Juggler of Worlds (53 page)

“Can you call off Achilles? Can you make everything as it was? Can you guarantee it will never happen again?”

Nessus lowered his heads. “You know I cannot. But this will be worse.”

Sigmund bared his teeth. “For you, perhaps. That’s not my problem.”

SIGMUND SET DOWN his helmet. “We should talk first about price.”

“What do you think the information is worth?” Fourteen countered.

The lives of everyone on New Terra. How did one set a price on that? “Fourteen, Beowulf has assured me your people are very honest traders.”

“That is our intention,” Fourteen said.

Now we’ll test that, Sigmund thought. “Is it satisfactory for me to reveal what I know, and for you to then set the price?”

“Perhaps we cannot afford an honest price.”

“I’m sure you can,” Sigmund said. “If we can agree on no other terms, I will take as payment the right to independently operate one of your planetary drives.”

“Interesting.” The room grew deathly quiet. Sigmund’s impression was that Fourteen consulted somehow with others of his kind. “Your price is the cancellation of that part of the Concordance’s debt.”

“It is.”

“A princely sum,” Fourteen said. “We are intrigued.”

“Then you accept my terms?” Sigmund pressed.

“I do. Proceed.”

And so Sigmund revealed, as Nessus moaned softly beside him, the long-secret history of
Long Pass
and New Terra.

“I must consult,” Fourteen said abruptly. “Return to your ships. We will meet again in one Hearth day.”

Their own ships. Sigmund suddenly pictured Nessus’ indestructible ship plunging
through
his cobbled-together vessel. Like a laser through butter.

Nessus had kept him alive—for years, apparently—within a stasis field. The Puppeteer could shelter
himself
from such an impact in stasis. If not for such contingencies, why even have a person-sized stasis-field generator aboard?

Sigmund cleared his throat. “Fourteen, I would like to moor my ship to yours.”

“That is not customary. Explain.”

“For the safety of my crew. Given what you have just heard, I’m sure you can understand.”

“Nessus,” Fourteen said. “All who visit here are under our protection. You are aware of the power we wield. For the sake of the Concordance, you should respect our rules.”

Sigmund took Nessus’ shiver as acquiescence.

“CALLING NESSUS. Calling Nessus. Calling Nessus.”

I must confront Sigmund soon enough, Nessus thought. Then it will be faces to face. What harm can come of talking by radio now? He rolled out of a nest of pillows.

The ex-Colonists would see the despair and panic in his unkemptness. He left video turned off. “This is Nessus.”

“I suggest a secure channel,” Sigmund said. “Eric tells me we use Fleet-standard encryption, from before independence. I assume your automation knows the algorithm.”

So now Sigmund would keep secrets from the Outsiders. Not for the first time, Nessus wondered what depths of insanity had possessed him to bring an ARM to New Terra.
“Aegis
has the algorithm, but we will need a common secret key.”

“Use the name of the man who killed me.”

That
should add to the Outsiders’ confusion. Despite everything, Nessus could not help but look himself in the eyes. “Done.” There was a moment of static while cryptographic software took over the channel. “All right, Sigmund. What else can we possibly have to talk about?”

“Starseeds.”

“I do not understand.” Nessus
hoped
he did not.

“Omar advised us you were coming. You were scouting ahead of the Fleet. You got a report from Hearth about Achilles’ attack, and you contacted New Terra.”

“Correct.” Video was off, and Nessus plucked frantically at his scrambled mane. “I had hoped to help you resist Achilles. Instead I heard where you had gone. Now I must stop you.”

“Ahead of the Fleet,” Sigmund repeated. “We were but a few light-years from here, yet you reached Ship Fourteen before we did. Hence, you knew where it was.”

Keep it simple. Don’t lie—Sigmund will find you out. Just don’t tell the
entire
truth. “I was here before.”

“That’s the thing,” Sigmund said. “You weren’t exactly ‘here.’ You visited Ship Fourteen more than two years ago. We went to where Ship Fourteen was. We headed where you went that last time. Where the navigation computers aboard
Aegis
said it was. You came … here.”

The truth wouldn’t work. Nessus had to try lying. “I found it with sensors.”

“No.” Sigmund’s flat tone admitted no doubt. “The sensors on this ship were scavenged from
Explorer
. Surely a Concordance scout ship had the best available sensors.”

Caught in a lie, as Nessus had feared. “Why do you care?” he asked. “We have other matters to concern us.”

“Call it a thirst for knowledge.” Sigmund paused. “Even nonparanoid humans have it.”

“Ah, curiosity.” A very human trait. Wandering away from the herd got animals killed. Any semblance to curiosity was bred out of Nessus’ ancestors long before the first glimmer of sentience. It was one of many reasons scouts were rare—and why, in his foolishness, Nessus once thought Colonists might serve.

The difficulty with curiosity was, it knew no bounds.

“To continue,” Sigmund said. “You went straight to a distant Outsider ship. It occurred to me you might have hidden a beacon on the Outsider ship, something to report instantaneously by hyperwave. But I’ve seen you around the Outsiders. They terrify you. You wouldn’t risk being caught.”

“I can almost admire your fascination with puzzles, but this is not the time. Sigmund, our escorts are due soon to return us to Fourteen.”

Sigmund would not be deflected. “Do you know how
we
found Fourteen? First we found a starseed. If an Outsider ship were in the area, it was likely to be nearby. Do you know why the Outsiders follow starseeds?”

