The Dead Sun (Star Force Series) by B. V. Larson Page A

and greeted each furry goat with the help of a translation box. After a half-hour, Marvin came out of the lander to find out what was taking so damned long.
    It wasn’t his best move. To these people, he wasn’t a friendly face. He was a machine—a nightmarish one at that. He had tentacles whipping around and cameras panning and zooming like a swarm of bees around his primary brainbox.
    As one, the delegation of Centaurs froze and lifted their horned heads. Their eyes tracked the robot as he glided toward me.
    “Colonel Riggs, we believe you are under attack,” one of them said.
    I glanced back and spotted Marvin.
    “Sorry,” I said, “That’s a friendly machine. He’s not dangerous.”
    “Is it intelligent?”
    I looked Marvin over. He looked agitated, but curious all the same.
    “Yes,” I said, “it is, after a fashion.”
    “Then, by definition, it is not friendly. Do not be fooled as we once were.”
    “This machine is different. It was not made by the Macros or the Nanos.”
    “Where did it come from, then? The Great Airless Ocean?”
    “You mean space? No, not exactly. He sort of built himself. But his mind—his mind was created by you guys.”
    The Centaurs bleated amongst themselves for a minute or so after that. Heads heaved and tails flipped. I’m not an expert at reading Centaur body-language, but I knew they were upset.
    “Marvin, did I say something wrong?” I asked quietly.
    “You insulted them, Colonel,” he said brightly.
    “I don’t see how—” I began, but then they turned back to me.
    “We have misjudged you. Clearly, you have made a new alliance with the machines. We must ask that you release all of our troops from your service, and we will return the duplication machine you gave to us. We will not be so cheaply bought. Our droppings would be more—”
    “Hold on! Hold on!” I said, throwing up my hands.
    They seemed to find this gesture threatening, so they lowered their horns and backed away from me. This was going from bad to worse.
    “Let me explain,” I said. “I will attempt to return this matter to balance. The sky is endless and the rivers divide our lands, but the grass is everywhere.”
    I had no idea what that meant, but I’d heard a Centaur captain say something like that to stop a feud between his troops once.
    The Centaurs seemed to calm down. “What you say is indisputable. We will listen out of loyalty and honor.”
    “Right. It went like this…” I explained to them how Marvin had come about. Originally, he’d been a download from the Centaurs. He was a massive data-dump, a mind of immeasurable size. I’d always wondered where the Centaurs had come up with the technology to build such a thing. Maybe today I’d learn the truth.
    When I finished with my story, the Centaurs weren’t impressed. “We’ve called out to our brothers using our far-reaching cries.”
    I nodded. “Far-reaching cries” is what they called packet radio.
    “No such transmission was made by our peoples. We tried to send something—but it was immeasurably smaller. Nothing like this abomination against life could possibly have been created by a simple translation device. You have been deceived—or, by the skies, you are seeking to deceive us.”
    That wasn’t the end of their little speech, naturally. They went on and on, complaining about the lack of honor in the universe and rivers that ran befouled with another clan’s urine.
    While they complained, I opened a private channel to Marvin. “When I give you the signal,” I told him quietly. “You’re going to perform a shutdown.”
    “What signal, Colonel Riggs? I’m not familiar with any such pre-arranged protocol. Perhaps we should meet in private and discuss this matter without the presence of these primitive aliens.”
    “If you don’t play dead when I give you the cue, I’ll remove every privilege I’ve ever granted you. I swear, I’ll find those secret pools in the engine rooms you’re always playing