“Yes.”
“Thank you for answering my question honestly.”
“I tell the truth,” said the expendable.
Umbo wanted to ask, Now tell me how to get onto the starship. But of course the expendable would see through a ruse like that; there was no point in trying it.
Besides, Umbo had been studying starship design for the best part of a year. There were things he knew.
“Odinex, are you malfunctioning?”
“I am not.”
“How do you know?”
“Because my self-auditing software reports that my functions are normal.”
“Odinex, is your self-auditing software malfunctioning?”
A long pause. “I do not know.”
“Odinex, will you run diagnostics on your self-auditing software?”
“I will when you are not present.”
“I am not a threat,” said Umbo, annoyed now that the expendable wasn’t going to be as easy to control as he had hoped.
“You are a threat,” said Odinex.
“On what basis do you regard me as a threat?”
“The person you call Swims-in-the-Air has told me you are a threat.”
“But that person is not human.”
“She is more human than you are,” said Odinex.
Umbo pulled the knife from his clothing and displayed the jeweled hilt. “Do you recognize this knife?”
“Yes,” said Odinex.
“Are the jewels in the hilt faithful copies of the jewels of control?”
“Yes.”
“Smaller, but faithful.”
“Yes.”
“Do they function like the jewels of control?”
“Yes.”
“Because I possess these jewels, can I be certified as commander of this vessel?”
“In the absence of any other commander, you could be certified.”
“Is there another commander?”