[Black Fleet Crisis(63)

Lando frowned, and the frown quickly turned into a sour expression. He started to turn away toward the door, then stopped and turned back, head held high.

“More? ” asked Pakkpekatt.

“You promised that we’d be included in the boarding party. “

Pakkpekatt showed surprise. “I thought that with your

apparent disapproval of my plans, you wouldn’t want to risk yourself or your staff. But, very well. There is one space open on Barge One. Choose your representative and notify Captain Hammax within the hour. “

“One! That wasn’t our agreement-” Lando began, warming up to blister the colonel’s leathery hide.

“One or none, ” Pakkpekatt said firmly. “Your choice. Notify Bijo either way. ” He swept out of the room, moving swiftly and lightly despite his mass, before Lando could say another word.

“All right, ” said Lando with a quiet seriousness.

“Tomorrow at fifteen hundred hours, Colonel Pakkpekatt’s going to send his brush salesmen knocking at the vagabond’s door. The colonel’s accepted an opinion that the signal is just a warning hail. I think if it were that easy, the vagabond wouldn’t be here for us to puzzle over.

“But we’re running out of time to offer the colonel any alternatives. We’ve got one of every kind of brain there is in this room, ” he said with a grin. “Let’s do some serious brainstorming.

“Here’s the situation in a nutshell We’ve got a good, clean capture of the signal from the vagabond. It looks to be identical to the signal captured by the Hrasskis. A warning hail? Maybe. What else could it be? Maybe if we can figure out what it is, we’ll be able to crack what it says. I want to hear every idea every one of you has. I don’t care if it’s been brought up before. “

“I am still inclined toward a recognition code, ” said Lobot. “The telesponders on our ships send out an ID profile when interrogated. This may have been an interrogation of that sort. “

“It’s thousands of modulations long. “

Lobot considered.

“Then perhaps

our proximity

served as

the interrogation, and this was the response. We don’t know what information they might consider crucial. “

“And the way the ship tried to run today, after giving the signal? “

“Failure to respond in kind. “

“They said hello, and we didn’t say hello back, ” said SeeThreepio. “A clear breach of etiquette. “

Lando considered. “A ship closes with the vagabond-the vagabond pipes out its ID code, then listens for the same-when it doesn’t come, it treats the approaching ship as a threat, and bolts. “

“Call and response, ” said Lobot.

“Sign and countersign, ” said Lando. “It wants to hear the password. But why didn’t it try again to get away? All it would have had to do is turn to a new heading. The interdiction pickets could never

have re-positioned themselves in time. “

“There is a high probability that this vessel was built before interdiction fields were invented, ” said Lobot. “If we are dealing with an automated response system, what just happened may have been outside the parameters of the identification and security routines. “

“Okay, ” said Lando. “Maybe their black box doesn’t look outside to make sure that the jump actually took place if the motivator and the drive report normally, it assumes that the ship jumped. And by the time all that was over, D-89 was long gone-no threat within the threat horizon. “

“That seems plausible. “

“I’m going to play a hunch here and say it’s more than plausible, ” Lando said. “The ship wants an answer from anyone who comes knocking. No answer, no entry. And it won’t wait around for you to keep guessing. It wants the answer right away. “

SeeThreepio cocked his head. “But Master Lando-what is the question? “

“That’s what we have to figure out, Threepio. “

Hours of frustrating and fruitless verbal wandering passed before the group finally found a path that seemed as if it might lead somewhere.

“Think, everyone-think. Let’s back up and look at this again, ” Lando said impatiently. “You want to lock up a spaceship you’re sending out to the great nowhere. You want to make sure no outsider can get in uninvited, but you and yours always have access”

“Excuse me, ” said Lobot. “We don’t know that the builders of the vagabond intended to reenter it after it was launched. “

“That’s true, ” admitted Lando. “But if they locked the door and threw away the code, we might as well go home before we get somebody killed. We have to assume there’s a way in. “