“Perhaps we should discuss this command decision privately, Colonel Riggs,” he suggested.
I almost laughed, but one look from Sandra killed that idea. She was in maximum protectiveness-mode now. It was obvious to everyone that Marvin wanted to convince me without her objections getting in the way. She was right about his motives, they were clearly suspicious. Still, his ideas had merit.
“I agree,” I said. “I’ll talk to each of you about this, one at a time, in the conference room. Sandra, you are up first.”
I touched a wall and it melted under my hand. I stepped inside. Sandra followed a moment later, muttering darkly. The moment the smart metal closed out the command center, she was pacing and complaining. Her long, thin arms gestured in broad motions.
“You can’t listen to that crazy machine!” she told me. “I know what it’s like, Kyle. I know I’m a freak, and it bothers me every day. The Microbes will change you forever.”
“We’d be two of a kind.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. They enhanced me in many ways, but it wasn’t for the purposes of surviving intense cold and pressure. They will do something else to you. You and I will both be unique creatures, unlike the rest of humanity.”
I gazed at her, wondering if she were right. “There’s a lot on the line, Sandra. If I do manage to get the Nano ships to join our fleet, we could chase the Macros out of this system. We are talking about saving several biotic species and six habitable worlds. I’m willing to make some personal sacrifices to save billions of lives.”
She stopped pacing and sat down across from me. She put her head on the table. “I don’t want you to do it. Let someone else turn into a freak. Make it Kwon, or Miklos-or maybe Sloan, I’ve never seen him do anything brave.”
I reached out and touched her hair gently. “I understand how you feel, and I’ll take it into account when I make my decision.”
Sandra looked up at me again. “What about Jasmine?”
“You want me to try to send her?”
She laughed. “I wish. No, I mean you should ask her about this. She should be involved.”
I could see right off where she was headed with this line of reasoning. She knew Jasmine cared about me, and hoped she could convince me not to do it.
“I’ll talk to her about it as well,” I said.
“Good. But don’t do it in a locked room.”
I laughed and kissed her. She pushed back with her lips fiercely, and my mouth burned when we were done. It was a good kind of burn, so I didn’t complain. I sent her out and Marvin came in next.
“Have you made a decision?” he asked.
This surprised me, as I’d been expecting a long, persuasive argument. “Yes,” I said honestly.
“Good. I will go down to the planet surface and prepare the baths. Seven hours should be sufficient. Please be prompt. I will require earthly organics as base materials as well. Six liters of animal matter should be-”
“Marvin,” I interrupted. “I didn’t say I’d decided to do it.”
Marvin swung an extra camera out wide, I suspect to get a profile of me. Maybe this helped him interpret my expression.
“You have not made a clear statement of intent,” he agreed. “But you have decided to do it, haven’t you?”
I sighed. It was disturbing to be outmaneuvered by a highly self-confident robot.
“Yes, I did. How did you know what I would say?”
“I know you rather well by now, Colonel Riggs. I’ve made you the subject of eight distinct studies.”
“Great. Well-all right then. Take what you need and head down to the planet. But be discreet, will you? I’ve not made my choice public yet.”
“I will not reveal anything that may endanger the final outcome.”
He rose, his metal parts scratching and clacking on the deck.
“Just a minute,” I said. “Why do you care so much? Why do you want me to do this?”
“I would think that was obvious.”
“Indulge me.”
“I’m curious, Colonel Riggs. Curious about the Blues, and how far the Microbes can go. I’m as curious about these mysteries as you are. Perhaps even more so. After all, the Blues created my ancestors. Don’t you wonder as to the nature of your own maker?”
“In regards to my own life, I question his reasoning all the time,” I said.
He left then, and I pondered how I got myself into these situations. I suspected Marvin was right in this case. Ever since these ships had come to Earth and devastated our relatively peaceful existence, I’d wanted to know who’d sent them. I’d sworn on the graves of my dead children to learn the truth. Now, if I was lucky, I was going to be able to question the culprits firsthand.
— 31
I discussed my plans to go to the gas giant with Rear Admiral Sarin over a closed channel. She was on the screen and I watched her face as I explained what I planned. Clearly, she thought I’d gone mad. When I finished laying out the facts as I saw them, she shook her pretty head and leaned back in her command chair.
“I don’t know what to make of you, Colonel,” she said. “I came out here to drag you back to Earth, and instead you’ve got me sitting quietly in orbit with the rest of your fleet, and now you tell me about this insane plan-hatched by a robot, no less.”
“If it works, the tactical situation here will change dramatically. We’ll have protected a string of worlds and allied races.”
“And if it doesn’t, you’ll be dead or captured. Have you considered what it might be like to live on a gas giant? Whatever the Microbes do to prepare you-it can’t be pleasant.”
I nodded in agreement. “You’ve got a point. But it will come to a fast conclusion. Either I’ll get what I want and we’ll win Eden from the Macros-or I’ll fail. In that case, you should take command and pull out of this system.”
She sat up at these words. “That’s what you want?”
“No, not at all. But I don’t see any way out of it. I mean, how can I expect you to stand up to the coming Macro attack? They are stronger than we are, and getting stronger every day. To stand would be suicide. If I fail, and they attack, you have to run to protect Earth. Star Force will have to abandon Eden and build up back home.”
“The Centaurs might be exterminated for helping us.”
“Hard decisions are part of command. You wanted authority, now you’ve got it. If faced with the destruction of this fleet followed by the conquering of the Centaurs, would you take that option? Or would you run for Earth and join up with the flotilla I know Crow has been building back there? At some later point, you could then either return in force or make your defensive stand back home.”
She thought for a moment. “Put that way, I would have to withdraw. But it would be a terrible thing to do to our allies.”
“Commanders do what they have to, not what they want to. At least, the good ones do. I’ll trust to your wisdom when and if the moment comes. But right now, I’m in charge in this system.”
“May I remind you that I’m Fleet, Colonel?”
“I don’t care. You are Star Force. I’m the top commander of one half of Star Force. Crow and I are co-equals in this regard.”
“That’s not what Crow’s organizational charts show.”
I tried not to get angry. I could feel my brow knitting up. Every year, Crow tried to assert his authority over me-it hadn’t worked so far, but he hadn’t given up, either. “We’ve discussed the matter on several occasions-sometimes violently. Two co-equal branches is the only way to do it. We don’t have a governmental authority over us like most national armies. We are the top, so we have to work it out between ourselves with no one higher up to knock our heads together for us. That’s how it’s always worked between us. That’s how we’ve kept from killing one another for years.”
Jasmine laughed at that. “You two have come close to turning on one another more than once. But I’m glad you explained your thinking to me. I understand my position more clearly now. I mean-I think Crow sees me as a good choice as a go-between. Someone with a foot in both camps.”