Ted touched his front teeth together and rubbed them carefully back and forth, clearly calculating. “I’ll put you in charge of our continuing radio link with the EMs.”
Nigel sniffed. “A token. I’ll take it, but you know full well we’ll get damn little through the ramscoop noise.”
Ted shrugged. “Them’s the breaks.”
“The maths types have already determined that we’re the first contact the EMs have had. If we break off, even for a while the blow to their—”
“Nigel, the decision’s made.”
“By an array of experts.”
“Essentially, yeah. You got a better way? We can’t run Lancer as a seat-of-the-pants showboat. Everybody’s glad as hell to get away from the Watchers safely.”
“Something tells me they’re not a significant danger—”
“Changing your tune! Funny, I remember you were the one who warned us not to touch down on that Watcher, and now you’re—”
“As I was about to say, not significant unless they’re provoked.”
“Why? With dozens dead—?”
“A hunch.”
“I can’t run a ship on hunches,” Ted said sourly. “I need you to help process the data feed we’re just starting to get from the gravitational lens back Earthside. You can have your hunches on the side.”
Nigel smiled. “I’m getting too many votes in the ship-wide congress, eh?”
“I’m not worried.”
“I’d scarcely want your job anyway.”
“There’s always a faction that’ll follow your line of thinking. If you could bring them around—”
“Around to what? I’m not maneuvering against you, Ted.”
“If the people you influence don’t go along with our general policy, that’s divisive.”
“Uh-huh. Science is like that. Full of incorrigibles.”
“This isn’t science, it’s leadership we’re talking.”
“Maybe the best way to lead is to do nothing.”
“What in hell’s that mean?”
“You don’t see that Watcher jumping to conclusions.”
“I don’t see it doing anything.”
“Quite. Patience is a strategy, too.”
“I’m getting full up to here with you, Nigel.”
“You’re at the end of a long queue. My whole career’s been shot through with that sort of thing.”
“You’re pretty goddamn cavalier about it.”
“At my age you have to be.”
“Smug, aren’t you!”
“You’re not getting the message, Ted.”
“Which is?”
“Why can’t I get on with Americans? Lets put it this way—we’re not talking foreign policy, we’re talking alien policy. Listen to that EM song for a moment.”
“Yeah. Indecipherable without computers.”
“I doubt that computers alone could turn the trick. I doubt the Watcher did.”
“It’s had the time.”
“Right, but not the hormones, y’see.”
“So?”
“So maybe it’s not there to decipher at all. Think about the design of such a thing. It has to last millions of years. Sure, it can repair itself within limits—but who fixes the fixers? You can’t rely on redundancy alone for insurance. So your strategy becomes molelike. You make your Watcher careful, conservative. Don’t waste energy. Don’t risk damage of materials.”
