“It does appear I’ve made a mistake,” I said. “We’ll investigate this matter, but if it turns out Marvin is switching off mines without good cause, he’ll have to be destroyed.”
I saw Barrera give a tiny nod of approval. He probably thought I should have disposed of Marvin long ago. Crow shook his head, grinning into a fresh mug of coffee. He was clearly marveling at my stupidity and enjoying the moment. Only Sarin looked upset. She knew Marvin better than the others. She knew how useful he’d been as a translator and technician. He’d taught us how to handle Macro equipment. Without him, we’d never have made it back to Earth.
Sarin had set up a timer. We had just over two minutes left before the next response returned from Marvin. I used the time to think about what Marvin was doing out there. I was baffled.
“What I don’t understand is why he’s doing this,” I said. “He’s a very deliberate entity normally.”
“Maybe he’s curious about the mines,” Sarin said. “He’s always been that way, poking around with new equipment.”
I frowned. “I could see that with a single mine. He might deactivate it, take it apart, poke at it-even set if off experimentally. But to methodically switch off hundreds of them? I just don’t understand it.”
“Times about up,” Barrera said.
I glanced at the clock that measured the roundtrip of a message to Venus and back again. It went negative nine seconds before the response came in. Marvin was considering his reply carefully.
“Colonel Riggs,” Marvin’s voice began, “I’m sorry about any confusion I may have caused. I’m almost finished with my assignment. If you will simply allow me to complete the deactivation of the field, I’ll be on my way and you can turn them all back on again, if you like.”
I bared my teeth at the screen, staring at the yellow glowing oval that was Marvin. Two more mines had vanished since we’d started the conversation. The group around me stepped to the board, huddling around it. Even Crow had lost his sense of humor.
“What the devil is that robot doing?” Crow said. “Sounds to me he’s gone rogue, Kyle. I’m going to order my ships to descend and engage.”
I nodded. “Deploy your ships, Admiral,” I said. “But don’t tell them to fire yet. Give me one more round with Marvin first. This could all be a misunderstanding of some kind. Marvin has been a loose cannon since I put him together, but there’s always been a good reason.”
Crow twisted his lips unhappily. “We should do it now, Kyle. He could slip away through the ring.”
“In that case you can send your two ships after him, if you think it’s worth it.”
Crow grunted unhappily. He stepped aside and relayed his orders to the two small ships. Marvin was essentially a self-guided ship, but I hadn’t built him with any armament. He had sensors, a manipulation arm and an engine, but that was all. Clearly, he was using that arm to deactivate my mines one by one.
I keyed my headset again. “Marvin, this is your last chance. You will stop deactivating mines and begin putting them back. Answer me this: Why are you deactivating them in the first place? You will explain your actions thoroughly with your next transmission, to my satisfaction. If you either refuse to explain or continue deactivating mines, I will have no choice but to destroy you. Please Marvin, for the sake of our friendship, comply.”
Major Sarin fired off the transmission and reset the timer. It was a very long ten minutes. At last, the response came in.
“Colonel Riggs, this is an unnecessary misunderstanding! My motivations are entirely innocent! I should have asked permission, I suppose, but I was afraid you would deny it, on the basis of some technicality. I’ve struck a bargain with the entities on the far side of this ring. They assure me if I deactivate the minefield, they will allow me to explore the star system on their side. Think of the possibilities! You don’t have any cause to worry. They’ve assured me they are only interested in bringing an end to this conflict between themselves and Earth. They say the minefield must be removed so they can bring their fleet through the ring safely and end the war.”
I rocked back on my heels, stunned.
“Entities?” Crow cried aloud. “He’s talking about the bloody Macros! That little tin traitor!”
I leaned forward again, trying to think. All my nightmares were returning. Giant, titanium nightmares that stood a hundred feet tall. I understood what had happened now, as incredible as it seemed. Marvin had explored, as inquisitively as ever. He’d gone too far, exploring outside the system. He’d gone past the Venus ring to the blue giant star system I’d once visited. That system was full of Macros who were mining the various rocks that floated nearby.
Understanding Marvin’s psychology, I supposed the blue star system was a mystery that drove him to desperation with curiosity. We’d more or less quarantined the region, not bothering to send even an occasional scout through the ring to check out what was happening on the far side. Normally, when dealing with a human opponent, it was best to keep close tabs on the enemy activity. With the Macros, even scouting might well prove to be a trigger. We didn’t have much of a fleet yet, and we’d figured it was best to lie low, building up as fast as we could for as long as we could. When the Macros finally came back to Earth, hopefully months or years from now, we hoped to have built a force that could withstand their assault.
The Macros had other ideas, however. They were building up on the far side of the ring even now and they knew about our minefield. When Marvin had talked to them, they had offered him a trade. If he turned off the minefield they’d allow him to explore their territory and they promised to end the conflict with Earth.
I knew what they’d really meant by that. They had no intentions of granting us peace. Ours would be the peace of the dead. The final peace all extinct species come to know.
— 6
Conversing with Marvin under the best of circumstances had always been difficult. He wasn’t human, and his thought processes didn’t follow patterns that seemed completely rational to our minds. Additionally, he was deceptive. Sometimes he seemed childish to me-at other moments he was more like an ancient, evil genius.
On this occasion, instead of having him within easy reach, I had to deal with the vast distance between Earth’s orbit and that of Venus. With the fate of Earth’s security hanging in the balance, I found the ten minute round trip for each exchange exasperating.
It was a full minute after digesting Marvin’s last statement indicating he was cooperating with the Macros before I could put together a sane response. I waved the rest of my staff to silence and lowered my chin to my chest. I cleared my throat and keyed open the microphone.
“Marvin, we’ve been friends for a long time. I built the body you’d always wanted, allowing you to explore to your heart’s content. I did not however, anticipate you exiting the system so soon. I know you can’t have visited every planetary body near Earth so quickly. I urge you to focus your explorations here around our star for now. The Macros are not like humans, Marvin. They do not always keep their arrangements. We on the other hand have kept ours. If you will help us and do as we require today, I’ll guarantee you access to other star systems to satisfy your curiosity to the fullest in the future.”
I sent the message. Crow stared at me with narrowed eyes.
“Yeah…good talking, mate,” he said. “I get it now. Make the little bugger think we’re his best friends, still. With the next message, try to get him to move up higher, away from the surface of Venus. Our lasers can’t penetrate those upper clouds. Even if I send the ships down closer, it’ll be hard to get a lock on him down in that high-pressure soup. Talk him up out of that thick atmosphere and my boys will burn him to atoms.”
I looked at Crow thoughtfully for a second.
“What you describe may well happen,” I said. “But I still hold out hope we can work with Marvin, that he can reverse this situation.”
Crow’s jaw sagged. He closed it again with an audible smacking sound. “What the hell are you talking about, Kyle? We’ve got to kill him while we can. He’ll dump everything he’s got to the Macros, if he hasn’t already. Our codes, everything.”
I shook my head slowly. “He could have done that already. He clearly hasn’t as he’s out there turning off mines rather than just inviting the Macros in.”
Major Barrera rumbled, clearing his throat. I looked at him expectantly.
“With all due respect, sir,” he said to me. “Admiral Crow is correct. Marvin has gone rogue and has had
