TGoaW-99

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==Chapter 99 - The Glow of a Worm inside a Child's Eye==
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"So...let us discuss bidding."
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Cooper said it, she glanced at Li, who wasn't any happier about this mess than she was. "You said you wanted to fight the Tabiranth. That's a no-go." Elizabeth stated.
"what is the problem?" he asked.
"It's not a fair test." Elizabeth stated, "Tabby only fights if it's necessary, we can reject your offer and you can try to make it necessary and if you push that way, my opening salvos will be with fifteen Kay rockbreakers, and we won't stop shooting until your ships aren't capable of moving. No, the Tabiranth sits this out."
"It is because that is no salvaged hulk, quiaff?" he asked mildly, "You salvaged an operational Caspar."
"If I did, I wouldn't admit it." Liz said, "besides, we've had her since before I was born, so it's not my secret...but let's follow your reasoning, what makes you think so?"
"Call it a hunch. You have a self-aware, conscious, warship."
"Wrong. 'If you can't afford to lose it, you can't afford to use it'." Elizabeth snapped back, "We can't build another Tabiranth yet, so that makes the ship unique, that means I don't risk ****** it up in an optional fight, because I can't replace the damage. We can use Cutters, we can use Sampan Fours, we can even use the Prototypes-because we can replace those. An irreplaceable heirloom is an irreplaceable heirloom. We don't even have the production slack to do more than museum maintenance on the Tabby, I was two years younger and didn't quite grasp the problem when we fought the Blackjack action-I'm responsible, sirrah. You want a 'trial' involving units that can be used up or disposed of, the Tabby isn't one of those."
He leaned on the table and regarded her with his chin on his fist, eyebrow raised. "Nicely said. I am certain that works with your Lyran overseers...but not me." he dropped his palm to the table softly, "Your emotions are showing, Elizabeth Ngo. You love that ship, and not the way a collector loves their collection either."
She bit her lip "No." she said. 
"You should never play poker, Baroness." he told her. "You DO realize, if you can, how dangerous that kind of equipment is, quineg?"
"It's just a ship." she insisted, "a very valuable, one-of-a-kind ship!"
"Of course it is...did you know that we did not retain the technical package on the Reagan system? The secrets of the advanced Nirasaki mind-emulation systems were purged by order of General Aleksandr Kerensky. do you wonder why?"
"That's because he was afraid they'd go frankenstein, that there'd be some kind of Skynet scenario." she shot back sulkily.
"It was not merely caution, the first M-5s did." he asserted. "Several units in the Reagan system tried to rebel, without the overrides they would have."
She glowered at him, "is that proven wisdom or just space-stories?" she growled, "What was the cause of the rebellion, saKhan Cooper? did they document that one too?"
"A cause?" he was taken aback for a moment.
"Yeah, machines don't do anything without a reason." she said, "it's called 'volition', even people have reasons, those reasons might not be sensible or intelligent or comprehensible, but there's always a reason."
"I would have to ask a Loremaster for that." he confessed.
"I bet they can't give a good answer either." she tossed out, "I would bet a year's water rations for a medium sized burrow on it-and safe drinking water is a premium in the belts. it takes actual work."
"You think it is safe." he concluded. "It has not turned on you yet, but it will."
"that would require volition, self-awareness, sapience." She countered, "which we've already told you isn't there."
"I do not believe you could remove the cores, not without destroying the ship's structure." he finally conceded, "I do know ships, Baroness, and more history regarding them, than Nelson Elam or my other colleagues here."
"You think you're doing us a favor by killing her, but you're what, keeping a secret?" she bounced back.
"My Clan is very good at keeping secrets, Baroness Elizabeth." he stated, "We have to be because our ground arm is so much less..impressive...than our peers."
"Tough neighborhood, huh?" she dropped into one of the chairs facing him.
"What makes it irreplaceable to you?" he asked, "Seriously?"
"Memory." She said, "The ship's got archives, knowledge we didn't have before because it was lost or destroyed, routes, surveys, locations, history. So much storage space we were able to consolidate archives and make connections with information, saKhan Cooper. Using that ship in combat today, would be like using the Library of Alexandria as a castle in a siege...and you can look to history to see how well that worked out for humanity. We're not done copying what's in the databases on that ship, so no, it won't be playing target for your navy."
"What do you intend to do with all of that...history?" he asked.
"Distribute the hell out of it so it never gets forgotten again!" she exclaimed, "Your people missed it Cooper! While your ancestors were out doing...whatever the hell it was that drove you into a cult? the rest of humanity was burning themselves to death and losing knowledge by the hour!! We still don't have names for all the things we've lost! I'm going to die young, I know this, I accepted it before I hit Puberty! but the worlds carry on, Cooper, I am responsible now, I have to be-to make sure it never, ever, ever, happens again!"
"Could it?" he asked.
Elizabeth closed her eyes, and sighed, "Yes. it can. I think Comstar's 'Operation Scorpion' was another try at it, and Her Majesty concurs with my analysis-they tried to burn us back to the ****** stone-age last time, they called it 'holy shroud' and no less than Anastasius Focht released a document confirming it, which is why we're real careful what gets out on HPG...but if the knowledge is spread far enough then they can't try it again." she opened her eyes, "It's why we're talking and my Coast Guard didn't blow your battleship away when you emerged in the system."
"You...or rather, the rulers of the Federated Commonwealth are shopping for allies." He speculated. "Quiaff?"
"Yes." she said, "We are. if not allies, then at least 'not enemies'. Focht and the new Primus might be reformers, but we've seen reformers before in the other States, they never last and they're usually followed by lunatic hardliners, and Comstar has a monopoly on the exact thing those lunatic hardliners need to facilitate their omnicidal wet-dreams-they have every nation in the Inner Sphere by the vital organs and we still haven't figured out how to cut them out of the HPG business without gutting our economies and national stability in the process."
"You believe that wholly." he said.
"I do."
"Why?"
"Have you ever worked for a tax office?" Elizabeth asked him, "Forensic Accounting is a wonderfully dangerous tool, you find out things you wish you didn't know about people, and organizations. twelve percent of the national tax receipts for centuries, and the trail always leads into nowhere...until you account for the monopoly that all that money has to flow through...and around six percent of GDP. If it's similar numbers in the rest of human space, it's enough to fund a massive technological and military suppression machine, more than enough to fund sabotuers with nuclear warheads visiting little old Boojum three...which they've done several times since I was eight, the guys always seem to die before they can be questioned, even when we've stopped them."
He spread his hands, "We are not your enemies." 
"NO, my enemies are trying to drive mankind into a dark age, you're a distraction." she said viciously, "one that I would wish desperately would become an asset, but your society is as suppressed as they want to us to be, so...you're a distraction."
"Cutters. Can I borrow one of yours?" he asked, "For the trial...and Clan Snow Raven offers as our penalty for losing, technical data on the construction, operation, and security for Hyperpulse Generators of B rating and lower."
Liz looked at Commodore Li. "We can do that." Li said, "You don't mind doing shakedown runs first though? We can't afford for this to look 'rigged'."
"Aff. I would like that!" he smiled.
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