Текст книги "Regenesis"

Автор книги: C. J. Cherryh

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Текущая страница: 37 (всего у книги 45 страниц)

“And I’m up for election,” Corain said. “Grisham’s filed for the seat.”

“Oh, there’sa nice moderate voice. On stable ground, you could blow him out, no question. If you’re forced into hiding, like this, because he’s got, say. Paxer backing, and it’s gotten dangerous–that fool could get into office. And where’d we be?”

“I think about quitting. Quite honestly, I think about my family. I think about their safety.”

“Don’t we all?” Yanni said somberly. “Don’t we all, Mikhail Corain? I have family. I have Frank. I have a daughter. She’s a fool, but I have a daughter. An ex. People I’d like to see live their lives.”

“You’ve got a lot better security than other departments. You’ve got a damned army.”

“We try to use it responsibly,” he said wryly. “Right now I hope it’ll be useful.”

“While it’s in shamble’s,” Corain said, “back home.”

“I wouldn’t call it shambles,” Yanni said. “I’d call it some serious questioning as to why we didn’t see things coming. But not too much time in hindsight, right now. I’m more interested in seeing my old friends stay in office and stay alive.”

“Old friends, is it?”

“You. Lao. Harad. De Franco. Chavez.”

“Harogo,” Corain said. Internal Affairs was no friend of Science, but was, of Citizens.

“And Harogo.” Yanni said, fitting his coffee mug in salute. “Honest, if against us. In this age, it’s damned sure worth respect. Bogdanovitch–and son–the same.” That was State’s Proxy. He drank and set the cup down. “Mikhail, if you think you have imminent reason to worry, get the family on separate planes and get them up to Reseune Airport. There’s lodging for them, safety, no question. Security we can’t provide here.”

“You’re serious.”

“You and I may be sitting in a bunker before this is over. I’m dead serious. The offer’s open to you, too.”

“That’d look like hell, wouldn’t it?”

“It might, but the offer stands. If you think it’s a choice between resigning or sending your family up there, send them.”

“What the hell are we’ going to do?”

“Got the Office of Inquiry to speed it up. Brace ourselves. I think Jacques is going to crumple. We’ll get somebody we don’t want. Lao–can’t even findher Proxy, what time she’s conscious. Edgerton’s either hiding or dead. You, and I, and Edgerton it we can find him… Harad will go with us.”

“Harogo,” Corain said. “Five of the Nine, right there.”

“If we have unanimity minus one, we can refuse to seat whoever Jacques names.”

“It’s never happened.”

“It can happen. That’s the point. We can refuse to seat whoever they name. We can force them to another election. And another. We can take them outof the political process.”

“And into something altogether unthinkable,” Corain said. “My God, Schwartz.”

“Exactly. They think we’ll fold. We don’t fold. If we do, there’s alreadybeen a coup. What more are we afraid of?”

Corain sat and stared at him, and finally rotated his coffee mug full circle, handle back to his hand.

“Unanimity minus one,” Corain said.

“We can do it. No debate, no reasoning, just a straightforward vote: the part where we all vote to seat the new Councillor, and everybody goes to lunch? This time we vote no.”

“We can’t find Edgerton,” Corain said. “Lao maybe dead tomorrow. If we lose her–we devolve down to the Secretary of Information, with the Proxy in doubt and Edgerton missing. If we call a vote and fail the majority, because somebody doesn’t show–that’s all it takes. Spurlin being murdered–that’s just real fresh in memory.”

“They mean it to be. They mean us to be afraid. They mean us to play by rules they’re not even going to worry about. We’re worried about unanimous votes and legalities. The man who ordered Spurlin killed wasn’t worried about the legalities. He won’t be when he plans his next move. He’s already over the line. And I could be killed, and you could, Lao’s terribly vulnerable. Pretty soon we’ve got a Council full of shiny new Proxies without a clue who to trust, and a strong, strong likelihood that just one of them will fold and let him take the seat.”

