Страница 132 из 189
"Yes," said Qiwi. "Realistic waves are the hardest part. Some of my father's friends are working on that. If we can form the water surface on a short scale both in time and—" There was startled laughter as a trio of winged kittens zipped low and fast over their heads. The three skimmed out across the water, then climbed into the sky like strafing aircraft.
"I'll bet you they don't havethat at the real North Paw!"
Qiwi laughed. "True. That was my price!" She smiled up at Pham. "Remember the kittens we had in the pre-Flight temp? When I was little—" She looked around, searching for a face in the crowd. "When I was little, someone gave me one for a pet."
There was still a little girl inside, who remembered other times. Pham ignored the wistfulness in her voice. His words came out bluff and patronizing. "Flying kittens don't have real significance. If you'd wanted a solid symbol, you'd have wombed some flying pigs."
"Pigs?" Trud stumbled, almost lost his stride. "Oh yeah, the ‘noble winged pig.' "
"Yes, the spirit of programming. There are winged pigs in all the grandest temps."
"Yeah, sure...just get me an umbrella!" Trud shook his head, and some of those behind him were laughing. The flying pig mythos had never caught on at Balacrea.
Qiwi smiled at the byplay. "Maybe we should—I don't think I'll ever convince the kitties to scavenge floating trash."
In less than two hundred seconds, the crowd had ranged itself along the water's edge. Pham drifted away from Qiwi and Trud and Rita. He moved as if seeking the best vantage point. In fact, he was coming closer to the cover of the blue-green fronds. With any luck, there would be some excitement in the next few moments. Surely some fool would fall off the ground. He began a final security sweep across the localizer net... .
Rita Liao was no fool, but when she saw where Jau Xin was, she got a little careless. "Jau, what in Plague's Name are you doing—" She handed her food and drink to someone behind her and rushed out onto the pier. The boat there had slipped free, was sliding smoothly out into the inlet. Like the lodge and the pier, it was dark timber. But this wood was tarred near the boat's waterline, varnished and painted at the gu
"Jau Xin, you come back here! That's the Podmaster's boat. You'll—" Rita started ru
Time to move.His programs told him no one in the crowd was watching. His probes into Nau's security showed that no snoop was on him right now, and he had a glimpse of Reynolt still working at some drudge task back in the lodge. He blinded the localizers for an instant and stepped into the fronds. Just a little massaging of the digital record and there'd be proof he was here the whole time. He could do what was necessary and get back u
Pham finger-walked up the cliff face, slowed by the need to stay hidden behind the bushes. Even here, the artistry of Ali Lin was evident. The cliff could have been simple raw diamond, but Ali had imported rocks from the mineral dumps on the surface of the L1 jumble. They were discolored as if etched by the seepage of a thousand years. The rock was watercolor art as great as any ever painted on paper or digital. Ali Lin had been a first-rank parkbuilder before the expedition to OnOff. Sammy Park had picked Ali for the crew for that reason. But in the years since his Focus, he had become something greater, what a human could become if all his mind was concentrated on a single love. What he and his fellows had done was subtle and deep...and as much as anything it proved the power that Focus gave to the culture that possessed it.Using it is right.
The tu
A small fraction of his attention remained with the crowd back at the harbor. No eyes looked back in his direction. Some of the nimbler partyers had scrambled out onto the pier and formed a chain of life that reached six or seven meters into the air, an acrobatic tumble of humanity. The men and women of the chain were in a dozen different orientations, the classic zero-gee pose for such an operation. It broke the illusion of dow
But then the tip of the chain extended a hand and grabbed Rita's ankle. The chain contracted, bringing her back to the ground. Pham tapped his palm, and the audio from the scene below came louder in his ear. Jau Xin was begi
"A pilotmanager, Jau. It's not the same thing."
"Close enough. I can do some things without a ziphead to make it right." Jau sat back down by the mast. He tweaked the sail a little. The boat moved out around the pier. It stayed level in the water. Maybe suction was keeping it fitted to the surface. But its wake rose a half meter into the air, twisting and braiding the way surface tension makes free water do. The crowd applauded—even Rita, now—and Jau swung the craft around, trying to make it back to the moorage.
Pham pulled himself even with the tu
He had maybe two hundred seconds.
He pushed quickly up the narrow tu
Pham's tiny spies showed him to be just thirty meters short of the new entrance to the Focus clinic. Nau and Reynolt were safely at the party. All the MRI techs were at the party or off-Watch. He would have his time in the clinic, enough time for some sabotage. Pham twisted head for feet, and extended his hands as brakes against the walls.
Sabotage?Be honest. It was murder.No, it's an execution. Or a combatdeath upon an enemy. Pham had killed his share in combat, and not always at the end of a ship-to-ship trajectory.This is no different. So what if Reynolt was a Focused automaton now, a slave to Nau? There had been a time when her evil had been self-aware. Pham had learned enough about the Xevalle clique to know that its villainy was not just the invention of those who had destroyed it. There had been a time when A
And Pham realized he was floating in front of the clinic entrance, his fingers poised to command it open.How much time have I wasted? The time line he kept at the edge of his vision said only two seconds.