“Interesting,” said Alitma, watching the floating bread shards. “But system malfunctions are so easy to counterfeit.”
“I am not faking an Afterthought system malfunction,” Trak said.
“Just sit tight, Daniel and company,” Alitma said, ignoring Trak. “Eventually my crew will find a way through that shield. Or your food forge will run out of matter to convert into supplies. Or the Star Seeker shield will exhaust its fuel. Or you will surrender. Plenty of ways for you to lose.”
“I do not think that waiting would be wise,” Trak said. “You are well within the cannon’s blast radius.”
Alitma titled his head up 30 degrees, the Rosov expression of disdain and disbelief—much like the human gesture of rolling the eyes.
“We’ve already been over this—” Alitma said.
“The cannon will indeed explode in a few minutes,” Trak interrupted.
Daniel didn’t understand. Trak didn’t seem to be lying, but Trak also couldn’t harm any sentient living creature. He certainly couldn’t end the lives of every being on the dreadnought with a massive weapon overload.
None of this makes sense, Daniel thought.
“For while it is true that I cannot fire—” Trak said.
“Oh! I figured it out!” Rachel-7 interrupted.
“What?” Daniel asked.
“—I will be transferring voice control of the weapon to Daniel,” Trak said.
“That’s what I thought,” Rachel-7 said. “You’re up, Captain Wei.”
“Daniel, at your command,” Trak said, “this cannon will burst with the fire of 74 main sequence stars.”
Now it makes sense, Daniel thought.
“That’s not possible!” Alitma said. “Trak cannot kill!”
“I can’t,” Trak said, “but I don’t have to stop anyone else.”