“And Edgerton…”

“As long as Lao’s alive, she can name another Proxy,” he said. “As long as the media can come and go, that word can get out, and she can take the Proxy back and name somebody we canfind. Mark my word, media access may not last, if Khalid decides to shut it down. There won’t be media at all where the bodies really start to fall. Lay odds on it.”

Corain nodded. “I think we’ve found a mutual issue. I’ll get to Affairs and State; Finance; I’ll talk to Finance, too. Or get Affairs to do it.”

“De Franco, Harad, Lao,” Yanni said. “I can get them in.”

Corain sat there a moment. “You’re the one who has the clandestine organization to move on him. If it came to that.”

“We can’t penetrate Defense,” Yanni said. “We could try. But on Cyteen, we’d be sitting here in the rubble, hopingAlliance would be disposed to pull us out. And Defense has warships out there. We don’t begin to counter that. Alliance could; would, pretty damned fast; and then what have we got? Not much. Another war. One where the lines would be very, very different than they’ve ever been. You want the nightmare, Mikhail Corain, that’sthe nightmare. And that’s the universe Khalid wouldn’t mind having back, the one where he had his real power. He was head of Intelligence. He ran the secrets. Agents provocateurs. He knows damned well how to get a situation going, where to hit, who to bribe, who to eliminate, and when. He’s in his element, in this. But to have the respect and influence he wants, he needs to get into ours. That’s where we have to draw the line. We don’t let him get legitimacy, or we have nothing.”

Corain nodded. Bit his lip. “All right. This is how. I’ll call on Harogo, get Harogo to get to Chavez, down the chain. I can’t say how fast. I can’t say I can findHarogo without some trial and error, and that’s not going to be quiet.”

“We may not be back in touch until the vote. Just do it with interviews. That’s enough. Watch the vid. I promise you’ll see me. More coffee?”

BOOK THREE Section 5 Chapter xiii

AUG 5, 2424

0122H

Deepstudy and more deepstudy, until the here and now buzzed about her ears–Ari had an orange drink and an iced muffin to fill the space in her stomach and to shoot some sugar into her veins. The headache had faded in favor of a knot on her skull that she mostly felt when she brushed her hair, and she wore it loose, because the usual knot and pin hurt that spot.

Catlin and Florian didn’t say a thing, just kept staff at bay, communicated with Rafael, who physically occupied the desk down in ReseuneSec–Rafael actually had had tape about how it all worked, and it was invaluable. Ricks’ receptionist knew who was supposed to be where; Hicks’ secretary knew what was supposed to be filed, and Rafael just kept people moving, and saw to it that surveillance watched where it was supposed to and that information was directed where it needed to go. Chloe in Yanni’s office actually called to ask if she’d heard anything about Yanni, who hadn’t reported; and Rafael was able to say with some confidence that Yanni periodically sent an all‑okay signal, but didn’t give them details.

That said, more than most things, how things were in Novgorod. Amy wrote a log and put it into her Reseune account, and it was full of information, like a news report on the city, but Amy didn’t mention Yanni, except to give the codewords “totally in love” referring to a dessert at the hotel. It didn’t have a thing to do with desserts: it said she was safe so far and being useful. She also used the code “I’m trying to get information from the shipper,” which meant she was trying to get something out of Yanni, and hadn’t, and then, “I’m not even thinking about a shopping trip right now. I’m talking to the University about a blenny breeding setup and I’m going to be looking at warehouses so we can take advantage of supplies and the shipping network in the city. It’s salt water out there, nothing usable, without a lot of treatment, but if we set up there, and run a real strict filtration, well, just say it’s going to take a lot of work.” That roughly translated to: “I can’t do anything about getting Yanni out at the moment. I’m reconnoitering. I’m not finding a lot I can do, but we’re being careful and we don’t expect this to be easy.”

