“Maybe some of the Izkop didn’t get the word on that,” Nassar commented from his watch post near another window.
Singh gave him a flat look that shut up Nassar, then turned back to the civilians. “How many Izkop have you seen around here?”
“The first day after the recall, we observed a few,” Juni offered in the voice of a man coming out of a daze. “Out in the hills, while we were looking to see if the truck was coming in. Before that, there’d been a lot of Izkop movement. The satellites tracked many Izkop moving toward Amity.”
“Didn’t that worry anybody?”
“There were varying interpretations about the meaning of the Izkop movements. I… don’t know what they did at Amity,” Juni mumbled.
Singh leveled a finger at Goldera. “It’s almost sunset. Get out there and do a scout while we’ve still got some light. Nassar, watch his back. I want to know what you see around this place, especially whether there’s signs that the Izkop are watching it.”
“Okay, Sarge.” Goldera slipped out the door, followed a moment later by Nassar.
Singh sat down, gesturing this time to Johansen and Adowa. “Keep an eye on the outside. Burgos, you and Stein check out this compound. Carefully and quietly. I want to know how it looks from a defensive standpoint. No firing at anything. Archer, run a full diagnostic on that comm unit. That’s our only lifeline for calling the relief ship when it gets here. Nothing better happen to it. Now, I understand you civilians have had an awful shock, but I’d like a better idea of what happened. Are you sure you don’t have any idea why the Izkop went spindizzy?”
“No,” Juni said, hunched over as he sat staring at his hands. “What you describe is uncharacteristic. The Izkop have ceremonies which to outside observers can replicate aggression, but they haven’t shown any radical deviations from standard behavioral modes.”
“Ceremonies. They haven’t been acting aggressive?”
“No. Not that I’ve heard or observed. The Izkop are well integrated into their environment and have no need to manifest authentic belligerent group behaviors.”
Ariana shook her head. “I believe the Izkop are an actively aggressive culture, but they haven’t acted aggressively toward us. There’s been some pushing of our limits, but nothing serious.”
Singh raised one eyebrow. “Pushing your limits?”
“In terms of our equipment, asking more about it. At first they wouldn’t ask at all, then gradually they got more interested and wanted to know more. Over time we’d show them a little more, to build bonds of trust and ensure they knew these were simply technological devices.”
“They haven’t pushed,” Juni objected. “They just ask. They’re manifesting natural curiosity about new factors in their environment.”
“What about when you said no?” Singh asked. “How did the Izkop react to that?”
Ariana spread her hands helplessly. “I doubt anyone ever simply said no. We’re researchers. We’ve been trained in nonviolent conflict resolution. When the Izkop press us on something we divert them or find a way to address their concerns or whatever is necessary to keep the situation from escalating.”
“And you had no indications that wasn’t working?” Singh questioned. “Let me tell you what we heard on the way in. The civilians in Amity were sending out messages, both general emergency signals and specific calls for help. They showed video of large numbers of Izkop carrying spears surrounding that valley where your main settlement was located.”
“Amity isn’t a settlement,” Juni corrected. “It’s a research installation.”
“Fine. According to these messages, lots of Izkop were threatening the humans there. The same few messages kept auto-repeating. Now we know that must have been because the humans who sent them were already dead. Then the messages cut off after the first transmissions from our ship reached the planet. We figured the Izkop must have trashed the transmitters somehow to keep the humans here from replying to us, but actually the Izkop apparently just killed the signals once they knew we were being lured in.”
“You’re assuming a rather high level of sophistication in their planning of an act of violence,” Juni said. “How could the Izkop have learned how to take those actions and plan such an entrapment?”
Ariana turned an angry look on him. “Their legends are full of accounts of battles and ambushes.”
“Literary and historical cultural inheritances can’t realistically be employed to put into practice major changes in group inter-relational dynamics.”
“The Izkop knew what they were doing,” Johansen said. “Not only did they lay a near-perfect ambush for us, but someone showed them how to handle a lot of the equipment there, and they figured out how to modify functions to use non-weapons as weapons.”
“Everything we have is user friendly,” Ariana said in a low voice. “It’s not that hard for anyone to grasp. All you need to do is navigate through simple touch menus to change settings. But at this outpost we never showed the Izkop much. Just the simplest things.”
“And in Amity?” Singh asked.
“They… might have been forced to show more. A great deal more. If the Izkop threatened them. What you’re describing seeing sounds like a dominance display.”
Singh sat back, glancing at Johansen. “What’s your opinion?”
“We’re still missing a reason.”
“Yeah.”
His eyes glowing with rage, Scorse shouted at them. “They wanted our equipment and they were willing to kill for it! I know soldiers like you don’t come from the best and brightest, but how hard is that to figure out?”
Singh kept his own voice dispassionate. “If the Izkop wanted your equipment, sir, why did they blow it all to hell?”
Scorse got up without replying and stormed into another part of the building.
Ariana spoke in a choked voice. “You’re certain everyone else is dead?” Singh nodded, somber again. “Juni, could you look after the children alone for a few minutes?” She excused herself and went off, while Juni scowled and headed to a back room where the children must be.
“Lost her husband,” Adowa said in the silence after the civilians left. “Too bad we had to tell her.”
“We didn’t have a chance to save him,” Johansen said, knowing he sounded defensive.
“No. I’m just saying. Hard to hear, you know?”
“Yeah.” Scorse had lost his spouse as well, but cruel as it might be, Johansen couldn’t muster up the same sympathy. Johansen looked around again as Juni led a small column of children out from the back room.
“See,” the young man told the children, “these soldiers are here now.”
The soldiers nodded to the kids, who nodded solemnly back, their eyes big. “Are you taking us back to Amity?” one who looked about ten years old asked.
“No,” Singh said. “We’ll be leaving on a ship with… everyone on the planet.”
“Why are you here?”
“Why are we leaving?”
“Why can’t we call home?”
“Where’s my mom and dad?”
Singh hesitated, uncharacteristically uncertain, so Johansen forced a smile, standing up to convey genial authority. “Hey, guys, we’re just soldiers here to do our jobs. You got your people here like Juni. They’ll tell you anything they can, but right now a lot of it is secret. You understand?” The children nodded reluctantly, while Juni kept his eyes averted from them. “So you guys stay in the back. That’s part of the secret. You have to keep hidden back there until the ship gets here. Okay?”
The children still looked doubtful. “But we’ve been in there for a loooong time,” one complained. “Days. And we hardly ever get to come out.”