“Truly, I don’t.”

“A bit of truth at last. Nessus, I would appreciate it if you’d turn on video. As you say, our escorts will fetch us soon enough. I’ll see you then. Unless you have something to hide.”

“No, but if I don’t you will conclude that I do.” Before activating the video link, Nessus looked himself in the eyes again. “See my coiffure in all its splendor.”

Judging by appearances, Sigmund had not rested well, either. Despite the dark bags beneath his eyes, his eyes shone with excitement. “Here’s how I put it together, Nessus. Outsiders follow starseeds. Know where a starseed is and chances are you can find an Outsider.

“Just as I don’t believe Puppeteers would dare bug an Outsider ship, I don’t believe you would dare bug a starseed. I don’t believe you would
touch
one. One of the few things anyone knows about the Outsiders is that starseeds are special to them.”

“Really, Sigmund. It’s time for me to prepare for the—”

“That leaves one possibility, Nessus. Outsiders follow starseeds. And what do starseeds follow?”

Nessus was afraid to speak.

“You should not be so modest. The Concordance has some kind of bait. Outsiders follow starseeds, which follow bait, which is controlled by Puppeteers.

“What do you suppose Fourteen would pay for
that
information?”

Sigmund was suited up, helmet in hand, standing in the corridor by the main air lock. Eric and Kirsten had come to see him off. “You don’t have to do this alone,” Kirsten said. “Either or both of us would come with you.”

He never doubted that, but he had another role in mind for them. “Can I trust you?”

“Of course,” Kirsten said.

“Who
don’t
you trust?” Eric said at the same time. His eyes darted about, looking for eavesdroppers. He seemed not to notice his mate’s worried expression.

Eric is driving Kirsten away, Sigmund thought. Emulating me is driving her away. It made Sigmund sad.

“I sent a file to both of you. It contains everything I know or suspect about Puppeteers and Outsiders. If I don’t come back … use the information as you see fit.” Things could go wrong in so many ways that Sigmund couldn’t begin to be specific. “Consider immediately hyperwaving everything back to New Terra. Until then, I trust you not to look.”

Then Sigmund snapped on his helmet and walked into the air lock.

Four Outsiders floated beyond the air lock. Two took his hands. They towed him at their accustomed glacial pace toward Ship Fourteen.
Why Not
vanished in the dark behind him. Stars surrounded him, impossibly distant.

It wasn’t the vast emptiness that most terrified Sigmund. It was the loneliness that all the emptiness represented. His life, light-years removed from everyone else in the universe.

If they survived this, Sigmund swore, he
would
change.

SIGMUND’S ESCORTS LED HIM to a room indistinguishable from yesterday’s. Lights came on as he entered, and air whooshed in. The clear dome, at the end opposite the door, remained dim and unoccupied. This time he was here first, and he saw Nessus arrive. They removed their pressure suits in silence.

The dome brightened, and an Outsider appeared. The dome could function as a transfer booth, or contain the equivalent of a stepping disc, or project incredibly lifelike holos. None of which mattered.

Nessus sidled closer to the dome. “Fourteen?”

As before, sound issued from unseen speakers. “We shall forego pleasantries. This will be brief.”

Sigmund forced himself to be calm.

“Sigmund, you brought news and asked us to assign a fair price. Upon due consideration, the information matters only to New Terra and to the Concordance. It is without value to us.”

Sigmund could only stare. “The Puppeteers are deeply in your debt. Knowledge of their duplicity surely matters.”

“It is less of a surprise than you imagine,” Fourteen said—at which Nessus twitched.

Intervention had been Sigmund’s last hope. How could the all-powerful Outsiders react with such indifference? And why? “Puppeteers will enslave a world of humans, or destroy it, or set it adrift. Whatever happens, they do it to placate
you. We
are blameless in this. How can you not act?”

“Settle your petty differences amongst yourselves. Our interest is only the payment due to us. Who pays is your affair. Be glad we do not react to your presumption.”

“Thank you, Fourteen,” Nessus said. “The Concordance appreciates you leaving this matter in our jaws.”

There
must
be options. “Earth would pay a fortune for this information.”

“If you believe that, Sigmund, you do not need us. Go there and sell it yourself.”

And what could he sell to get Earth’s coordinates? The suspicion that Puppeteers could lure starseeds?

Beside Sigmund, Nessus quivered. Despite his victory, he remained as terrified as ever. A Puppeteer could never learn how
not
to be afraid. The fear was wired in his genes.

And in that instant, Sigmund finally understood. The truth had been in front of him the whole time.

“I THINK YOU WILL HELP, Fourteen” Sigmund said. “No, I’ll restate that. You
will
help.”

Beneath the dome, tendrils writhed.

“You will help, Fourteen, for the same reason you are so eager to remain uninvolved. For all your power, you are far fewer, and far weaker, than anyone imagined. But
I
know. My
people
know. And if you do not resolve this matter to my satisfaction … then
everyone
will know.”

What truth he had surmised lay scattered across the files left for Eric and Kirsten. In time they might connect the dots as he just had. Sigmund hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Nessus pawed the deck. “Fourteen, I do not know what troubles Sigmund. He does not speak for me.”

“Noted, Nessus. Sigmund, explain.”

“What
do
we know about your people?” Sigmund mused. “Very tanj little. You live on enormous ships. You follow starseeds. You sell information and technology, always for a premium price. You lease the occasional remote planet or moon, always offering a generous payment, and you buy occasional supplies.