Bury nodded in satisfaction. "Astute of you to say so."
Renner and Blaine exchanged glances. Chris Blaine grinned slightly.
"What?" Joyce demanded in a fierce whisper.
"Warriors," Blaine said. When she raised a questioning eyebrow, Chris raised a palm to cut her off. "Later."
The Motie continued to project confidence. "Excellency, our first ship, which we have named Gandhi, wishes to carry an ambassador to your nearest peopled world. She is accompanied by a Mediator, of course, one who can speak to your political authorities. Meanwhile, we aboard Phidippedes wish to accompany you and yours into Mote system."
Bury's passengers stared at their alien communicant. Buckman grinned in anticipation. Joyce scrawled something on her pocket computer. Renner checked again: only Bury was in camera view. "Buckman, cut thrust to half a gee," he said.
"You sure?'
"We're not chasing anything anymore, and Horace has to talk, and that was an order."
Bury ignored the byplay. To the Motie he said, "Me and mine?"
"I was told to invite any ship I found here to follow me home, but particularly the craft with Horace Hussein Bury aboard."
Bury's dancing dials had settled; he must feel himself in control of this situation. "And why should we go with you?"
"Ah. For you, Excellency, to be here at all is to be aware that matters have altered. Until today every ship we sent through the Crazy Eddie point was under sentence of death. We know that none have returned from that alien country. Today new paths between the stars have opened. Your battleships can no longer stand between your systems and ours. Will you not try negotiation instead? Negotiation and trade." The creature didn't rub its hands together when it mentioned trade, but the suggestion was there.
"Perhaps you should speak to our commodore," Bury said. Tap of the button set the camera and monitor screen turning
Toward Kevin Renner. Kevin said, "Hi."
"Kevin, hi! I don't remember ‘commodore.' Are you actually in command of that ship?" Just a bit awestruck, she was, with no intention of showing it. "You've come a long way'
"Uh-huh. Did another human's Fyunch(click) train you, too, maybe?"
"I inherit no training from your Fyunch(click), Kevin, but Bury's Mediator observed other humans. You can't ever know too much about the people you deal with."
"And who did I learn that from?"
"Exactly. And how are Spacers Jackson and Weiss, if you know, sir?"
These personality changes were disconcerting. Renner said, "He's Governor Jackson of Maxroy's Purchase, if you please, and just loving every bit of it."
"All right!"
And Weiss was dead and they both knew it and neither would ever mention it again.
Off camera, Chris Blaine made a suggestive throat-cutting gesture. Joyce looked up from her recorder in alarm. "Keep it talking," she mouthed soundlessly.
Renner studied the lopsided visage a bit longer... knowing how little it was gaining him, while the Mediator used these seconds to study his face. He said, "Make up a name for yourself, for my convenience."
"Eudoxus."
Bury smiled thinly; Joyce's eyes narrowed, then popped wide. When Renner raised an eyebrow, Bury said, "A classical trader and explorer. Discovered the Golden Wind of the Arabs."
"Okay. Eudoxus, for the moment I command every Empire ship in this system. I listen to Horace Bury, so you're talking for his benefit, too. Now, you've sent seven ships through from the Mote. Some we've captured, some are running. One has an ambassador aboard, and you want her transported to where she can contact the Empire. Is that about it?"
"Two ambassadors, Kevin. She and he. An older Keeper to teach the younger, younger to last longer."
Keepers: Sterile Masters. "Prudent. You sent no other Classes?"
"Mediators, of course. And there were working Classes aboard some ships for maintenance, until the Curdle collapsed. Then we spaced them. We feared you would feel threatened.
"However, I have an Engineer pilot aboard, and so does Gandhi." The creature's left hand came up in haste. Something must have showed in Renner's face. "She can be spaced if your big ship takes ours in tow."
"Watchmakers?"
"Of course. They are very valuable."
Bury's needles jumped, then settled back.
"We'll call you back in an hour. Until then..." Kevin considered. "Don't do anything drastic. I'm going to free fall. You match course with me and then cut your thrust. Keep station ten thousand klicks away. Can you cause your other ships to gather here?"
"I can call them, but they will not obey. Three have instructions to hide within this system." The Motie shrugged. The shoulders didn't move. "I tell you nothing you would not expect. Let me repeat my offer. Come with us."
"I'll call you back." Renner switched off. He closed his eyes tight and heaved a massive sigh. Then, "Talk to me. Horace?"
Bury laughed. "How did Eudoxus know that we know of their Warriors? Answer: she did not. But we might know, and if she did not say, ‘We have no Warriors,' no more would be said at all. We would bend every effort to destroying every ship, every Warrior Motie." No laughter now. "An astute analysis, and the correct conclusion, to admit it immediately."
"Um-humm," Renner said. "I was working on that."
"Can they know us that well? Already?" Joyce Mei-Ling asked in wonder. "Kevin-Captain Renner, how did it recognize you?"
"What else?" Renner asked.
"She still doesn't know how MacArthur died."
"Yeah, and you could hardly tell her how the Kaffee Klatch ended, could you?" Kevin grinned at Joyce's puzzlement. "All right, Joyce. Eudoxus recognized me because the Moties took pictures of everyone they met. Made extensive records of what we did, too. Memorizing everything they know about every human who ever went to the Mote would be part of Eudoxus's training."
"Their memories are that good?"
"At least that good. As to the Kaffee Klatch, the Watchmakers had reworked MacArthur's coffeepot months after we thought we'd cleaned them out. They were loose in the tween decks areas, all over the ship, and when we discovered they were there, they fought us. Before that was over, MacArthur was abandoned and Horace was ready to exterminate the Moties. But his Fyunch(click) never knew any of that."
"Eudoxus expects to manipulate me. Poor Horace Bury," Bury said thickly, "he'll risk anything to master the wealth of Motie technology."
"She knows now, Horace. She saw Kevin twitch when she mentioned Watchmakers. It may have been a mistake to leave the visuals on. Horace, I wonder just how much the Moties know about your Arab nationalist sentiments? Anyway, what shall we do?"
"An ambassador. Gandhi! Ludicrous."
"We don't have to blow the Motie ship up, though. Do we?"
"Perhaps if we could destroy all seven... but we can't do that, Kevin. Consider: what if one of the seven was a decoy, say a token ship mounted on a small comet head? Poof, gone. Evaporated. We would only find six, never the seventh. And three have instructions to hide. With a whole system to hide in. A system we have not explored any better than they have. Who knows what resources are here? And you may be sure that those ships have fertile Masters, probably pregnant."
"Yeah."
Joyce Trujillo said, "But in that case, if we could find six- Oh." Kevin noticed the look of annoyance Chris Blaine cast on Joyce Trujillo. But why ...?
No time to worry about that. Kevin said, "Yeah. Six ships, and what if there's no iceball? Talk or fight, and we can't start shooting until or unless we find them all, and we've lost at least one already. So talk, and they want us to go with them to the Mote. That may be a good idea. The question is, can we leave them here? All of the Mote ships, with Agamemnon on guard, until more ships from the blockade squadron come through from the Eye?"