Conquerors' Legacy (3 page)

" 'Only that they're as effective as lasers for raising Zhirrzh to Eldership,' " the bitter-tasting reply came back a hunbeat later.
"I know that much," Thrr-mezaz said. "Second: do you know anything about a Human-Conqueror weapon called CIRCE?"
The Elder vanished... and once again the beats began to drag by. "It's being awfully quiet out there," Klnn-vavgi said as the silence entered its third hunbeat. "How secure did you say this pathway was?"
The Elder was back before Thrr-mezaz could answer. " 'I'm sorry, Thrr-mezaz, but this really isn't something I can discuss.' "
Thrr-mezaz threw a look at Klnn-vavgi. So they'd been right on both counts. There was something about CIRCE that Warrior Command didn't want anyone else to know. And Thrr-gilag knew what that something was. "I understand, my brother," Thrr-mezaz said to the Elder. "Have a safe journey."
" 'You take care, too. I'll see you in a few fullarcs.' "
Thrr-mezaz nodded to the Elder. "Thank you. You may release the pathway."
"I obey, Commander," the Elder said, and once again vanished.
"So we were right," Klnn-vavgi murmured.
"Looks that way." Thrr-mezaz looked around the empty storehouse, wondering if any of the other Elders might have eavesdropped on their conversation. "We'd better be getting back."
"I wonder what kind of weapon it is," Klnn-vavgi commented as they headed back across the landing area. "Some kind of nuclear explosive, you think?"
"I have no idea," Thrr-mezaz said, squinting against the bright postmidarc sunlight and the dust being kicked up by a brisk northerly wind. "What bothers me more than thewhat is thewhy. Specifically, why haven't they already used it against us?"
"Maybe they have," Klnn-vavgi suggested. "Maybe what the Mrachanis are calling CIRCE are what we call the Copperhead warriors."
"I doubt it," Thrr-mezaz said. "Thrr-gilag's study group got the name Copperheads directly from their prisoner. Surely the Mrachanis have had enough contact with the Human-Conquerors not to make that kind of mistake."
"Unless the Human-Conquerors use different words when talking to different races," Klnn-vavgi pointed out. "It would be a simple way to impede communication among their enemies."
Thrr-mezaz flicked his tongue. "Interesting thought."
"Something else to ask Thrr-gilag when he gets here," Klnn-vavgi said. "Find out if the prisoner ever mentioned CIRCE to them-"
Abruptly, an Elder appeared in front of them. "Commander Thrr-mezaz: urgent message from Supreme Ship Commander Dkll-kumvit," he said, his faint voice almost lost in the wind. "He's received news from Warrior Command that Shamanv was attacked two tentharcs ago by a group of Human-Conqueror warcraft."
Thrr-mezaz's tail twitched.Shamanv -that was where Thrr-gilag had said Klnn-dawan-a would be leaving from. Carrying Prr't-zevisti's new cutting with her... "Damage?" he asked.
"Unclear," the Elder said. "The message said only that two Zhirrzh warships were involved in driving the attackers away and that one of them suffered severe internal damage from the Human-Conqueror explosive missiles. It was also reported that one enemy warcraft was destroyed. Supreme Ship Commander Dkll-kumvit thinks it may signal the beginning of a new Human-Conqueror offensive."
"Understood," Thrr-mezaz said. "Order all ground warriors to full alert and have the Stingbirds prepared to fly."
"I obey," the Elder said, and vanished.
"Come on," Thrr-mezaz said to Klnn-vavgi, picking up his pace toward their headquarters building.
And wondering if his second in command had noticed yet the frightening implications of the Shamanv attack. Either the enemy had taken a Zhirrzh prisoner and made him talk, or had found and deciphered the optronic data from a Zhirrzh combat recorder-
Or had a workable method for tracking spacecraft through the tunnel-line between stars.
Only two fullarcs ago Klnn-vavgi had speculated the enemy might have such impossible technology. Ten fullarcs before that Thrr-gilag had half-jokingly suggested the same thing.
Perhaps both had been right. And if so, it put a sudden new edge of urgency onto this war. Thanks to the Human-Conqueror recorder they'd recovered from the wreckage of that first battle, Warrior Command had till now had the advantage of knowing the locations of their enemies' worlds and bases, while the Zhirrzh worlds had remained hidden away in the vastness of space. Now, suddenly, that advantage was gone. The Human-Conquerors could now stab the war straight back into the faces of the Zhirrzh.
