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“They’re all innocent of plots and schemes,” said Rigg.
“The innocent and the guilty all say the same thing, with equal fervor,” said Ram Odin. “Can your facemask tell the difference?”
“Not really,” said Rigg. “They’re always lying, always concealing something. But since everything they say is deceptive, it’s impossible to tell whether the exact words they’re saying right now are a direct lie, or a truth that conceals a deeper lie.”
“Very subtle,” said Ram Odin.
“I can’t very well feel morally superior to them,” said Rigg. “If they weren’t listening to all our conversations, we’d lie to them, too, or at least hold back our plans. They may have human genes and, collectively, intelligence to match our own—”
“Surpass it, you mean,” said a mouse.
“By about ten thousand times,” said another.
“They’re quite vain,” said Rigg, “and they grossly overestimate their own mental prowess, but that only proves how much they resemble humankind. What they won’t do, even if they take over the computers somehow, is use that power to destroy all life on Garden. If we have to choose between a tyranny of rodents and the utter destruction of our species, I’ll hold my nose and take the rodents.”
“You smell worse than we do,” said a mouse.
“I bet they’re telling you how much worse we smell,” said Ram Odin.
“See?” said Rigg. “They’re not as subtle as they think.”
“How will we know if Noxon succeeds?” asked Ram Odin.
“In all our planning, we never got that far,” said Rigg. “It was hard enough to think of a way to get him to Earth and after that, he had to figure out how to stop the humans there from destroying us. We had no idea that he’d have to stop an alien invasion. If he succeeds, he may have to do it in some way that prevents him from ever coming back here. He may be stuck on the aliens’ home world.”
“What if Noxon comes in exactly the way that the Destroyers have always come?” asked Ram Odin. “What if our new defenses kill him before he can tell us of his success?”
“Our defenses don’t kill anybody,” said a mouse.
“We’re blocking out their computer commands, not blowing up their ships,” said another.
“Though we could work on that.”
“Don’t,” said Rigg. “Please. Let’s wait and see if what you’ve already done is enough.”
“If Noxon can come back,” said Ram Odin, “he’s bound to be as smart as you. He’ll think of the danger. He won’t return at the time the Destroyers always came.”
“He might have the use of a starship. The backward copy of the original. If he can turn it forward, he might make another voyage, another jump through the fold.”
Ram sighed. “And that means he might return eleven thousand years ago, with nineteen copies. Maybe we should be checking the past to see if he’s succeeded, instead of looking toward the future.”
“If he returns in the past, he can slice his way forward. Or jump. Who knows how precise he’s learned to be? He and Param accomplished a lot together before he left.”
Ram Odin rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. “I’m tired. Since Noxon could return at any time in the existence of Garden, I don’t think it will hurt anything if I nap now.”
“We should actually leave some open time here on the bridge,” said Rigg, “so that if we have to come back and tell the mice that they need to do more, there’ll be an open space for us to return to.”
“Yes, Rigg, you can have a nap, too, if you want,” said Ram Odin. “You don’t have to come up with theories in order to justify your need for sleep.”
“Good, they’re leaving,” said a mouse. “We can take over the world now.”
“The mice are trying to see how gullible we are,” said Rigg.
“We’re as gullible as they need us to be,” said Ram Odin. “Once they take over the ships, they control all our information. How can we possibly check them? So let’s go to sleep and then decide whether to bounce into the future to see if we’ve succeeded.”
The door opened as Ram Odin approached it. Vadeshex was standing on the other side. “Oh, you’ve already heard?” asked Vadeshex.
“Heard what?” asked Ram Odin.
