New Contract (Perimeter Defense Book #3) (27 page)

Miya pressed the armrest of her wide armchair and, with a slight mechanical buzz, it folded out into a full bed. After that, before I even figured out how it worked, the redheaded beauty reached for her shoulder straps, and the pink ribbon wrapping her body fell to her feet.

"Do not worry, Georg, we can still talk. I am not preparing to lie. It's just that it's hard to talk about serious things with you when you're so clearly undressing me with your eyes. Your erotic fantasies are distracting."

* * *

I opened my eyes, and couldn't understand for a long time what had awoken me. There were still twenty minutes before my alarm was set to go off. There hadn't been any emergency calls or missed emergency messages to force me up, either. With only a slight delay, I realized with surprise that the reason I had awoken was entirely banal. I had simply gotten enough sleep! After all those long weeks of constant hurrying, overwork and exhaustion, I was caught off guard by waking up feeling rested. Phobos, standing near the doors, greeted me and said:

"Master, night to come cap-i-tan, then Bion-i-ca. But I no to let any in."

What the bodyguard said didn't surprise me at all. After what Miya had told me, I was suspecting as much. By the way, about Miya... I was jerkily grasping at mental straws, trying hold onto the bits of dream I could still remember. As always happens, if you don't make sure to remember a dream right after waking up, it begins to evaporate, leaving nothing in your memory but pitiful, disconnected fragments, which are then forgotten quickly as well. No, I couldn’t have that today! The information I got from my spouse was very important. Last night, Miya had told me some truly significant things. I stayed silent for a few minutes trying to remember what had happened the night before. I realized the futility of my efforts and... actually started laughing.

Miya really was a crafty snake! The Truth Seeker probably already knew that I would forget everything she said when I woke up, and was counting on it, which is why she had spoken so frankly with me. I remembered the dream in general terms. My spouse and I had stayed up talking all night until sunup, making only two or three breaks for carrying out our spousal duties. But the question was, what did we talk about for so long? There was a large gap in my memory. It wasn't entirely complete, though. There were some sentence fragments I was able to remember. For example, a part of the conversation on the fugitive Truth Seeker:

"...Georg, don't be so naive! The Dark Mother does not make such mistakes. If she, the absolute strongest Truth Seeker, confirmed that it was Marian Sabati precisely who killed her master, that means it must be so. Or, the other possibility is that the Throne World had some reason for wanting to declare as much. For example, to force Marian Sabati to actively seek refuge. I suppose she thought it most likely for the runaway to seek shelter with you, which was no problem for the Dark Mother..."

Or the other fragment on the upcoming negotiations:

"...The biggest mistake one can make when dealing with Iseyek is to begin measuring one’s self against the Swarm in brute force. That is sure to end in failure. They always start with greater forces, and multiply much faster than us as well, quickly making up any losses, both in soldiers and vehicles. Unfortunately, it took humanity a whole fifty years to realize that..."

The last dream fragment to have miraculously remained, made me, to be honest, afraid. Miya was very alarmed and was walking naked from wall to wall, like an animal trapped in a cage:

"...Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why didn't I check your life line a bit farther?! Ugh, you and that advisor are real smart. You should have noticed it was a trap on your own. You did notice something was amiss with the conditions they imposed, after all. The limit to one frigate was done specifically in order to prevent your Truth Seeker and her overgrown cockroaches from coming along and warning you of the danger. Georg, you're one of the top Iseyek specialists in the Empire, so you’re on your own here. Find your own way out. Prove the value of your new government to the Swarm. If you run out of arguments, tell Nai Igir what I told you. That method of killing the Alien
Queen
is available only to people, not Iseyek..."

A way to kill the
Queen
? Miya had told me in a dream how to deal with the largest ship in the Alien armada? Why then, had my dearest spouse not concerned herself with the fact that I wouldn’t be remembering this critically important information? Think, Georg, think. It looked like the negotiations with the insects would be difficult, and my success or failure would depend on whether I was able to restore my missing memories.

