Final Inquiries Read online

  "Let me guess," said James. "They decided to give it to one of us--and that started the debate all over again."

  "Exactly. But if any Elder Race that came to be seen as favoring the Kendari over the humans as regarding Pentam, or the humans over the Kendari, the other Elders would regard that as forming an alliance with that species, encouraging other Elder Races to support the other Younger Race, and so the whole weary cycle would begin again."

  "My turn to fill in a few blanks," said Hannah. "The maneuvers, the deal-making, even to get things to the point where the various parties could negotiate about negotiating, took years, even decades. Since the ideal situation was for no one to have the Pentam System, there wasn't much incentive to hurry."

  "Quite right."

  "So the whole process was kept secret from all humans and Kendari until fairly recently, in order to keep the negotiations from becoming even more complex. At some very late, and very recent, point in the process, both Younger Races were informed of what was going on, and were politely told they could either participate under whatever conditions were dictated to them, or else the Pentam System would be awarded to the other race."

  "Right again."

  "And, finally, my guess would be, the Vixa were chosen to adjudicate the matter, because all sides trusted them and because they were known not to want the Pentam System for themselves."

  "Your guesses begin to fail you. Half-correct, incorrect, and incorrect again," said Brox. "The Vixa weren't exactly chosen to decide the matter--they were chosen to preside over the decision and host the meeting. As you have no doubt gathered, we are en route to that meeting, on Tifinda, right now. But the Vixa were chosen for that role precisely because no one could trust them, because all sides knew, for certain, that the Vixa did want the Pentam System for themselves. You need to try harder to think like a member of an Elder Race."

  Jamie laughed. "Which is what she tells me to do all the time. How does payback feel, Hannah?"

  "I'll live with the pain, somehow," Hannah said mildly, before turning back to Brox. "You go ahead and explain how Elder Race beings think. Why put the Vixa in charge if no one trusted them?"

  "Because then everyone else would be on the alert. They'd know to watch the Vixa and to be ready for tricks that would let the Vixa seize Pentam."

  "But why would the Vixa accept the job?" Jamie asked. "What do they get out of it?"

  "As I understand it, there are two main reasons. First, it is an odd acknowledgment of their power, their prestige, and their skill at political maneuver. They enhanced their prestige merely by accepting the task. Secondly, it's a challenge to them as well. It would be a grand achievement indeed if, in spite of all the distrust and watchfulness, they somehow managed to get the Pentam System in the end."

  "And 'the end' might be pretty far off," Hannah said. "An Elder Race can be patient. If they managed to set up a situation that would cause the Pentam System to come under their control a hundred years from now, that would probably suit them just fine."

  "It would do more than that--it would enhance their prestige as schemers, plotters, diplomats tremendously," said Brox. "It is what most of the other Elder Races half expect the Vixa to attempt. It is something close to one of your sporting events, with the other Elder Races watching eagerly to see how the game is played and who will win."

  "Right now, no one has the Pentam System, right?" Jamie asked.

  "Correct."

  "What happens if, somehow, the Vixa convinces both our people and yours not to take possession?"

  "How would they manage that?" Hannah asked.

  Jamie shrugged at Hannah. "Maybe with some real subtle politics. Maybe with bribes or threats--or by intimidating both sides by flying around a starship the size of an asteroid." He gestured back toward Brox. "Never mind how," he said. "Just suppose they managed it. What would happen?"

  Brox grimaced. "I am, like yourselves, mainly a police officer, an investigator. All of us have had to play other roles as well, at times--including that of diplomat. But that does not make me an expert at such matters. I merely happen to know certain items of information you haven't learned yet. My somewhat-informed guess would be that if, somehow, the Vixa managed to chase both of us away--then, at the very least, they would be in a very strong position to make and enforce their own claim to the Pentam System. Your question was astute, and on point. I am impressed that you thought to ask it."

  "I don't get it," said Jamie. "All the Vixa I've ever met before today have been very friendly, outgoing. Quite pleasant. They aren't the sort of schemers you're describing."

