computer.”
“When we tried to call for help, though–”
“You mean from the peak of Mt. Maidens? Well, obviously none of the wild
robots would recognize our signal, on the band they used. And that part
of the computer’s attention which ‘listened in’ on its children simply
filtered out my voice, the way you or I can fail to hear sounds when
we’re busy with something else. With so much natural static around,
that’s not surprising.
“Those masts were constructed strictly as relays for the robots–for the
high frequencies which carried the digital transmissions–so that’s why
they didn’t buck on my calls on any other band. The computer always did
keep a small part of itself on the qui vive for a voice call on standard
frequencies. But it assumed that, if and when humans came back, they
would descend straight from the zenith and land near the buildings as
they used to. Hence it didn’t make arrangements to detect people radio
from any other direction.”
Flandry puffed. Smoke curled across the viewscreen, as if to veil off
the abysses beyond. “Maybe it should have done so, in theory,” he said.
“However, after all those centuries, the poor thing was more than a
little bonkers. Actually, what it did–first establish that chess game,
then modify it, then produce fighters that obeyed no rules, then extend
the range and variety of their battles further and further across the
moon–that was done to save most of its sanity.”
“What?” Djana said, surprised.
“Why, sure. A thinking capability like that, with nothing but routine to
handle, no new input, decade after decade–” Flandry shivered. “Br-rr!
You must know what sensory deprivation does to organic sophonts. Our
computer rescued itself by creating something complicated and
unpredictable to watch.” He paused before adding slyly: “I refrain from
suggesting analogies to the Creator you believe in.”
And regretted it when she bridled and snapped, “I want a full report on
how you influenced the situation.”
“Oh, for the best, for the best,” he said. “Not that that was hard. The
moment I woke the White King up, the world he’d been dreaming of came to
an end.” His metaphor went over her head, so he merely continued: “The
computer’s pathetically impatient to convert back to the original style
of operations. Brother Ammon will find a fortune in metals waiting for
his first ship.
“I do think you are morally obliged to recommend me for a substantial
bonus, which he is normally obliged to pay.”
“Morally!” The bitterness of a life which had never allowed her a chance
to consider such questions whipped forth. But it seemed to him she
exaggerated it, as if to provide herself an excuse for attacking. “Who
are you to blat about morals, Dominic Flandry, who took an oath to serve
the Empire and a bribe to serve Leon Ammon?”
Stung, he threw back: “What else could I do?”
“Refuse.” Her mood softened. She shook her amber-locked head, smiled a
sad smile, and squeezed his hand. “No, never mind. That would be too
much to expect of anyone nowadays, wouldn’t it? Let’s be corrupt
together, Nicky darling, and kind to each other till we have to say
goodbye.”
He looked long at her, and at the stars, where his gaze remained, before
he said quietly, “I suppose I can tell you what I’ve had in mind. I’ll
take the pay because I can use it; also the risk, for the rest of my
life, of being found out and broken. It seems a reasonable price for
holding a frontier.”
Her lips parted. Her eyes widened. “I don’t follow you.”
“Irumclaw was due to be abandoned,” he said. “Everybody knows–knew–it
was. Which made the prophecy self-fulfilling: The garrison turned
incompetent. The able civilians withdrew, taking their capital with
them. Defensibility and economic value spiraled down toward the point
where it really wouldn’t be worth our rational while to stay. In the
end, the Empire would let Irumclaw go. And without this anchor, it’d
have to pull the whole frontier parsecs back; and Merseia and the Long
Night would draw closer.”
He sighed. “Leon Ammon is evil and contemptible,” he went on. “Under
different circumstances, I’d propose we gut him with a butterknife. But