Could begin to live up to the name the Mrachanis had given them. The name Conquerors.
"We're in trouble, Thrr-mezaz," Klnn-vavgi said quietly from beside him. "With CIRCE, and now this, we're in trouble."
"Yes," Thrr-mezaz said, glancing up again at the sky. "I know."
3
The data-feed connection is established at 15:52:25, 22.41 minutes later than the estimate I was given orally at 09:21:44 this morning. There is a contact transient of 0.04 second; and then the feed settles into proper connection linkage.
The information given to me at 09:20:21 was that I would be testifying before the inquiry board assembling in Conference Room Three of the Edo Peacekeeper base. My in-built caution requires me to confirm that I have indeed linked to the proper location. The contact trace takes me 0.02 second, and I am indeed able to confirm that I have been linked to the properly designated interface terminal. In the process I also discover that a Corbaline Type 74-D-6 encryption has been established in the data line. This too is as expected.
I sublink the optical and auditory sensors of the interface terminal. The primary lens is an Avergand-4 fish-eye; I calculate and initiate the necessary correction transform to bring the image into standard format. There are fifteen human beings in the room within sight of the lens: two males and one female seated at a table centered 21.5 degrees to the left of the terminal at a mean distance of 2.54 meters, ten males seated in a single row centered 10.3 degrees to the right at a mean distance of 4.15 meters, and two males seated 50.3 degrees to the right at a mean distance of 3.77 meters. From the auditory breathing patterns I deduce there are three more people outside the range of the lens.
I inspect the room's occupants more closely, using visual-recognition algorithms and comparing against the 5,128,339 facial images in my current-events file. The three people at the table are senior Peacekeeper officers: Vice Admiral Tal Omohundro, Major General Petros Hampstead, and Brigadier Elizabet Yost. One of the two men seated to the far right ranks above them: Admiral Thomas Rudzinski, one of the three supreme military officers making up the Peacekeeper Triad. Seated beside him is Commander Pheylan Cavanagh, whom I flew to Edo from Conqueror imprisonment eleven days seven hours twenty-seven point four six minutes ago.
The men in the single row are equally familiar: those who participated in Commander Cavanagh's rescue. In the leftmost chair is Aric Cavanagh, Commander Cavanagh's elder brother; seated beside him is former Copperhead commander Adam Quinn, currently chief of security for the CavTronics corporation. The other eight are the Copperhead pilots and tail men who accompanied us: Commander Thomas Masefield-
Vice Admiral Omohundro clears his throat."Please identify yourself."
I delay my reply 0.11 second in order to complete my positive identification of the Copperheads, confirming all is as expected, and sublink the terminal's auditory speaker."My name is Max."
"Your operational designation and parameters?"
I do not enjoy talking about myself. But the specific question has been asked."I'm a parasentient computer of the Carthage-Ivy-Gamma Series. I have Class Seven decision-making capabilities, a modified Korngold-Che decay-driven randomized logic structure, Kylaynov file-access system, and eight point seven megamyncs of Steuben dyad-compressed memory."
Vice Admiral Omohundro's face changes subtly. Comparison with standard human-expression algorithms suggests he is surprised or perhaps impressed by my capabilities."You were the guidance system for Aric Cavanagh's illegal rescue mission into Conqueror space?"
"I was the guidance system for the fueler used in the mission to rescue Commander Pheylan Cavanagh."
Brigadier Yost raises her chin 1.4 centimeters."Please examine the transcript file of the hearing up to this point."
The file contains the previous three days of evidence and testimony. Most is familiar to me, detailing how Lord Stewart Cavanagh, his son Aric, and daughter, Melinda, learned Commander Cavanagh had possibly been captured by the Conquerors, and conceived a private mission to rescue him. The testimony concerning the mission itself is also familiar: the futile search over two likely planets, the escape from two Conqueror warships over the third planet, and the unusual logical deduction by which Aric located the correct world.
Other parts of the testimony are unfamiliar to me, and I examine them with interest. I learn that it was Reserve Wing Commander Iniko Bokamba, Security Chief Quinn's former commander in the Copperheads, who helped fabricate the orders that transferred Commander Masefield and his Copperhead unit to Dorcas and placed them under Security Chief Quinn's command. From one section of Commander Cavanagh's testimony I also learn that the non-humans we have named the Conquerors call themselves the Zhirrzh.
I have completed my examination of the file before Brigadier Yost has finished speaking."I have done so."
"Do you find any discrepancies in the testimony?"
