A man would have to be an utter fool…
Alex had no trouble thinking of a candidate. Hector! His cousin knew that the Ligon family wanted the current leaseholder out of Pandora. Lucy Mobarak had asked Hector to perform some great deed. Could his cousin be such an idiot as to think that threatening Rustum Battachariya on his home ground would qualify — at the very time when Alex himself was out here to negotiate?
Easily. It was exactly the kind of pea-brained action, with never a thought as to consequences or what he himself would do next, that Hector had specialized in since he was old enough to walk. The irritating thing was that his cousin seemed able to get away with it. Aunts and uncles said, “Oh, that was Hector. You know what Hector’s like…” and left it at that.
It wasn’t something that Alex could easily explain to anyone who was not part of the family. Instead, he said, “You mentioned that you feared aggressive action unless you came to some arrangement. Is the conference call that you’ll be missing connected with that?”
Bat finished running his fingers over the console. “We’re totally blacked out so far as incoming or outgoing signals is concerned,” he said. “No estimates as to how long it will last.” And then, “My conference call is on a different subject entirely. Have you been following the recent news leaks about alien messages?”
Aliens again! The word went into Alex like an electric shock. He’d had aliens on his mind for weeks. They formed part of some of the high-probability predicted futures, in strange and confusing ways. But Bat couldn’t possibly be referring to that.
Alex said cautiously, “Well, I’ve seen a blurt or two about alien messages. But you don’t believe what you hear on those.”
“Normally, you should not. In this case, however, the situation is rather different.” Bat composed himself on his chair. With head bowed forward and hands placed palms together in front of him, he reminded Alex of some ancient carved idol. Alex stood and fidgeted uncomfortably.
“I believe that I can divulge this to you without compromising confidentiality,” Bat said at last. “The time for the official news release is very close. Puzzle Network members, as you are surely aware, do not seek or enjoy the company of others. We do not cluster, we do not congregate, we rarely make group decisions. However, some years ago it was agreed by the Master level players of the Network that there might be one notable exception. The ultimate challenge as a puzzle would surely be the deciphering of a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence. For such a thing, we would sacrifice privacy and anonymity. We would work together, we would even, if necessary, meet.”
“Here, in the Bat Cave?”
“I think not.” Bat’s expression revealed his repugnance at the thought. “This is — or was once, and should be — my private retreat.”
“But if you don’t meet here, you’d have to go somewhere else.”
“Your statement, although undeniably true, is hardly a triumph of abstract deductive thought.”
“Are you saying that the blurt is right — an alien message has really been received?”
“Your skepticism matches my own feelings when I first heard rumors over the blurt outlets. I generally dismiss as preposterous any claims of alien signals. That remained my position for several recent weeks, as confirmation of the blurt failed to appear. Four days ago, the situation changed radically. A group of high-level Masters of the Puzzle Network, of which I happen to be one, were contacted by a man named Philip Beston. He is head of the Odin Station at Jovian L-5. Beston asserted an alien signal has in truth been received — he forbore to call it a message, since no interpretation has as yet been performed. However, he did offer convincing evidence of both signal detection and verification. Moreover, he invited selected senior members of the Puzzle Network to join his group in a high-level collaborative effort, aimed at taking the first steps to transform a meaningless data stream signal to an intelligible message. As you might imagine, such an invitation proved irresistible. Network members normally work in isolation. Now, for the first time ever, we would pool findings and conjectures. The purpose of today’s conference call was merely to finalize a venue for that cooperative effort, since close proximity seems essential.”
“So you are going somewhere else.”
“Since I decline to convert the Bat Cave into a hotel for Puzzle Network Masters, that unfortunately appears to be the case.”
“Where?”
“I cannot be certain. However, the probabilities strongly favor Ganymede. It forms a home to more than half the Puzzle Masters.”
“I don’t believe this. I just came from Ganymede. You dragged me here, across half the solar system—”
Bat’s eyebrows rose high on his rounded forehead. “Excuse me? I dragged you? I dragged no one. Your presence was imposed on me, by extreme pressure from your family and a senior member of the Ganymede government.”
“You’re right. Forget I said that. I didn’t want to come, any more than you wanted me here. But why didn’t you tell me you might be on Ganymede in the near future?”
“For the best of all possible reasons. At the time when your journey began, I had no idea of any of this. I was still an extreme skeptic on the subject of SETI messages. By the time that my doubts were dispelled by Philip Beston’s call and accompanying evidence, you were already on the way.”
“I’m sorry.” Alex decided that blowing off steam at Bat would get neither of them anywhere. “I could have figured out the timing for myself. Assuming that you do go to Ganymede, how long will you be there?”
“I have no idea. Some weeks, or perhaps even months. The desire to be here, surrounded by the creature comforts and privacy of my own home, is very large. At the same time, suppose that we make significant progress in deciphering a message from the stars. That is probably unrealistic optimism, but how could one then resist staying, at least through the initial phase of discovery. It is a true case of Buridan’s famous ass.”
“I can see that.” Alex thanked whatever gods may be that he recognized the reference to Buridan’s donkey, starving to death because it was unable to choose between two equal bundles of hay. Cousin Hector would no doubt have said that he didn’t know this woman, Buridan, but from the sound of her he’d like to meet her.
But Alex saw a rare opportunity to come out a hero with his own family. “You are going to be away from Pandora for at least several weeks. In your absence, it would be easy for Ligon Industries to set up their operations center for helium-three mining from Saturn’s atmosphere at the other end of Pandora — so far away, you would never be aware of its presence. And the whole Starseed-Two project won’t be of long duration — it can’t be, without substantial penalty clauses. If we guaranteed that the installation would be done in your absence, with guarantees that nothing would affect the Bat Cave…”
Bat nodded, and for one moment Alex dared to hope they might have a deal. But then Bat said, “It is premature for any such discussion. I do not yet know where the Puzzle Masters will assemble, and already you have me off on Ganymede. Perhaps something can be arranged — if and when my own movements are more defined.” He waved a slab-like hand, dismissing the subject. “Enough of that speculation. I have explained to you the reason for my interest in aliens. What is the basis for your own? — I sensed more enthusiasm for that topic than for any other subject we have mentioned.”
Alex shook his head. “My interest is complicated and relates to my work on predictive models. It would take time and computer access to explain.”
“Time, apparently, is available in ample measure.” Bat waved his hand again, this time at the displays which showed all external communications still blocked. “Why are you interested in aliens? And why might the computers be relevant?”