The mayor and his assistant watched from his window as the twins headed off. The assistant turned from the window and clapped briefly. The mayor bowed.
The assistant pursed his lips. “You really think this will come off?”
“Sure it will. My brother-in-law says there’s no way a reasonably competent engineer, even a young one, will miss that metal fatigue. Which would cause the breakage in the part the Tofa were waving around. It’s the sort of thing that can result from defective design.”
“Except when it doesn’t. What if the kid is too good?”
The mayor waved him off. “Like you said — he’s just a kid! And you know they come here to solve problems. You think he’s going to go for the conclusion that’d cause them? No, we gave them the idea, and they’ll go for it. Another species conflict averted; swelling music, roll credits.”
Nathan and the Tofa engineer — Ser-nal-sim by name — examined the machine. Li-sen had made the introductions and stood by in case anyone wished him to take part, but Nathan’s Tofar was adequate to the purpose. Li-sen reflected that engineers had their own language, spoken or not; there seemed to be no communication difficulties. He retreated to a comfortable wall and leaned there to wait.
The two were examining several different parts of several different machines. Li-sen noted with interest that both Nathan and the Tofa were using occasional Terran words. He recalled historical instances of the same phenomenon when a technologically dominant culture interacted with those less advanced.
After a few minutes, the colloquy broke up, and Nathan came over to report. “I’ve found something that could explain the failure of that coupling. Metal fatigue. There was an uneven stress load, and — well, the short version is, culprit identified.”
“And the reason for the metal fatigue?”
“It’s usually a design defect, a failure to understand certain properties of the metal or of the likely stresses thereon. Fatigue happens. It’s the special case of the more general principle. You know the one. . . . But that’s actually a good question. I’m not entirely satisfied. I want to check some of the other components made of the same material, exposed to other stressful conditions.”
A movement caught Li-sen's eye. He looked up to see the Tofa engineer using some sort of scanner or recording device on one of the machines. He turned back to Nathan. “You would expect to see incipient failure of these other components as well.”
“Yes — in which case, they’ve got other trouble brewing, and had better do some preemptive maintenance and design review. But if I don’t find it — well, then things will get interesting.”
Nathan went back over to Ser-nal-sim, and the two started surveying the surrounding equipment.
Fifteen minutes later, Nathan was back, looking perturbed, and Ser-nal-sim was standing tall and stiff near the machine where the failure had occurred.
“We did find similar trouble — and it’s good that we found it — but not everywhere that you’d expect. It’s only showing up in parts of the machinery run by a particular control system.”
"Have you inspected the software for that control system?"
Nathan lifted an eyebrow. "Of course. It’s based on the same program as the software that is not malfunctioning, but there are differences that shouldn’t be there."
“Can you think of any non-intentional cause?”
“In a word, no. And there hasn't been any recent attempt to tweak the code for any purpose -- so it isn't just incompetent software engineering. I think we’ve got sabotage, after all. Plus an attempt to conceal it. There’s historical precedent, you may remember — using malicious software to emulate poor design. Though I’d guess someone reinvented that wheel.”
Li-sen webbed and unwebbed the fingers of his lower left hand. “For some purpose. That may be the end of the problem to consider first.”
“Let’s attack it from both ends at once. I’ll talk to Ser-nal-sim about the grain market and whether anyone would want to interfere with it. You talk to the plant manager about who could have gotten in here unobserved.”
Li-sen and an unfamiliar Tofa walked up to where Nathan and the Tofa engineer were conferring. Nathan spoke as they approached. “Li-sen, we haven’t come up with anything compelling. The plant is one of several that processes grain, and there’s no single person or entity that would profit that much from its being out of commission. Have you come up with something?”
“I fear we have. The plant manager suggested I speak to Hal-net-dat." Li-sen gestured with a lower hand toward the newcomer. "Hal-net-dat was with the delegation that visited Mayor Bronson. He was in the waiting area outside the mayor’s interior office for some time before the mayor admitted them. The waiting area is decorated with pictures of the mayor’s personal and political acquaintance. In one such picture, the mayor was standing in close proximity to several other human adults. One of them, a woman, had hair the color of the mayor’s, and a similar shape of head and body. Next to her was a man.
“Hal-net-dat was working later than usual one night, three days before the broken part was discovered. He believes he saw that man — the man in the picture — walking away from the factory. It is not an area where humans customarily walk, even in the daytime.”
“Did anyone in the delegation confront the mayor with this information?”
“No. It was considered premature. Hal-net-dat was not sure of the human's identity. He is not sure even now. Of course Tofa do not distinguish between human individuals as readily as humans do. Or as I do. I have seen security footage of the area from the night in question. It is necessary, now, that I return to the mayor’s office and see the picture there.”
“And if it is the same man? Do we just tell the mayor that yes, we’ve solved your problem, and it’s close enough to bite you?”
“I think not. If the evidence supports the likelihood that the mayor is familiar with the saboteur, we will temporize and retreat to discuss alternative courses of action.”
