The Bug Wars

by Robert Asprin

  "Tzu, while the defenses are being prepared, I want your team to complete their study of the unidentified plants within the Defense Network. Also, I will expect a report from the Scientists as to their appraisal of the moving rock formations."

  I paused, then looked straight at Tzu as I continued.

  "Once the defenses are in place, we will proceed with our original mission as planned."

  Tzu started to speak, then changed her mind and remained silent.

  "In deference to the recommendations of the Scientists, the Technicians will construct two extra view-input units to be placed near the anthill, which will be fed into the memory banks for later review by the Scientists or the Empire. I will repeat, however, the current mission is to have top priority in our attention.

  "I will remind the team that the next campaign is the next campaign. Our primary assignment is the current campaign...against the Leapers. The High Command was aware of the presence of the Ants on this planet when we were given our assignment; yet we were not assigned to gather data on them. We are assigned to find a natural Enemy to the Leapers, preferably with minimal loss of life; but safety of the team is not and has never been our primary concern. We are going to find that natural Enemy, and the Ants are merely another threat to that assignment.

  "Those are my orders...those are the High Command's orders...and I trust I do not have to elaborate on the fate of any Tzen who knowingly disobeys them?"

  CHAPTER SIX

  If the scientists took exception to my orders, they didn't show it. Instead, they plunged into their assignments with enviable efficiency.

  One by one the plants within the Defense Network were studied and deemed harmless, with the obvious exception of the plant that had killed our Technician shortly after our arrival. For a while I allowed myself to hope that by a stroke of good fortune we might find our natural enemy for the Leapers in that plant. This hope was ended when the Scientists submitted their report. The plant was deadly to Tzen, but not to the Leapers. As this was decidedly not what we were seeking, we continued our search.

  The moving boulders continued to defy explanation, a fact I found increasingly irritating. This in itself surprised me, as I am not a particularly curious Tzen. Upon examining my reaction, I reached the conclusion that my increased curiosity was a result of my prolonged contact with the Scientists. Even though my discussions with them were largely attempts to quell their impatience, at the same time, I was being made aware of the vast number of yet unanswered questions.

  Having identified and analyzed the source of my unwelcome emotions, I dismissed them. I am a Warrior, not a Scientist. I concern myself with solving the problems at hand, not speculating on the unknown. The moving boulders would have to wait until additional data could be gathered, which in turn would have to wait until the defenses were secure.

  Waiting! I was getting enough waiting this assignment to last a lifetime. While it was true my exposure to the Scientists was increasing my curiosity, another major factor was time, inactive time. Inactive time results in boredom, and boredom results in excessive thinking. I began wondering how widespread this problem was. With Deep Sleep being used only for space travel, the Tzen would be faced more and more with inactive time. Assuming others reacted as I did, filling the time with thinking, what affect would this have on the Empire?

  I forced this line of thinking to a halt. I was doing it again. I am a Warrior, not a Scientist. Let the Scientists explore the implications and impacts of new patterns and discoveries. I would concern myself with immediate problems. Right now, the most pressing problem was...was how to deal with inactive time!

  I suddenly realized that though the Scientists and Technicians were busy working on their respective assignments, the Warriors were currently in a state of forced inactivity. Realizing my own dubious reactions to that situation, this could present a significant problem.

  I sought our Zur, who confirmed my suspicions.

  "You are quite right, Commander. In fact, Mahz and I were discussing this point earlier, but were undecided as to whether or not to bring it to your attention."

  "How is it showing itself?"

  "In questions not pertinent to the subject at hand. That and overlong, wordy discussions. As a former-as a Warrior, Commander, I feel a concern for the effective performance of my team."

  I cocked my head at him. It was quite unlike Zur to change thoughts in midsentence. Usually he was both concise and complete when he spoke.

  "I am also concerned for the effective performance of my team, Zur. You started to say something about being a former Scientist. Why did you change your mind?"

  He hesitated before answering, also quite unlike him.

  "As you know, Commander, I have always been selfconscious about my non-Warrior background. Changing castes was not my desire or my decision, and I have always secretly regretted the move...until this assignment. Viewing the Scientists after a prolonged, forced separation, I find not only am I glad I was not accepted in their ranks, I wish that my name not be associated with them, even as a reference to the past."

  I considered his statement with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was pleased Zur now felt completely a part of the Warriors and not torn by divided loyalties. However, it boded ill for the mission for the head of the Warriors' team to harbor such strong and considered ill feelings toward the Scientists. Being at a loss for comment, I returned to the original subject.

  "Have you considered a solution for the problem with the Warriors?"

  He lapsed into thoughtful silence, but at least now his thoughts were diverted toward a constructive end.

  "My analysis of the cause of the problem," he commenced finally, "is the marked difference between guard duty and active patrol. While both are necessary, guard duty is a prolonged, low-activity assignment. If guard duty is unbroken by an active pursuit, the mind tends to create its own activity, usually in an uncontrolled and therefore ineffective manner."

  He was sounding like a Scientist again, but I felt it unwise to bring it to his attention.

  "So you would propose...?"

