“We might not have them,” Werd said. “The Urse Damay’s not part of the Conclave military fleet.”
“Then I need one of your engineers to explain how Conclave power systems work. We can do that, at least, right?”
“I’m on it,” Werd said, and opened up a channel to the Nurimal.
Carn looked at the two of them, saw their expressions. “What happened?” he asked.
“We’re dealing with complete assholes,” Wilson said.
“I thought we knew that,” Carn said.
“No, this is new,” Wilson said. “There’s a bomb attached to the power supply on that box. The one Rayth Ablant is in. It looks like it’s set to go off if anything happens to the power going into the box. If we move Rayth Ablant, he’s going to die.”
“If we don’t move him, he’s going to die,” Carn said. “His power supply is running out.”
“And now you know why I said we’re dealing with complete assholes here,” Wilson said. He was silent the rest of the way to the Nurimal.
It’s just you this time.
“Yes,” Wilson said to Rayth Ablant.
That’s not a good sign, I think.
“I told you I would be back,” Wilson said.
You’re not going to lie to me, are you.
“You said you liked that I wasn’t like the humans you had heard about,” Wilson said. “So, no, I’m not going to lie to you. But you have to know that the truth is going to be hard to hear.”
I am a brain in a box. The truth is already hard to hear.
Wilson smiled. “That’s a very philosophical way of looking at things.”
When you’re a brain in a box, philosophy is what you have.
“There’s a bomb in your box,” Wilson said. “It’s attached to the power buffer. As far as I can tell, it has a monitor that tracks power input. The Urse Damay’s power system is integrated with its emergency power systems so that when the first goes down, the second is already running and there’s no interruption of power to critical systems, including your box. But if we remove your box from the system entirely, the monitor is going to register it, and the bomb will go off.”
It would kill me.
“Yes,” Wilson said. “Since you asked me not to lie, I’ll tell you I suspect the real point of the bomb is to make sure the technology of that box you’re in isn’t taken and examined. Your death is an incidental result of that.”
On second thought, maybe you can lie to me a little.
“Sorry,” Wilson said.
Is there any way to remove me from the box?
“Not that I can see,” Wilson said. “At least, not in a way that keeps you alive. The box is, if I may say so, an impressive piece of engineering. If I had more time, I could reverse-engineer the thing and tell you how it works. I don’t have that time. I could take you out of the box-the part that’s actually you-but I couldn’t just then take that part and hook it up a battery. The box is an integrated system. You can’t survive without it.”
I’m not going to survive long in it, either.
“I can reattach the batteries we’ve removed from the system,” Wilson said. “It can buy us some more time.”
Us?
“I’m here,” Wilson said. “I can keep working on this. There’s probably something I’ve missed.”
If you tinker with the bomb, then there’s a chance you’ll set it off.
“Yes,” Wilson said.
And when the power goes out, the bomb will explode anyway.
“I imagine the bomb will use the energy in the buffer to set itself off, yes,” Wilson said.
Do you dismantle bombs on a regular basis? Is this your specialty?
“I do technology research and development. This is up my alley,” Wilson said.
I think this is you lying to me a little.
“I think I might be able to save you,” Wilson said.
Why do you want to save me?
“You don’t deserve to die like this,” Wilson said. “As an afterthought. As a brain in a box. As less than fully yourself.”
You said yourself this box is an impressive piece of technology. It looks like whoever did this took some effort to make sure it couldn’t be taken. I don’t want to insult you, but given that you’ve had only a very little amount of time with this box, do you really think you’re going to find some way to outwit it and save me?
“I’m good at what I do,” Wilson said.
If you were that good, you wouldn’t be here. No offense.
“I’d like to try,” Wilson said.
I would like you to try, if it didn’t mean you possibly dying. One of us dying seems inevitable at this point. Both of us dying seems avoidable.
“You asked us to help you,” Wilson reminded Rayth Ablant.
You did. You tried. And even right now, if you wanted to keep trying, it’s clear I couldn’t stop you. But when I asked you to help, you helped. Now I am asking you to stop.
“All right,” Wilson said, after a moment.
Thank you.
“What else can I do for you?” Wilson asked. “Do you have friends or family that you want us to contact? Do you have messages for anyone I can send for you?”
I have no real family. Most of my friends were on the Urse Damay. Most of the people I know are already gone. I have no friends left.
“That’s not entirely true,” Wilson said.
Are you volunteering yourself?
“I’d be happy if you considered me your friend,” Wilson said.
I did try to kill you.
“That was before you knew me,” Wilson repeated. “And now that you do, you’ve made it clear you won’t let me die if you can help it. I think that makes up for your earlier indiscretions.”
If you are my friend, then I have a request.
“Name it,” Wilson said.
You are a soldier. You’ve killed before.
“It’s not a point of pride,” Wilson said. “But yes.”
I’m going to die because people who don’t care about me have used me and then thrown me away. I’d prefer to leave on my own terms.
“You want me to help you,” Wilson said.
If you can. I’m not asking you to do it yourself. If this box is as sensitive as you say it is, if I die, the bomb could go off. I don’t want you anywhere near when it does. But I think you could find another way.
“I imagine I could,” Wilson said. “Or at the very least I could try.”
For your trouble, let me offer you this.
There was a data ping on Wilson’s BrainPaclass="underline" an encrypted file, in a format he wasn’t familiar with.
When I had completed my mission-when I had killed your ship and the Conclave ship-I was to feed this into the ship’s guidance system. It’s coordinates for my return trip. Maybe you’ll find whoever’s behind this there.
“Thank you,” Wilson said. “That’s incredibly helpful.”
When you find them, blow them up a little for me.
Wilson grinned. “You got it,” he said.
There’s not much time before the emergency power is entirely used up.
“I’ll have to leave you,” Wilson said. “Which means that no matter what happens I’m not coming back.”
I wouldn’t want you here no matter what happens. You’ll stay in contact with me?
“Yes, of course,” Wilson said.
Then you should go now. And hurry, because there’s not a lot of time left.
“This isn’t going to be a popular sentiment, but he’s going to die anyway,” said Captain Fotew. “We don’t have to expend the effort.”