Regenesis

“We’re with you,”Amy said.

Twenty‑one seconds. Fifteen. Ten. Five.

The flasher came up, computer‑generated, the actual tally of votes, and the result.

Spurlinby 65 percent.

“We elected the dead man,” she said, and let go a breath as her staff visibly relaxed and as cheers erupted in Amy’s apartment. “Just a second.” She punched in Ya

“Told you”Ya

“I told you,” she said. “Go have a party. I have my own to go to.”

“Not a tear for poor old Spurlin.”

“What for? We got his revenge for him. Just carry on what we’re doing.”

The autopsy had come in. Delicate death. A scarcely detectible drug, administered in the morning coffee. Murder. Council hadn’t wanted to a

“…incumbent Councillor Jacques,”the news cha

“Jacques is on,” she said to Ya

“I’ll wait to hear all of it,”Ya

“The Bureau of Defense mourns the passing of elected Councillor Spurlin, in which sentiment I know I am joined by candidate Vladislaw Khalid. The constitution provides that if a candidate for a Council seat dies between the closing of the polls and the reading of results, the incumbent Councillor for that bureau may, at his discretion, remain in office for the next term. I am opting to remain as Councillor for Defense. I will at a future date name a Proxy Councillor…”

Ari frowned. “Ya

“I heard.”

“…as I see fit. Let us all join in paying tribute to a man…”

And so on.

“Did he agree? Is he still going to name Bigelow?”

“I don’t know what game he’s playing,”Ya

Jacques, if Spurlin won posthumously, was supposed to have immediately named Gorodin’s long‑time aide, Vice Admiral Tanya Bigelow, as Proxy Councillor for Defense. All Jacques had to do then was warm that chair until they could organize another election, and Khalid, defeated, had to wait two years. It had all been handled.

Jacques had just gone sideways.

“ Ari?”

“Khalid got to him,” she said. “Khalid got to him. God, this isn’t looking like Paxer business, Ya

“I’ve got to get down there,”Ya

She didn’t want to agree. She saw the situation, however, just the same as Ya

“Ya

Florian and Catlin had come over to her, where she sat with the mini, linked into the minder. They had a much quieter ma

“Ya

“Khalid is still up on the station,” Catlin said.

“And out of reach. Out of our reach. But he has fingers down here. We need to know where, and into what. We need to know why Jacques changed his mind. Ya

“We’ll keep informed,” Florian said.

“Inform me,” she said, “at any hour of the day or night. If anything happens to Ya

“Understood,” Catlin said, and then: “Sera?”

She looked up at Catlin.

“We know Hicks used to accompany Director Giraud to Novgorod. There were many meetings with Defense in Gorodin’s administration and in Khalid’s. He went a few days ago. For Ya

Bureau heads met. Their representatives met. Hicks had indeed gone there a few days ago, talking to Jacques, carrying Ya

“Sera?” Florian asked, in her long silence.

“Jacques is going to name Khalid as Proxy Councillor. He may be hoping we’ll raise the bet and bid him back. But we have to be able to guarantee his life. That executive position doesn’t help him at all if he’s dead. Or if his family is. Estranged daughter?”

Catlin whipped out her handheld. She said, memory refresher, “Solo. No minor dependents. No relationships since 2421. Uncontested division of household. Estranged daughter, grandchild, great‑grandchildren, affiliated with former partner, not genetically related to Jacques.”

Solo fit a pattern, of people who made it to directorships and Council seats. Including Ya

“Novgorod,” Catlin confirmed.

“Too available. Relay that info to Ya

“Yes, sera,” Florian said, and got on the phone. She heard him talking to Ya

Ya

But that wasn’t highly prudent to do. Something about all their eggs in one basket and notdeclaring war on Khalid until they’d gotten Jacques back in line.

Damn Jacques for not following the script. But Jacques sat in the middle of the Defense Tower, where there were abundant holdovers from the Khalid regime, people who could deliver a message. It didn’t matter that Khalid was on the station. His agents were clearly in Novgorod.

Tell Ya

There could equally well have been a bad outcome to her letting Ya