Rebellion (Star Force Series) by B. V. Larson

Author:B. V. Larson [Larson, B. V.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

-28-

I spent some time asking Marvin what he thought of the tactical situation and what kind of presents the missiles were bringing us from the Macro cruiser. I thought maybe he’d seen this sort of thing before. He immediately started complaining.

“Visual input system is inadequate,” he said. He had elevated his single camera eye up to peek over the top of the table-like computer we’d set up. He panned back and forth, but I imagined the angle and the glare of the lights in the room made it impossible to see.

“Major Sarin will hook you up directly,” I said, waving her forward.

She picked up a cable that led to the screen’s external video feed and walked uncertainly closer to Marvin.

“He doesn’t bite,” I said.

She handed the cable to Marvin, fully-extending her arm so she didn’t have to get too close. Marvin tottered forward. He rested his camera on top of his brainbox and took the cable from her hand, connecting it to a silvery thread of nanites. The nanites adjusted themselves to feed the data and Marvin halted for a few moments, transfixed by the input.

“What did you give him access to?” I asked.

Major Sarin’s eyes widened. She tapped at her screen and canceled a connection point or two. I hoped it wasn’t too late. For all my talk of trusting Marvin, it was hard to believe in the good intentions of any machine yet. For all I knew, he was the Centaurs’ walking revenge.

“What are you doing Marvin?” I asked.

“Translating incomplete two-dimensional data into an estimated three-dimensional projection.”

“Marvin,” I said, hoping he was listening. “What do you think the cruiser fired at us?”

“Question imprecise.”

“What are the most likely payloads of the four largest incoming Macro missiles?” I asked, trying to be more precise.

“Macros,” Marvin said.

I grunted, thinking he had not understood, but then I stopped myself. “You mean there are Macros aboard those missiles?”

“Conceptual error: ‘missiles’ is an imprecise term for the incoming vehicles,” Marvin complained.

“Right,” I said, catching on. “You think they are assault shuttles.”

“That is a more precise term. Reference acceptably accurate.”

I thought about it, and it made too much sense. The Macros were going to try to take back this cruiser, just as we had taken it from them. They hadn’t fired their ship-killer missiles yet, because they thought they could recapture our stolen vessel with assault shuttles rather than blowing it up.

“Why didn’t we find any shuttles like that aboard this ship?” Major Sarin asked.

“Maybe because they’d already launched them. Maybe they threw them all at the Worms and failed. Then they decided to go to Earth, pick us up and use us to do the dirty work.”

I remembered the big holds with berths for hundreds of Macros. I recalled too, that taking this ship had been relatively easy. They had about thirty fighting Macros, but apparently that wasn’t a full ship’s complement.

“Marvin, what is your estimate on enemy numbers?” I asked. “How many Macro marines are on each of those missiles?”

“If they are fully occupied, sixty-four,” Marvin said.

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