She’d had a decade of practice reading Amy’s deliberate blithe nonsense. She read it well enough that Amy could freehand phrases and she’d catch most of it. It wasn’t worse than she thought; it wasn’t better, and Yanni was being obstinate–was that a surprise?

Meanwhile she knew AK‑36 in intimate detail. She knew everything on record in his manual, at least, and the first Ari said, “A block isn’t constructed out of thin air, or off some recipe. It’s made out of the deepest fears and the strongest determination of the subject. The subject helps you construct a block. He may help you unravel one if you can gain his cooperation on some point stronger than the block itself. Finding such an item is unlikely, but not impossible.”

And then Ari said. “Knowing the history of the individual is key, being able to correctly identify the sensitive points and particularly the most primal areas of the mindset.

“At the point of fracture the psychological stress may well trigger the fight‑flight response to an extreme degree.”

She knew that.

She asked Base One, in a variation on a question a dozen times posed: “Who in Reseune, living, has ever dealt professionally with AK‑36?”

“ Adam Hicks,” the inevitable answer came back, the same as always. It omitted Giraud. He was dead. And a long, long string of azi, some CITs who wouldn’t have dealt with him in the offices.

Useless.

She changed the question. She said, “Who in Reseune, living, holding an alpha certificate, has ever dealt professionally with AK‑36?”

It said, solemnly, after “ Adam Hicks.” “ Ariane Emory.” Stupid program. Base One occasionally, in some applications, had trouble sorting her out from her predecessor, or figuring out that the first Ari was dead, but then, it was true, too: she did fit the qualifications.

It went on with Petros Ivanov, medical…anybody who’d been in the hospital might have run into Petros. Chi Prang, alpha psych down in the labs, again, logical, from when Giraud had been running things.

And then Base One startled hell out of her: “ Jordan Warrick.”

She filed that for thought and changed the question: “Who outside Reseune, living, has ever dealt professionally with AK‑36?”

The answer came back: “ Yanni Schwartz. Frank AF.” It listed a long string of azi. “ Numerous persons outside Base One tracking: no data available.”

“Big help,” she muttered to Base One, peevishly. Yanni and Frank were clearly notin Reseune at the moment. Yanni would have been a help. But Chi Prang, alpha supervisor down in the labs, was old, but not that old. Wendy Peterson wasn’t involved. Edwards was too voting. Jordan Warrick was too young to have had a hand in the creation of a mindset 122 years old. She was eighteen and she had a real piece of archaeology on her hands, in AK‑36.

“Base One, year of birth for Jordan Warrick.”

“ 2358.”

“Base One, year of birth for AK‑36.” But she knew it before Base One answered: calculated it for herself.

“ 2298.”

God, the last of the sublight ships hadn’t run their course when AK‑36 came into the world. Union had been just a collection of dissidents with a planet and a space station. The birthlabs and azi production were still in setup when AK‑36 had come out of them, and he’d gotten swept up into the military, because the fact Cyteen existed had just tipped the human species over into war. Kyle was old the way Ollie was old. His memory–

His memory must go way, way back. Jordan had been a baby himself when Kyle had first come back to Reseune after serving in the military. Jordan had grown up while Kyle was assisting Giraud. Kyle had been part of the scenery for whole lifetimes of people who themselves had actually died of rejuv failure and old age.

He’d still put up a hell of a fight for an old, old azi, and it was a wonder Florian hadn’t killed him when he’d had to shoot him full of paralytic. Suicide by non‑lethals, Catlin had said, and explained later that it was possible if you got hit the wrong way, or by more than one of them at once. And that was still an old, old, azi who’d taken all that to keep him down.

Tough as they came, Clever. Devious.

She said, “Base One, Alpha Detention.”

And when one of the agents on duty there answered, she responded: “Get a blood and tissue sample from AK‑36 and take it to Dr. Petros Ivanov in Hospital Admin. Say I want a compete workup, identity match, total, and I want it run on all AK‑3’s ever to come out of the labs, and I want a strict chain of custody on those samples.”

