"Sera?"

"Tell Yanni take a restroom break. I need to talk to him."

"Sera," Chloe said respectfully, and pushed a b.u.t.ton on the console. Chloe didn"t even talk to Yanni. Yanni came through the door fairly promptly.

And stopped cold.

"I need to talk," Ari said. "Now."

So Yanni immediately opened the door behind Chloe, and went in. Florian walked in, to stand behind her, while she sat down at one end of the conference tableit was a big oneand Yanni did, at the other end.

"A problem?" Yanni asked. "I had a report this morningthat there was some goings-on involving Justin. That you moved him out of the Education Wing altogether, fired his staff, and gave Jordan an office. Is this the sudden problem?"

"Jordan is the problem. Jordan wants an office of his own."

"And you apparently gave him one."

"I did. ser," Florian said, behind her. "It was done at my level."

"I stand by it," Ari said, "if it doesn"t actually hurt anything. It didn"t seem to me it does."

Yanni remained as he was, just looking at her, and thinkingclearly-thinking. "Jordan asked me for an office before I left. Evidently he thought he could get away with going around me."

"He didn"t ask me. He said he was going to move in on Justin. So Florian moved Justin to my wing."

"Except his staff, ser," Florian said.

"Are you going to talk at me from two different levels?" Yanni asked, looking from her, seated, to Florian, standing. "Sorry, ser," Florian said.

"If you want Jordan out of that office," Ari said, "you can tell him that. Meanwhile Florian says he had no place to put Justin"s staff, but they"re good people and Florian promised they"d be taken care of. Admin should hire them."

Yanni was silent a moment. Then nodded. "All right. It can happen. I"ll make a note for Chloe."

"Good. Justin will feel a lot better about it."

"Oh, I"m sure he will. And Jordan"s got what he wanted . . . this week. h.e.l.l if that"ll content him for two days. d.a.m.n the man!"

"That"s not all he did," Ari said. "He dropped a business card into Justin"s pocket. Justin didn"t like it. He gave it to Florian. I have it in my apartment. It was from a Dr. Sandur Patil."

"Patil."

He didn"t say anything but that. Not after a long wait. So she said, "I brought Jordan here from Planys. It seemed a good idea at the time. I hoped he"d do better than this."

"He"s a d.a.m.n maniac."

"I thought you were his friend."

"With Jordan? Being Jordan"s friend requires fireproof gloves."

"So did this Patil figure somehow with why you"re mad at him? I"ve read your transcript. I know who she is. Is Jordan somehow connected with this?"

"Not exactly."

"So what does does it mean?" it mean?"

"Let me drop another name," Yanni said. "Thieu. Dr. Raymond Thieu."

It didn"t ring any bell. She was genuinely puzzled, and shook her head. "I don"t know him."

"Nanotech," Yanni said. "Biologicals. Former head of the Planys remediation project."

So. There. Biological nanisms, living nanomachines, anathema on Cyteen, except under strictest conditions. Patil"s expertise. Beta Station was where they worked on that, where you had to have all sorts of clearance to get in, and where nothing could escape. Nan.o.biologv applied in the remediation areas out in the Planys death zones, where Cyteen microbes met Terran ones. But when they loosed something into the biosphere they did it with great, great cautionnot the wholesale dumping the terraforming plan had involved; not the extent of what they were likely to do at Eversnow.

"So he"s no longer head of that program? Why?"

"Retired. He"s lived at Planys since the War was at its height. He"s elderly, came from Beta labs, was head of Research in that discipline, taught at the University in Novgorod for two years, moved to Planys when the terraforming project got canceled, managed the remediation program there until he retired, five years ago. Distinguished career, bit of a p.r.i.c.k."

"He knows Jordan, I take it."

