Dem Lia nodded impatiently. We close to rendezvous within a few hours. Youve heard their radio contactthey say they wish to greet us and talk, and weve been polite in return. Our dialects are not so diverse that the translator beads cant handle them in face-to-face conversations. But how can we know if they actually come in peace?
Ryôkan cleared his throat. It should be remembered that for more than a thousand years, the so-called Wars with the Ousters were provokedfirst by the Hegemony and then by the Pax. The original Ouster deep-space settlements were peaceful places and this most-distant colony would have experienced none of the conflict.
Saigyô chuckled from his comfortable perch on nothing. It should also be remembered that during the actual Pax wars with the Ousters, to defend themselves, these peaceful, space-adapted humans learned to build and use torchships, modified Hawking drive warships, plasma weapons, and even some captured Pax Gideon drive weapons. He waved his bare arm. Weve scanned every one of these advancing Ousters, and none carry a weaponnot so much as a wooden spear.
Dem Lia nodded. Kern Loi has shown me astronomical evidence which suggests that their moored seedship was torn away from the ring at an early datepossibly only years or months after they arrived. This system is devoid of asteroids, and the Oort cloud has been scattered far beyond their reach. It is conceivable that they have neither metal nor an industrial capacity.
Maam, said Basho, his countenance concerned, how can we know that? Ousters have modified their bodies sufficiently to generate forcefield wings that can extend for hundreds of kilometers. If they approach the ship closely enough, they could theoretically use the combined plasma effect of those wings to attempt to breach the containment fields and attack the ship.
Beaten to death by angels wings, Dem Lia mused softly. An ironic way to die.
The AIs said nothing.
Who is working most directly with Patek Georg Dem Mio on defense strategies? Dem Lia asked into the silence.
I am, said Ryôkan.
Dem Lia had known that, but she still thought, Thank God its not Basho. Patek Georg was paranoid enough for the AI-human interface team on this specialty.
What are Pateks recommendations going to be when we humans meet in a few minutes? Dem Lia bluntly demanded from Ryôkan.
The AI hesitated only the slightest of perceptible instants. AIs understood both discretion and loyalty to the human working with them in their specialty, but they also understood the imperatives of the elected commanders role on the ship.
Patek Georg is going to recommend a hundred-kilometer extension of the class-twenty external containment field, said Ryôkan softly. With all energy weapons on standby and pre-targeted on the three hundred nine thousand, two hundred and five approaching Ousters.
Dem Lias eyebrows rose a trifle. And how long would it take our systems to lance more than three hundred thousand such targets? she asked softly.
Two-point-six seconds, said Ryôkan.
Dem Lia shook her head. Ryôkan, please tell Patek Georg that you and I have spoken and that I want the containment field not at a hundred-klick distance, but maintained at a steady one kilometer from the ship. It may remain a class-twenty fieldthe Ousters can actually see the strength of it, and thats good. But the ships weapons systems will not target the Ousters at this time. Presumably, they can see our targeting scans as well. Ryôkan, you and Patek Georg can run as many simulations of the combat encounter as you need to feel secure, but divert no power to the energy weapons and allow no targeting until I give the command.
Ryôkan bowed. Basho shuffled his virtual clogs but said nothing.
Lady Murasaki fluttered a fan half in front of her face. You trust, she said softly.
Dem Lia did not smile. Not totally. Never totally. Ryôkan, I want you and Patek Georg to work out the containment-field system so that if even one Ouster attempts to breach the containment field with focused plasma from his or her solar wings, the containment field should go to emergency class thirty-five and instantly expand to five hundred klicks.
Ryôkan nodded. Ikkyû smiled slightly and said, That will be one very quick ride for a great mass of Ousters, Maam. Their personal energy systems might not be up to containing their own life support under that much of a shock, and its certain that they wouldnt decelerate for half an AU or more.
Dem Lia nodded. Thats their problem. I dont think it will come to that. Thank you all for talking to me.
All six human figures winked out of existence.
Rendezvous was peaceful and efficient.
The first question the Ousters had radioed the Helix twenty hours earlier was, Are you Pax?
This had startled Dem Lia and the others at first. Their assumption was that these people had been out of touch with human space since long before the rise of the Pax. Then the ebony, Jon Mikail Dem Alem, said, The Shared Moment. It has to have been the Shared Moment.