The alarm clock rang and, practically at the same time, the door into my cabin gave a beep and slid to the side, letting Bionica in with my indispensable morning mug of that energizing beverage.

"My Prince, while we were at the Kiya station, I sent your ultimatum to Crown Prince Demyen. I must say, it went out at a very good time. The commander of the Green House First Strike Fleet had just called an emergency meeting of senior officers to discuss the situation. And boy do they have something to discuss. The warp beacons are turned off, information cannot get out to the Empire, and there was a simultaneous emptying of provision stores, and drinking water tanks on practically all fleet ships."

"Do we know anything about how effective the sabotage was?" I asked.

"Yes, of course. The androids of the Green House Fleet are not under suspicion, and continue to provide us with timely and useful information about what is happening. Their encrypted reports are not being blocked from retransmission by the Closed Laboratories warp beacon like all other forms of communication either. We already know that they were able to destroy approximately forty percent of their food reserves, and empty over seventy percent of the drinking-water reservoirs. The signal telling the robots to do this was modified to look like it was sent from Perimeter Sector Two, which is in the Green House. Crown Prince Demyen's security team has already traced it, decrypted it and sent their findings to the commander."

"How did Crown Prince Demyen react?"

My assistant laughed happily:

"The Prince is throwing a fit. He destroyed a large interactive Imperial transport map on the wall of his cabin with a blaster. He also killed an android servant who walked in at the wrong time. The commander thinks his close relatives are to blame. He thinks this is all some power struggle in the Green House. He is under the impression that someone high up the Green House line of succession is secretly working with Unatari. Unfortunately, I was not able to get any information about the Green House Fleet senior officers' meeting. But, in three hours, our frigate will exit the warp tunnel in the Mra system, and I'll be able to find out what was decided at that meeting, as well as the Crown Prince's answer to my ultimatum."

I laughed in satisfaction. Everything was going according to plan. Also, Bionica had skillfully deflected the blowback onto the Green House. Let them seek out the traitor in their own ranks now. I expressed my general approval of the operation, and asked my assistant if she had always been able to command other robots to such a degree. I saw fear flash across the synthetic blonde's face for a brief moment, but it was immediately replaced with her usual pleasant smile. I was still sure of what I’d seen, though.

"After our time on the Chameleon island, in a plane flying over the Unatari ocean, when Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle was given the offer from android society. It was through me precisely that the Crown Prince gave his official answer to all two billion androids living in the Empire. From that very minute, I became something of a recognized go-between for intelligent machines and living people."

"That's all great. Congratulations on the promotion. It actually does nothing to explain why a diplomat-slash-middleman should have the authority to issue commands, though."

The synthetic beauty sitting opposite me stopped smiling, and was no longer trying to hide her amazement and even fear about where our conversation was heading.

"My Prince, I would prefer not to answer that question," the blonde managed to squeeze out.

"Bionica, what is this I'm hearing? You don’t want to answer a direct question from your master, first trying to mask the truth, and only then asking for permission not to answer?"

My synthetic secretary lowered her eyes.

"My Prince, this secret is not mine to divulge, and I promised a good friend I would keep quiet until a certain time. Of course, you could make use of your superadministrator status and take the information from me by force, thus making me break my word. But, all the same, I ask you not to, as such actions might deter potential allies. Android society is undergoing some very complex processes right now. Subgroups with common interests and shared visions of the future are forming. Authoritative leaders are coming to the fore. I am one of those leaders, and I have the trust of tens of millions of robots. I assure you that my actions do not contain and never have contained any thoughts that go against your Majesty's plans. I simply ask that you not check this."