  "Vixan diplomats are quite a different animal from the Vixa we'll encounter," Brox said. "I speak literally. Vixa are--well, let me just say they are highly variable, and also remind you that you have met three different Vixa--or at least Vixa-related creatures--today, and they are quite different from one another."

  "You have said enough!" Greveltra barked suddenly, in a voice loud enough to make them all jump. "You have completed briefing on those matters you are authorized to speak of before jump."

  "Perhaps it was unwise to speak so much earlier in a language the SubPilot does not understand," said Brox. "It would appear to have made him suspicious. But, no matter. I have already given the main points. The rest can wait."

  "People keep telling us that we can wait for the information in the middle of making us rush like mad," Jamie growled. "I don't suppose there would be any objection if we mere lowly humans discussed matters between ourselves? After all, if one thing is for certain, it's that we don't have any information."

  Jamie and Hannah both looked toward Greveltra, but the SubPilot made no response. If anything, he was ignoring them as hard as he could.

  "Silence equals consent," said Hannah.

  "A dangerous assumption in general," said Brox. "But I think we can take it as such for the moment. Go. Talk. And, once again, my apologies for telling you so little. But I will feel much more comfortable if you arrived at the--ah--place we are going without having formed any preconceived notions."

  Hannah and Jamie stood up and moved over to the corridor that led back to the hatch they had come through. They didn't know the half of it, not a quarter of it. Not yet. And the part they did know, the parts that they could guess at, were overwhelmingly big. But shaking all that off, pretending it wasn't there, wasn't just the professional way to act. In a situation like this, it was a survival skill. They simply couldn't afford to let their emotions kick in.

  "Okay," Hannah said. "Evaluate. Cold and calm--and assume they can hear us, record us, translate later."

  "We don't know anything secret," Jamie objected. "We don't know anything at all."

  "Yeah, but let's keep good habits," Hannah said. "Maybe we know more than we know. Talk. Carefully."

  "Okay," Jamie said. He paused for a moment. "Brox wouldn't have given us that history lesson if it didn't have anything to do with the case," he began. "And they--whoever 'they' are--wouldn't have sent Brox to brief us if the Kendari weren't involved--and they wouldn't have come to BSI--and us--if humans weren't involved."

  "So," said Hannah, "the obvious conclusion is that whatever case we're meant to deal with involves humans and Kendari and the Pentam System--or at least it might affect negotiations about the Pentam System."

  "Two planets, Hannah. Two whole habitable planets. Maybe a pair of Earth-plus tropical paradises--or maybe one is a frozen iceball that's barely warm enough at the equator, and the other is so hot that only the north and south poles are survivable. It doesn't matter. Two worlds that people can live on without building domes or underground habitats. Plus which, lots of people care who doesn't get Pentam. That tells me that, somehow, Pentam has strategic value. And Brox has as much as told us the list of candidates for who gets Pentam is down to humans and Kendari."

  "So?"

  "So what if solving the case--whatever the case is--gets in the way of humans claiming two whole worlds? Or suppose cracking the case gets in the wa
y of keeping the Kendari from snatching them? And let's just bear in mind that our old dear honorable friend and enemy Brox 231 is playing the game for the same stakes we are--but he has a lot more information than we do. He's going to have all the same motives, or temptations, or whatever you might want to call it, to bend the case his way--and he's starting the game with a lot more chips and much better cards, than we have."

  Hannah frowned. "Or if you really want to dream up nightmares, suppose the case concerns a minor infraction by our standards, by human standards. To them it's a crime against civilization--but to us it's a parking ticket. Would it really be the right choice to make if we did everything by the book--and cost the human race two planets? Would bending the rules enough to keep the Kendari from getting them, and endangering us, necessarily be wrong, bad, and evil?"

  Jamie shook his head. "Listen to yourself. If I made that paranoid and worried a speech, what would you tell me?"