That was going to take time. Chemistry took time. They didn’t havethat much time, but it was a test overdue, if they were going to try to crack what Kyle haddone, and pin down who had had him do it.

She put in a call to Justin, meanwhile.

“ Ari?”

“Can you possibly call your father and set up both of you working on a file I’d like analyzed? I really need to ask you two some questions.”

A moment of silence on the other end. Long silence. Justin said, quietly, “I don’t think I can talk him into anything at the moment. I’m sorry. I take it this isn’t part of the lessons.”

“It’s not. It’s pretty important.”

“I think–I don’t know. He’s not speaking to me. I don’t think he’ll even open the door to me at the moment. You might actually get more out of him.”

That bad? she thought. “Is he speaking to Grant?”

“I don’t think so, honestly. He tossed us both out.”

“Well,” she said. “Thanks. Thanks all the same. Would you and Grant look over some files for me? I’m going to shoot it over to you. I really need it. I need it fast.”

“Sure. I’d be glad to.”

She sent AK‑36’s basic manual over, sent over AK‑36’s personal manual with it, which had Giraud’s annotations, and Hicks’ marks.

She called Chi Prang, and had her run an analysis.

And she thought a moment, and then she did a little file manipulation, recast the date, created a new timestamp, and called up Jordan.

“Jordan? Jordan, this is Ari. I have a problem.”

Long, long wait.

“This is Paul AP, sera. Jordan’s–Jordan’s in the shower at the moment. Can I help?”

“Actually, yes. I’m going to send a file over. I want your opinion on it. Both of you, if Jordan wouldn’t mind. It’s a set with a problem. I’d really like an analysis.”

“You can send it over, sera, of course. I’ll advise him when he gets out of the shower.”

“It’s an alpha file. We’ve had a criminal act. It’s fairly urgent. Thank you so much, Paul.”

Name was erased. Date was erased. It was all couched as current work. Which it certainly was…in the emergency sense.

She leaned back in the chair, wishing the processes of chemistry ran a little faster or that the processes of polities ran a little slower.

A lot slower.

“Sera.” Catlin said. She had her handheld, but she stooped, picked up the wand from the table and popped the main display over to the news channel.

Councillor Jacqueswas on camera. Jacques of Defense.

“After much deliberation,”Jacques said, “and thought.”The man had an unfortunate delivery. He never sounded altogether bright. “–I have reached a decision on the Proxy appointment, bearing in mind a sensitivity toward the Spurlin family, friends, and supporters, to whom we extend our most profound and heartfelt condolences…”

Get on with it, for God’s sake!

“…but we are constrained by considerations of the welfare of the nation to make an appointment representing the will of the electorate as expressed in the recent election. I am therefore retaining the seat, but will appoint as Proxy Councillor Vladislaw–”

“Good loving God!”

“–Khalid, who will serve starting immediately. This decision has been reached after, of course, considerable–”

“Cut it off.” she said to Catlin. The headache was back. And Catlin just stood there, seeming sure there would be some order to come. “I wish I could think of something,” she said to Catlin. “Thank you. Thank you for turning that on. I wanted to hear it. The man’s a fool.”

“He will likely die very soon,” Catlin said, the same assessment she’d reached, even contemplating it. “Khalid will succeed him. Am I right about the law?”

“Khalid got some hold on him.” she said. “Yes. You’re right about it. And he’ll last just long enough for the media attention to cool down about Spurlin, or until he objects to something Khalid does. Monitor Rafael. See if he’s getting any news from ReseuneSec in Novgorod or elsewhere.”

“Yes, sera,” Catlin said, set the wand on the table, and was off like a shot. Florian would be likewise engaged, might already be hauling in information via ReseuneSec–was probably doing that from the apartment security station: Wes and Marco were, she hoped, getting their rest: it was going to be a long twenty‑four, thirty‑six hours.

