Vacumn Flowers

“So you don’t know from eating dead animals, you mean?”

“You exceed this program’s capabilities.” Shadow made an impatient gesture. “We haven’t much time. ALI’s are created with an inherent disintegration factor. What programmers call a virus. I will die soon, whether my message is delivered or not.” A flicker of emotion within those reptilian eyes. Rebel thought she could guess at its nature.

“How long do you have?” she asked gently.

“We have already wasted one third of my life.”

“Okay, all right, I got you! What’s the message?”

“You must take extreme care when you enter your niche.

Diamond blue seventeen. There is a body there. It may not be entirely dead.”

“What?” Rebel touched the wall with one hand. Cool and rough. Its solidity reassured her. “I don’t—”

“This is Snow’s warning: You are being manipulated by the Comprise. You and your friend tetrad. They have convinced the Stavka that you are corporate agents, industrial saboteurs. They have created plausible and incriminating theories for all your actions. They have planted evidence. The body is such evidence. It will be discovered in six hours, and it will dovetail neatly into other planted evidence. Data system records will show that the murder could only have been done by you. The Stavka will order your personas erased and your bodies condemned to simple labor.”

“Wait, wait! This doesn’t make any sense.”

“The important thing is to remember that the body may not be entirely dead. The murder was difficult to arrange, even for the Comprise, and there’s a good chance the victim will still be alive when you enter. If so, he will probably be extremely dangerous.”

“This is incredible. Dangerous in what way? Why?”

“You have exceeded this program’s capabilities.”

Shadow waited a full two seconds, then said, “Do you have any further questions?”

“No. No, I… think not.”

“Please consider carefully. I do not have long. If you have illusions of destroying the evidence or of successfully defending yourself before the Stavka, please let me know, so I can convince you it ca

“All right, then. Speaking of purpose. Why is the Comprise doing this to me? What’s in it for them?”

“You are being forced to run. You will find that there is no place for you to hide anywhere in Mars orbit. A check ofthe port control manifests will reveal that the only vessels leaving in the next six hours are all bound for Earth orbit.

The Comprise wants to force you to Earth. I do not know why.”

“I do,” Rebel said grimly. “I understand it all now. I just don’t have the slightest idea what to do about it.”

Transients pulsed through Shadow, making her waver as if seen from deep underwater. When she stabilized, she said, “I am almost over. Tell me. Have I served you well?

Have I helped you to escape the Comprise’s manipulations?”

“You stupid program! Snow works for the Comprise. She doesn’t want to help me escape them. She just wants to be sure that I fall into their trap intact.”

“Ah,” Shadow said. “That’s interesting. Very—” Static rose up and overwhelmed the image.

When it cleared, Shadow was gone.

One corner of the sleepspace was visible from the hall, and in it a pair of legs, u

The cloak stirred as an arm caught in its folds moved feebly. The end of the arm jutted from the cloth, a stump black with crusted blood. Just above the stump was a tourniquet, and above that a crudely made infection barrier. Even from the doorway, Rebel caught the whiff of decaying flesh.

The arm moved twice, trying to flip the cloak away, and then on a third attempt succeeded, uncovering a face that was grey and gape-mouthed. Pink eyelids slowly rose, and the man drew in a long, shuddering breath.

Haunted eyes stared at her.

It was Jerzy Heisen, and he was dying.

“Hey, kid,” he said weakly. “We’ve come a long way, you and I.”

The halls were perfectly silent. Not even a digging machine to be heard. Apparently she and Wyeth were the only ones using these dormitories today. Rebel wanted to untangle Heisen’s cloak, to straighten his limbs and put him at ease. She didn’t move from the doorway. “What happened, Jerzy?”

Eyes closed wearily. “Stupid. Stupid freak accident, couldn’t happen again if you tried.” He coughed spasmodically; it was some time before he could speak again. “I was clipped by a runaway cybermop. Pretty dumb, huh? Supervisor must not’ve been at the monitors—they execute people for that kind of mistake here. Should never’ve happened. I fell on top of the sucker, and one of the cleaning arms broke loose and slammed me in here. Bet it made a bloody mess, huh?”

Rebel nodded. “So now my back’s fucked; you wouldn’t want to look at it. I think my spine is crushed.”

“I’ll get a doctor,” Rebel said. She couldn’t move.

“No good.” Eyes opened, infinitely sad. “Got myself wired together with seven caps of jolt. That’s enough to make a corpse walk. Dose like that eats your body alive.”

He laughed weakly. “Seven caps. Must be some kind of record. Listen to me. I’m drugged and I’m dying, and I think maybe it’s shorted out the compulsion they laid on me. There’s something I got to tell you. Something they don’t want you to know.”

“Oh yeah?” Rebel said. “What is it?”

“It’s important. Deutsche Nakaso…” His voice slid down into inaudibility, but Rebel didn’t lean any closer to hear.

After a moment’s silence, Heisen stirred slightly and rasped, “Come closer. Can’t… can’t speak too good.”

“No.”

“S’important.” Heisen coughed again, and tears of agony came to his eyes. “Mus’ tell.”

“Oh, come off it. I’m not going to fall for that.”

“Closer,” he whispered.

Slowly Rebel slid down the doorframe, until she was sitting on the floor. She leaned her head back against the stone, crossed her arms under her breasts, said nothing.

Heisen glared at her.

There was something savage and desperate to that fixed stare, as if the mind behind those eyes were a small animal caught in a leghold snare and about to gnaw its way free. “So,” he said at last. “So. You think… you’re such a smart bitch.” He lurched feebly, and the arm caught under his body yanked free of the cloak. He was holding a finger-blade between second and third knuckles. With a spasmodic motion, he threw the thing right at her. Rebel leaned back, and the blade sailed by.

A second later it made a gentle metal ping against the rock wall.

The outstretched arm pointed straight at her. Heisen didn’t have the strength to pull it back. “Smart,” he said.

“But that doesn’t give you the right to do this to me.”

Rebel drew her feet under her, stood. She felt anger fill her body. “The right to—! I never wanted to know you in the first place. What do you want from me? Are you hoping I’m feeling suicidal? Do you want me to bring you your knife and stand real close so you can cut my throat, is that it?” She was trembling.

Heisen nodded piteously. “Please.”

“Fuck that noise!”

Finally Heisen closed his eyes. Still his hand reached out desperately, grasping at nothing. His head lolled back.

“You and Deutsche Nakasone,” he said. “Between the two of you, I’ve been ground into dust. You’ve killed me, and I never gave a shit for either of you.” His voice was growingweak.

“Hey, now listen—”