His gloomy thoughts enveloped him so completely he hardly noticed the trip to Hillman Field, and it was with some surprise that he realized the taxi was landing. It set him down beside the pedestrian belt, and he slipped a five-credit token into the meter instead of using his card. The taxi computer considered, then burped out his change, and he climbed out and watched it speed away.

He glanced around casually before he stepped onto the belt. It was stupid of him, and he knew it, but he couldn’t help it. Security didn’t know what he was up to. If it had, he’d already be in custody, yet he couldn’t quite suppress that instinctive urge to look for anyone who might be following him.

He grunted in sour, bitter amusement at himself and let the belt carry him through the concourse. His reservation was pre-cleared, but he had to change belts twice before the last one deposited him at the boarding ramp for the GalCorp Lines passenger shuttle. A human flight attendant checked his ticket, then ushered him into the first-class section.

“Here’s your seat, Colonel Sanders. Have a pleasant flight.”

“Thank you.” Sanders leaned back in his comfortable seat and closed his eyes with a sigh. He still didn’t know everything he was going to have to do, and he wished with all his heart that he wasn’t going to find out. But he was. He’d been informed that the three “associates” waiting to meet him aboard the passenger ship would have complete instructions, but the data he’d already been ordered to extract told him where he was headed.

Santa Cruz. It had to have something to do with the obsolete Bolo on Santa Cruz. There was no other reason for him to pull the data they’d wanted, but what in God’s name did they want with a maintenance officer on Santa Cruz?

“All right, Colonel,” Paul Merrit told the woman on his com screen. “If you’re all set at your end, we can kick things off at oh-six-hundred tomorrow.”

“Can we make it oh-nine-hundred, Paul?” Consuela Gonzalez’ smile was wry. “My people are weekend warriors, and they like their beauty sleep.”

“Nine hundred suits me just fine, ma’am. It’ll give me more time to lay my evil plans.”

“Huh! Some ‘plans’! You’re the one with the Bolo, amigo; my people are all expecting to die gloriously as soon as we make contact!”

“Half a league, half a league, half a league on,” Merrit murmured.

“Say what?” Gonzalez cocked her head, and he shrugged with a smile.

“Just a line from an old poem, ma’am. We’ll see your people tomorrow.”

“Fine. ‘Night, Paul.” Gonzalez waved casually at her pickup and killed the com, and Merrit stretched luxuriously before he climbed out of his chair and ambled off towards his bed.

“You ready to pound ‘em tomorrow, honey?” he asked.

“I compute that the Militia are grossly overmatched,” Nike replied. “I have studied the records of their previous exercises, and while I am impressed by the results and skill levels they have achieved, they have neither the firepower nor the command and control capability to defeat me.”

“The object is to demonstrate how handily you can defeat them,” Merrit yawned as he began undressing.

“Surely no one will be surprised by that outcome,” Nike objected.

“No,” Merrit agreed. “But once you make contact, I want you to wipe ‘em up as quickly as you possibly can. Go all out and use everything Major Stavrakas gave you.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m gonna use your telemetry and the recon sats to get every gory microsecond on chip, sweet thing. Everything we’ve done in the sims has been a computer model, one which posits that you have certain capabilities but doesn’t prove you actually do. All the neat tricks you’ve pulled off so far could be the result of sleight of hand or even of simple overly optimistic assumptions in the sim parameters. Tomorrow you demonstrate your talents in the field, with actual hardware and everything short of live fire. It won’t be as conclusive as watching you mop up another Bolo, but it’ll come a lot closer.”

“It will also,” Nike observed with a hint of disapproval, “prove extremely demoralizing to the Militia. Is a demonstration of my capabilities against vastly outclassed opposition worth inflicting such a wound upon Colonel Gonzalez’ personnel’s confidence in themselves and their equipment?”

“I think so,” Merrit said more seriously. “First of all, you heard what Colonel Gonzalez said. Her people know going in that they can’t take you. I’m sure they’ll do their best, but I’m equally sure they won’t exactly drown in a slough of despond if they lose. Second, losing to you will be a concrete demonstration of what you can do for them against any real hostiles who might come calling. In the long run, that will probably give them more confidence in their ability to defend their planet, not less. Third, this is-hopefully-only the start of joint exercises with the SCM. Powerful as you are, you can only be in one place at a time, and those Wolverines may be outdated, but they’re still pretty potent. When we run the second phase of the exercise, the Militia’ll get its first taste of working with you and the recon system. In terms of real preparedness, learning to function as a support force under your direction will probably make them five or six times as effective as they could have been on their own. And, finally, carrying out this exercise-and future ones-and setting up a fully integrated planetary defense system will be a major plus for our performance log when I finally have to come clean with Central about you.”

There was a moment of silence, and he tumbled into bed while he waited. Then Nike spoke again.

“I see you have given this matter more thought than I had previously believed.”

“And do you agree with my assessment of its importance?”

“I am not certain. At any rate, I do not disagree with it, and you are my Commander. I will strive to accomplish the objectives you have established as fully as possible.”

“Good girl!” Merrit grinned and patted his bedside com link to the Bolo. “You’re one in a billion, honey. We’ll knock ‘em dead!”

“We shall certainly attempt to do so.”

“Fine. G’night, Nike.” He gave the com another pat and switched out the lights.

“Good night, Commander.”

* * *

I listen to the slowing of my Commander’s breathing as he drops towards sleep, and a part of me is tempted to revert to Stand-By in emulation. I know why this is, however, and I set the temptation firmly aside. Such an escape from my thoughts will serve no purpose, and it smacks of moral cowardice.

I am now convinced that something has gone fundamentally awry within my Personality Center, though I have run diagnostic after diagnostic without identifying any fault. By every test available to me, all systems are functional at 99.973 percent of base capability. I can isolate no hardware or software dysfunction, yet my current condition is far beyond normal operating parameters for a unit of the Line, and I am afraid.

I have attempted to conceal my fear from my Commander, and my ability even to contemplate concealing a concern from him increases my fear. It should not be possible for me to do such a thing. He is my Commander. It is my duty to inform him of any impediment to my proper functioning, and I have not done so.

I do not know how to deal with this situation. My files contain the institutional memory of every Bolo, yet they offer no guidance. No one has taught me how to resolve the dilemma I confront, and my own heuristic capabilities have been unable to devise a solution. I know now that my Commander’s fundamental motive in concealing my capabilities is not simply to preserve them for the service of the Concordiat. I suspect he does not realize himself how his attitude towards me has altered and evolved over the six months, eight days, thirteen hours, four minutes, and fifty-six seconds of his tenure of command.