"Who is?" she asked. "Who has a thorough knowledge of the system when it"s going badly, and when it"s going right? I could appoint Wojkowski, or Peterson, or Edwards, but they"re none of them up to saying no to the right people."

"I"m not outstandingly good at saying no, either. Look at how far it"s got me. I spent more time being arrested than anybody else in Reseune."

"That"s not your sole qualification. You"re qualified to bring me up if you had to. You"d be qualified to bring up Giraud if anything happens to Yanni in the next few weeksat least long enough to find somebody to be as non-fit as the first Giraud"s mother. Tell me you will. Or tell me who"s going to do the job. You"d have Amy, you"d have Maddyshe does a lot more than look nice and run a dress shop: believe that. You"d have Sam. He"s hands-on, but he"s brilliant at what he does. Florian, Catlinyou"d take care of them. You"d see they were safe & they"d see you were &"

He opened his left arm of a sudden, wrapped it around her gently and hugged her against his shoulder. He smelled good. He was warm, he was stronger than you"d ever think, and he held her the way n.o.body ever had who was older, n.o.body but Ollie, a long, long time ago. She didn"t cry, though if she weren"t so hyped to fight, she might have, and he didn"t make a scene of it, he just walked her aside from everybody else, over toward the garden-gla.s.s of the dining room, and let her go, and said, facing her, "If I"m all, Ari. If I"m absolutely all there is, I"ll do it. I wouldn"t be near good at it. I"d be looking for advice, wherever it came from. But I"d keep your people safe, with everything I could put together, and I wouldn"t waste any time getting your next edition into the tank and going, fast as I could. My fathermy father I know is a question. But he wouldn"t be, in this. If it came down to itI"d be there, long as it took for your own people to get their feet on the ground."

"We don"t know things about history, Justin. We don"t know how things happened. We just know where things are now."

"That"s pretty well the condition of everybody born, isn"t it? Except you, being what you are"

"And you"re Jordan"s replicate, so you know things you wouldn"t, if you were Amy, or Sam, or Maddy. You know things. You were part of that world, the way it was."

"I know things."

"So you"re the best I could choose. And I"ll give you a verbal code, which will only work in your voiceprint, and only if my CIT number has gone inactive in the system. Just say my name three times. Just say Ari-AriAri. And Base One is yours. Even if Yanni"s Base Two is still active. I trust you, more than Yanni. And if anything happens to me, you take possession of this apartment, and all my staff, and every defense this place has. And you bring my friends in until it"s safe."

"Don"t get killed. Please don"t get killed."

He did care. He did. And that mattered. She was in the mode she"d been in when they"d come after Uncle Denysclose to that. But she could be amused, just a little, and moved to put a hand on his shoulder. "So you don"t have to run Reseune? There"s a major difference between you and your father. You really love the work, the puzzles in it; you tolerate me because I bring you puzzles."

His brows knit, just a little offense, not much. "You"re a little better than a puzzle, young sera. Just a little."

"And you"re a little better than a puzzle-solver. A lot better, in fact."" She pressed her fingers into his arm. "I"ve been in love with you since forever. So far I"ve been mostly good. And you know that, too."

"Don"t even open that door."

"My name is Ari. Not kid. Not young sera. I wish you"d use it."

"And you know you are young sera, to most everybody."

She tilted her head to look up at him, right in the eyes, pursed her lips slightly and shook her head, ever so slightly. "I"m Ariane," she said. "That covers everything people say I am. You"re only half a replicate. Thank G.o.d. I"m pretty d.a.m.ned close to the original. Don"t worry about me. Just don"t let anybody get in a hit behind my back. I want you safe while I"m gone."

"You"re not going with Yanni."

"Yanni will have already left by nowor be on the verge of it. I"m going to be busy. And I"d like to give you Amy, but she"s going to Novgorod. She"s real quiet. The media let her alone. She"ll find out things. She"ll have Quentin with her, and he"ll be out of uniform. All very quiet. Just a business trip. Give me a kiss. I"m collecting them, storage for the next few days."

He did, just a kiss on the cheek. She"d wondered what he"d do if she asked.

That he could do that, that smoothly, that collectedly, said worlds about his mental state.

She left him, then, to go talk to Amy. "Sure." Amy said. "When?"

"See if Yanni can infuse some backbone into Jacques and get Khalid shut out. I"m worried, all things considered, that that won"t be enough."

"If Khalid"s involved in Spurlin"s murder &"

"Likely it won"t stop other things from happening. That"s what"s got me worried: if Yanni succeeds, Yanni"s in imminent danger."

"Jacques is in trouble, in either case," Amy said.

"He"s a dead man, either walking around for a while, or cold before nightfall. But we can only protect him if he agrees with us and puts Bigelow in the line of fireif that"s what"s going on. This is dangerous, Amy. You should understand that. I"m not sure Patil and Thieu aren"t linked into this, and that means Yanni is a major target."

"I"m in the fish breeding business. It"s about your tank. I"m staying in the Wilc.o.x, third floorfast to reach ground level: and Quentin"s my secretary. You want some blennies."

"You"ve got it," she said. "Bore anybody who asks. If you"re absolutely sure you"re overheard, you and Quentin start arguing about calcium supplements and temperature stability in the bar."

Amy laughed. Then: "Understood," Amy said, with a little pat on her arm, and went to talk to Quentin.

A plane took off. Ari caught the sound, above the water-sound of the room. That would probably be Yanni.

Good luck, she wished him. Good luck.

Please stay alive, Yanni.

Chapter iv.

July 26, 2424 0828 H.

