46
“We’re going to do this,” Alice said dubiously.
Louis glanced up from the pilot’s console. “You wouldn’t?”
“Oh, I would,” Alice said. “I thought you were smarter.”
Louis laughed. “Not even close.”
“I’ll be with you all the way down,” Proteus said.
Alice muted the microphone. “I don’t trust it.”
“I’d worry if you did. Of
“So we take it on faith that he won’t double-cross us.”
“Instead of a comm buoy emerging nearby matched to our course and speed, Proteus could have lobbed a kinetic-kill drone into us.” The memory came unbidden of Alice stuck like a fly in amber in a restraint field, her neck broken. Louis rested a hand on her arm, glad she no longer shied away when he touched her. “I’ve seen what that does.”
“Maybe,” Alice said stubbornly, “Proteus would rather total us near Hearth where others can see.”
“Jeeves,” Louis prompted.
“If I see anything suspicious or unexpected, I’ll jump at once to hyperspace and withdraw to half a light-year from the Fleet.”
“Are you almost done discussing whether to trust me?” Proteus asked. “You humans are so obvious.”
Alice nodded at Louis.
Louis unmuted the mike. “We’re ready to go. Clear us through to NP2.”
“The moment your simulated STC transponder begins emitting,” Proteus said, adding a short passage of atonal music.
“He asked if I am ready to interact with Space Traffic Control,” Jeeves translated, before singing back a direct response.
“Very good,” Proteus said. “One last thing. Citizens being Citizens, they are panicked at what is coming and — ”
“Shouldn’t they be?” Alice asked.
“And stolen grain ships are all about, trying to withdraw to a safe distance before the Kzinti pounce. Many of the stolen ships have inexperienced, unskilled pilots.”
“Before the Kzinti arrive,” Louis repeated. With their recent rout to avenge, they would not be lenient. “How soon will that be? What’s your best guess?”
“Two Hearth days, mostly to complete their velocity match with the Fleet. But you
Louis looked at Alice, and she nodded.
He said, “All right, Proteus. We’ll talk to you soon.” As Louis jumped them to hyperspace, the main view port went blank.
“It’ll work.” Although Alice spoke aloud, she seemed to be trying to convince herself. “Land at the spaceport where they’re expecting a prisoner pickup. Radio for them to bring out Nessus. Stun and dump the unsuspecting guards. Take off before anyone knows what’s happened, with Proteus giving us a free pass outbound through the planetary defenses.”
“Simple and elegant,” Louis said, sure they were overlooking something.
“What could go wrong?” Alice responded.
LOUIS’S HANDS NEVER LEFT THE CONTROLS. Proteus had not exaggerated the chaos of ships fleeing the area. While
“Close your eyes!” Jeeves shouted.
He had been blessed with immunity to the Blind Spot phobia. Not so Alice. He leaned over and nudged her. She did not react. He tried a harder shove without effect, then punched her in the shoulder.
With a start, she came out of her trance. “What happened?”
“A no-warning jump to hyperdrive,” Louis said.
“Hundreds of ships emerged
Tanj! They had been
“Wait,” Alice said. “First explain what you saw.”
“Except for the flurry of hyperspace dropouts, almost nothing,” Jeeves admitted. “As instructed, I acted at once. Here is what Proteus hyperwaved just before we left.”
Louis studied the holo that opened. On the rim of the singularity, in the path of the Fleet, hung hundreds of icons. Inserting a hand into the image, he zoomed the closest icon.
It was a lens-shaped ship. A
“I should have seen it coming,” he said.
Alice stood. “I don’t get it. Proteus said they’d need another two days.”
“To match course and speed with the Fleet,” Louis said. “Proteus was doing a math problem, not thinking strategically. Or he guessed how the Kzinti would behave by extrapolating from the bunch he knew, the bunch he’s already killed off. But crew assigned to the diplomatic mission would have been hand-chosen for self- restraint.”
For docility, Louis added to himself. Not that you wanted to anger even a “docile” Kzin.
“These guys don’t mean to land, or not for a while. They’re going to pound the snot out of the Puppeteers, soften up the defenses for the next wave. And, while they’re at it, avenge the massacre when Achilles ordered the diplomats to leave.”
“Proteus won’t defend the Puppeteers, will he?”
Feeling helpless, Louis could only shrug.
HUNDREDS OF OBJECTS STREAKED toward the Fleet, their normal-space velocities ranging from one-tenth to three-tenths light speed.
Through thousands of sensors, Achilles studied the intruders. A few were large enough to carry crews. Most were not. In the skirmish with the local Kzinti, he had seen projectiles like the latter. The gamma-ray eruptions when Proteus had destroyed those showed they carried antimatter warheads.
Why wasn’t the AI destroying incoming missiles
The few among Achilles’ aides who had not collapsed at the early-warning alarm stood ripping at their manes, pawing at the floor, eyeing the office’s exits. Fools! To where did they think to run?
“Proteus!” Achilles sang at his computer. “Connect at once.”
“May I help you?” Proteus sang.
“If you had not noticed, we are under attack.”
The Chiron avatar bobbed heads. “I see that.”
“Then why do I not see any strikes against the intruders?”
