He put it on a display.
Shara stared at it. “That's incredible, Alex.” She touched the screen in front of her, her fingers spread out, as if it were a sacred object. “You have, what, eleven sightings, and seven of them are located along the tracks. No way that can be a coincidence.” She broke into a huge smile. “If this is correct, you could win the Walton Award.”
Alex tried to look modest. “When,” I asked, “was the last time an antique dealer won the top science prize?”
“Well, I'll tell you: Carolyn Walton would have been proud of you. And you'll get my vote.” She couldn't get her eyes off the display. “I still can't believe this, Alex.”
“Why?”
“The basic time-space fabric is supposed to be immutable. You can bend it, but you can't permanently damage it. You can't warp it. I don't know how to phrase it, but it's not supposed to be capable of behaving this way.”
“Well, maybe that's a position that's going to have to be reconsidered.”
“That may be.” Her eyes closed momentarily, then opened even wider. “The Capella/' she said.
“Yes.”
“The dates match. Rimway was near the track when they launched.” The look she gave Alex made it pretty clear she'd have been delighted to drag him into a bed at that moment. “Beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“Where'd it come from?”
“Winter's notebooks.”
“Well,” she said, “I'm impressed. And by the way, I've got another piece of evidence that supports your idea that these Sanusar objects are ancient vehicles.”
“What's that, Shara?”
“I've been doing some research. Some of the early drive units did fade in and out. Same way they've been reporting from the sightings.”
Alex nodded. “It looks as if, once Robin confirmed that the ships were actually ancient, he tried to duplicate the process. So he took the junk yachts out, put them in the middle of the track, and directed the AI to make a jump. I think one of them, maybe the third attempt, didn't emerge where it was supposed to. If it happened that way, he would have known he was right.”
“The next step,” she said, “would have been to try to get control of the process. Send it out somewhere and try to find it afterward. But how would you do that?”
Shara looked at me. “I'd want,” I said, “to have the AI call Skydeck when it surfaced again. That means you have to arrange for a short jump, if you have any control at all. But if it uses the hyperlink to call in, then it's no problem.”
“I wonder,” she said, “if the jumps are consistent? Same duration? And same distance covered each time?”
“They are consistent,” said Alex.
Shara looked surprised again. “How do you know?”
“Robin showed up twice in advance of sightings. He knew when and where. That sounds like consistency to me.”
“Excellent,” she said. “So what's the next step?”
“We're going after the Firebird.”
“Again?”
“Yes. We should do better this time. We know the launch point now. All we have to do is follow the track.”
THIRTY
If you would give your life, give it in a good cause. Man the guns while your comrades get clear of the valley. Spare no effort to save a child swept out by the tide. Regardless of risk, be there when needed. It is the definition of a hero.
We launched Belle. The same day, Doc Drummond, Charlie, and the doctor's team slipped quietly away from Rimway, while Alex, hoping to talk about the lost ships, accepted an invitation to appear on The Mia Komico Show. But he inadvertently caused a problem. Mia, of course, was unfailingly polite, an attractive young dark-haired dark-eyed woman who loved to catch her guests contradicting earlier statements, which she seemed always to be ready to show her audience.
The setting for the show moved from week to week. On this occasion, she and Alex were seated on benches overlooking the Melony. It was just before sunset, an idyllic time for a quiet conversation about life and death.
“So, Alex,” she said sweetly, “you caused something of a stir when you said we needed to go rescue the AIs on Villanueva.” She paused, pretending to be puzzled. “Am I using the right word here? Rescue?”
“Mia,” he said, “I didn't think it was much of a stir. A few people on the talk shows got excited. But it was no big deal.”
“But weren't you concerned about the possibility that you might succeed in talking some politicians into putting people's lives at risk?”
“I don't think, for trained personnel, there would have been much danger.”
“But why take any chance at all? For hardware? Do you really believe AIs are sentient?”
“You have one here, of course?”
“Of course.”
“What's his name?”
“Shaila.”
Alex smiled. “Shaila, are you there?”
“Yes, Mr. Benedict.” Shaila had a smooth, silky voice. “What can I do for you?”
“Are you aware of who you are?”
“Of course.”
“Mia doesn't think you're really there.”
“I know.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I'm used to it.”
Alex leaned back and managed to look relaxed. “Shaila, do you really not exist? Except as a set of protocols?”
“Mr. Benedict,” said Shaila, “you are trying to provoke an emotional response to make a point.”
“That's correct. Aren't you annoyed?”
“I don't get annoyed, Mr. Benedict.”
“Well.” He grinned across at Mia. “I guess that isn't going to work.”
“I'm sorry to disappoint you, sir.”
Mia waited a few moments. Then: “Are you satisfied, Alex?”
“Oh, yes. The programing in these things is really incredible.”
“I think we can agree on that.”
“I'm especially impressed by the note of pride in Shaila's last comment. T don't get annoyed, Mr. Benedict.' It sounded almost human.”
Mia laughed. “Touche, Alex. I suspect we'd better take her out more often. But, you know, it's true, most people do treat their AIs like family. I'll admit that, sometimes after a long day, I'm inclined to sit and talk with Shaila. It's nice having somebody around I can trust. Somebody I can talk to and say what I really think.”
“I can't believe you don't always do that.” Mia smiled politely. “It's all right, Mia. Just kidding. I know you don't hold back. But my point is that maybe you perform a similar function for Shaila. Or you would if she could stop pretending.”
“You should have become a salesman, Alex.”
“Well, what can I say? It's important to have someone you can talk to. Did you know that when AIs were first developed, in the twenty-third century, the divorce rate went through the roof?”
“I didn't know that. Is that really true?”
“Oh, yes, it's exactly what happened.”
She sat back and sighed. “Why?”
“The most commonly held theory is that people stopped talking to each other. They got married for sex and bought AIs for companionship.”
Mia barely muffled a snort. “It doesn't surprise me.”
“Some people would even say they got AIs for the romance.” They both laughed. “We tend to feel affection for our own AIs, the same as we do for the house we live in, or our skimmer. More so, of course, for the AIs because they talk with us. But we don't feel that way about the units generally, when they belong to someone else. Then they're just machines. Clever machines. Useful. And good company.”
“But none of that proves anything, Alex. They are what they are. Nothing more than that.”
Alex tried to change the subject, mentioning that, by the way, he had found Chris Robin to be a much more complicated person than he was normally given credit for.