The Mote in God's Eye

“The opportunities for trade are fabulous,” Jock announced. The arms indicated excitement. “These humans are indescribably inefficient in the use of their resources. They have no instinct for complex tools.”

“None?” demanded Ivan.

“None that I have seen.” Jock indicated the tri-v. “They must train their young in every trade. Many of the programs on this set are for that purpose.”

“They have time to learn,” Charlie reflected. “They live very long. Longer than any Master.”

“Yes, but what a waste. They have no Browns, and no Watchmakers—”

Ivan interrupted. “You are certain they have no Watchmakers?”

“Yes. We saw no signs on the ships, nor have there been any on the tri-v, nor are there the expected products of Watchmakers. There are no individualized personal items—”

“I have seen such. The guards who attended us on Lenin carried such and many wore such footgear.”

“Made by our own Watchmakers—”

“Precisely,” said Ivan. “Now we know why they destroyed MacArthur. And why they fear us.”

The Mediators jabbered excitedly until Ivan cut them off again. “You agree?” he asked in the tone commanding information to be confirmed.

“Yes!” they said in unison. Charlie spoke rapidly, drowning Jock out. “The Brown miner they took aboard would have carried a breeding pair of Watchmakers. The humans know nothing of Watchmakers and would have allowed them to escape. And given free run of the ship and much time to adapt to it—”

“Yet we were told they have Watchmakers,” Ivan said.

Jock took a pose indicating memory recall. After a second he said, “No. Sally allowed us to assume that they have them. When her Fyunch(click) suggested that human Watchmakers were large, Sally agreed.”

“And the midshipmen seemed startled when we spoke of them regarding construction of their lifeboats,” Charlie said flatly. “Yes. You are certainly correct.”

There was silence. Ivan thought. Then he said, “They know we have a prolific subspecies. You will reflect on this.”

“They fear that we deliberately caused the destruction of MacArthur,” Charlie said. “Curse! If only they had told us. We could have told them of the dangers, and the humans would have nothing to fear. Curse! Why did the universe arrange that the first Motie they met was a Brown?”

“They said MacArthur was infested with plague,” Jock mused. “And so it was, although we did not believe them. A plague of Watchmakers. Yet. If they truly believe we deliberately destroyed their ship, or allowed it to be destroyed, why have they not said so? Why did they not ask?”