They’d just lost Defense as an ally and gained a bitter enemy. Yanni was still in Novgorod, so was Amy: they’d at least be aware what had just happened.

Meanwhile, having found out what she knew about their internal problem, she was, herself, stalled out and making noprogress on the ReseuneSec situation, and didn’t know if they had a greater threat inside Reseune or out. They’d taken in thirty‑odd alphas in the batch they’d recovered from the military. Most of them were retired, now, only ten, counting Kyle, still serving, and all others of those were in esoteric fields, unsocialized–so concentrated on their specialities it was likely immaterial to them what planet they were on or whether the rest of the human species existed.

Worth investigating, when she had time.

Spurlin death Lao dying. Lao’s Proxy still missing. And Yanni had had a meeting with Corain, which gave her a better opinion of Corain than she’d ever had. But at the moment. Council was not in session, couldn’t go into session until three Councillors showed up in the Council chamber and formally called for a session to occur: it wouldn’t be legitimate to do business until five showed up, and the numbers available to show up were getting scant.

That news feed would have gone all over Reseune, down to the town and the port. It would have gone just about everywhere.

And should she get on the air immediately after and tell everybody it was all right?

That would be a lie. It wasn’t all right. Anybody above the age of eight had to have figured that out; but all right, it was a psych question: people wanted to hear from the people they trusted to make decisions, and right now, that had to be her.

She decided, however, not to go to the media at large. A full‑blown media event, down at the airport, the usual venue for such press conferences, wouldn’t help Yanni in his situation; and her appearance, and a declaration of challenge, might push Khalid just one step farther than she liked at the moment.

She had, however, to figure what she said and how she appeared might leak out.

So she brushed her hair, put it up in the skewered twist she lately favored, even if it hurt like hell. She put on a little rouge, put on a blue, high‑collared jacket over the black jersey tee she was wearing, zipped it up and took a seat at the desk that had the vid camera.

She punched in. “Base One. Activate Channel One, override Channels Two through Two Hundred.”

“ Done,” Base One said. Her own image appeared on the screen in front of her, but she didn’t look at that. She looked into the camera, somber, but perfectly relaxed, the way she’d practiced that expression.

“This is an informative bulletin. This is Ari Emory, acting Director of Reseune. You may have noted the outcome of the Defense Proxy appointment. I am in communication with Director Schwartz in Novgorod, and I’ll be working with him during this period, opening communication with the new Proxy Councillor for Defense. We aren’t sure how long this process will take. Let me state we are both appreciative of the response of Reseune CITs and azi to the recent domestic upheaval–which I am glad to say is fairly well along in process of resolution. We request that everyone keep on doing as you have been doing, conducting business as usual, but we also suggest that places of public assembly review their emergency procedures and be sure that storm tunnel accesses are clearly lighted and in good working order.

“Bear in mind that we are now in August, approaching the fall storms, so this is the semi‑annual announcement in that regard. What is not routine is the incident upriver, and what happened recently in a security breach. Please bear in mind that should an area evacuation emergency occur during an otherwise routine weather alert, all residents and workers should not risk outside exposure;. Use the tunnels, not the outside exits, to reach a secure area, and tend away from any area of disturbance, as you will be advised to do. Sequence flashers will indicate appropriate direction. Please review these procedures with your employees and with members of your family, and arrange several meeting places as contingencies in case one is unavailable. This in no way signals a cause of imminent danger. We have dealt with and arrested the known problem. We have no immediate reason to anticipate another such alert, but we will be in a state of heightened awareness until that matter has been investigated to a conclusion. Until Director Schwartz returns to assess the situation, I am erring on the side of caution and placing Reseune on a moderate level of alert. Thank you.”

BOOK THREE Section 5 Chapter xiv

AUG 7, 2424

1300H

“Ser,” Ari said politely, visiting Adam Hicks, who’d spent the last number of days in a very restricted part of Alpha Wing–

Behind the Alpha Wing security office, in fact.

