Prediction
by Nicola Mody

The crew watched the main screen, stunned, as the other DSV exploded.
 
"Vila, did you fire?" asked Blake.
 
"No."
 
"Well, what happened?"
 
"I took the precaution of scrambling their launch system," Orac said smugly. "It pre-detonated their missiles. Had I not done so, my prediction would have been inaccurate."
 
Blake laughed as he walked over to Orac. "Orac, you are a genius. Next time let us know what you're planning."
 
Cally narrowed her eyes and said nothing. She decided to get Avon on his own to discuss her thoughts.
 
 
 
 
 
So she went and saw Avon at the start of his shift.
 
"What is it, Cally?" Avon asked curtly.
 
Ah, he was still annoyed about Blake telling him to get to his position. Cally darted a glance at Orac over the other side of the flight deck. "I have suspicions about Orac's part in all this."
 
Avon raised his eyebrows and leaned back in his seat. "You don't think it was an extrapolation of data?"
 
"You heard what he said. He blew that ship up just to make his prediction come true."
 
"Thus saving our lives," Avon pointed out.
 
"Ah, but they would not have been in danger in the first place if he had warned us about those scout ships in time. He knew exactly what they were and where they came from. He was playing with us."
 
Avon considered this. "A logical inference."
 
"Right. Leave it with me," Cally said grimly. She crossed to Orac and inserted his key.
 
Orac buzzed, irritated. "What is it? I said I had no time for your petty concerns."
 
"I think you will want to hear this," Cally said softly. "When you made your prediction, you had already detected the System scouts, read their databanks, traced them back to their origins and seen that there was another DSV there."
 
"They do not have tarial cells."
 
"Don't prevaricate," Avon snapped. "You can communicate with Zen and other System computers."
 
"Precisely." Cally folded her arms. "Tarial cells are not all you can read. You knew about those scouts."
 
"Of course. The acquisition of data and the prediction of future events therefrom--"
 
"Yes, yes, I understand that and I have worked out what Orac is short for. However you could have advised us on how to avoid the whole situation. Instead you chose to hide vital information to show how clever you were, at the risk of our lives. We could have died back there."
 
"That would not have altered the outcome I predicted."
 
Cally controlled her fury with an effort. "I am a telepath, Orac. Are you aware of that?"
 
"It was irrelevant in this case."
 
"Ah, but it is not now. To do your calculations and not be the size of a spaceship, you use another dimension."
 
Orac was silent.
 
"And it's the one telepathy uses," Cally said. "I have detected your carrier wave."
 
Orac hummed. "I have not detected you."
 
"Why should you have? I use that dimension consciously; you do not. You are about as aware of it as you are of your components." Cally touched his plastisteel case. "Did you feel that? No, I thought not." She straightened and continued in a matter-of-fact voice. "We Auronar have done considerable research in this area. We have telepathic emergency broadcast beacons and privacy fields, and we even have weapons. Nothing destructive, just an interference wave which makes that dimension unusable so that communication through it is impossible."
 
"Oh," said Avon, "you do interest me strangely."
 
Cally smiled like a wolf. "I am a guerrilla and a trained communications expert." She leaned towards Orac, her face twisted with anger. "So listen to me, Orac. Try something like this ever again, and I will give you a complete lobotomy. Do you understand?"
 
Orac was silent for a moment. "You will also be unable to use your—"
 
"I am travelling with a ship full of humans who are intermittent receivers at best. It would be worth it to incapacitate you. Do we have a deal? Answer me."
 
"Very well," said Orac sullenly. "I agree."
 
Avon removed Orac's key and regarded Cally, his headed tilted. "You were bluffing, surely."
 
"Not at all. My people do have such devices, but they have not been used since a civil war centuries ago."
 
"Hmm." Avon considered it. "I could possibly build something like it, but there are other solutions. Most of them involving explosives." He grinned suddenly and dazzlingly. "But I think your threat will be enough."
 
He walked away, thinking about Cally. Her people were peaceful and inward-looking but she obviously thought for herself, and very incisively if this was any indication. Intelligent, logical, and dangerous: she was very much the type which attracted him. He stopped at the exit and looked back. "When your watch is over, should you want any refreshments, I could offer a very pleasant wine that Vila has not yet discovered."
 
Cally smiled. "I should like that very much."
 
Avon began to smile as he walked on.