The Colonel Read Online Free Page B

your sleep yet; maybe you think that’s some kind of guarantee they never will. I will never be that reckless—”
    Again.
    Even after all this time, the qualifier still kicks him in the gut.
    â€œThey’re not the enemy, Colonel.”
    He takes a breath, marvels at its control. “That’s what scares me. At least you can hope to understand what an enemy wants . That thing—” He shakes his head. “You’ve admitted it yourself. Its ambitions won’t even fit into a human skull.”
    â€œRight now,” Lutterodt says, “it wants to help you.”
    â€œRight.”
    She peels off a fingernail and slides it across the table. He looks but doesn’t touch.
    â€œIt’s a crystal,” she says after a moment.
    â€œI know what it is. You couldn’t have just sacc’d it to me?”
    â€œYou would have accepted it? You would have let a Bicameral stooge dump data directly into your head?”
    He concedes the point with a small grimace. “What is it?”
    â€œIt’s a transmission. We decrypted it a few weeks ago.”
    â€œA transmission.”
    â€œFrom the Oort. As far as we can tell.”
    She’s lying. She has to be.
    The Colonel shakes his head. “We would have—” Every day, for the better part of ten years. Checking the pilot light. Squeezing the microwave background for a word, a whisper, a sigh. Eyes always fixed on the heavens, even now, even after the losses have been tallied and all other eyes have moved on to better prospects.
    There’s no evidence Theseus is lost …
    â€œWe’ve been scanning ever since the launch. If there’d been any kind of signal I’d know about it.”
    Lutterodt shrugs. “They can do things you can’t. Isn’t that what keeps you up at night?”
    â€œThey don’t even have an array. Where’d they get the telemetry?”
    She smiles the faintest smile.
    The light dawns at last. “You—you knew …”
    Lutterodt reaches across the table and pushes her dismembered fingernail a few centimeters closer. “Take it.”
    â€œYou knew I was going to reach out to you. You planned on it.”
    â€œSee what it says.”
    â€œYou know about my son .” He feels his breath hissing through teeth suddenly clenched. “You fuckers . You’re using my own son against me now?”
    â€œI promise you’ll find it worth—”
    He stands. “If your masters think they can hold him hostage …”
    â€œHos—” Lutterodt blinks. “Of course not. I told you, they want to help— ”
    â€œA hive wants to help. It was a fucking hive in the first place that…”
    â€œJim. They’re giving it to you.” He sees nothing in that face but earnest entreaty. “Take it. Open it wherever, whenever you want. Run it through whatever filters or bomb detectors, whatever security you deem appropriate.”
    He eyes it as though it’s sprouted teeth. “You’re giving it to me. No strings attached.
    â€œJust one.”
    â€œOf course.” He shakes his head, disgusted. “And that would be.”
    â€œThis is for you, Jim. Not your masters. Not Mission Control.”
    â€œYou know I can’t make that promise.”
    â€œThen don’t take the offer. I don’t have to tell you what happens if word gets out. You’re willing to talk to us, at least. Others might not be so reasonable. And despite your deepest fears, we can’t summon lightning from the heavens to strike down our adversaries. You spread this around and there’ll be bots and jackboots stomping through every monastery in WestHem.”
    â€œWhy trust me at all? How do you know I won’t authorize an op on the strength of this conversation?”
    She counts the ways. “Because you’re not that kind of man. Because maybe I’m lying, and you don’t want to risk