A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [163]
He pondered his next question. “EA, I’m giving you a direct command. Your owner is not here, and your programming requires you to follow the instructions of any human who commands you.”
“So long as it does not directly harm other humans,” EA said. “And so long as it does not directly contradict prior instructions given to me by my owner.”
“You have returned from your personal mission, so therefore you’ve completed your instructions. Correct?”
EA paused. “I have completed my most recent mission, yes.”
Basil smiled. “Good, then we don’t have to worry about that.” Compies were not overly bright or flexible. He would start out with basic information, facts that he could have obtained from the compy owner’s EDF file anyway. “Your owner is an officer in the Earth Defense Forces?”
“Yes, she is the commander of a Manta cruiser.”
Basil raised his eyebrows. Not many Roamers had volunteered for service. Ah, perhaps it was Commander Tamblyn, who had been quite an asset during the Boone’s Crossing debacle. Was she a mole inside the military? How much important information did she have access to? It made him uneasy, but with this compy, perhaps he could establish some background details. “Your owner is a Roamer, correct? Commander Tamblyn?”
“Yes.”
“What planet does she come from?”
EA remained oddly silent. “I cannot divulge that information.”
Basil was astonished. “You can’t tell me what planet she’s from? That is absurd. It must be in all of her personnel records. What work does this clan Tamblyn do? What facilities or ships do they operate?”
The compy stood stiffly. “I am sorry, sir. I cannot answer those questions.”
“Yes you can. I insist. In fact, this is a direct command.”
To Basil’s utter surprise, glimmers of sparks showed behind EA’s eyes. Her mechanical arms jittered a bit, and then she slumped into frozen silence. All the indicator lights on her artificial face died.
“EA—respond.” Impatient, Basil went to the compy and touched her metal body. The core was hot. Had the internal circuitry melted down? It looked as if all systems had crashed. “What the hell? You did that on purpose!” He looked around the room as if checking to see whether anyone had watched him. “I don’t believe this.”
He scowled, deep in thought. His questions had been relatively innocuous, but apparently the Roamer compy had some sort of built-in fail-safe mechanism. Any interrogation about Roamer activities or the location of bases triggered a permanent and irrevocable shutdown, a total memory wipe and program erasure. Very disturbing.
He bumped EA, and the frozen compy tottered, struck the metal wall, then slid to the floor with a crash.
What were the Roamers doing that they would need to implement such drastic measures in order to maintain their secrets? He gritted his teeth, making a low growling sound. “What are you hiding?” he demanded, but the robot could make no response.
A breathless lieutenant ran past the door, then, noticing Basil inside the room, stopped and turned. “Chairman Wenceslas, your presence is needed in the command-and-control center. We’ve been looking all over for you—”
“I’m here,” Basil said, his voice firm. He straightened his suit. “What’s happened?”
“General Lanyan is ready to launch the encounter vessel at Osquivel.”
Basil nodded. Time to concentrate on the more important business at hand. “Well, he has my blessing. Tell him to get on with it.”
He took one step toward the door, then looked at the fallen, motionless compy. “Oh, and Lieutenant—get someone to clean this up.” He nudged EA’s metal body with the toe of his shoe. “Store it somewhere for later analysis.”
85
TASIA TAMBLYN
As the ships in the EDF battlefleet took their assigned positions over Osquivel, Tasia anxiously studied the readings from the tactical analysis probes. She tried not to show her keen interest, but luckily nothing seemed amiss. She saw no obvious sign of Del Kellum’s flourishing shipyards. No spurious readings from the rings attracted any attention. Though