  "Activity. Constructive activity. Perhaps some form of drill or practice."

  "That could be potentially counterproductive, Zur. If the noise of target practice did not draw unwanted attention to us, the damage to the landscape would surely betray our position. Without the proper training equipment here, practice with the hand weapons could be potentially injurious to the Warriors, at a time we can ill afford casualties."

  We pondered the problem in silence.

  "What about the skimmers?" asked Zur finally.

  I considered it.

  "Possibly. Let me speak to Horc about it."

  Horc was understandably annoyed at the request. His team was already overloaded with assignments with the defense and ravine-span designs. Still, he was a Tzen and followed orders without complaint. In an impressively short time span, the Technicians had checked out the skimmers and cleared them for use by the Warriors.

  The skimmers were a modification of the water darts used in the campaign against the Aquatics. As four of us-myself, Zur, Mahz, and Kor-had missed that campaign, the extra practice in their handling was more than justified.

  They were a two-seater craft with the seats mounted in tandem to conform to the vehicles' extreme streamlining. Even though there were dual controls, allowing the craft to be operated from either position, only one set of controls could be operated at a time. This was a necessary safety precaution, as the craft normally traveled at such high speeds that attempting to coordinate the efforts of two operators would, inevitably result in a crash.

  The reason for the skimmer's being a two-Tzen craft was the modified weapons system arming it. Our flyers had fixed weapon mounts that fired in one direction only, specifically, the direction in which you were flying. The skimmers, on the other hand, had swivel mount weapons that fired independent of the craft's movement. That is, you could move in one direction and fire in a different direc
tion. This might sound like a remarkable and wonderful modification. It wasn't.

  To understand this, one must first realize the reason the modification was necessary in the first place. The skimmers were originally designed for use on and under the water. The streamlining that made them so stable in that element, however, proved inadequate in open-air use. As such, they tended to rock or dip if you shifted your weight in them. This, of course, eliminated any hope of accuracy when firing a fixed-mount weapon. For a solution, instead of redesigning the ship, swivel-mount weapons were added. In theory, you could then keep your weapons trained on the target no matter what your craft was doing. In theory, I was actually looking forward to giving the Technicians firsthand experience of what it was like taking one of their brilliantly designed craft into an actual combat situation.

  The reality of the situation was that instead of visually tracking a target and simply depressing a firing lug, you had to consciously aim the weapons. Of course, while you are doing this, you are supposed to be foot-piloting a high-speed craft. While it could be done, to accomplish it kept you busier than a lone nursery guard in the middle of a premature Hatching. Because of this, we used two Tzen per craft, one to handle the weapons and one to steer the craft. The only time we were called upon to do both would be in the unlikely event of one crew member's being killed or disabled. This situation was highly improbable. If one member is killed, usually both are destroyed, along with the craft.

  There were other problems inherent in the swivel guns. With fixed-mount guns, as long as you held formation, you were safe. Not so with the swivel guns. If you tracked a target too far, you would find yourself cutting the stabilizer off the skimmer next to you.

  I have noted that more and more Warriors are abandoning the use of the swivel guns, preferring instead to close with the target and use a hand weapon from the open cockpit. Because the skimmers operate at such high speeds even using a dueling stick like a club will result in a fatal wound.

  The Warrior hierarchy did not discourage this practice. The Warriors were merely making the best of a bad situation. We had lodged formal protest over the design of the skimmers, and had been ordered to continue using them until a better craft could be designed. As such, we used the craft, though not always as the Technicians had intended. We practiced with them as often as situations would allow. We also, as a caste, waited for the opportunity to send a Technician into battle in one.

  As Zur had predicted, the skimmer practice provided much-needed activity for the Warriors. We practiced maneuvering the craft at both high and low speeds, we practiced patrol formations, we practiced maneuvering two formations in a confined area. Zur suggested we devise a drill on the use of hand weapons from a skimmer, but I refused. While we did not discourage the practice, I did not want to encourage it by ordering them to practice the maneuver. Instead, we gave them a specific time period each day for "unstructured drill" during which time they could practice handling the skimmers in any manner they wished. I suspect they used the time to drill with the hand weapons, but I have suspicions only, as Zur, Mahz, and I took great pains to be occupied elsewhere when such practice was taking place.

  Finally, when we had exhausted our imagination finding new drills, we jury-rigged nets on our own without the assistance of the Technicians and set the Warriors to work running down warm-bloods with their skimmers to supplement the food stores. The Technicians' team was openly scornful of our net design, but it worked.

  However, despite all our efforts, the Warriors had an unaccustomed surplus of inactive time at their disposal. Much of this was spent in idle conversation, a pastime hitherto unheard of in the Warriors. The Warriors from the New Hatching seemed particularly susceptible to this. I chanced to overhear such a conversation one day.

  "The more I think about it," Hif was saying, "the more it occurs to me that all our training as Warriors, the skimmers, the hand weapons, everything, is futile if not needless. What do you think, Kor?"

  Kor was still held in awe by many of the New Hatching, and justifiably so. Not only was she a noted veteran, she still possessed one of the most spectacular sets of combat reflexes in the Empire, despite several generations of selective breeding and genetic experimentation.

