forward toward Nakamura. Richard hesitated a moment before speaking.
“The octospiders want peace,” he said slowly, “and would like to find a way to end this conflict. If they were not a moral species, they might agree to ratify this surrender document just to buy some time. But the octospiders are not like that. My alien friend, whose name is Archie, would not make an agreement for his species unless he was certain both that the treaty was proper for his colony and that his fellow octospiders would honor it.”
Richard paused. “We do not need a speech,” Nakamura said impatiently, “just answer the question.”
“The octospiders,” Richard said in a louder voice, “sent Archie and me to negotiate an honorable peace, not to surrender unconditionally. If New Eden is not willing to negotiate and to make an agreement that respects the integrity of the octospider domain, then they have no choice. Please,” Richard now shouted, looking back and forth at the guests on both sides of the room, “understand that you cannot win if the octospiders really fight. So far they have put up no resistance at all. You must convince your leaders to enter into balanced discussions—”
“Seize the prisoners,” Nakamura ordered.
“-or you will all perish. The octospiders are much more advanced than we are. Believe me. I know. I have been living with them for more than—”
One of the policemen struck Richard on the back of the head and he fell to the floor, bleeding. Katie jumped up, but Franz restrained her with both arms. Richard was holding the side of his head as Archie and he were ushered out of the room.
Richard and Archie were in a small jail cell at the police station in Hakone, not far from Nakamura’s palace. “Is your head all right?” Archie asked in color.
“I think so,” Richard answered, “although it is still swelling.”
“They’ll kill us now, won’t they?” Archie asked.
“Probably,” Richard said grimly.
“Thanks for trying,” Archie said after a short silence.
Richard shrugged. “I didn’t do much good. Anyway, it’s you who should be thanked. If you hadn’t volunteered, you would still be safe and sound in the Emerald City.”
Richard walked over to the washbasin in the corner to clean the cloth he was holding against his head wound. “Didn’t you tell me that most humans believe in life after death?” Archie asked after Richard had rejoined him in the front of the cell.
“Yes,” Richard replied. “Some people believe we’re reincarnated and return to live again, as another human or even as some other animal. Many others believe that if a good life has been lived, there is a reward, an eternal life in a beautiful, stressless place called heaven.”
“And you, Richard,” Archie’s colors interrupted. “What do you personally believe?”
Richard smiled and thought for several seconds before answering. “I’ve always believed that whatever there was in us that was unique and defined our special, individual personality disappeared at the moment of death. Oh, sure, our chemicals may be recycled into other living creatures, but there is no real continuity, not in terms of what some humans call the soul.”
He laughed. “Right now, however, when my logical mind says I could not possibly have much more time to live, a voice inside is begging me to embrace one of those fairy tales about the afterlife. It would be easy, I admit. But such a last-minute conversion would be inconsistent with the way I have lived all these years.”
Richard walked slowly over to the front of their cell. He put his hands on the bars and stared down the corridor for several seconds without saying anything. “And what do octospiders think happens after death?” he asked softly, turning around to face his cellmate.
“The Precursors taught us that each life is a finite interval, with a beginning and an end. Any individual creature, although a miracle, is not that important in the overall scheme of things. What matters, the Precursors said, is continuity and renewal. In their view each of us is immortal, not because anything related to a specific individual lives forever, but because each life becomes a critical link, either culturally or genetically or both, in the never-ending chain of life. When the Precursors engineered us out of our ignorance, they taught us not to fear death, but to go willingly in support of the renewal that would follow.”
“So you experience no sorrow and no fear as your death approaches?”
“Ideally,” Archie replied. “That is the accepted way in our society to face death. It is far easier, however, if an individual is surrounded, at the time of termination, by friends and others who represent the renewal that his death will enable.”
Richard walked over and put his arm around Archie. “You and I have only each other, my friend,” he said. “Plus the knowledge that we have tried, together, to stop a war that will probably end up killing thousands. There can’t be many causes—”
He stopped when he heard the door to the cellblock open. The local police captain, along with one of his men, stood to the side as four biots-two Garcias and two Lincolns-all wearing gloves, came down the hallway to their cell. None of the biots spoke. One of the Garcias opened the door and all four biots crowded into the cell with Richard and Archie. The captain closed the cellblock door. Moments later the lights went out, there was the sound of a scuffle for several seconds, Richard screamed, and a body fell against the bars of the cell. Then it was quiet.
“Now, Franz,” Katie said as they opened the door to the police station, “don’t be afraid to pull rank. He’s just a local captain. He’s not going to tell you that you can’t see the prisoners.”
They walked inside only a second or two after the cell-block door closed behind the biots. “Captain Miyazawa,” Franz said in his most official tone, “I am Captain Franz Bauer from headquarters. I have come to visit the prisoners.”
“I have strict orders from the highest authority, Captain Bauer,” the policeman replied, “not to allow anyone into that cellblock.”
The room was suddenly plunged into darkness. “What’s going on?” Franz said.
“We must have blown a fuse,” Captain Miyazawa replied. “Westermark, go outside and check the circuit breakers.”
Franz and Katie heard a scream. After what seemed to be an eternity, they heard the cellblock door open and the sound of footsteps. Three biots disappeared out the front door of the station as the lights flickered on again.
Katie ran to the door. “Look, Franz,” she yelled. “Blood-they have blood on their clothes.” She spun around, frantic. “We must see my father.”
Katie outran the three police officers down the corridor. “Oh, God,” she screamed as she neared the cell and saw her father lying on the floor against the bars. There was blood everywhere. “He’s dead, Franz,” Katie wailed. “Daddy’s dead!”
8
Nicole had watched the video twice before. Despite her swollen eyes and utter emotional exhaustion, she asked if she could see it one more time. Beside her Dr. Blue handed her a cup of water. “Are you certain?” the octospider asked.
She nodded. “Please start at the hearing,” Nicole requested. “Normal speed until the biots enter the cellblock. Then slow it down to one-eighth.”
Richard never wanted to be a hero, Nicole was thinking as the video replayed the scene at the hearing. That wasn’t his style. He only went with Archie so that it wouldn’t be necessary for me. She winced when the guard struck Richard and he tumbled to the floor. The plan was hopeless from the beginning, she told herself as the New Eden policemen led Richard and Archie out of Nakamura’s palace. The octospiders all knew it. I knew it. Why didn’t I speak up after my premonition?
Nicole asked Dr. Blue to fast-forward the video to the final minutes. At least they had each other at the end, she thought as Richard and Archie were sharing their final conversation. And Archie tried to protect him. The four biots appeared on the screen and the video slowed. Nicole saw surprise change to fear in Richard’s eyes as the biots entered the cell.
When the lights were extinguished, the picture quality changed. The infrared images taken by the quadroids
