Filling in the Blank

Chapter 13

While I fumed, Brian was turning out to have quite a talent for tactical debriefing. He had more: "I think she miscalculated badly," he said. "When she threatened to kill us. All that precious moral high ground she had so carefully staked out, all undermined by one false step. I reckon a threat like that earns us a free swing in return. Whatever we chose to do next, we can hardly be blamed for it."

"You're saying a second wrong will make a right?"

He grinned, shaking his head. "Nah, I'm saying rights got nothing to do with it. More a case of her wrong making our one easier to live with."

I rolled my eyes, "You have the pragmatism of an engineer, Brian. I think I envy you." I turned to peer out the window. Hoping for something on which to expel my nervous energy. Finding nothing, I slumped down in a chair, wearily stretched my bones. It had been a long day and the weight of it was starting to bear down on me. A tiredness that lacked nothing in authenticity, bones convincingly creaky. I was feeling more human in this moment than at any time since taking up this new mode of existence, though not necessarily in a good way. "This is not a situation where we can just barge in and throw our weight around. I mean, we are the good guys here, aren't we? She's the one who is being unreasonable?" I was aware as I said it that the question was addressed as much to myself as to Brian.

He was the one who answered. "I think so," he said. "Then again, didn't those Jesuits believe much the same thing? Genocide was just a sideline with them. Wasn't their main gig all about saving souls?"

"Brian, whose side are you on?"

"Chill out – that's all I'm saying. Stop tying yourself up in moral knots. Right and wrong will sort themselves out, given time. What we need right now is to be pragmatic."

"Okay mister pragmatist, tell me this then... What you had me say back there, about the failsafe – was I bluffing?"

"Do you really want to know? A bluff is a lot easier to pull off if you believe it yourself."

"I can't imagine I would give too much away with that robot face of mine."

It was a throwaway comment, but Brian seized on it. I was starting to suspect he was never happier than when he had a chance to play the professor back at me. When I heard the words, "Studies have been done, ..." I knew I was in for a lecture.

Apparently, and counterintuitively, a lie is easier to detect if you can't see the liar's face. The best clues, it turns out, are in the voice. And these clues are more easily detected without a visible face jamming the signal with fake honesty. According to Brian, my friendly robot design was made deliberately clunky so as not to freak people out. The voice simulation on the other hand, replicated my real voice with great precision. "That is to help you communicate more convincingly," he said. "The downside is that it risks you giving away more than you realize."

I heard him out, let him enjoy his moment, then dismissed his good humour with a flick of my hand. "Anyway," I grumbled. "By refusing to answer my question, you have in effect answered it. We are bluffing aren't we?"

"We're not bluffing."

This took me by surprize. Then I saw Brian reprising his trademark grin. "Perhaps exaggerating a little," he added.

"How do you mean?"

"You told her it takes a lot of energy to get between here and Earth, ... that is certainly true. And the energy is stored as antimatter, so any failure of containment and the whole thing goes bang ..."

"I know that much. But is it really rigged to explode if something happens to the two of us?"

"Yes ... But by default, not by intention. We are harder to kill than you might think. Taking out your body, or even the dropship, would not be enough. We're backed up on the ship you see? So the only way to kill us for real is to take out the ship itself."

"And that would release the antimatter? Burn the planet below?"

"Well, it would make a big bang. And almost all of their population is concentrated on that one large island. Were it to go off directly overhead, the consequences would be pretty dire."

"But if it was on the opposite side of the planet..."

"A few fried fish. Not much else."

"Could they do that?" I asked. "Attack the ship?"

"We've found nothing to indicate they have such a capability. Which raises another question. Do they even have anyone who knows enough physics to crunch the numbers for themselves? Apart from the radio comms, there is a distinct lack of conspicuous technology on this planet. I think there is a reasonable chance that they don't. Bluff or not, they have no way of knowing."

"So she's right. We have reached a stalemate."

We left it at that for the time being. I was tired and my parting agreement with Gwyneth was that we would meet again in a few days' time. There was time yet to plan our next move.