the hull.
“Putting on a little weight lately?” I asked him.
“I might be beyond the specifications you laid out for me last month—but only slightly.”
We stood in an empty, echoing passage way. I stopped, figuring this was as good a
place as any to have a private talk. The station was ninety-five percent empty.
“If I had to guess, I’d say you were about double the agreed upon maximum mass.”
“Possibly there was a misunderstanding,” Marvin said, eyeing me with a bouquet of
cameras. Some of them studied my feet and my hands, but most were focused on my face,
taking me in from many angles at once. “I was measuring my allowed equipment on the
basis of weight, not mass. Since our station maintains a working gravity of fifty
percent Earth-normal in most areas, my calculations—”
“Never mind about that now, you cheater. Let’s talk about your motivations and intentions,
Marvin.”
He juggled his cameras, trying to gauge my mood. It was obvious when he did this,
and I tended to automatically put on a poker face to make it hard on him. Marvin made
most people nervous. Personally, I felt a surge of stubborn resolve when I dealt with
him. He could be very evasive.
“There is some concern among the staff regarding your loyalties,” I said. “Are you
with us in this fight, Marvin? Are you doing your best to save the station and human
lives—or are you involved in some kind of elaborate experiment?”
To my mind, Marvin wasn’t really evil, but I had to admit he was a consummate rule-bender.
Usually, his greatest motivation was his scientific curiosity. If there was a mystery
to be delved into, he would do questionable things to indulge his thirst for arcane
knowledge—very questionable things. Sometimes, his actions bordered on treachery.
“I understand your concerns, Colonel. You want to know if I in some way instigated
this invasion, is that correct?”
“I want to know how you’re involved and what inside information you might have that
you’ve been withholding.”
“I’ve read an idiom in your files. Confession is good for the soul.”
“I know of the concept. What confession do you have for me today?”
“I knew they were coming. I didn’t know how or when. I deduced that the single Crustacean
ship had to be a ruse or sneak attack, rather than a true diplomatic mission.”
I nodded, feeling my cheek muscles bulge. I was becoming angry, but I was trying not
to show it. As I stared at him, Marvin angled one of his cameras a little wider to
get a good profile shot.
When I could control my voice, I spoke with forced calmness. “Okay…let’s go over what
you know that you haven’t been telling me. We’ve deduced that the enemy have intel
on our positions. Their attacks seem too well-timed to be coincidental.”
“Ah, an impressive insight. Yes, the evidence is there. In the scramble to build up
our defenses, many commanders would have missed it, but not Colonel Riggs, the—”
“Just tell me who the spy is and how they’re operating,” I said. Internally, I was
really hoping he wasn’t going to tell me he’d been feeding data to the Lobsters on
the side. Because if he’d done that, I was going to have to space him, no matter how
valuable he’d been.
“Think about it,” he said, almost as if he was enjoying himself. “Isn’t the answer
almost obvious? Who in the Eden system has a possible grudge against us? Who is here
and has the means to observe our fleet movements? Who is here and has the technology
to transmit a report outside the system?”
I stared at him for a moment, fighting down a flash of rage. He knew the answer, he
knew it was vitally important, but he still wanted to quiz me. Marvin was a marvel
when it came to understanding his priorities.
Still, despite my emotions and the critical nature of the information, I had to admit
he was going at it with the right approach. The answer had to be
“Putting on a little weight lately?” I asked him.
“I might be beyond the specifications you laid out for me last month—but only slightly.”
We stood in an empty, echoing passage way. I stopped, figuring this was as good a
place as any to have a private talk. The station was ninety-five percent empty.
“If I had to guess, I’d say you were about double the agreed upon maximum mass.”
“Possibly there was a misunderstanding,” Marvin said, eyeing me with a bouquet of
cameras. Some of them studied my feet and my hands, but most were focused on my face,
taking me in from many angles at once. “I was measuring my allowed equipment on the
basis of weight, not mass. Since our station maintains a working gravity of fifty
percent Earth-normal in most areas, my calculations—”
“Never mind about that now, you cheater. Let’s talk about your motivations and intentions,
Marvin.”
He juggled his cameras, trying to gauge my mood. It was obvious when he did this,
and I tended to automatically put on a poker face to make it hard on him. Marvin made
most people nervous. Personally, I felt a surge of stubborn resolve when I dealt with
him. He could be very evasive.
“There is some concern among the staff regarding your loyalties,” I said. “Are you
with us in this fight, Marvin? Are you doing your best to save the station and human
lives—or are you involved in some kind of elaborate experiment?”
To my mind, Marvin wasn’t really evil, but I had to admit he was a consummate rule-bender.
Usually, his greatest motivation was his scientific curiosity. If there was a mystery
to be delved into, he would do questionable things to indulge his thirst for arcane
knowledge—very questionable things. Sometimes, his actions bordered on treachery.
“I understand your concerns, Colonel. You want to know if I in some way instigated
this invasion, is that correct?”
“I want to know how you’re involved and what inside information you might have that
you’ve been withholding.”
“I’ve read an idiom in your files. Confession is good for the soul.”
“I know of the concept. What confession do you have for me today?”
“I knew they were coming. I didn’t know how or when. I deduced that the single Crustacean
ship had to be a ruse or sneak attack, rather than a true diplomatic mission.”
I nodded, feeling my cheek muscles bulge. I was becoming angry, but I was trying not
to show it. As I stared at him, Marvin angled one of his cameras a little wider to
get a good profile shot.
When I could control my voice, I spoke with forced calmness. “Okay…let’s go over what
you know that you haven’t been telling me. We’ve deduced that the enemy have intel
on our positions. Their attacks seem too well-timed to be coincidental.”
“Ah, an impressive insight. Yes, the evidence is there. In the scramble to build up
our defenses, many commanders would have missed it, but not Colonel Riggs, the—”
“Just tell me who the spy is and how they’re operating,” I said. Internally, I was
really hoping he wasn’t going to tell me he’d been feeding data to the Lobsters on
the side. Because if he’d done that, I was going to have to space him, no matter how
valuable he’d been.
“Think about it,” he said, almost as if he was enjoying himself. “Isn’t the answer
almost obvious? Who in the Eden system has a possible grudge against us? Who is here
and has the means to observe our fleet movements? Who is here and has the technology
to transmit a report outside the system?”
I stared at him for a moment, fighting down a flash of rage. He knew the answer, he
knew it was vitally important, but he still wanted to quiz me. Marvin was a marvel
when it came to understanding his priorities.
Still, despite my emotions and the critical nature of the information, I had to admit
he was going at it with the right approach. The answer had to be
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