right there, in the
facts he’d listed. I thought about all the players in the system. We had the Star
Force Marines themselves. I accounted them all loyal to Earth, Star Force, and to
me personally. That’s why they were here. I crossed them off my list immediately.
If Crow’s loyal Fleet forces had been present I would have put them on the list of
suspects, but they weren’t to my knowledge. I moved on. Next on the list were the
indigenous species. There were three: the Centaurs who would never do something like
this due to their strict codes of honor, the Microbes who lacked the technology, and—
The light bulb finally went on in my head. “It was the Blues,” I said.
“Of course,” Marvin said. His tentacles writhed with what I figured was some kind
of pleasure. Like a joke well-played, he was enjoying our little mind-game. He liked
leading me down his path of logic to make the same conclusion he’d already made.
“What proof do you have, and why did you withhold this information?” I demanded.
“The rings have been vibrating—that’s not exactly the right term to describe the phenomenon,
but it is close enough. They’ve been relaying messages which I’ve detected, but been
unable to decipher.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know who’s using them to communicate?”
“The answer is obvious. I wasn’t doing it, there were no functional Macros or Nanos
left in the system, and the only other possible source was the Blues. Therefore, it
had to be them.”
“But you didn’t know what they’re saying? Who they’re talking to?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that out. But I’ve failed so far. Everything I know about
their communications I’ve deduced—just as you and your crew have now done.”
I nodded. I felt less stressed. Marvin had only committed one crime, that of omission.
“Do you realize that not reporting this is tantamount to being part of the conspiracy?
“A tortured series of logical steps,” he said. “I only just figured it out. None of
it is more than conjecture. Am I a fiend for withholding probabilities, rather than
facts? My suspicions have only recently been proven true.”
I shook my head. “Why did you bother to conceal the information at all? Why not just
tell us?”
Marvin looked evasive. I recognized the pattern. His cameras focused on my face, preparing
to read my emotional responses. At the same time, several of his limbs braided themselves
pointlessly. He reminded me of a nervous kid, uncertain of the ferocity of a parent’s
well-earned discipline.
“I didn’t want you to stop the transmissions. I wanted to study them, to learn the encoding sequence
the Blues are using on this entirely new communications medium. It’s been fascinating
me for weeks.”
I snorted. “I’m not surprised you were overcome with scientific greed. But how in
the hell could you stop the transmissions?”
“By jamming them, of course. We can transmit garbage through the rings, and since
they only seem to carry one signal at a time, we’ll block the connection.”
I made a wild sound of exasperation. “You can jam them?”
“Yes. But keep in mind, that will let them know we are aware of their activities.
Right now, we have an advantage. We know they’re communicating with the enemy, and
we can study the code and break it. This could be invaluable.”
I threw my hand high. Several cameras followed the gesture, and a single thin tentacle
lifted to shield the cameras in case I became violent and brought a fist smashing
down into them.
“You didn’t tell us because you wanted to learn a new language you hadn’t detected
before?” I demanded, my voice rising into a shout. “There’s no point in learning the
code! They will simply change it when we’ve broken it!”
“No, I don’t think so. This is not an internal code. The Blues don’t have full control
of the Macros, remember?
facts he’d listed. I thought about all the players in the system. We had the Star
Force Marines themselves. I accounted them all loyal to Earth, Star Force, and to
me personally. That’s why they were here. I crossed them off my list immediately.
If Crow’s loyal Fleet forces had been present I would have put them on the list of
suspects, but they weren’t to my knowledge. I moved on. Next on the list were the
indigenous species. There were three: the Centaurs who would never do something like
this due to their strict codes of honor, the Microbes who lacked the technology, and—
The light bulb finally went on in my head. “It was the Blues,” I said.
“Of course,” Marvin said. His tentacles writhed with what I figured was some kind
of pleasure. Like a joke well-played, he was enjoying our little mind-game. He liked
leading me down his path of logic to make the same conclusion he’d already made.
“What proof do you have, and why did you withhold this information?” I demanded.
“The rings have been vibrating—that’s not exactly the right term to describe the phenomenon,
but it is close enough. They’ve been relaying messages which I’ve detected, but been
unable to decipher.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know who’s using them to communicate?”
“The answer is obvious. I wasn’t doing it, there were no functional Macros or Nanos
left in the system, and the only other possible source was the Blues. Therefore, it
had to be them.”
“But you didn’t know what they’re saying? Who they’re talking to?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that out. But I’ve failed so far. Everything I know about
their communications I’ve deduced—just as you and your crew have now done.”
I nodded. I felt less stressed. Marvin had only committed one crime, that of omission.
“Do you realize that not reporting this is tantamount to being part of the conspiracy?
“A tortured series of logical steps,” he said. “I only just figured it out. None of
it is more than conjecture. Am I a fiend for withholding probabilities, rather than
facts? My suspicions have only recently been proven true.”
I shook my head. “Why did you bother to conceal the information at all? Why not just
tell us?”
Marvin looked evasive. I recognized the pattern. His cameras focused on my face, preparing
to read my emotional responses. At the same time, several of his limbs braided themselves
pointlessly. He reminded me of a nervous kid, uncertain of the ferocity of a parent’s
well-earned discipline.
“I didn’t want you to stop the transmissions. I wanted to study them, to learn the encoding sequence
the Blues are using on this entirely new communications medium. It’s been fascinating
me for weeks.”
I snorted. “I’m not surprised you were overcome with scientific greed. But how in
the hell could you stop the transmissions?”
“By jamming them, of course. We can transmit garbage through the rings, and since
they only seem to carry one signal at a time, we’ll block the connection.”
I made a wild sound of exasperation. “You can jam them?”
“Yes. But keep in mind, that will let them know we are aware of their activities.
Right now, we have an advantage. We know they’re communicating with the enemy, and
we can study the code and break it. This could be invaluable.”
I threw my hand high. Several cameras followed the gesture, and a single thin tentacle
lifted to shield the cameras in case I became violent and brought a fist smashing
down into them.
“You didn’t tell us because you wanted to learn a new language you hadn’t detected
before?” I demanded, my voice rising into a shout. “There’s no point in learning the
code! They will simply change it when we’ve broken it!”
“No, I don’t think so. This is not an internal code. The Blues don’t have full control
of the Macros, remember?
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