It wasn’t a bad little suite Hicks occupied: there was a dining table, there was a comfortable chair, there was a wide selection of books available via reader. There was a bed, and unlimited access to crossword puzzles–Tommy’s idea. Hicks had been a cooperative inmate. He kept the place neat, the bed made. He could send out for coffee and food as desired, and the restaurant passed things to his guards. There was a used disposable cup waiting on a small table by the door–that was the only disorder in the place.

“Sera,” Hicks said with a little nod. And as she took a seat at his dining table. Florian and Catlin arranged themselves, both standing, nearby. Hicks quietly took a seat at that table within the corner, opposite her, insulated from Florian and Catlin–she marked that.

She had her handheld in her coat pocket. She took it out, set it on the table facing Hicks, and played the short bit from Yanni: “If he’s not innocent he’s not a friend of mine. You can tell him that. Tell him I said cooperate with you or I’ll break his neck.”

Hicks’s brows lifted. Drew down again as his stare locked with hers.

“That’s Yanni’s opinion,” she said mildly, repossessing the unit. She dropped it into her jacket pocket. “For the record, I’m increasingly sorry for the roughness in the takeover. Yanni tells me you’re to be trusted. So I’m very sorry for the contusion, and I’m sorry I had to take the measures I did, but I had reason for concern. I don’t know if you know. I’m assuming you don’t. Kyle was our target.”

“Kyle?”

“I’m sorry to say, his axe code never did work: he’s been reporting to Defense for years. For about six decades, in fact, going way back into Giraud’s administration.”

Hicks looked numbly shocked. Shook his head. “I can’t accept that. That’s just not so. You’re wrong.”

“Giraud got you your provisional precisely so you could have a legal partnership with him. I take’ it this represents a strong friendship.”

“Is he all right?”

“He’s fine, or as fine as he can be, considering the contradictions he’s carrying inside, which I suspect involves a real attachment to you. He’s on a suicide watch. We’re worried about that.”

“God. This is complete nonsense.”

“I’m sorry it’s not.”

“It’s a damn trick!”

“Not that, either. He got past Giraud, he got past the first Ari, for that matter. She relied on Giraud and she shouldn’t have, in his case. She was busy at the time. It’s very likely that Kyle was the agent in turning Abban. It’s at least certain he was reporting to Defense every time you were in the building. I am very, extremely sorry for the situation.”

“I don’t believe this!”

“I do believe,” she said quietly, “that you honestly don’t believe it.”

“I don’t.”

“This isn’t about fault. The fact is, very likely Defense, or someone in Defense, ordered my predecessor murdered, and that Kyle was how it happened.”

“No.”

“Jordan didn’t do it. Abban may have, but would Giraud order it? I don’t think so. I don’t think you thought so, at the time.”

“Warrick–”

“That was Giraud’s bias. He was dead sure it was Jordan who’d done it, by some means or another. And he was wrong. It was Abban. We thought Denys might have accessed Abban to do it, but here’s the stinger: Denys’ certificate was a fake. He couldn’t do it. That leaves Giraud, who I don’t think had the motive. And it leaves Kyle. I don’t say Kyle had a personal choice in the matter, understand. And we could solve his situation in one sense by packaging him up and sending him off to Defense to finish his career there. But he knows a lot that we’d rather Defense didn’t get the rest of. And I’m not sure they’d be kind to him, no matter how well he’s served them–because I’m not sure all of Defense is behind what he did, and I don’t think some of Defense would like him to answer questions.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“There’s a lot of vulnerability he could have created. I’m sure Defense now has the building plans for much of Reseune, and we’re going to have to do some major revisions. Worse, I’m sure they’ve got some keys; and codes, anything Kyle could reach; so Base Two is going to have to change some codes. That makes a very messy situation, since Yanni is still off in Novgorod, and I can’t get him new codes that easily: so if I don’t change how you access Base Two, I expose him to problems, and if I do, it’s another kind of risk, of his not being able to handle all the programs he might need to. I appreciate that it’s not exactly your problem at the moment, but it is a problem, and I know you’re a friend of Yanni’s. At least he thinks you are. He’s in serious danger, where he is. Spurlin’s dead; you do know that. We think Jacques will be soon. Lao’s in hospital. We’re having a real crisis in the Council.”

