“The Eneshans tried to kill you,” Sagan said. “Why wouldn’t they kill the other members of your crew?”
“I don’t believe you,” Cainen said.
“I understand why you wouldn’t,” Sagan said. “It’s still the truth.”
Cainen sat there, grieving. Sagan gave him time.
“All right,” Cainen said, eventually. “Tell me what you want from me.”
“For starters, Administrator Cainen,” Sagan said, “we’d like the truth.”
It took a moment for Cainen to realize this was the first time the human had addressed him by his name. And title. “I’ve been telling you the truth,” he said.
“Bullshit,” Sagan said.
Cainen pointed to the speaker again. “I only got a partial translation of that,” he said.
“You are Administrator Cainen Suen Su,” Sagan said. “And while it’s true enough that you have some medical training, your two primary areas of study are xenobiology and semi-organic neural net defense systems—two areas of study that I would imagine mesh together well.”
Cainen said nothing. Sagan continued. “Now, Administrator Cainen, let me tell you a little of what we know. Fifteen months ago the Rraey and the Eneshans were fighting the same off-and-on war they’d been fighting for thirty years, a war that we encouraged since it kept the two of you out of our hair.”
“Not entirely,” Cainen said. “There was the Battle of Coral.”
“Yes, there was,” Sagan said. “I was there. I almost died.”
“I lost a brother there,” Cainen said. “My youngest. Perhaps you met him.”
“Perhaps I did,” Sagan said. “Fifteen months ago the Rraey and the Enesha were enemies. And then suddenly they were not, for no reason that our intelligence could figure out.”
“We’ve already discussed the shortcomings of your intelligence,” Cainen said. “Races stop warring all the time. After Coral, we and you stopped fighting.”
“We stopped fighting because we beat you. You retreated and we rebuilt Coral,” Sagan said. “Which is the point—there is a reason we stopped fighting, at least for now. You and the Enesha don’t have a reason. That worries us.
“Three months ago the spy satellite we parked above this planet noticed that for an allegedly uninhabited world, it had suddenly begun to receive a lot of traffic, both Eneshan and Rraey. What makes this especially interesting to us is that this planet is claimed neither by the Enesha or the Rraey, but by the Obin. The Obin don’t mix, Administrator, and they are strong enough that neither the Enesha nor the Rraey would think lightly about setting up shop in their territory.
“So we placed a more advanced spy satellite above the planet to look for signs of habitation. We came up with nothing. As a defense specialist, Administrator, would you like to hazard a guess as to why?”
“I would imagine the base was shielded,” Cainen said.
“It was,” Sagan said. “And as it happens, by the very sort of defense system you specialize in. We didn’t know that at the time, of course, but we know it now.”
“How did you find the base if it was shielded?” Cainen asked. “I am curious, in a professional sense.”
“We dropped rocks,” Sagan said.
“Excuse me?” Cainen asked.
“Rocks,” Sagan said. “A month ago we salted the planet with several dozen seismic sensors, which were programmed to look for seismic signatures that suggested intelligently designed underground structures. Speaking from experience, secret bases are easier to shield when they’re underground. We relied on the planet’s natural seismic activity to narrow down areas to investigate. Then we dropped rocks in areas of interest. And then today we dropped several right before our attack, to get an exact sonic image of the base. Rocks are good because they look like naturally occurring meteors. They don’t scare anyone. And no one shields against seismic imaging. Most races are too busy shielding against optical and high-energy electromagnetic scans to consider sound waves much of a danger. It’s the fallacy of high technology; it ignores the efficiency of lower orders of technology. Like dropping rocks.”
“Leave it to humans to bang rocks together,” Cainen said.
Sagan shrugged. “We don’t mind when the other guy brings a gun to a knife fight,” she said. “It just makes it easier for us to cut out his heart. Or whatever it is that he uses to pump blood. Your overconfidence works for us. As you can see because you are here. But what we really want to know, Administrator, is why you are here. Eneshans and Rraey working together is puzzling enough, but Eneshans and Rraey and Obin? That’s not just puzzling. That’s interesting.”