That unexpected shot got through Eliun’s defenses; for an instant, shock creased his face. But he said with quiet control. “Commander, I’ll enjoy speaking to your seniors about your future career path.”
Nilis bustled forward, his own agitation obvious, a vein showing in his forehead. This was the crux of the meeting, Pirius saw. Nilis said, “Well, that’s your privilege, Guild-master. But before we descend into personal attacks, shall we examine the issue? You see, faced with our cruel timescale, we’ve been struggling, not only against a shortage of resources and antiquated test craft, but against — how shall I put it? — secrecy.
“After the prototype work in Sol system, we’re now trying to integrate our new systems into a greenship’s design. But as the Commander implies, we’ve been given nothing by your people on the craft’s technical aspects. Surely you have blueprints, records, practical experience you could offer us? And then there is the GUT engine itself. Again we’ve been given no documentation. Remember, we’re trying to use it to run black-hole cannon! As we’ve tried to work our way through its antiquated interfaces, we’ve felt more like archaeologists than engineers. My eyes, you must have the technical knowledge we’re struggling to retrieve here! You’ve been running ships of more or less this design for, what — three thousand years?”
“A little longer,” Eliun said smoothly. “And not of ’more or less’ this design, Commissary — exactly this design.”
Darc eyed him. “Three thousand years of stasis. And you’re proud of that, are you?”
“It’s clear that you misunderstand our objectives. Our mission is not innovation but preservation…”
The Guild of Engineers was an ancient agency. It had grown out of a loose band of refugees from the Qax Occupation, who had spent centuries stranded in space. When the Qax were thrown out they had come home, their antique technology carefully preserved. In the internecine struggles that had developed during the establishment of the Interim Coalition, mankind’s first post-Occupation government, the Engineers, with their ancient bits of technological sorcery and their proud record of resistance to the Qax, had been well-placed to grab some power for themselves. And they had kept their place at the highest levels of the Coalition ever since.
“But you’re not engineers,” Darc said contemptuously. “Not if you resist innovation. You’re museum- keepers.”
Eliun said, “Commander, our technologies reached their plateau of perfection millennia ago. There can be no innovation that does not worsen what we have. We Engineers preserve the wisdom of ages—”
“You pore over your ancient, unchanging designs, polished with use—”
“ — and we standardize. Have you thought about that? Commander, your pilots fly greenships of identical design from one end of this Galaxy to the other. Think of the cost savings, the economies of scale!”
Nilis was as angry as Pirius had ever seen him. “But your perfect designs and your standardized parts lists are not winning the war, Guild-master! And — yes, I’ll say it now — in your obstructionism you seem bent on ensuring that this project, which might hasten the war’s end, never gets a chance to fly.”
Pirius laid a hand on Nilis’s threadbare sleeve. “Commissary, take it easy.”
Nilis shook him off. “If there’s one thing I can’t bear, Pirius, it is the hoarding of knowledge as power. There’s too much of that on Earth — too much! And I won’t have it here.”
Eliun said coldly, “And I won’t take lectures in duty from rogue Commissaries and junior Naval officers.”
“Then we are at an impasse. I suggest we adjourn this meeting until I’ve heard from Earth.” Nilis turned to Pila. “Adjutant, would you please open a channel to Minister Gramm’s office on Earth? I think we must appeal to the Minister, and through him to the Plenipotentiary for Total War and the Grand Conclave itself, where I hope this issue will be resolved.”
Eliun laughed in his face. “Commissary, don’t you understand? The Engineers have seats on the Conclave, too.”
“We will see,” said Nilis darkly, and he stalked from the room.
Pirius felt oddly calm. He had sat through too many meetings like this. And he had been distracted from these fireworks by his vague thoughts about intersecting laser light. As the meeting broke up, he tapped Darc and Torec on the shoulders. “Listen. I have an idea…”
As they left the room they passed the Silver Ghost, which hadn’t moved or said a word during the interrupted meeting. Pirius wondered what emotions swirled beneath that glistening, featureless hide.
On the way, Pirius called ahead for a sim room to be set up.
Only a few minutes after ducking out of Nilis’s adjourned meeting, the three of them were once more sitting in their crew blisters, at the end of the outstretched limbs of the Earthworm. The Virtual simulation around them was faultless, although the target Rock looked a little too shiny to be true.
As they waited for the sim to finish booting up, Darc growled, “This is bringing back unhappy memories. Whatever you’re planning, Pirius, I hope it’s worth it.”
Pirius said hesitantly, “Commander — can I speak freely?”
Darc laughed.
“The way you took on the Guild-master. I was surprised.”
“Did you enjoy watching me blow my career?”
“No, sir.”
“Not that there’s much left to blow,” Darc said. “Marshal Kimmer will see to that, once this project is over.”
Pirius said frankly, “When we started this, I’d never have thought you would come out fighting for the Commissary like that. With respect, sir.”
Darc grunted. “I don’t much like Nilis. I think he’s an irresponsible idiot, and his project is almost bound to fail. Almost. But in that ’almost’ is a universe of possibility. If there’s a chance we can win the war with it, we have to resource the project until the point at which it fails. That’s our clear duty. And I never imagined the kind of crass reactions and ass-covering conservatism that we have come up against, over and over. I’ve seen a side of our politics I don’t like, Pilot, even inside the military.”
Torec said, “I suppose we have all come on a long journey.”
Darc said, “But if either of you repeat any of this to Nilis I’ll rip off your heads with my bare hands. Do you understand me?”
“Received and understood,” Pirius said.
With a soft chime the sim signaled it was ready to run.
Darc said, “It’s time you explained what we’re doing here, Pirius.”
“I want to try an idea,” Pirius said. “It came to me when Torec used those laser pointers in the meeting.”
She sounded baffled. “Lasers?”
“Bear with me. We’ll run through our approach to the rock. Everything will be exactly as before. I’ve downloaded Torec’s structural analyses of the failure—”
“So we’ll fall apart, like before.”
“Maybe. But this time, Torec, I want you to fire the starbreakers as we go in.”
“What’s the use?” she asked. “They will only scratch the Rock’s surface. And if the cannon fails—”
“Just do it. But, Torec, I want you to cross the beams…”
They both grasped the idea very quickly. It took only minutes to program new instructions into their weapons and guidance systems.
Once again Pirius took the controls; once again the ship swooped along its invisible attack arc toward the Rock. They ran the whole thing in real time, and thanks to the simulator’s precise reproduction, the ship’s handling felt as clumsy as it had before.