“What are you saying?”

“Khalid’s got Defense again. Jacques just named him Proxy.”

Hicks’ face didn’t react much; but he just seemed to wilt a bit, physically.

Ari said, “You’ve dealt with Khalid.”

“I have.”

“Did you like him?”

A slight shake of the head. Hicks looked a little pale, lips tightly compressed. “Didn’t.”

“What kind of feeling did he give you?”

“That’s subjective. It doesn’t matter.”

“I think you may record impressions a lot better than you think you do. How did Kyle react to him?”

“Kyle was just business, that’s all. I didn’t like Khalid. It wasn’t my job to judge him, just negotiate with the man.”

“Did Khalid ever propose anything you thought unethical?”

Hicks shook his head.

“Possibly Kyle told him in advance what you’d agree to. And what you wouldn’t.”

Eyes dilated. Contracted. Dilated again.

“That’s a damned fish.”

“It must have been particularly hard to negotiate with him. I hope you’ll think about that issue. Try to recall specific incidences where he seemed to know exactly how far you’d go. It may help us dealing with this man. It seems were going to have to, unfortunately.”

“I’ll think about it.” Hicks didn’t look cooperative, quite the opposite; but he was retreating a little, accepting some arguments, or acting as if he did. He was actually very smart on a beta level. He wouldn’t buy any whole package. He knew tricks, and he kept things in reserve, and he knew she was Working him to get hooks on an azi he regarded as a brother.

“You know I’m going to have to do something with Kyle,” she said. “I will–because, unfortunately, I’m about the best Alpha Super alive right now, and I’m only eighteen.”

He just stared at her.

“So,” she said. “I’m not as good as I’d like to be. And I don’t feel as confident as I’d like. I’ve got a lot of my predecessor’s techniques–I’ve studied. I’ll try. I want to do it the best, the safest way possible.”

“How many people did you just kill, shooting up my office?”

“Nobody’s dead. None of yours needed more than on‑site medical. One of mine’s still in hospital. Kyle’s not hurt at all, beyond a few bruises, He just got a dose of a non‑lethal and went out.”

Hicks absorbed that, seeming guardedly relieved.

“Yanni says he wants you back in charge of ReseuneSec,” she said, “and I’m not going to argue with that, personally, if we can get Kyle straightened out.” Thatbrought a sharper attention. “And I’ll tell you why I agree with Yanni. Reseune is running shorter and shorter of people with an actual memory of what happened back in our beginnings. Kind of odd to think of, but I have that kind of memory–just sort‑of. Just enough to know how much really valuable detail is still going to go away with administrators like you, like Yanni. Kyle’s age makes him very valuable, if we can just get him back–get him to the state you believed he was.”

No response to that. No challenge, either.

She said, “Absolutely if that axe code never did take, he’s been conflicted, he’s probably been very painfully conflicted over certain things he’s done, which he probably tries not to think about too often. He’s worked it out, saying to himself he never hurt Giraud, never hurts you, not in his self‑adjusted view of the universe. Everything’s for the ultimate good. He’s been doing what Defense asks, being a good soldier while he’s in Defense; and then he can go home to Reseune and follow a program that will ultimately make the world run better. He’s comfortable again, since Denys died, because Yanni’s been making the Novgorod trips, and he’ll never have to go to Defense again.”

“Fantasy. The code took. He’s not guilty. He is what he’s always been. You want the man who murdered your predecessor, look at the man you brought back from Planys.”