“But what can we think, except that the Destroyers massacred the humans of our ancient homeland before they ever came here?” said Rigg. “That’s why I have to hope that Noxon will succeed in stopping them there, saving humanity on Earth. But then they’ll never come here at all, and we will never find out whether this reprogramming of the computers did the job. Whether we were able to defend against them.”

“I can live with not knowing that,” said Ram Odin. “If it means the Destroyers never come. So many lives will be saved that way. So if I had a choice, I would choose Noxon’s success over having a chance to see whether our brilliant musine friends have done the job here well enough.”

Rigg heard the mice as Ram Odin could not. “Of course we did the job.”

“They’re bragging,” said Rigg. “But I’m afraid that they’ve done a great deal more than build a wall that the Destroyers can’t penetrate.”

“What could we possibly do?” asked a mouse. “Why are you so suspicious?”

“For instance,” said Rigg, “what if they are the ones in command of all the starships now, instead of you or me?”

Ram Odin shrugged. “Then maybe the world bows to a hybrid conqueror, half man, half mouse.”

“We have no such ambition,” said a mouse. The others echoed the assurance.

“They’re all innocent of plots and schemes,” said Rigg.

“The innocent and the guilty all say the same thing, with equal fervor,” said Ram Odin. “Can your facemask tell the difference?”

“Not really,” said Rigg. “They’re always lying, always concealing something. But since everything they say is deceptive, it’s impossible to tell whether the exact words they’re saying right now are a direct lie, or a truth that conceals a deeper lie.”

“Very subtle,” said Ram Odin.

“I can’t very well feel morally superior to them,” said Rigg. “If they weren’t listening to all our conversations, we’d lie to them, too, or at least hold back our plans. They may have human genes and, collectively, intelligence to match our own—”

“Surpass it, you mean,” said a mouse.

“By about ten thousand times,” said another.

“They’re quite vain,” said Rigg, “and they grossly overestimate their own mental prowess, but that only proves how much they resemble humankind. What they won’t do, even if they take over the computers somehow, is use that power to destroy all life on Garden. If we have to choose between a tyranny of rodents and the utter destruction of our species, I’ll hold my nose and take the rodents.”

“You smell worse than we do,” said a mouse.

“I bet they’re telling you how much worse we smell,” said Ram Odin.

“See?” said Rigg. “They’re not as subtle as they think.”

“How will we know if Noxon succeeds?” asked Ram Odin.