Archie did not understand Richard’s remark. Nicole patiently explained to the octospider that the leaders of New Eden were not likely to be as reasonable as Archie was assuming. “It is entirely possible,” Nicole said, to stress the danger of what Archie was proposing, “that they will kill us both before we are ever allowed to say anything.”
Archie kept insisting that what he was proposing was bound to be accepted eventually because it was clearly in the best interests of the humans living in New Eden.
“Look, Archie,” Richard responded in frustration, “what you said is just not correct. There are many human beings, including Nakamura, who do not give a shit what is good for the colony. In fact, the common welfare is not even a factor in the subconscious objective function, to use your terms-, that governs their behavior. All they care about is themselves. Every decision is weighed in terms of whether or not it will increase their own personal power or influence. In our history, leaders have often destroyed their own countries or colonies in attempts to retain their power.”
The octospider was stubborn. “What you are describing just cannot be true in an advanced species,” Archie insisted. “The fundamental laws of evolution clearly indicate that those species whose primary value is the welfare of the group will outlast those in which the individual is supreme. Are you suggesting that human beings are an aberration of some kind, a freak of nature violating a fundamental—”
Nicole interrupted. ‘This is all very interesting, you two,” she said, “but we have some more pressing business. We must design a plan of action that has no pitfalls… Richard, if you don’t like Archie’s plan, what do you suggest?”
Richard reflected for several seconds before speaking. “I believe that Nakamura has committed New Eden to this action against the octospiders for many reasons, one of which is to preclude criticism of the domestic failures by his government. I do not think he will be dissuaded from his course unless the citizens are overwhelmingly against the war, and, I’m sorry to say, I don’t think that will happen unless the colonists are convinced the war will be a disaster.”
“So you think threats are necessary?” Nicole said.
“As a minimum. What would be perfect would be a demonstration of military might by the octospiders,” Richard said.
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Archie commented, “at least under the current circumstances.”
“Why?” Richard asked. ‘The Chief Optimizer spoke with confidence about winning any war that might occur. If you were to attack and utterly destroy that camp—”
“Now it is you who do not understand us,” Archie said. “Because war, or any conflict that can result in deliberate deaths, is such a non-optimal way of resolving disputes, our colony has very strict regulations governing concerted hostile actions. Controls are built into our society to make war absolutely the solution of the last resort. We have no standing army and no stockpile of weapons, for example. And there are other restraints as well. All optimizers participating in a decision to declare war, as well as all octospiders engaging in an armed conflict, are immediately terminated after the war.”
“Whaaat?” said Richard, not believing his translator. “That’s not possible.”
“Yes, it is,” Archie said. “As you can imagine, these factors significantly deter our participation in non- defensive hostilities. The Chief Optimizer knows that she signed her own death warrant two weeks ago when she authorized the beginning of war preparations. All eighty of the octospiders now living and working in the War Domain will be terminated when this war is either concluded or the threat of war has officially passed… I myself, since I was part of the discussions today, will be placed on the termination lists if war is declared.”
Richard and Nicole were speechless. “The only possible justification for war to an octospider,” Archie continued, “is an unambiguous threat to the very survival of the colony. Once that threat is identified and acknowledged, our species undergoes a metamorphosis and prosecutes the war, without mercy, until either the threat is obliterated or our colony has been destroyed. Generations ago, some very wise optimizers realized that those individual octospiders who were engaged in killing, and the design of killing, were so psychologically altered by their experiences that they became a significant detriment to the operation of a peaceful colony. That’s why the termination codicils were enabled.”
Richard and Nicole were still silent even after Archie had finished talking. At length Richard started to ask Archie to leave the room so that he could speak privately to his wife, but he quickly remembered the ubiquitous quadroids. “Nicole, darling,” he said finally, “I don’t think Archie’s plan is quite right for several reasons. For one thing, I should be going with him instead of you—”
When Nicole started to interrupt, Richard gestured with his hands for her to remain quiet, “Now hear me out,” he said. “Throughout our marriage, especially since we left the Node, you have always been the one out front, giving of your time and energy for the benefit of the family or the colony. Now it’s my turn. In this particular instance, I believe that I am also better suited to the proposed task. I can more easily scare our fellow humans by conjuring up images of doomsday blows delivered by the octospiders.”
“But you don’t speak (heir language well,” Nicole protested. “Without your translator—”
“I’ve thought about that,” Richard said. “And I think that Ellie and Nikki should go with Archie and me. First, with a child among us, the probability that we will be killed by the advance force is significantly reduced. Second, Ellie is completely fluent in the octospider language and can back me up if my translator is either not available or inadequate. Third, and this may be the most important reason, the only crime that Nakamura and his minions can possibly be attributing to the octospiders is Ellie’s kidnapping. If she shows up, healthy and praising the alien enemy, then the war effort will be undermined.”
Nicole frowned. “I don’t like the idea of Nikki going along. It’s much too dangerous. I would never forgive myself if something happened to that child.”
“Nor would I,” Richard said. “But I don’t think Ellie will go without her… Nicole, there are no good plans. We will be forced to choose the least unsatisfactory option.”
During a brief pause in the conversation Archie spoke in color. “Richard’s points are all excellent,” the octospider said to Nicole. “And there is one additional reason why it might be better for you to remain here in the Emerald City-the rest of the humans who stay behind will need your leadership in the difficult days ahead.”
Nicole’s mind was racing. She had not been prepared for Richard to volunteer to go. “Are you telling me, Archie,” she said, “that you endorse Richard’s suggestions, including taking Ellie and Nikki with you?”
“Yes,” the octospider replied.
“But Richard,” Nicole then said, turning to her husband, “you know how you hate what you call political crap. Are you certain you have thought this through?”
Richard nodded. Nicole shrugged. “All right, then,” she said. “We’ll talk to Ellie. If she agrees, we have a plan.”
The Chief Optimizer thought that the amended proposal had some chance of success, but felt compelled to remind everyone that, based on the detailed octospider analysis of the likely outcome, there was still a high probability that both Archie and Richard would be killed, and a nonzero chance that Ellie and Nikki would not survive as well. Nicole’s heart skipped a beat when she translated the octospider leader’s reminder. The Chief Optimizer was not telling her anything that Nicole did not already know; however, Nicole had been so involved in the planning and discussions that she had not yet confronted any of the likely outcomes of their decisions.
Nicole said very little while the principals all agreed upon a baseline timetable. When she heard Richard say that Archie and he, with or without Ellie and Nikki, would leave the Emerald City one tert after dawn the next day, Nicole shuddered. Tomorrow, flashed quickly through her mind. Tomorrow our lives will change again.
She remained quiet on the transport ride back to their zone. While Richard and Archie talked about many different subjects, Nicole tried to wrestle with the growing fear inside her. An inner voice, one that she had not heard for years, was telling her that she would never see Richard again after tomorrow. Is this perhaps some peculiar reaction on my part? she asked herself critically. Am I having trouble letting Richard be the hero?
The strength of the premonition grew, despite Nicole’s attempts to combat it. She remembered a terrible night many, many years earlier, when she had been in her bedroom in the little house in Chilly-Mazarin. Nicole had awakened screaming from a violent and vivid nightmare. “Mommy is dead,” the ten-year-old girl had cried.
Her father had tried to console her and had explained that her mother was just away on a trip visiting her family in the Ivory Coast. The telegram announcing her mother’s death had arrived at the house seven hours later.
“If you don’t have any weapons stockpiled and no trained soldiers,” Richard was now saying, “how in the
