assured him.

  He nodded absently, checking again his small travel kit.

  “Um, if you don’t mind, would you answer one question for me?” the computer asked. “I have been wondering about it.”

  “Go ahead. I thought you knew everything.”

  “How did you know that a battle fleet lay only two days off the Diamond? I knew, of course, but that information was deliberately kept from you. Did you deduce it.”

  “Oh, no,” he responded breezily, “I hadn’t a clue. I was bluffing.”

  “Oh.”

  And with that, he left the cabin with no trouble and traveled down many decks in the picket ship to the patrol-boat bay. The boat was no luxury yacht, but it was extremely fast and had the ability to “skip” in and out of real space in short bursts of only a fraction of a second. Unlike the lazy freighters that took many days to traverse the distance, he would make his assigned rendezvous in just twenty-five hours.

  He felt a curious sense of detachment from the proceedings after this point. The final phase, and, in a sense, the final scam, was on its way, working itself out to conclusion. One misstep and not only he but everything and everyone might go up; and he knew it. The fact that he’
d failed on Medusa and had succeeded only by flukes on Lilith and Charon bothered him a bit. This whole mission had shaken his self-confidence a bit, although, he had to admit, he had never tackled so ambitious a project before. Indeed, no human being in living memory had ever shouldered such responsibility.

  Something still bothered him about his deductions and conclusions, and he knew what it was. His solution of the maze in the Diamond was too pat, his aliens assumed to be too predictably like humans in their thinking. It was all too damned pat. Life was never pat.

  He slept on the problem, and awoke nine hours later with a vague idea of what was wrong. It was the animals and plants, he realized. Familiar forms, bisexual and asexual. Since they obviously weren’t created for human viewing, they must reflect the general lines of thinking of the Altavar, who would draw on their own background and experience. No matter how bizarre the Altavar looked, how different their evolutionary roots from those of man, they must have evolved in roughly similar environments. They were highly consistent in their makeups of the worlds, yet here was a basic inconsistency. His view of them did not conform to the kinds of worlds they built.

  The screens picked up the vistas he passed, and recorded them for later viewing. He amused himself by punching up all four Diamond worlds, now in anything but a diamond configuration, and blowing up the images as best he could. None of them really showed much in the way of surface features at this distance, but he found himself oddly transported to each as he looked at its disk. So odd, so unusual, so exotic … So deadly.

  If they’re really homes for Altavar young, why the hell did they tolerate human populations in the millions on them?

  Questions with no easy or clear answers like that one disturbed him. For most of his life, the Confederacy had been his spck, and he had believed in it. He, himself, had caught some of the very people down there on those four worlds, sending them to what he believed to be a hellish prison. He still wasn’t very impressed with the Four Lords and their minions or with the systems they had developed; but, he knew, he felt no real difference when looking at the Diamond or at the Confederacy. He felt like a confirmed atheist in the midst of a vast and grandiose cathedral, able to appreciate the skill and art that went into its construction but feeling pretty sure it wasn’t worth the effort.