Children of the Fleet (Fleet School #1)(49)

“That’s absurd,” said Robota. “You could never find evidence that there was no trafficking.”

“It’s not absurd,” said Dabeet. “I am who I am, and I detected the evidence of smuggling the first time I was involved in the loading and unloading process. If I had detected nothing—”

“It would mean they were cleverer than they actually are.”

“There’s no reason for them to be more than marginally clever, because it’s an inside system. They’ve already bribed the man. Or in this case, the woman.”

“Me?” asked Robota.

“Well, you’ll tell me if that’s true by what you do. But I didn’t mean you.”

“You don’t like Urska.”

“Nobody likes Urska,” said Dabeet. “But Urska likes money. Or whatever coin she’s being paid in.”

“So one message is, no smuggling here.”

“Which I think they wouldn’t believe,” said Dabeet. “The second signal is, smuggling is going on but there’s no authority I can appeal to.”

“You’re appealing to me.”

“The third signal is, I have found and reported the smuggling to the proper authorities, and it is being taken care of.”

“Any more signals?”

“Three seemed enough. Especially since, as you pointed out, the first one is absurd.”

“Are you going to tell me the signals? I’m guessing they involve the disposition of doors on the outside of Fleet School Station, on the side where telescopes in Latin America can detect it.”

“Two doors open, with no vehicles nearby, means that there’s no smuggling. Three doors open means that authority is dealing with it. One door open means that there is smuggling and nobody’s going to take action.”

Robota nodded. “How long will they remain open?”

“They assumed that I’d need to close the doors almost immediately, so to make sure they were observed, I’d wait for the next pass over Latin America and then the one after that. Then I open the same door or doors again.”

“Very elaborate,” said Robota. “And extremely stupid. Every door here is part of a system of alarms. If someone as much as touches the palmpad of any outside portal, I know it and so does my entire team.”

“I told them that was likely.”

“And they said?”

“They knew that I’d get caught, but they didn’t care. I was supposed to invent some bullshit reason and what would they do to me, send me back to Earth? I’m a kid.”

“So they could kidnap you and threaten to kill your mother, but they’re counting on us to be nice?”

“I’m a child of the Fleet,” said Dabeet. “They figured you weren’t in the business of killing military children.”

“A ruthless smuggling ring probably is in that business, or wouldn’t think twice about entering into it.”

“I didn’t say that they cared about my life. Did I say that? No, they believe I care about my mother’s life.”

“To the point that, as an eleven-year-old, you’d sacrifice your own life to save hers.”

“What son wouldn’t do the same?” asked Dabeet.

“How do I know these signals mean what you say they mean?”

“Because I told you what they mean.”

“And what signal do you mean to send?”

“If I am able to open doors without setting off alarms and getting arrested, then that means I have the cooperation of the authorities. So it’s three doors.”

“Three doors is ridiculous,” said Robota. “You see how far apart they are. You open one, you have to run to the next, and then another. Then you have to close them all for the next revolution around Earth, and then open them again, then close them again.”

“I’m a child of Earth. I have more stamina than spaceborn children.”

“Here’s what I think,” said Robota. “I think three doors is a signal for something. Perhaps for a prearranged attack ship to seize all the ships using Fleet School Station as a port of call. Perhaps for the smugglers, who really work for your kidnappers, to know that the jig is up and to get away quick.”

“You might be right, for all I know,” said Dabeet. “They didn’t tell me what they’d do about any of the signals, except that if there wasn’t a signal within six months, my mother would die.”

“So your little signals might be a far worse betrayal of the Fleet or of Fleet School than any petty smuggling operation.”

“If they’re bringing in weapons-grade space-made bioagents, then I don’t see how my signals could be worse than that.”

Robota had now positioned herself in such a way that Dabeet could not evade her close scrutiny of his face. He didn’t try.

“Something that you’ve said is a lie,” she said.

“Not as far as I know,” said Dabeet. “Not my lie—I can’t vouch for them.”

“Their lie wouldn’t show up in your face,” said Robota.

“It defies logic,” said Dabeet.

“You came to me to open these doors for you,” said Robota, “because you knew that our security would be too good for you to accomplish it yourself.”