I frowned at the walls of Barbarossa from which Marvin’s voice emanated. “Did I get that right? Did you talk the Worms into setting up their ambush?”
“Well, I told them the Macro fleet was coming to their system. They were quite pleased at the prospect of attacking it.”
I laughed. “I bet they were. Good going, Marvin. Maybe I didn’t screw up by letting you loose in the first place.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, Colonel Riggs.”
I glanced over at Captain Miklos. He looked doubtful. He probably thought I should lure Marvin into weapons range and blow him away. I had to admit, that was the safest move. He’d done several odd things and right now I was willing to total them all up as a positive for Star Force, but that could change at any time. I couldn’t let him run around loose forever. I didn’t have an easy way to get him back into my grasp, however.
“Hey Marvin,” I said, “would you mind easing off your engines a little and flying back here to join my fleet?”
He didn’t answer that one right away. I could tell the neural chains in that brainbox of his were recursing deeply, looking for danger. I could almost hear him thinking what’s his angle?
“Why would you suggest that, Colonel Riggs?”
There it was-he didn’t trust me. It was sad, in a way. I tried to come up with a snappy reply. I didn’t want to take a long time to respond. Marvin was smart, and he knew it took us longer to come up with plausible deceptions than it took to tell the truth.
“Actually, I’d like to examine some of the junk you have all over your ship, if you don’t mind,” I said. “We really need to study both Worm and Macro technologies more closely. So far, we’ve never captured a Macro ship and brought it back to Earth in one piece. That is doubly true of Worm technology. We know very little about it. We’ve never even seen one of their spacecraft or their particle weapons up close. Do you have anything like that in your little collection?”
Another hesitation. If he’d been in the room with me, I’d bet he’d be staring at me with at least three of his four cameras. I had his full attention now-or as close to his full attention as any human could warrant.
“I do have samples of Worm technology. In fact, most of my current specimens are scraps of Worm ships. They are quite different, you know. They are more like humans than Macros, being biotics, but they are more-wild, you might say. If that description makes any sense to you. Their technological devices are constructed individually, they are works of art rather than mass-manufactured duplicates.”
“Having met them in battle up-close and personal, that makes perfect sense to me. They do seem to fashion their warrior harnesses and kits in a custom fashion. I didn’t realize this trait extended to their ship designs.”
“Oh, but it does!” Marvin said. He blathered on for a while, telling me how the Worms managed to build various elements of their electronics and drive systems. Even their circuit boards were individually fabricated, being assembled on a substrate of vomitous resin rather than fiberglass.
I knew as I listened that I had him. I waved for the helmsman’s attention.
“Range?” I asked quietly.
“He’s slowing and gently gliding back toward us,” the helmsman said.
I smiled, pleased. Without directly agreeing to anything, Marvin was drifting closer. I got the feeling he was glad to have someone to talk to. Space was a lonely place for a solitary intellect.
Captain Miklos caught my eye and gave me a knowing nod. I was sure he figured we’d lock our lasers on Marvin and blast him the second we could. I hadn’t made my decision on that point. The robot was a wild card, but he had yet to do us any real harm.
Marvin and I continued talking for a time, back and forth. Now and then, I checked the ranges, which the helmsman had helpfully relayed to my screen. I was somewhat disturbed when I realized we would reach the Macro fleet before Marvin was within range. He was slowing and drifting toward us at a very gentle rate. He’d only given his course and speed a nudge in our direction. We would be in a firefight with the Macros before he was in our grasp. At that point, we’d probably have bigger things to worry about. Clearly, Marvin’s trust was not yet absolute.
I had options, of course. I could change our fleet’s trajectory slightly and bring us together faster. That would slow us down in our pursuit of the Macro fleet, however. Hmm. Maybe that was exactly what Marvin wanted. Maybe he was testing us, to see if we were really here to catch him or to catch the Macros. I nodded to myself, feeling a growing certainty I was being tested. Marvin had managed to stay alive in the face of the Macros, Star Force and the Worms. If he was anything, he was adept at survival.
After we broke off our little chat, Captain Miklos turned to me, smiling grimly. “That was masterfully done, Colonel,” he said. “I’d underestimated your capacity to deal with these aliens. I can see it must be done with care and subtlety. We’ll be in range of the rogue robot after we are engaged with the Macros, but we can always spare a few beams for him.”
I snorted. “No,” I said. “He won’t let us get into range. He’s only testing us.”
Miklos frowned, uncertain.
“Just watch,” I told him.
More hours passed. The Macro fleet had lost three more vessels. The Worms had lost a dozen ships in the same time. The Worms seemed to be running out of steam. They were still making passes at the enemy, but with less of their characteristic vigor. I figured they’d realized we would catch up soon and they should wait to hit hard when we were all together.
The ring that led to Helios loomed near over the next hour. As they drew close, the Macros again fired salvoes of missiles to eliminate any mines they may meet as they passed through the ring. I watched the tiny pinpoints of light flare then quickly fade as nuclear fires cleansed the volume of space in front of the ring. The ships began filing through after that.
The first to vanish were the Macro ships. The Worms followed, then Marvin. We glided up in silence. Every crewmember stared tensely. What was on the other side? The last time we’d jumped, we’d met with the happy surprise of a Worm fleet and enemy wreckage. This time, the surprise might be played upon us.
I glanced at Captain Miklos. He gripped his command chair tightly. His face was staring at the forward wall, squinting as if he expected a painful surprise.
I couldn’t see any way we could know what was ahead, and neither did he. Whining about it wasn’t going to help either. We sat in our chairs tensely, waiting for the stab of the needle.
We jumped.
— 45
The star known to Earthlings as Aldebaran was a red giant about sixty-five lightyears from our world. From the point of view of Earth it was in the Taurus constellation and lined up with the belt of Orion. The star was truly huge, its diameter being forty-four times that of our sun. There were a few crispy planets circling the ancient, monstrous star. Only the planet Helios was in a position to support life. It was a heavy-gravity planet with sunken seas and towering Worm cities that stood like termite mounds here and there on the hot surface.
Nothing shocking occurred as we flew through the ring. The only surprising thing was the behavior of the Worm ships. They were falling farther behind the Macros and veering off slightly-moving above the plane of the ecliptic for the Aldebaran system. I studied them, frowning.
“What are they up to?” Captain Miklos asked, becoming nervous. “Their ships are no longer in range of the Macros. They’ve broken off.”
“They probably decided to hit them again when we catch up. Maybe they finally realized we can’t go any faster than we are currently traveling. A bit of math will predict the intersect of this fleet and the Macros. Speaking of that, when will we catch them, helmsman?”
“Just short of the next ring, sir,” he said, working his computer.
“Excellent. I didn’t want to have to wait until we reached the next system to fight them. I’d like to see Eden again, but every jump we make is nerve-wracking at this speed.”
“It bothers me too, sir,” Captain Miklos said. “But I’m not used to spreading my atoms over lightyears via