  "I am a Warrior," she replied abruptly. "I wasn't trained to think; I was trained to fight."

  "But Kor," Sirk persisted, "we're talking about fighting; or not fighting, to be specific. Surely there are better ways to handle the Insects than direct combat. Chemical or Bacteriological warfare would be so much more effective. The Warriors' decision to-"

  "If you want decisions, talk to one of the Commanders. I'm not trained to make decisions; I'm trained to fight."

  "But-"

  "I have no time for such talk. I'm going to check my weapons. I'd advise you to do the same."

  "Again? We just wanted to..."

  But she was gone.

  "There goes a Warrior's Warrior," came Vehr's voice. "She's right, you know. There's reason for everything in the Empire. Asking about it is only a waste of time. If there wasn't a reason, the situation wouldn't exist. The fact the High Command issues an order is all the proof you need that a reason exists."

  "But don't you ever ask questions?"

  There was a moment of silence before Vahr replied.

  "I did once, just after the campaign against the Wasps. The casualty rates on the planet we hit exceeded even the Empire's calculations. When I saw so many Tzen die, I asked questions not unlike the ones you asked Kor. Wasn't there a better way? Why risk lives unnecessarily. In fact, I got permission to take time out from training to try to find the answers."

  "What happened?"

  "Two things. First, I found the answer to my questions. In short, we don't use chemicals or bacteria for the same reason you don't cut off your arm to get rid of scale mites. We don't want to destroy what we're trying to save. We're in this war because the First Ones upset the ecological balance of the Universe. They allowed the Insects to spread off-planet, away from natural enemies or control. Unchecked, they'll spread through the Universe, denuding every habitable planet they find. That is the imbalance we're trying to correct...for our own sakes. We won't do it by unbalancing things further. Chemicals kill indiscriminately. Bacteria, once started, may be impossible to stop. If we want to preserve the Universe, not destroy it ourselves, the war must be fought on the simplest level possible."

  "But, by that logic, aren't we the same as the Insects? I mean, aren't we spreading beyond our planet and therefore disrupting the balance?"

  "Possibly. But unlike the Insects, we respect the balance and try to upset it as little as possible. If we destroyed planets to dispose of the Insects, we'd be as bad as they are. We don't. So the gamble is the possibility of our disrupting the Universe against the certainty of the Insects' doing it if left unchecked."

  "You mentioned two things happened as a result of your research. What was the other?"

  There was a long pause before he replied.

  "I lost two teammates in the campaign against the Aquatics," he said softly. "Ridiculous situations. With a little more practice, I might have saved them. But I hadn't been practicing. I had been looking for answers to questions I had no business asking."

  "Warriors die in combat."

  "I know that, Hatchling, better than you ever will!"

  "But there's no guarantee you could have-"

  "No guarantee, but a possibility. That possibility is worth my full concentration. Kor knows that, and so should I. I'm going to check my weapons."

  "But we wanted to..."

  I missed the rest of the conversation. I had just been beamed by Horc. The defenses were in place. We could begin the mission.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  "We're in position, Commander."

  "Does Hif observe anything unusual about the boulders?"

  "No. She claims they are identical in color to the rocks which abound throughout the area."

  I studied the boulders in the View S
creen. The Technicians had established a bank of View Screens in the fortification, allowing us to monitor the images relayed by the view-input units mounted on either the flyers or the skimmers. By this method we were able to indirectly observe whatever transpired on a patrol or assignment.

  The boulder stood alone in a small field of knee-high grass. It was three meters high and roughly spherical in shape. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about it except for two things. First, it was identical to several other boulders we had observed in this area. Second, it hadn't been here two days before. However innocent it looked, this was one of our mysterious "moving boulders."

  "Any reaction from the Scientist?" I beamed.

  "Zome? No, he seems quite content to follow our orders."

  "I meant does he have any comments on the boulder?"

  "No. He is as much at a loss to explain the phenomena now as the entire Scientists' team was from studying the View Screens."

  Beside me in the fortification, Tzu shifted her weight impatiently. Unable to hear the telepathic communication between Zur and me, she was doubtless wondering what the delay was. However, this time, for a change, she remained silent.

  "Bracket the boulder with your skimmers and use far-focus for closer examination."

  The scene in the View Screens changed as the two Skimmers moved to take positions on opposite sides of the boulder.

  Now it was my turn to wait as they studied the target and telepathically discussed their observations. During the interim, I considered the scout team. I had been in conference with Horc when they departed, and this was my first opportunity to check Zurs choice and deployment of the troops.

  The team included three Warriors and, reluctantly, a Scientist. We were trying to keep the Scientists inside the fortification as much as possible, minimizing the chances of losing them to an attack. Of the three teams, they were the hardest to replace and therefore the most valuable. This tactic, however, was easier to order than to enforce. The natural curiosity of the Scientists led them outside whenever opportunity presented itself or was manufactured. In this specific situation, however, I had to admit their logic was justified. Firsthand observations of a Scientist in this puzzle could be invaluable, even though so far he had not made a significant contribution.