Regenesis

“I’m trying to protect him from himself,” she said. “He’s certainly not making it easy.”

Score. She saw it in his expression, just the little dilation of the iris. “I appreciate that.”

“This Dr. Patil,” she said. “I can tell you something about that. We’re going to send her to Fargone. She’s the authority in her field–she’s certainly got the credentials. But we’re digging into her associations, all the way back. Just so you know what that was about.”

“I’m not sure I want to know more than that.”

“Justin, I’m not in charge of Reseune. I won’t be, for awhile. But you know I direct some decisions. Ya

“I’m sure he does.”

“ Don’tbe like that. I’m not your enemy.”

“I don’t want you to be,” he said plainly. “I hope you won’t be.”

“ Jordanwants me to be your enemy.”

And his eyes averted, his whole body posture changing, as if he had to re‑balance his thinking.

“Doesn’t he?” she asked flatly. “Or what do youthink his motive is?”

Justin didn’t say anything for a moment. His hand found the datastick atop the books, picked it up, turned it over. And over. And set it down, not looking at her. “I don’t know why you ask my opinion on this,” he said, and let a long breath go. “I don’t know why you need it.”

“I need it,” she said. “I do need it.”

“No, you don’t. You’re good. The hell you’re working routine theta sets, you’re good.”

“So are you,” she said. “You’re toogood to go along with something even he didn’t plan to have work. You know what he’s really up to.”

“Then I wish you’dtell mewhat that is!”

“I just did.”

“God.” He did turn his face toward her, upset. “Dammit, Ari.”

“I’m being honest. Iwant you to be all right. I really do. I don’t mind you getting along with Jordan. But he certainly minds your getting along with me. That’s what it’s about, isn’t it? Am I wrong? His battles are all old history. The Centrists lost a lot of their power when we passed the anti‑terraforming bills and saved Cyteen’s native life. They lost this world to develop. So some not‑very‑bright people in that party thought they were going to get their way when Ari died. But Giraud didn’t let them repeal those laws. Giraud was friendly with Defense and that blocked them. And now there’s Ya

“Eversnow.”

“It’s a planet out beyond Fargone–”

“I know that.”

“Well, Patil’s in charge of terraforming it, and that’s a secret, so don’t tell it. If certain people think they can bring that snowball to life without wrecking it, well, they might, mightn’t they, but then, that’s not a very Centrist position for Corain’s people to be stuck in, a dozen light years from anything civilized, and no longer in the center of anything. It’s not their kind of territory. They want cities. They want Earth remade in a temperate world that’s central to everything, with all of Union clustered around it, and they want it fast. Well, fast won’t happen there. It’s going to take a long time, and we’ll be changing the Centrists, right along with Eversnow. People that go out there will belong there. Or their children will. That’s the way things work.”

“You’re losing me. Eversnow. Not Fargone.”

“Fargone’s just a cover.”

“I’m not sure I want to know these things. I’m not sure Ya

“Oh, pretty soon more people inside Reseune are going to know it. We’re just not putting it on the news until it launches. That’s why security’s all stirred up about this card.”

“You think Jordan could have had any contact with a secret some professor in Novgorod is up to? I thought you monitored his phone calls.”

“Not any current contact, no, he doesn’t have. But then he never cared whether it was Centrists or Expansionists he was supporting, so long as it gave his Ari grief, do you think? She was all his focus. Whatever she wanted, he was against, once that partnership split up. And the fight between them wasn’t ever really about Cyteen, or Eversnow, or Alpha or Beta or Fargone or terraforming or any station in the whole universe, for that matter. Reseune was everything. He wanted to leave it, but he didn’t, not in his head. And now he’s back, but Reseune after Denys isn’t the place he remembers. So it’s not a happy situation, and he’s not dealing well with the changes he finds here. That’s what I think.”

“That, I’ll entirely agree with.”

“I can’t make him happy. You can’t.”

Justin heaved a long sigh. “You’re right about that.” And then looked at her: “You just gave me that information on Patil to track whether or not I’d let it leak.”

“I know you won’t. You’re good on other things I’ve told you.”

A small, sorrowful laugh. “No, I’m not likely to. Lack of opportunity, maybe. I’m not in anyone’s social circles. So I take it you’re wondering if I’ll be crazy and take it to Jordan.”

“Florian was right in what he did: you needed to be out of Jordan’s reach unless youinitiate the contact.”

Justin muttered something under his breath, and pushed the data stick in a circle, where it lay. “I won’t ask you for favors. I know your security requirements. I know they’re justified. I won’t become a problem to you.”

“I couldn’t replace you,” she said. “I really couldn’t.”

He gave a short laugh. “Seems that’s what we do here, isn’t it?”

“Not in my lifetime. I’d miss you terribly. I really would. I’ve lost a lot of people I relied on.”

“Giraud. Denys.” That was a gibe. Giraud hadn’t been one of his favorite people. Denys wasn’t one of hers.

“My mother.” she said, matching dark for dark.

Lips tightened, and he didn’t look at her when he said, bitterly: “My father.”

“Right now,” she said soberly, “one of my worst problems is that I can’t be absolutely sure that Denys didn’t install some feature in the systems that just hasn’t gone off yet. Right now security has me completely walled in, same as you, because they can’t figure what else to do with me. Same as you. But that’s going to change, starting with my getting a security presence that’s mine, no one else’s. I’ll have a much longer reach and a way of knowing what’s going on that I don’t have now. I’ll be able to protect myself if I can trust it. And maybe if I’m safer, it can change things for your father–if he calms down. If you can talk him toward common sense. He took my gift and got off the plane looking for a fight, with Ya

“With everyone. No question of that.” A small silence, Justin looking hallward, in Grant’s general direction, then back. “I’ll talk to him, best I can. Whenwe talk. I’m not meeting with him until he calms down.”

“Tranquilizer in his coffee might be a good idea.”

He laughed, shortly. “Coming from someone who could actually do it.”

“It wouldn’t be real peace.” She got up. “You’ve got work to do, and I’m bothering you. Let me know what you think of those sets as soon as you can. It’s a priority. I’ll be back for a lesson Monday afternoon.”

“Will do,” he said, and she walked outside, where Grant and Florian waited, not in conversation.

“I think I’m going to have a small di

“You may have to send security to bring Jordan.”

“Maybe not,” she said. Jordan was rather like a bomb with a motion switch: thus far, she’d hesitated to jostle him. If you were going to Work someone you needed a good hook, and a theory had begun to gel. Jordan wanted dominance, wasn’t well socialized, had to be the center of attention, but didn’t like to be talked at by fools, because there wasn’t an ounce of tolerance in him. He couldn’t tolerate, say, a cocktail party, or someone who bored him for a minute. But his curiosity suffered in that isolation of his, the engine of that curiosity being a very keen intellect. She’d gotten that much long‑distance–that and the fact he was Justin’s twin as well as his father… Justin had been very much his twin until the first Ari ran an intervention and set a broad streak of insecurity into Justin’s pattern: insecurity, a strong sex drive, and self‑doubt.