Regenesis

And possibly Ya

True. It had been exactly that.

But the Centrists had, after Giraud’s death, attempted a brief but cuddly relationship with Denys Nye, seeing that Denys was not, after all, going to push the Expansionist agenda Giraud had espoused–not because Denys was Centrist, but because Denys Nye was on his own agenda and wouldn’t spend a cred on Ariane Emory’s projects.

Denys Nye was going to continue the one Project, the cloning of Ariane Emory herself, but he was going to keep it, and her juvenile self, under his thumb for at least a decade…the Centrists hadn’t minded.

Meanwhile Denys focused entirely on post‑War economics, on the complexities of Earth‑Alliance‑Union trade, and on those agreements, which pleased the Centrists no end. They might not have gotten their terraforming bill passed, but they hadgotten an administrator of Reseune who was pushing most of their agenda and precious little of Ariane Emory’s–just the Project, which guaranteed, so long as Denys Nye had physical guardianship of the Project, that it wasn’t going to threaten him…in its lifetime.

Ya

But Giraud and Denys had each been seduced–Giraud by devotion to Denys, and Denys by the one thing that Denys coveted for himself–immortality. Denys and death hadn’t liked each other. If the Child succeeded, it proved the psychogenesis process was possible. Denys wantedthe Project to succeed, at least until he knew the result.

And meanwhile Denys was busy storing all his own data, and Giraud’s, out in that archive. It was very likely that Denys had double dealt Ariane Emory’s plans by killing her; had double dealt the Centrists by continuing the Project; Denys had double dealt absolutely everybody, all to keep Denys Nye alive for another lifespan…solipsistic bastard. He’d attempted to kill her only when she’d succeeded and he had his result–unfortunately for him, she’d succeeded too well, too fast, and consequently he’d been the one to die, else he’d just have blamed her assassination on another Warrick and started all over again. That would have gained him another twenty years, during which he could bring up his own successor, another Giraud, who would be duty‑bound to bring up him, the all‑important center of his universe.

And Ya

So which side was he on?

Florian came back into the room with the requested glass of orange and put it in her hand. She drank it, absorbing the sugar hit, still staring elsewhere.

“Ya

Blink. The thoughts were trying to shred and go away in different directions. She held onto the central problem: Eversnow. “Ya

Florian and Catlin waited, both seated, neither saying a thing to interrupt her.

Blink. More shreds. Tatters. But the structure stayed. “I still like Ya

There might have been a reason besides elder Ari’s health that she let Eversnow drop.

It was hard not to plunge back into deepstate, following that thread. But Florian and Catlin didn’t go away. They waited for something more concrete than her worries. “I’m not sure yet,” she said. “Who, do you think, does Hicks belong to?”

“Possibly to Ya

“Both, then. But he didn’t protect Denys. He just protected Ya

“Likely,” Catlin said. “Hicks and Ya

She nodded slowly. “I have to take over,” she said, half‑numb, and with that wide focus that blanked out the whole room, except them. “I have to take charge. I don’t want to, but Hicks’s gift isn’t enough. I can’t let Ya

“Wait,” Florian said, “wait, sera, until we have Hicks’ people passed through Justin Warrick’s opinion, and installed, and tested. We’re not enough to secure your safety, as is.”

Sobering thought. Honest thought. People like Ya

Did Hicks himself have an opinion? A loyalty? Unlike with azi, they couldn’t find it in a manual.

“We can wait,” she said, “so long as we don’t alert anyone to our intentions. I don’t want anyone to be killed if we can help it. I want Justin safe. Can we do that?”