"Ser." Rafael met Florian in the foyer of the little office, opened the back hall door, and showed him right through.

An item had turned up. That was what Rafael"s message had said, and when Florian went into Rafael"s office a very anxious young woman leapt up and bowed that slight degree ReseuneSec protocol taught. She was no older than the rest of them, just old enough for a.s.signment. Her uniform tag said Carly BC-18, and she was dark-skinned, broad-faced, wide-shouldered. She clutched half a ream of physical printout to her chest as if it were state secrets.

Which, given that Rafael was investigating staff backgrounds, it might be.

"This is Carly BC, ser. Records."

"Ser," Carly said.

Florian took the available conference chair. Carly settled on the edge of her seat and held her printout on her knees. "So what do you have, Carly BC?"

"Ser, Giraud Nye"s contacts, systematized; the azi in question. Also Giraud Nye"s aides and seconds, their whereabouts, their contacts. I have the computer file." She touched her breast pocket.

"Tell me what you learned," Florian said. He expected a little nervousness. Carly BC was new, straight from the barracks. First real a.s.signment.

And Carly had, first off, a shorter doc.u.ment, within the cover of the first. She pulled it out and handed it over, a set of graphs and schematics. Trips to Novgorod. Time spent in Novgorod. Meetings with Defense. Persons involved. Giraud. Abban. Gorodin, deceased Councillor.

Regime change. Giraud, Abban, Hicks. Khalid. Jacques. Spurlin. Jacques, just recently.

He looked up at Rafael. "You"ve seen this?"

"I"ve skimmed it, yes, ser."

"Specific data on Hicks. Carly BC."

"Ser."

"Can you pull that out?"

Carly opened the printout on her lap and frantically turned pages. "It"s here, ser." Large, dark eyes fixed on his. "I broke out stats on each individual involved. Nye, Abban AB, Hicks, Gorodin, Khalid, Jacques, Spurlin &"

"Give me the data file," Florian said, and held out his hand. Carly BC opened her pocket and handed it to him immediately, a finger marking her place in the printout.

Branches. Branch led to branch, led to branch. One person connected to another. It didn"t always produce valid theory, but the investigative AI tended to err on the side of the smallest connection, once it launched.

"Well done, Carly BC."

"Thank you, ser."

The threads all wove back and forth. That was the pattern. Never expect that it was going to connect up too tightly. Defense was ma.s.sive.

"Visits by Abban to Hicks," he said. "Do you have that stat?"

"A lot, ser. I can find it." She started to resort to the printout again.

"That"s good, Carly BC. No, don"t bother. If it"s searchable, it"s in here, isn"t it?"

"Yes, ser."

"I think we"re through with Carly BC"s report," Florian said quietly. "Thank you, Carly BC."

"Ser." She looked uncertain. Then started to get up.

"I"ll take the report," Florian said. And took it, and Carly received a nod from Rafael and left.

Florian looked at Rafael, at the azi who"d been primed to report to Hicks.

"How are you now, Rafael BR?" he asked. "Are you with us on this?"

"My Contract is to sera," Rafael said firmly. "No lingering troubles."

"None, ser."

Florian looked at him a long time, and Rafael gazed back, level and long.

"Take precautions," Florian said. "The ferret she sent may have rung bells in certain offices. It shouldn"t. But sometimes we aren"t as clean as we hope to be. a.s.sume we"re not. That"s safest."

"Yes, ser," Rafael said faintly.

"a.s.sume nothing." Florian said. "Expect anything. At any time."

"Yes, ser."

Florian pocketed the datastrip, took the printout in hand, and left what ought to be the securest office in the securest wing in Reseune.

He went upstairs to sera"s apartment, to the security station in the front hall, and laid the printout on the desk by Catlin"s elbow.

"Sera Amy is safely in the hotel," Catlin said. "Third floor, as she wanted."

"Hicks accompanied Giraud to Defense very many times," he said, "and was Giraud"s go-between there, as sera remembered. Sometimes Abban was with him. Yanni is, by comparison, a stranger in that tower."

"The military have their own psychs," Catlin said.

He nodded. "I think this has to go to sera," he said. "I think we need her opinion on this."

Chapter v.

July 26, 2424 0929 H.

"Yanni"s not meeting with Jacques today," was the gist of Amy"s report. It was Friday, Jacques ought to be available, Spurlin"s funeral was on the vid, and Jacques was notably absent. was the gist of Amy"s report. It was Friday, Jacques ought to be available, Spurlin"s funeral was on the vid, and Jacques was notably absent.

Which wasn"t good. Ari didn"t acknowledge receipt of the message from Amy. There wasn"t anything to say. She did message Yanni, saying, "How are you doing, Uncle Yanni?"

And Yanni shot back, "As well as can he expected. Funerals depress me." "As well as can he expected. Funerals depress me."

"We"re all fine,"" she wrote. "Don"t worry about things."

That was about five minutes before Florian came through the door and told her they were not fine.

"Sera," he said. "We have specific data. Abban and Hicks were both Giraud"s special envoys to Defense tower, during all recent administrations, including Khalid and Gorodin, and sometimes they were there over eight hours at a stretch. Two: Hicks is a provisional Alpha Supervisor. He has an alpha a.s.sistant, Kyle AK, and he"s provisionally certified for that azi; the certificate was obtained in the last year of Giraud"s tenure. He was in Giraud"s office as deputy director for fifteen years. He had a key. He could have accessed any manual. As an Alpha Supervisor, he could have used any manual in that office &"

"Oh, this is good, Florian."

"You know born-men, sera. But we know access. He had access."