"None of consequence. Seven time marks and four other stated numerical values are slightly incorrect. I have added a parallel file with the corrections marked."
The three officers pause 1.14 minutes to study my changes. I spend the first 26.33 seconds of that time examining my link to this terminal, searching for the reason the initial contact transient was a full 0.04 second. I discover that one of the contact points within the building is misaligned. I locate the building computer's maintenance file and insert a note to have the component replaced.
I spend the final 42.07 seconds of the hiatus studying reflections from the various pieces of polished metal in the room, hoping to use them to reconstruct the images of the three people outside my range of vision. The exercise meets with partial success; I am able to determine that two of the men are sitting together and one is sitting alone. But without access to a sensor array that would permit me to accurately map the contours of the reflective surfaces, I cannot make a positive identification of any of the faces.
Major General Petros Hampstead is the first to look up at me."Tell me, Max, were you told this mission would involve breaking the law?"
"There was no need for anyone to tell me. I have access to the complete Commonwealth legal code."
"You agree, then, that Commonwealth law was broken?"
"Yes."
Vice Admiral Omohundro frowns at the terminal lens. I examine his expression and deduce he was not expecting my answer."Did any of the defendants offer you any justification for their actions?"
"No."
Major General Hampstead touches Vice Admiral Omohundro on the shoulder with the fingertips of his right hand and whispers into his ear. After two short sentences Brigadier Yost leans toward them to listen. I attempt to listen, but the terminal's auditory sensors are inadequate to the task. I reexamine my Peacekeeper military legal code listing, attempting to extrapolate their conversation. From my expression algorithms and a tone/inference examination of the trial transcript, I calculate a probability of 0.87 that the three judges do not in fact wish to find Aric and the Copperheads guilty. This is also consistent with several conversations that took place both before and after Commander Cavanagh's rescue, in which the participants of the rescue mission speculated that Peacekeeper Command would find it politically difficult to prosecute them should the mission be successful.
Security Chief Quinn stands up. The three officers cease their whispered conversation and look at him. I examine Quinn's expression, deduce an emotional mix centered upon grim amusement."If I may beg a moment of the court's time, Admiral Omohundro?"
Vice Admiral Omohundro looks briefly at the terminal lens. Expression analysis indicates wariness."Thank you for your testimony and corrections, Max. If we need anything more, we'll contact you."
He reaches for a switch on the table."You may speak, Commander Quinn."
"Sir, it seems obvious to me-"
The visual and auditory linkages are broken as the data-feed line is disconnected. With Vice Admiral Omohundro's dismissal my part in the proceedings is over.
But I am curious. Security Chief Quinn's expression and verbal tone indicated a high degree of importance to what he is about to say. Furthermore, when Lord Cavanagh had me installed aboard the fueler, he ordered me to protect his son Aric to the fullest of my capabilities. That order has not been rescinded; and without information I cannot reasonably expect to fulfill it.
The far end of the linkage is broken, but the fluctuations of the disconnect transient are still flickering. Through the noise I search along the linkage to the misaligned contact point I identified earlier. The bleed-through ratio is approximately 0.84 percent; small, but adequate for my purposes. Boosting my signal, I jump a command across the contact onto a new linkage. The command tracks to a control node, which is still aligned to accept my presence within the system. My command is noted and executed, and the original data feed is reconnected.
"-that Peacekeeper Command can hardly afford the luxury of taking eight Copperheads out of their fighters and locking them away somewhere. Furthermore, I'm sure the three of you have more urgent matters to attend to than to preside over full-blown court-martial proceedings."
Vice Admiral Omohundro's expression goes through four subtle but recognizable emotional changes as Security Chief Quinn speaks. The final expression appears to conform most closely to cautious anticipation."And yet such a court-martial is clearly called for, Mr. Quinn. Even in time of war, command discipline must be maintained."
"Agreed, sir. On the other hand, you must also consider troop morale. And, after all, wedid succeed in bringing Commander Cavanagh back."
Vice Admiral Omohundro looks over at Commander Cavanagh. There is no longer any doubt: his expression is one of anticipation."If you have a point to make, please get to it."
Quinn's face changes subtly. I match the expression with suppressed anxiety."It's been suggested to me, sir, that the Peacekeepers might appreciate regaining my services as a Copperhead pilot. I realize that in the current military situation you could probably order me to serve; I'd like to suggest that if the charges against Commander Masefield and his unit are dropped, no such formalities will be necessary. I will resign from my position at CavTronics Industries and voluntarily rejoin the Copperheads."