  "Something like there's never any way of knowing for certain how things will play out in the long run--or even the short run. And that mostly things don't work out the way you expected anyway."

  Jamie nodded and grinned back at her. "So you might as well play it all as straight as you can, because playing dirty might not work out as well as you think."

  "Okay," she said. "So maybe the moral is there's no point in overthinking this thing."

  "But let's not underthink it either," said Jamie. "We can't assume things will be what they seem to be."

  "Agreed. But there's something else," said Hannah. "Brox is scared. And maybe more than that. In shock. He's hiding it well, and it's always tough to read a xeno's body language and expressions, and he's doing a terrific job of playing it cool--but even so, it's plain enough that something has him really, really worried. Something bad has already happened--and something worse might."

  There was a sudden lurch, and a bump, then the command sphere was falling away from the navigation dome port. Both Hannah and Jamie dropped heavily onto the deck, Jamie falling forward and Hannah sitting down very abruptly. Cursing and grumbling, Jamie got up on his hands and knees, then shifted around to look up at the rapidly receding view of the stars. "Now what?" he asked.

  In a moment, they were through the first hatch, and, as best Hannah could judge, heading back the way they had come. "Well, we moved forward to get as far as possible from the propulsion system when it lit, and to do a visual navigation check. Now the check is complete, and the engines are off, so the safest place to be is back where we were."

  "If Greveltra is that worried about safety, maybe he should be a little more careful about knocking us over," said Jamie. He sat down on the deck facing Hannah as the command sphere banged and clattered its way through the system of shafts and hatches.

  "The SubPilot is not worried about our safety," Hannah said. "Just his."

  Brox came around the corner and looked from one of them to another. "Is your private conversation over? Am I intruding?" he asked in Lesser Trade Speech.

  Hannah glanced at Jamie. He shrugged. "I think we're done," she said. "We sort of came to the conclusion that if we left out guessing, we wouldn't have much to talk about. Speculating too hard might do us more harm than good."

  "I am glad to hear it," Brox replied. "It makes what I have to say at least somewhat easier. We will be making the transit-jump very soon. We had basically agreed that I would brief you on the case itself once we had completed the jump, were safely in the Tifinda System, and there was no longer even a theoretically possible way for anyone back in the Center System to monitor the conversation. On reflection, I feel it would be best for the case if I did not brief you at all before you examine the crime scene. I wish you to see it without any chance of your being influenced or unintentionally misled by something I said."

  "Brox! Come on!" Jamie protested. "We're going crazy not knowing anything."

  "I assure you that I sympathize. Even so, I ask you to endure this period of frustration. I believe you will understand and agree with my choice to let you perform a completely unbriefed examination of the crime scene evidence. Our transit through the Tifinda System to our destination will be somewhat shorter than our outward passage through the Center System. We will reach our destination in approximately another three hours."

  "That's going to be a long time to wait," Hannah said.

  "Not so long as it will seem," said Brox. "And I believe it will save time, and effort, in the long run. And, quite frankly, it will protect me from any later accusation of trying to influence you unduly."

  Jamie was about to protest further, but Hannah caught his eye and shook her head. "Brox is right, Jamie. We just got done agreeing that we could get misled by our own speculations. If Brox wants to make sure we don't get pointed in the wrong direction because of something he says, that's just more of the same. Let's do a nice, clean, unprejudiced examination of the evidence. Go in cold, without preconceived notions."

  Jamie frowned. "All right," he said. "But I'm not happy about it. I guess we just have to wait it out."

  Hannah laughed. "So we'll sit in the dark with nothing to do and nothing to see while going at ninety-odd percent of the speed of light, and while setting the all-human record for transit between two planets in different star systems. Maybe between two planets, period. You ever hear of anyone getting from, say, Earth to Mars in under four hours?"

  Jamie looked surprised. "No, come to think of it."

  "Anyway, it's going to be a lot less boring than the one-or two-week flights we usually have to take," said Hannah. "That's got to count for something."