“Lisa, this could be bad. If we confirm human sabotage, and by a local political leader — this could explode. It’ll be worse than if we hadn’t come at all.”
“Then we had best draw upon our diplomatic creativity. We can begin considering contingency plans while we travel.”
The two Tofa helped them summon a copter to return to the municipal center.
“Well, boys? What did you find? Everything all worked out?”
Nathan followed the mayor into his office. Li-sen remained in the anteroom.
“We found metal fatigue that could have caused the problem. It would explain what happened. We’ve informed the plant manager. We’re going to go back there before we leave, to check the rest of the facility for similar problems. Just to be helpful.”
Mayor Bronson beamed. “That’s great, son! Good work! I’m sure your people back at the Project will be proud.”
“Is there a room we could use to begin composing our report?”
“Sure, sure. Down that corridor, the empty office on the left, at the end. No one’s using it just now, and the people in the offices nearby are in a meeting downstairs. Just pop in again before you leave. See you then!”
Nathan walked back into the anteroom and beckoned to Li-sen. The two walked quickly down the hallway to the empty office. They went in and closed the door.
As they had agreed in the copter, they spoke in the Twin-Bred dialect of Tofar. Nathan spoke first. “Well?”
“It is the man. I have no doubt.”
Nathan relapsed into Terran for a moment. “Crap.”
“Agreed. Do you have any hypothesis as to why someone close to the mayor would have sabotaged the equipment? Or whether the mayor is complicit?”
“No, and I don’t see how we can form one. We don’t have nearly enough information, or any way to get it. We need allies. Human ones.”
Li-sen wove the fingers of his upper left and lower right hands together. “I believe I have a possibility in mind. There is a jour
nalistic establishment in this town. We should be able to track down its location. Someone in that organization would have the background information that might assist us. As well as a certain occupational curiosity.”
“Don’t forget the occupational tendency to spread the word far and wide.”
“To humans, yes. We have been told that Tofa rarely follow the human news media. But in case that is incorrect, we will have to negotiate a period of discretion.”
The editor of the Hubbard Herald rubbed his hands. “My goodness, this is a juicy little cherry bomb. Well, I’m afraid I can’t come up with some instant explanation. I will tell you that our esteemed mayor is given to scheming, and to tripping himself up. Not half as clever as he fancies himself, that man.”
Nathan stared at the scrap of metal in his hand. “We have to have something to tell the Tofa. They may not take this — meekly. Not if we just tell them that yes, the humans sabotaged your plant, and aren’t you happy you know the truth?. . . I have to admit — we’re in over our heads.” It was not an admission he had imagined making.
“I gather it’s too late to fudge on the issue of whether sabotage occurred?”
Li-sen gave his approximation of a nod. “We identified the sabotage before we identified the likely culprit. It was the Tofa who completed the puzzle.”
“So you need something to tell them, to keep the lid on. And fast. . . . How’s this? You tell the Tofa that you have ensured that a thorough inquiry will be made into the reasons for these shenanigans. That you have brought into your confidence a party who has every reason to investigate, and no reason to hush the matter up. And you assure them that the results of the investigation will be made available to them.”
Nathan was close to tears. “We don’t really know what will happen. If that will be enough. There must be something else we can do!”
Li-sen touched his hand. “Brother. We have uncovered something beyond our capacity to negotiate. Or our authority. We have done our best. This man’s suggestion is a sensible one.”
“And what do we do? Do we stay here and ride it out?”
“To what purpose? I do not think the mayor will be asking for Project assistance. We can ask the Tofa whether they wish us to linger. We will make clear that we are available. If they do not want us, then it is time to go home.”
Mara showed Carla Horn the article on her screen. The Hubbard Herald had used one of its largest headline fonts. “‘Mayor Bronson Resigns Amidst Unanswered Questions; New Mayor Deplores Provocative and Destabilizing Political Operations’! Somehow I doubt that's what our friend the councilman had in mind. I could enjoy all this, if I didn't have the feeling we're going to be blamed for it, somehow, sooner or later. I don’t suppose the councilman would help deflect any adverse publicity.”
Carla shook her head in exaggerated pity at Mara's naivete. “Surely you’re joking. The councilman and Mayor Bronson were political buddies. . . . What do young Nathan and Li-sen make of it all?”
“I hear they’re a bit shaken up by the magnitude of what they stumbled into. But they’re proud of themselves, nonetheless. As they should be. And I was worried about how to salvage their pride. Let that be a lesson, Carla. Be careful what you wish for.”
Chapter 37
* CONFIDENTIAL *
CLEARANCE CLASS 3 AND ABOVE
LEVI Status Report, 1-1-88
Executive Summary
Team Reception Among Local Populations
The teams sent out under controlled conditions since the initial Campbell City incident have encountered significantly less local hostility. Following the successful completion of their missions, several have been shown substantial hospitality. . . .
Max waved his fork in enthusiasm. “They showed us a good time, all right! It was all humans except for Tas-tan here, but they were in a mood to celebrate, and no one gave Tas-tan any trouble. Well, there was this one character that kept asking to count his arms, but we ignored him.” Tas-tan noted with interest that his twin’s diction had picked up characteristics of the McAffrey locals’.
