Ruins (Pathfinder 2)

But no. That most ancient path moved throughout the ship, and then abruptly ended in the control room a few decades before another version of Ram Odin came through the Wall.

Thus Rigg learned the answer to a question that had bothered both him and Umbo ever since they learned about the starships. Paths were tied to the gravity of planets, and moved through space with the world where the paths were laid down. But when people were in space, their paths stayed with the ship transporting them. Unlike boat passengers on the Stashik River, whose paths stayed in the same position relative to the river, and not with the boats, the path of Ram Odin during the starship’s voyage stayed with the starship, even after the ship impacted with the planet’s surface.

I can see it all, thought Rigg. When the time comes, I can watch Vadeshex murder the Ram Odin of this starship.

But no. Being there as an observer would be hard to conceal from the expendable, who would then know there were such things as time-shifting humans from the future. It might cause the expendable—all the expendables—to behave differently. It might utterly change the course of history.

It couldn’t erase Rigg, of course—he and Umbo had settled that long ago. The agents of time change could not be undone by the shifts they themselves caused. They called it the “conservation of causality,” like the conservation of matter and energy. As causers, they had to remain in existence, even if the future they came from was otherwise erased.

But I’m not the only one whose existence I need to protect.

Rigg followed Vadesh to the revival chamber. “I need to do it here in case you have an adverse physical reaction,” Vadesh explained. “Loaf was robust and needed no life support. You might need to be sustained during your struggle for control.”

“When will you know if I’ve failed?”

“I’ll know,” said Vadesh.

“Tell me the symptoms that will lead you to that conclusion,” said Rigg.

Vadesh said nothing.

“I think I gave you a command.”

“I don’t have an answer,” said Vadesh. “I don’t know the symptoms that would lead to that conclusion, because you’re only the second person to receive one of this particular genotype of facemask, and the first one did not fail.”

“You’ve seen failure with early genotypes.”

“They were so different that they could not be the same.”

Rigg didn’t believe him. But should he show that, or would it lead Ram Odin—who was no doubt giving orders to Vadesh from his current location in the control room—to suspect that he knew too much?

“What concerns me,” said Rigg, “is that you might conclude that I had failed when I don’t think I’ve failed.”

“Here’s a simple test,” said Vadesh. “If you think, from my actions, that I have concluded that the facemask is in complete control, all you have to do to avoid my actions is to jump into the past and out of my reach.”

“Here’s a simpler test,” said Rigg. “I order you not to take any action at all concerning me and the facemask for three years, and even then you have to tell me what you’re planning to do.”

“In three years,” said Vadesh, “the Destroyers will be here.”

“That’s why I chose that number,” said Rigg.

Vadesh paused a moment, then said, “I will obey your command.”

“How nice of you. Did you have any choice?”

“I don’t have to obey a command that cannot take effect until after your death. But my programming does not permit me to regard facemask domination as death. Rather it is temporary disablement, so I will follow those rules instead of the death rules.”

“How nice of you,” said Rigg.

“You asked,” said Vadesh.

Rigg sat on the edge of the revival table. “Get me my facemask now,” said Rigg. “I assume you already have one picked out?”

“I have several dozen facemasks. I have no criteria for choosing one over another.”

“‘Several dozen,’” echoed Rigg. “You know an exact number. Say it.”

“One hundred and seventy,” said Vadesh.