were all known to the Intruders prior to the battle. This allowed
them to sabotage our detection measures and launch a surprise attack. Someone
had to give them that information. It’s the only possible explanation.”
“How does anyone surprise ships like yours?” I
asked incredulously.
“Surprise is measured in billionths of a second,” Meta
explained. “The Intruder forces knew precisely where our ships were. They
appeared alongside them and fired blind. They could only have done that if they’d
been provided with precise targeting information before they arrived.”
“There’s no way Izin could have anything to do
with that!”
“Izin Nilva Kren is the only member of the
Intruder species currently on any Tau Cetin world. The timing is highly
suspicious.”
“That’s crazy. We don’t even have the technology
to find out what you’re having for lunch, let alone where your fleet is! And
even if we knew, we couldn’t tell anyone. Do you know how long it would take us
to get a message to the Intruder Fleet – wherever it is?”
“It would take your ship forty eight years to
reach the Minacious Cluster, if you had the astrographics data required to
navigate such a voyage.”
“Which we don’t, because you haven’t given it to
us!”
With the galaxy full of undetectable gravitational
hazards able to collapse superluminal bubbles with catastrophic consequences, our
ships were restricted to the limits of the astrographic charts provided by the
Tau Cetins. Those charts gave mankind access to a sphere of colonization and
expansion that stretched approximately twelve hundred light years from Sol. It
was why Mapped Space wasn’t simply a collection of star charts, but the
physical extent of Human Interstellar Civilization.
“You may lack the technology to communicate with
the Minacious Cluster, but the Intruders do not. If Izin Nilva Kren is working
for them, he has access to their technology.”
“But he’s not! And he doesn’t!”
“If he were, Ambassador, you would never know.”
I knew because I trusted him, but if I said that,
they’d consider me a naive fool.
“We’ve never had contact with an Intruder ship –
ever! I don’t even know what they look like. As for this Minacious Cluster, I’d
never heard of it before today and have no idea where it is.”
“The Minacious Cluster orbits high above the
galactic disk, approximately sixty five thousand light years from Earth.”
“Sixty five thousand light years!”
“It may seem a great distance to you, but Intruder
spies have penetrated this far into the galaxy before.”
“So they regularly beat your blockade?”
“We contain their battle fleet. We cannot stop
every ship from escaping, particularly small craft they have designed to evade
detection. Some slip through. Most are caught and destroyed.”
“But not all!” I said, beginning to realize the
Tau Cetins weren’t as infallible as they wanted us to believe.
Meta nodded. “Their spies are particularly
interested in the Tau Ceti system. With Earth only eleven point nine light
years away and home to an indigenous Intruder population, it is an ideal
location from which to spy on us. Contact could have been established with Izin
Nilva Kren, before he left Earth, by an Intruder spy hiding there. As a member
of your crew, he has a freedom of movement no Intruder has, making him an ideal
choice.”
“Only in your paranoid imaginations!”
Jesorl emitted a short rapid fire burst of clicks
which Meta translated, “The container you brought us suggests otherwise.”
I hesitated, sensing from Meta’s simulated
humanity that I was missing something important. “What do you mean?”
“It contains a material beyond anything your
civilization can currently synthesize, a material which relates to technologies
able to undermine our security.”
Her words were like a kick in the guts. I’d given
the Tau Cetins the smoking gun that made Izin look like an Intruder spy! It
them to sabotage our detection measures and launch a surprise attack. Someone
had to give them that information. It’s the only possible explanation.”
“How does anyone surprise ships like yours?” I
asked incredulously.
“Surprise is measured in billionths of a second,” Meta
explained. “The Intruder forces knew precisely where our ships were. They
appeared alongside them and fired blind. They could only have done that if they’d
been provided with precise targeting information before they arrived.”
“There’s no way Izin could have anything to do
with that!”
“Izin Nilva Kren is the only member of the
Intruder species currently on any Tau Cetin world. The timing is highly
suspicious.”
“That’s crazy. We don’t even have the technology
to find out what you’re having for lunch, let alone where your fleet is! And
even if we knew, we couldn’t tell anyone. Do you know how long it would take us
to get a message to the Intruder Fleet – wherever it is?”
“It would take your ship forty eight years to
reach the Minacious Cluster, if you had the astrographics data required to
navigate such a voyage.”
“Which we don’t, because you haven’t given it to
us!”
With the galaxy full of undetectable gravitational
hazards able to collapse superluminal bubbles with catastrophic consequences, our
ships were restricted to the limits of the astrographic charts provided by the
Tau Cetins. Those charts gave mankind access to a sphere of colonization and
expansion that stretched approximately twelve hundred light years from Sol. It
was why Mapped Space wasn’t simply a collection of star charts, but the
physical extent of Human Interstellar Civilization.
“You may lack the technology to communicate with
the Minacious Cluster, but the Intruders do not. If Izin Nilva Kren is working
for them, he has access to their technology.”
“But he’s not! And he doesn’t!”
“If he were, Ambassador, you would never know.”
I knew because I trusted him, but if I said that,
they’d consider me a naive fool.
“We’ve never had contact with an Intruder ship –
ever! I don’t even know what they look like. As for this Minacious Cluster, I’d
never heard of it before today and have no idea where it is.”
“The Minacious Cluster orbits high above the
galactic disk, approximately sixty five thousand light years from Earth.”
“Sixty five thousand light years!”
“It may seem a great distance to you, but Intruder
spies have penetrated this far into the galaxy before.”
“So they regularly beat your blockade?”
“We contain their battle fleet. We cannot stop
every ship from escaping, particularly small craft they have designed to evade
detection. Some slip through. Most are caught and destroyed.”
“But not all!” I said, beginning to realize the
Tau Cetins weren’t as infallible as they wanted us to believe.
Meta nodded. “Their spies are particularly
interested in the Tau Ceti system. With Earth only eleven point nine light
years away and home to an indigenous Intruder population, it is an ideal
location from which to spy on us. Contact could have been established with Izin
Nilva Kren, before he left Earth, by an Intruder spy hiding there. As a member
of your crew, he has a freedom of movement no Intruder has, making him an ideal
choice.”
“Only in your paranoid imaginations!”
Jesorl emitted a short rapid fire burst of clicks
which Meta translated, “The container you brought us suggests otherwise.”
I hesitated, sensing from Meta’s simulated
humanity that I was missing something important. “What do you mean?”
“It contains a material beyond anything your
civilization can currently synthesize, a material which relates to technologies
able to undermine our security.”
Her words were like a kick in the guts. I’d given
the Tau Cetins the smoking gun that made Izin look like an Intruder spy! It
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