Part 60 (1/2)

Theoretically, anyway. Pyre settled his legs into a rhythmic pace, letting his servos take as much of the load as possible. Personally, he would be happy if things even came close.

And in this case, they did.

Chapter 30.

They listened in silence as McKinley went through his presentation, and when he was finished Stiggur sighed. ”No chance of an error, I don't suppose.”

McKinley shook his head. ”Nothing significant, certainly. We had enough test subjects to get good statistics.”

Across the table from him, Jonny pursed his lips, the bittersweet taste of

Pyrrhic victory in his mouth. He'd been vindicated, his ”crazy” theory about the mojos more or less confirmed.

But the price of that victory was going to be war.

He could see that in the faces around the table. The other governors were scared-more than they'd ever been after the Dewdrop's first mission. And even though some of them might not know how they'd respond to that fear, he understood human nature enough to know which way most would eventually go. Fight and flight were the only basic options... and the Cobra Worlds had no place to run.

Fairleigh cleared his throat. ”I still don't understand how the mojos can be doing all this. I mean, you've established their brain capacity is too small for intelligence, haven't you?”

”There's no particular need for intelligence in this,” McKinley said. ”It's the mojo's symbiont-either human or krisjaw-who actually a.s.sess the situation. The mojo simply picks up that evaluation and pushes for the response that is in the mojo's best interests.”

”But that takes judgment, and that implies intelligence,” Fairleigh persisted.

”Not necessarily,” Telek shook her head. ”Straight extrapolative logic could simply be part of the mojo's instinct package. I've seen instincts in other animals that appear to take as much or more intelligence than that would require. You'll notice that the Chata spookie seems to manage the same trick with only a slightly larger cranial capacity.”

”It could be even easier, at least for the mojo,” McKinley added. ”Presumably the human conies up with his own list of possible responses, including-on some level-how each response would affect the mojo. Choosing among those takes no more intelligence than any animal needs to survive in the wild.”

”Could you be reading the data wrong, somehow, then?” Stiggur asked. ”We need to be absolutely sure of what's going on.”

”I don't think we are, sir,” McKinley shook his head. ”We didn't get as many details out of Moff as Winward was hoping we would, but I think what he did say pretty well confirms this interpretation.”

”Not to mention the krisjaw incident,” Roi murmured. ”There's no rational explanation for their behavior if the mojos weren't in at least partial control.”

The room fell silent. Stiggur glanced around the table, then nodded at McKinley.

”Thank you. Doctor, for your time. We'll get in touch if we have any more questions. You'll be able to give this presentation to the full Council tomorrow?”

McKinley nodded. ”Two o'clock, right?”

”Right. We'll see you then.”

McKinley went out, and Stiggur turned back to the table. ”Any discussion before we vote on our recommendation?”

”How could something like this have happened?” Vartanson asked, his tone almost petulant. ”Symbionts don't just swap partners whenever they feel like it.”

”Why not?” Roi shrugged. ”I'm sure Lizabet could come up with dozens of other examples.”

”Nothing like that many, but there are some,” Telek nodded. ”In this case, I think, you just have to look at the krisjaw's characteristics to see why humans look so attractive as partners. First off, the mojos need good hunters to kill bololins for them; but the viciousness that makes krisjaws good hunters also means a returning mojo probably has half a chance of being eaten itself until it reestablishes control. You saw the films of the attack-the mojos were barely off their krisjaws' backs before the animals went berserk.”