The other factor was that the Cube was no longer producing results at the breakneck speed it had during the early years of the project. It had developed practical applications and techniques for much of what they only knew in theory, as well as reviewing and improving the designs of five new classes of Terran starships. Now it spent its days trying to convey concepts and theories to scientists, most of whom seemed unable to grasp even the base concepts. The application engineers fared no better as the Cube was now trying to describe technologies to them that they couldn’t duplicate.

“I need to speak with it alone,” Jackson announced as he strode across the rough textured deck of the cargo hold. “I won’t be long. Thank you.” There were some grumbles and hostile looks, but people had learned early on that the director was not a man who enjoyed having his orders questioned or ignored.

“Hello, Director Wolfe,” the Cube said simply.

“You ran an analysis on all the information that was on that data card?” Jackson asked.

“Of course,” it said. “That is what you asked, was it not?”

“Then how come I’m looking at the results of a single incident?” Jackson flipped through the report. “This is all just the raw data from one engagement ... looks like maybe Celesta’s run-in at Xi’an. Where is the data for the Ushin ships that were destroyed in the DeLonges System?”

“I was afraid you would not understand the context,” the Cube said in its condescending tone that made Jackson want to kick it. “Your own CIS did an admirably thorough job of the individual post-incident analyses. After a cursory check I saw nothing to be gained by repeating their work. Instead, I concentrated on finding correlation between all the separate engagements.”

“Since they all involved Darshik cruiser-class warships I wouldn’t think that’d be especially interesting,” Jackson said.

“You would be incorrect in that assumption,” the Cube said.

“Wait! You’re certain about this?” Jackson asked, holding his hand up to silence the machine now that he knew what he was looking for in the report. It was all there, spelled out plain as day.

“I am as certain as I can be working with evidence I did not procure,” it said. “Would you like me to further explain my conclusions?”

Jackson was already walking away and pulling his comlink out.

“Danilo, it’s Wolfe,” he said, looking back at the Cube one more time. “We need to send a priority message to New Sierra. Access the com drone platform and have one of the new point-to-point drones standing by. Use my personal access codes if you need to.”

****

“Still no reaction from the enemy fleet,” Adler said. Celesta just nodded and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The stimulants she’d been popping were tearing her stomach up and she was struggling to find a seated position that helped.