Free The Human Division by John Scalzi Page B

asked.
    “Isn’t it obvious?” Wilson said. “The Utche are attacked by a Colonial Defense Forces missile, and are damaged or destroyed. The original Colonial Union diplomatic mission was traveling by CDF frigate. It would look like we attacked the Utche. Negotiations broken off, diplomacy over, the Colonial Union and the Utche back at each other’s throats.”
    “But the Polk was destroyed,” Coloma said.
    “I’ve been thinking about that,” Wilson said. “The information I was sent by the CDF about the Polk ’s mission said it was slated to arrive seventy-four hours prior to the scheduled Utche arrival. The black box data stream has the Polk arriving eighty hours prior to the scheduled Utche arrival.”
    “You think they arrived early and caught someone setting the trap,” Coloma said.
    “I don’t know about ‘caught,’” Wilson said. “I think whoever it was was in the process of setting the trap and then was surprised by the Polk ’s arrival.”
    “You just said these things were looking for the Utche,” Abumwe said. “But it sounds like one of them hit the Polk, too.”
    “If the people setting the trap were nearby, it would be trivial to change the programming of the missile,” Wilson said. “It’s set to receive. And once the thing hit the Polk, it would be too busy focusing on that to pay much attention when a strange ship popped up on its sensors. Until it was too late.”
    “The early arrival of the Polk ruined their plans,” Coloma said. “Why is this thing still out there?”
    “I think it changed their plans,” Wilson said. “They had to kill the Polk when it arrived early, and they had to get rid of as much of it as possible to leave in doubt what happened to it. But as long as there’s enough CDF missile debris among the wreckage of the Utche ship, then mission accomplished. Having the Polk go missing works just fine with that, since it looks like the CDF is hiding the ship, rather than presenting it to prove the missiles didn’t come from it.”
    “But we know what happened to the Polk, ” Abumwe said.
    “ They don’t know that,” Wilson pointed out. “Whoever they are. We’re the wild card in the deck. And it doesn’t change the fact that the Utche are still a target.”
    “Have you disabled the missile?” Coloma asked.
    “No,” Wilson said. “I was able to read the missile’s instruction set, but I can’t do anything to change it. I’m locked out of that. And I don’t have any tools with me that can disable it. But even if I disabled this one, there are others out there. Hart’s and my heat map shows four more of these things out there beside this one. We have less than an hour before the Utche are scheduled to arrive. There’s no way to physically disable them in time.”
    “So we’re helpless to stop the attack,” Abumwe said.
    “No, wait,” Coloma said. “You said there’s no way to physically disable them. Do you have another way to disable them?”
    “I think I might have a way to destroy them,” Wilson said.
    “Tell us,” Coloma said.
    “You’re not going to like it,” Wilson said.
    “Will I like it better than us standing by while the Utche are attacked and then we are framed for it?” Coloma said.
    “I’d like to think so,” Wilson said.
    “Then tell us,” Coloma said.
    “It involves the shuttle,” Wilson said.
    Coloma threw up her hands. “Of course it does,” she said.
    IX.
    “Here—” Schmidt thrust a small container and a mask into Wilson’s hands. “Supplementary oxygen. For a normal person that’s about twenty minutes’ worth. I don’t know what that would be for you.”
    “About two hours,” Wilson said. “More than enough time. And the other thing?”
    “I got it,” Schmidt said, and held up another object, not much larger than the oxygen container. “High-density, quick-discharge battery. Straight from the engine room. It required the direct intervention of Captain Coloma, by the way. Chief Engineer