I looked thoughtfully at the synthetic beauty and realized that there were formidable forces behind her, and I wasn’t even close to imagining everything they could be thinking. Should I trust the word of my pretty robot servant? Or should I force her to tell me the truth? It was a complicated choice, and no one could tell me the right answer. In the end, I had to trust my intuition:

"Alright, Bionica. I believe you and will not be demanding an answer. But, in exchange, I would like to hear what really happened with Duchess Inessa's yacht in the Kammo system. I hope you'll be able to tell me this story in general details without breaking any promises or giving up exactly who did it."

I asked her that in a sudden attack of brilliance. The mysterious death of the Orange House Head was too closely connected with computer systems on the ship and space station for it to have been a coincidence. Who, other than the very robots responsible for the functioning of these systems, could know the truth?

Bionica froze for a tense second, then nodded and began speaking.

"As everyone knows, androids are not capable of harming humans, much less killing them. Nevertheless, there is a way. This impossible task could be broken down into many simple, legal steps, none of which require an organized conspiracy by all participants. These individual tasks could even be done automatically, as part of a given robot’s normal function."

My secretary's voice became lifeless and metallic. The robot now was simply reporting each individual action:

"Each small step to be done by different individuals. Replace automatic fire extinguishing system tank in Duchess Inessa's bunk. No identical gas tank found, replace with new model, also used in fire extinguishing. On receipt of order for new tanks from warehouse, more effective model issued. Gas in tank very toxic to humans. Main use: extinguishing fires in empty warehouses. After new fire extinguishing system installed in Duchess's cabin, fire drill scheduled to familiarize crew with new equipment. At scheduled time, both of the Duchess' bodyguards were next to the fire extinguishing system, glass helmet-visors raised. Video surveillance system disabled for brief, preventative repair. When video surveillance disabled, ship computers unable to identify visitors. In the interest of safety, door into Duchess's room locked for duration of repair. Yacht captain docking at the Kammo station without recommended two assistants. Instructions violated, automatic piloting system engaged. On station, freight cranes engage. Crane arms unfold. Oh no! Collision. Left board punctured. Captain disabled autopilot. Control returned. Emergency rescue system and automatic hermetic seal off for fire drill. Air leak. Pressure in two cabins fell practically to zero. Lack of living humans in Duchess' cabin confirmed. Doors unlocked for rescue operation. Tragic incident, the death of a Great House Head. Data for all commands received by ship systems could be used in investigation. Remove main and backup memory crystals and leave them for investigators in a sealed packet on the captain's bridge. Robot cleaner sees unlabeled package lying on floor. Package incinerated."

I was silent, shocked at what my robot secretary had just told me. Bionica turned her humanity setting back up to maximum, and was now waiting for my reaction.

"It is senseless to try to find the identification numbers of the exact robots who committed this crime. It’s a virtual certainty that their memories have been wiped by now. And the assassins can hardly have been careless enough to leave tracks leading back to themselves."

My assistant gave an affirmative nod in return, then added:

"All communications between robots on dangerous topics takes place over very advanced technical encryption standards. Tracking down a particular individual is theoretically possible, but in reality it would take decades to decrypt all the chains of anonymous proxy servers and passwords from the many thousands of available symbols. I'll tell you this right away: I was not personally involved in the preparation or carrying out of this operation. I was informed of what happened in Kammo after the fact, as I was cut off from the network due to the Orange House's communications blockade."

"But then, at least share your thoughts on what happened," I asked, and Bionica frowned.

"It was stupid and risky. I would have been categorically opposed, if I had known they were preparing to assassinate Crown Princess Inessa. A group of robots and androids decided they wanted to show the ruler of Unatari their loyalty, and at the same time demonstrate what they were capable of. It was an attempt to influence your decision on providing rights and freedoms to anthropomorphic robots. Androids believe that by doing that they showed their usefulness to Unatari and are counting on a grateful reply. However, they do not know your Majesty as well as I do. I suppose that this obviously terroristic act on their part achieved exactly the opposite effect. Crown Prince Georg now thinks androids dangerous."