Page 118 - An Evening with Maxwell's Daemons

You Can’t Go Home Again

“Now, my fellow Daemons, the possibilities start branching out
in various directions. These characters are in trouble, but they don’t
know what it is or what to do about it. How would you proceed?”
“Looks like a classic sabotage-cum-mutiny-cum-suicide bomber
scenario to me,” opined Rutger Schlager. “The only question is:
who did it and why? I mean, it had to be planted by someone on
board, right? If anyone in the ground crew wanted to stop the
launch or cause a catastrophic failure, it wouldn’t be a simple
interruption in communication. No, I say the conclusion arrived at
by the captain and anyone he trusts—apart from his wife!—has to
be that the tiny bomb was carried onto the ship and planted by one
of the crew. So your choices would be narrowed by the usual
detective work, eliminating suspects, chasing red herrings, exposing
personal secrets and assorted dirty laundry and finally cornering the
guilty party or parties—at which time the backstory of motives
would come out. My choice would be someone who has lost
confidence in the mission and wants them all to turn back before it
is too late. And the captain, although he doesn’t say it in order to
maintain calm, fears that the bomber may have nastier surprises in
store if the course is not altered. What if a murder is the next
outrage, releasing all the pent-up tension in a wave of
recriminations and accusations? Juicy! And I’ll bet the ship did not
have a morgue: another problem for you and Captain Carson to
solve, Brad.”
Hydrargyrum Diggers shook her head.
“I’d like something a bit more sinister, if you please. Let us
suppose the captain and his radio experts determine to everyone’s
satisfaction that the destructive device had to have been installed
prior to the crew boarding. That leaves person or persons unknown
as the perpetrator, and their motivation a matter of concern: if the
captain and his chief officers can figure that out, then it might
indicate their course of action. They review the possibilities:
competitors, if any—you didn’t say this was being carried out by a
private company; foreign espionage agents, trying to prevent our
country from getting an advantage in the space race; or some
personal grudge held by the ground crew. They come up blank.

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