Artemesia’s expression would have been worshipful if it had been less envious. “So what did you get to do?”
“Well, first we went to a show. There were a lot of sparkly costumes, and costume changes, and bouncy music, and the costumes got scantier as it went along. . . . Then we went to what they called a bar. It was mainly a place to drink and dance. They kept giving Tas-tan drinks. I guess they wanted to see what would happen when he got drunk. Which, by the way, is not something I’d ever want to see! But of course alcohol doesn’t have that effect on Tofa.”
“And on you? Didn’t they want to see you drunk?”
Max grinned. “I’d say so! They were very generous with the drinks, all right. I did take one of those pills that are supposed to keep us sober. But the standard dose is two. I thought I may as well not let all those drinks go to waste completely. I’m glad Tas-tan and our security folks were there to steer me back to the copter afterwards.”
Tas-tan tapped his twin’s shoulder. “You are forgetting the card game.”
“Right! After we’d been drinking for a while, one of the locals suggested we play a game of four-in-the-hand. They seemed to think we wouldn’t know how to play, so I didn’t want to embarrass them by saying we’ve been playing it here for years. I guess they just play it for fun — they wouldn’t be using it to develop nonverbal communication between twins, the way we do. At least, they didn’t play as if they had that kind of experience. . . .”
Tas-tan noticed that there was less in the way of boisterous good humor and laughter among their hosts than had been evident earlier. He suspected they had not expected to lose money to their guests, at least not in quantity. Could the nonverbal cues he and Max had been exchanging be contrary to the local variant of the game?
As he grew more uneasy, he remembered a very old video entertainment he had viewed a year or so before, from a genre known as the “western.” The westerners had taken card play very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that someone had been shot with a projectile weapon when the other players believed him to be cheating.
Tas-tan put down his cards and gave Max the signal that meant a change of plans. “Excuse me. We will have to be departing soon. We seem to have accumulated a certain amount of currency. Could we convince you to let us spend it by purchasing a final round of drinks for the establishment?”
The expressions around him changed in what seemed to be a salutary direction. The cards were quickly put aside, and the waiter summoned with loud shouts.
Max shrugged sheepishly. “I guess that might have gone wrong. Good thing Tas-tan was thinking.”
“Instead of drinking.”
“That’s right, rub it in. . . .”
Artemesia thought it all sounded thrilling. She couldn’t wait for her turn. Which should be soon — she’d gotten a look at the assignment list. She finished her lunch, said her farewells, and went off to review the standard mission protocols one more time.
Artemesia and Hal-tet stood proudly side by side as the sheriff of Benford finished her phone call. “Yes, sir. We seem to have things under control now. Yes, you can have the militia stand down. We’ve got it straightened out, pretty much. I’ll send you a report in the morning.” She disconnected. “Good job, you two. I think we would have got there, in the end, but I’m sure you speeded things up a little bit.”
Artemesia reminded herself not to frown. Of course the local authorities would want to minimize the Twin-Bred's contribution; the important thing was to have made it. “Well, we’re happy to have done our — bit. I guess we’ll be on our way.” She hoped that despite her comments, the sheriff was grateful enough to offer them some entertainment, but she wasn’t going to angle for it.
Hal-tet signaled her that something was not as expected. “I seem to have lost sight of our security escort. I did see them following us back to this location. Where are they now?”
“Oh, they’ll be alo
ng. I hope you’ll let us show you the sights a little bit before you go. Some of our deputies would like to stand you a drink or two, and the local Tofa would like a chance to get to know young — Hal-tet, is it? — a little better. It’s just down the street.”
That was more like it. And she could see the security team entering the building the sheriff had indicated, along with several adult Tofa. She and Hal-tet followed the sheriff out the door.
An hour later, Artemesia was not sure that socializing with the locals was all she had expected. The bar was noisy, and almost everyone was taller than she, so it was difficult to keep eye contact with Hal-tet (absorbed in conversation with the other Tofa) or with the security team. There seemed to be more men than women in their party, and the men were getting rather more attentive than she was used to.
“Here, pretty lady. Have another drink.” The glint in the man’s eyes was probably complimentary, but she was not sure how to respond to it. The easiest thing was to accept the glass and take a sip. She was glad that she had taken both her pills.
It was warm in the bar, and she had dressed for outdoors. She excused herself from her companion and went to the back door. She’d seen a small patio there. It would be quieter, and she could get some air. She did not see the two men nod to each other and follow her.
Hal-tet had not realized that he had the habit of locating his twin every few minutes, until he found himself in an environment that made it more difficult. The dense crowd, and Artemesia’s small stature, complicated matters. He told his Tofa companions that he would return to them shortly. One appeared ready to protest, but he headed off to survey the area.
Artemesia was nowhere to be found. Well, if she was not inside, she must be outside. He scanned the room for exits and saw a back door. He headed toward it. As he approached, he heard some sort of commotion, and a sound that could have been a muffled scream.
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