“I get it, Will. But we have to balance any knowledge we might gain against the possibility of them capturing some of our tech. They haven’t tried again with the monitor drones in the Oort, but if we sent something in-system…”
I’d been giving this some serious thought, so Bill’s objection wasn’t really a surprise. And I had my answer ready. “They can’t capture our tech if we don’t send any new tech inbound. I’m suggesting an incursion using only common tech. SURGE, level 1 SUDDAR, so on. No SCUT, no cloaking.”
Bill’s eyebrows rose on his forehead. “Okay, how will that work?”
I popped up some schematics. “We disguise the probes in an asteroid-like coating. It’ll block causal SUDDAR pings, and fool radar and visual inspections. Just another piece of space junk, floating through the system. The units will store their observations for retrieval on the way out, or they’ll transmit everything and self-destruct if they see anything approaching.”
“They?”
“As many as we can build. Send them in at all kinds of angles and speeds.”
Bill stared into space, silent, for several milliseconds. “It does actually sound like a no-downside kind of plan. What the hell, let’s talk to Mario. It’s up to him, in the end, but I bet he’ll go for it.”
*
“I can do that.” Mario nodded in thought for a moment, then looked at us. “I’ve got autofactories about a quarter-light-year out, ready to pump out more replacement monitor drones if the Others get uppity again. Something like what you describe would be dead easy.” He rubbed his chin. “Little bit of a pain to get everything into position, but we’ve got the time, I guess. If the Others suddenly make an appearance, you’ll have your answer anyway.”
I nodded in agreement. “Good. And, let’s face it, we might see nothing but more Dyson Sphere construction, but if we find a massive fleet of death asteroids and cargo vessels being prepped, I’d kind of like for it not to be a surprise.”
Mario grinned at me. “Got it. I’ll get started.”
Pav Decanting
Jacques
July 2256
HIP 84051
Residences for twenty thousand Pav. Check. Big honkin’ fence to keep out the native wildlife. Check. Farms, with Pav crops already starting to grow. Check. Pav farm animals, taking first steps on wobbly new legs. Check.
Okay, this wasn’t half bad. We’d gone a little overboard with the residences. Probably some displaced guilt in operation. But it looked like we were ready.
Phineas and Ferb sat, holding coffees, waiting for me to open the conversation. For some reason, I found myself reluctant. Up to this point, we’d been able to avoid really dealing with the whole Pav thing. Analyzing their biology was fun and interesting, and building a colony site was just the adult version of Lego.
But now, we’d be waking up the last twenty thousand members of an all-but-extinct species. And, of course, dealing with their questions, accusations, and our feelings of guilt over the whole Delta Pavonis thing.
I sighed and put my coffee down on the side-table. “Okay, guys. Enough procrastination.” I gestured to Phineas. “You first.”
Phineas gave me a crooked grin, acknowledging the awkwardness. “We’ve got everything ready. The site is ready, crops are growing, animals are doing what animals do. We’ve got drones doing most of the maintenance labor, but we’ll either have to step in with androids or start waking Pav, pretty soon.”
“Right. This colony isn’t going to run itself.” I looked at Ferb. “We’ll be offloading your colonists first. Any issues?”
Ferb shook his head in reply. “No, I’m completely ready. More than. I want to get heading for Sol as soon as possible. Maybe we can get a load of humans out of there before the Others show up.”
“Assuming they do.”
Ferb rolled his eyes. “Jeez, Phineas, grow a brain.”
Phineas shrugged without further comment.
“Anyway,” I said, trying to forestall what had become an ongoing argument, “You’ll be able to unload all your colonists. Three days, right?”
Ferb nodded. “Yeah, we’ll take our time, so we don’t have too many awake-but-helpless Pav sitting around at any time. After the first load, the Pav can explain the situation to each new batch.”
“Urgh.” I dropped my head into my hand and massaged my forehead for a few moments. “I’m not looking forward to that, either. Even with Hazjiar to help, it’s going to be chaos. Even more than normal Pav chaos.”
*
We woke Hazjiar and the other seven Pav that Bill and I had originally spoken to. They were calmer this time, possibly helped by the food we’d decanted for the occasion.
The destruction of the meal complete, Hazjiar looked up in the general direction of the wall monitor. “What now?”
Phineas, Ferb, and I exchanged glances. “Well, here goes nothing.”
I replied through the wall monitor. “I’m going to come in person to discuss next steps with you. I want you to be prepared.”
All eight Pav went into alert posture, heads swiveling in all directions.
“Is there danger?” Hazjiar asked.
“No. I just think it’s time we met face to face.”
I gave the guys a lopsided grin. “I just hope they’re not still hungry.”
It took only moments to enter the android and go through startup checks. I undraped myself from the support rack and walked to the door. A short walk down the hallway, and I stood outside the room containing the revived Pavs. I took a deep breath, muttered, “Showtime,” and signaled the door to open.
As I entered the room, the Pav retreated en masse to the far corner. The tableau held for several seconds, a seeming human being at one end, and a pack of six-foot-tall meerkats standing at alert at the other. I’d discussed it with Bill and we’d decided that showing ourselves as alien would be better than trying to pass off a Pav form. Just the same, a certain amount of awkwardness seemed reasonable.
I glanced at them, but avoided a steady stare, which could be interpreted as aggressive. Instead, I walked to the long table and sat down on the bench.
“Good day,” I said to the group. “I’m Jacques. Once again, I’m sorry to be meeting you in these circumstances.”
There was no movement for several seconds, then Hazjiar sidled over and sat on the other side of the table. After a brief silence, she gestured to me. “Why did you not show yourselves, last time?”
“Um…” There was no reason for Hazjiar to know that I was not flesh and blood. Why complicate things? “We didn’t want to alarm or distract you unnecessarily. It was a spur of the moment decision.”
She nodded, apparently satisfied. The other seven Pav began to tentatively move toward the table. I ignored them, hoping they would take it as encouragement.
“What shall we discuss?” Hazjiar asked.
I carefully avoided smiling. To the Pav, that would be a challenge. “Your new home is ready for you. We have twenty thousand of your people in stasis, and I’d like to discuss plans for awakening them.”
Hazjiar nodded again, and visibly settled herself more comfortably on her seat. As a City Councilor by profession, administrative considerations were her job, and the familiar ground seemed to reassure her.
“Very well, Jock, what do we have to work with?”