Was it not stupidly arrogant of us, Christine asked, to assume that the evolution of complexity had never happened at a much earlier state of galactic history? And if it had, was it not perfectly reasonable to suppose that those complex species must have developed technological devices far in advance of ours?
It was left to Solantha Handsel, the professional paranoid, to react to the fact that the hypothesis did not advance the discussion at all. Whoever or whatever they are, she asked, impatiently, what could they possibly want with us ?
They dont want you , Christine Caine responded, with surprising asperity. The timing tells us, as plainly as you like, that the one they want is Adam.
Fine, the bodyguard snapped back. So what do they want with him ?
Adam Zimmerman was a picture of perplexity but when he looked around for an answer to that question his gaze soon settled on Michael Lowenthal.
My nose had begun to hurt again. I needed more codeine or something stronger.
I think we ought to get back to the mysterious Alice, Lowenthal said, smoothly. She told Tamlin that she was trying to prevent a war. If thats true, what war is she talking about? And why would kidnapping any of us make the slightest difference to the likelihood of it being fought?
Nobody replied immediately. It was Niamh Horne who eventually said: There isnt going to be a war. The weapons we have are too powerful. No one wants to take the risk. I wished she sounded more convincing.
They used to say that in his day, I countered, with a nod in Adam Zimmermans direction, but it didnt stop them.
Yes it did, said Mortimer Gray. Even the primitive nuclear weapons you had then were used with the utmost discretion and the ultimate plague war was very carefully fought with nonlethal weaponry. Your warmakers did everything they possibly could to avoid having to deploy the full extent of their firepower. No one within the solar system would ever dream of using fusion bombs, let alone a biological weapon akin to the Afterlife.
A fair point, I conceded. With an interesting qualification.
It only took him a minute to catch up. Are we back to the hypothetical aliens again? he said wearily but he knew as well as I did that there were others outside the solar system as well as hypothetical aliens.
I suppose you didnt bother to ask her which war she was trying to prevent? Michael Lowenthal put in.
I made a few suggestions, I retorted, but she didnt react to any of them. She said things were more complicated than Earth versus the Outer System. I believed her but Im in no position to guess how complicated things might really be. Thats your province.
He wouldnt play. I agree with Niamh and Mortimer, he said, stubbornly. No one wants a war. No one would be so foolish as to start one.
I shrugged my shoulders theatrically. I guess well have to wait until they decide to tell us who they are and what theyre up to, I said. But there is one more thing we ought to consider.
What? said Niamh Horne, bluntly.
I was involved in a kidnap once before, I said. Fortunately, I wasnt the one kidnapped but I remember it as if it were yesterday. They flushed his IT just as theyve flushed ours. They did it because they wanted to interrogate him. Personally, I dont have any information that anyone nowadays would want to extract by force but if I had, Id be a little nervous. If any one of you does have any valuable secrets tucked away in your head, I wouldnt rely on being
able to keep them secret for long.
I could tell that Michael Lowenthal had already thought about the possibility. Niamh Horne was still expressionless. Davida still seemed to be so terrified that she could hardly speak. Solantha Handsel was the only one who looked mortally offended by the suggestion, and it was she who said: They flushed yours too. Are you so certain that you havent got anything they might want to know?
Yes, I said. And Im also certain that if there was anything they wanted to know, I wouldnt try to hold out on them. In my experience, though and I really do have experience torturers never settle for what you tell them straight away, even when its the truth.
Maybe it was a seed that would have been better left unsown. Maybe it was what provoked our careful hosts to make their next move. If so, they might have done better to resist the provocation.
The biggest of the wallscreens flickered into life, and Alices face appeared. If Mr. Tamlin would care to make his way to the same door as before, she said, a trifle impatiently, and the rest of you would please stand clear, I can now give him something that will further reduce his pain and help his injuries heal.
In a different context, it wouldnt have sounded ominous at all. In view of what Id just been saying, nobody was about to take the offer entirely at face value but I was the only one who knew how much I could have told the others and hadnt, so I was perfectly prepared to play along.
Sure, I said, rising to my feet without the slightest hesitation. Whatever youve found, it has to be better than codeine. Im on my way.