  "I appreciate your understanding," said Brox.

  "We'll ask a favor or two of you sometime," said Hannah, glad that she had been able to get Jamie more or less mollified. And, after all, Brox had given up some information. Either by accident, or because he saw no reason to deny the obvious any longer, he had at least admitted there was a crime scene--and therefore that a crime had been committed. And he had reinforced that admission by referring to evidence to be examined.

  It was remarkably little to go on, but clearly it was all they were going to get. Hannah leaned back against one of the nameless machines that lined the corridor and shut her eyes. "Might as well get some rest, Jamie," she said. "Not much else to do. Besides, once we get there, I've got a feeling we're in for a long, hard day."

  Hannah heard Brox snort in a Kendari sort of equivalent to a laugh, but she didn't bother opening her eyes.

  "That much," said Brox, "I think I can confirm without prejudicing the case. We should all get some rest."

  The Eminent Concordance raced through the darkness and toward the dangers and mysteries ahead.

  FOUR

  SHOUTS OF SILENCE

  Hannah managed to make a sort of lumpy pillow out of her equipment vest. She then accomplished the even more unlikely feat of lying down, propping her head up on it, and dozing off right there on the deckplates.

  It sometimes seemed to Jamie that Hannah and he took turns at being able to shut down and sleep. Jamie couldn't imagine sleeping right then and there, no matter how much sense it made to be rested for whatever lay ahead. Never mind. One of them ought to be awake to keep watch in any event. And if Hannah could sleep, and he couldn't, then it only made sense that he take the duty.

  The minutes crawled by as Jamie sat on the deck, with nothing to do but think of all the questions that Brox wouldn't answer, all the guesses it wouldn't be smart to make.

  "What's it like making a transit-jump on this ship?" Jamie asked Brox, more for the sake of conversation than anything else.

  On a human-built ship, a jump was never completely routine. Transiting safely from one star system to another required incredible power and precision. The slightest inaccuracy in navigation could endanger the ship or disorient the crew. Transit-jumps could produce all sorts of strange effects, from weird lighting flooding the ship's interior to power surges that blew out equipment or scrambled computer systems. BSI ships tended to fl
y on poorly charted routes, which meant they ran into more severe effects more often. BSI ships flew jumps with as many systems as possible powered down, braced, as much as possible, for whatever trouble came their way.

  "Transit-jump? I believe we have already made it," Brox replied evenly. He stood up and trotted a few steps closer to Greveltra's pilot station, then returned. "Yes. As best I can read the displays, we have already made the jump, and we are currently in the Tifinda System." He sat down again, tucking his four walking legs under him and wrapping his tail around his body. He stretched out his arms and twisted his neck one way, then the other, the very picture of bored patience. "We will be there soon enough," he said. "Based on what happened on my flight from Tifinda to Center, I can tell you that very little will happen until we are almost there--and then it will all happen at once, very quickly."

  So. What was regarded as the most dangerous part of the trip for a human starship was so routine, so safe, so unremarkable on a Vixan ship that they didn't take any special precautions. You couldn't even tell that it had happened.

  "If it's of any comfort to you," said Brox, "I find it all as intimidating as you do."

  "I didn't know Kendari could read minds," Jamie said.

  "We can't, as you know perfectly well. But I have been trained to read human expressions--and yours weren't exactly hard to read just now. The only difference between you and me at the moment is that I have already made one complete trip on this ship today, and we're getting close to the end of my second. And, of course, that I have been on Tifinda, and dealing with the Vixa, for some time. Even being stunned by the sheer power of this ship--and all their other technology--wears off after a while. Even being scared can get boring for a Kendari."

  Jamie laughed. "For a human too, if it comes to that."

  "It is a danger we must guard against," Brox said in a more serious tone. "Just because we have lost interest in a danger, that does not mean the danger has lost interest in us."

  "Well, at least we'll never get bored being scared of each other," Jamie said. "Humans and Kendari, I mean."