Battle Station Read Online Free Page B

chuckled. “This isn’t anything important, Marvin,” I said. “I just want to suit-up and examine the ring visually. Cameras can only tell you so much. I’m sure you understand.”
    Marvin looked me up and down with his numerous camera eyes. “Your optical organs are superior to cameras?”
    “Yes,” I said. “They probably are. Analog input is generally inferior, but in this case I’d take it over digital any day.”
    “Interesting,” Marvin said.
    Several of his cameras investigated my suit. It was my normal battle suit, but it had been carefully altered. Instead of the blue glowing LEDs covering it like a Christmas tree, it was jet black. It was as dark as space itself. I’d also taken pains to disconnect the heat sinks and all automatic radio transponders. Unless I keyed open a microphone, it wouldn’t generate any form of emissions.
    “You’ve made a number of preparations for this—spacewalk.”
    “Yes Marvin, and I thank you for your help in that regard.”
    Marvin watched me closely as I stepped to the airlock and the nanite bubble covering the entrance dissolved away, and I stepped inside. It would be a relief to escape Marvin’s probing. He obviously knew something was up.
    “Colonel Riggs?”
    “What is it now?”
    “I still want to go with you. If I promise not to transmit anything, can I go?”
    “Go where? Outside the ship? You do that all the time.”
    “No—I want to go through the ring, with you.”
    I heaved a sigh. How should I handle this one? Evasion wasn’t working out for me this time. Worse, if Marvin had figured it out, others might do the same.
    “I can’t take you with me,” I said. “It’s too dangerous. You’ll emit a radio squawk or something and give us away. Even a small amount of propulsion might be noticed. You have heat sinks and your repellers give off a distinct signature.”
    “I’ve been working on that.”
    I frowned. “You have?”
    “Yes, I’ve been watching your preparations, and I understand them. I might even know more about this than you do, Colonel. Recall that I once spent days in a Macro-owned system while they hunted me unsuccessfully.”
    “Yeah, and you made a deal with them to sell us out for the privilege of snooping around.”
    “That was an error. It will not happen again.”
    “Only because the Macros are on to you, and have you marked down in some database as kill-on-sight.”
    Marvin’s cameras reshuffled themselves. “Do you want to see my preparations?”
    “All right,” I said, becoming curious. “What have you got?”
    He scooted into the airlock with me and waited expectantly. His cameras flicked from my face to my hands and back to the wall. Touching the appropriate area would bring up a touch-sensitive radial menu in metallic relief.
    “I take it you want to go outside?”
    “My auxiliary systems would not fit in the ship.”
    I laughed. He had me now, and we both knew it. I wanted to see what he had built for himself. I wondered if he had banked on my curiosity, and if that was part of his scheme. Marvin was always scheming.
    I gave up and reached out to touch the outer wall. The wall vanished, and we floated out into space with the escaping gasses. I let it happen, leaving my magnetics off. I had a number of low emission methods to maneuver myself as needed. Behind me, I dragged a garbage-can-sized sensor box, which I’d set to strictly passive mode. I was sure it wasn’t going to send out any pings and give us away. It would only record everything around us.
    A more analytical soul might have pointed out that sending a man on this mission—namely me—was not strictly necessary. All I had to do was send a sensor unit with Marvin or even by itself. When it got whatever input it could, it could be programmed to return and allow me to examine the data in relative safety.
    But that just wasn’t good enough for me. I felt a place hadn’t truly been explored until a human eye had examined it in person. I’d