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“Ser, I’m working a barge in at the moment.”Port ops was automated to the hilt. There were numbers for every craft on the river these days, and there weren’t an outstanding lot of perso
“Just tell the barge to hold position or go round again, and you go get somebody to run up there. What’s your name?”
“Anthony GA‑219, ser.”
Azi. He hadn’t been sure; but he was instantly more comfortable, knowing exactly the way to communicate. “Anthony. This is the Director of Reseune speaking, and I willremember when I get back to Reseune. Do it. You’re perfectly within your duty to do this: go find someone to check up the hill and report back. Their phones are out. I’ll keep the line open.”
That took eleven agonizing minutes. Meanwhile Frank came in safe and sound with the astonishing news that no, he couldn’t fix the ReseuneSec glitch and that now, yes, indeed, their own communications weren’t working.
“I think we’re possibly out of a job,” Ya
“Are we angry about it?” Frank asked solemnly.
“About being hung out to dry publicly, yes, we’re angry. I really don’t want to have to explain this to the evening news.” He had the receiver in hand. He heard Anthony OA come back on. “Yes?”
“Patrick GP has gone up the hill on your errand, ser. But they’re saying he won’t get in. There’s been an a
He drew a deep breath. “ Thankyou, Anthony GA. It’s locally right. Will you personally try to get a message to the Director of Reseune Security that Ya
Hisphone went off. He grabbed it.
“Uncle Ya
“Well?” he snapped.
“Sorry about that,”Ari said. “I couldn’t warn you. I had a little trouble with Hicks. Is Frank with you right now?”
“Yes.”
“Hicks’s azi Kyle? Defense Bureau. He’s a Defense Bureau plant, is that the right word? It’s possible he messed with Abban and Seely, a long time ago. I’m kind of sure Frank’s all right. I think you have real reason to know he is. Are you sure of him?”
Damn the brat!
“I know. Yes, I’m damned sure! And I’m absolutely sure you’ve had your fingers into my computer, where I’d rather you stayed out of, young lady.”
“I checked just to be sure you were safe, inside. But there’s really good reason to think you could be in danger from outside, Uncle Ya
“Well, that’s fine. I’ve finally gotten hold of Jacques and we’re just about scheduled to talk–I’m not about to come home.”
“Ya
“No, I’m telling you. And don’t you contemplate coming down here. I know there’s a risk, I have that figured out for myself, young lady; just don’t pile another one on top of it by your coming down here.”
“Then don’t you go anywhere outside the hotel. You make Jacques come to you. I think your security’s all right. I ran a fast check on everybody you’ve got. You know about the B‑28’s.”
“I left Raul home, thank you.”
“Good. That’s good. You understand what I’m worried about.”
“I understand. I understand a lot of things, and I can be trusted with a little advance warning. Do you mind turning my access back on, voting lady?”
“I’m terribly sorry about that. It’s back on now. It’s how I’m talking to you. We just had to be sure we didn’t have anybody loose in the network that we couldn’t lay hands on.”
“All agents accounted for?”
“All accounted for. I have Hicks and Kyle AK both in custody. We’re just going to ask some questions. Particularly of Kyle.”
“I’ve got a question. Am I going back to lab work, am I going for a long vacation in your new township, or am I somehow supposed to finish my job down here without any further interruption?”
“I’m just acting Director, here in the labs. You’re still Director. Besides, you’re still Proxy Councillor. I can’t change that. Only Lynch can. But I’m just really worried that their blowing up the tower–”
“Yes?”
“Catlin thinks it could have been a signal to anybody inside Reseune to take certain measures. Maybe I just took care of that when I got Kyle. And I haven’t been easy to get at, where I’m living. Maybe I didn’t, though. Just take care of yourself.”
“Do me a favor. Go a little easy on Hicks.”
“Because he’s a friend of yours? Or because you think he’s i
“If he’s not i
“I will. You’re recorded and I’ll use that. Take real good care of yourself. Your ReseuneSec guard is going to get the news in about five minutes because I’m going to tell them, since I’m their Director. Are any of them with you in the room?”
“No,” he said.
“Good,”she said. “Just in case. If any of them leave the hotel, just let them leave. You’re not safe to investigate and don’t risk the status quo trying to stop anything of that sort. I already know enough answers that I can deal with anybody who’s going to go over to the other side. Just whatever you do, don’t go into the Defense Bureau to meet anybody. Meet whoever you meet outside, or at best over in Science, but I don’t like you traveling through the streets, and be very, very careful who you let through. Make them all come to you. Be a complete bastard.”
“That’s not hard,” he said. “Just you watch yourself, young lady. Trust the old wolf to watch his own back.”
“Love you, Ya
“Love you, too,” he said, and thumbed the co
“Is it all right?” Frank asked anxiously.
He looked over at Frank, very sure the girl had been into his files, very sure Base One could do it; and she now knew something only he and the first Ari had known for well over a century. Frank was AF‑997. Nearly an original, off the same genetic tree as her Florian, not at all far removed. And that wasn’tthe number Frank had in every other record in Reseune. Damned sure it would be hard for anybody to get to Frank without knowing his real name, and that said something about how detailed young Ari had gotten about her research. He felt a little exposed, knowing she knew that secret.
But at least he wasn’t scheduled for a long semi‑retirement out at Strassenberg, and she’d just made him an exception in the revision of Reseune authority.
Him, and Frank. When a whole lot else hadn’tbeen what it was supposed to be– he’dlet something major get past him, and he was beyond upset, and embarrassed about the fact: he felt sick at his stomach, felt the years reel back and saw a dozen scenes replay, with a certain different knowledge about a certain azi. He stared out the window at the sandstone and concrete towers of Novgorod, at the gray mirror of the polluted harbor, and the barges that co
Kyle? Kyle was oldhistory. Kyle had been there for nearly–God–he’d come on staff in ‘62 in the last century and lived twenty‑four more years this side of the century mark, most of it with Giraud. Six decades. Six decades with Giraud, and then Hicks, leaking God knew what to whoever was ru