"They were socially acquainted at Planys. Understand, the Planys lab doesn"t have the facilities to have done anything of an anagenetic nature, not in the most esoteric sense." That was the ten-cred word for terraforming, where there was already life. "Let"s just say terraforming has been a hot topic behind certain closed doors, including Denys", including the military"s, and it"s been hot for months. ReseuneSec is currently taking the whole Planys lab apart, and using Jordan"s departure as a plausible excuse to look into every nook and cranny of Planys operationswhich has made Thieu madder than h.e.l.l. Thieu and Jordan socializedonly twenty-three primary researchers in the place, off and on, so everybody socializes, you can figure that. But Thieu has retained very close ties to the military at Planys and to the University in Novgorod. Terraforming Cyteen was going to be his big program. He spent decades laying out all the details for his project, right along with Patiland Council vetoed it just before it launched, then shifted him out to Planys, threw him the sop of an applied project out there, because he was madder than h.e.l.l and not keeping his mouth shut, frankly. When the nanolabs shifted their focus to remediation, it was mostly to maintain the careers of people who specialized in that fieldDefense didn"t want to lose them: but it also gave us the chance to get Thieu away from the media."

"Because we stopped terraforming in its tracks," she said, shaken out of any sort of complacency. "But the military kept the research going. And the crazier Centrists still want it applied here."

"We"re giving them Eversnow. But a lot of old business exists out there at Planys. Part of the black projects in the military wing we can"t get at, and we don"t like, are nanistics of a nature I don"t like. Officially the nanistics program slowed to a stop when he retired, no other personnel was brought in out there, and what remediation uses is very carefully regulated, but lately, with the Eversnow matterit"s back, this time in Novgorod. There"s an inherent problem with research labs, you know. They contain knowledge you"d like to have just in case your enemies have it, but that you"d just as soon not have on the public market. And when people who know military things retire, they still know things and they have opinionsunless you want to mindwipe a Special, which wouldn"t attract too many people into the program."

"So you think he"s been talking to people? Including Jordan? It"s not Jordan"s field."

"Politics is. Jordan"s always been a political animal. And we know there"s been a leak to Corain."

"One we found," she said. "You think there"s more?"

"Oh, I think we brought a major item of it here, with Jordan."

"My fault, you"re saying."

"Having him sucked up by the military wouldn"t have helped at all."

It wouldn"t. She"d prevented that. That was true.

"Thieu arrived at Planys during the War," Yanni said, "quietest retreat he could have. We"d moved a major part of the lab there, in point of fact, because we didn"t want to risk a raid on Beta, and that research falling into Alliance hands. The staff moved back to Beta when the War endedbut he"d already gotten on the wrong side of your predecessor in an absolute fury over the cancellation of his programs. So there he was, just quietly aging, still within the Planys labs, not the man he had been, but stillstill within the structure, still doing some work on biologicals for Defense, supposedly doing some side work on the rejuv sensitivity issuehe either wasn"t allowed to work on the remediation as of two years ago, or he refused to work on it any further: it"s not totally clear how that happened, and we"re quietly asking at this moment. The man has a temper that doesn"t always serve him."

"But he still has his security clearances."

"He still has some clearancethough he carried on correspondence with a few people in the University in Novgorod, not all of whom we were quite comfortable with: people who"d gotten burned in the program cancellation; people who leaned just a little to the Centrist fringes ReseuneSec found it useful to let it continue, to see where the lines of communication led, granted nothing cla.s.sified got out. Meanwhile he met Jordan Warrick . . . when Jordan Jordan moved out there, not, of course, voluntarily. They weren"t close for the first ten years, didn"t even speak; but in the last few, as Thieu tended toward retirement, they started up a friendship. We can"t prove a d.a.m.ned thing, except our quiet in-house inquiry about resurrecting a nanistics projectthe Eversnow project, which we didn"t say at the time, nor mentioned Patil"s namegot Thieu very exercised. moved out there, not, of course, voluntarily. They weren"t close for the first ten years, didn"t even speak; but in the last few, as Thieu tended toward retirement, they started up a friendship. We can"t prove a d.a.m.ned thing, except our quiet in-house inquiry about resurrecting a nanistics projectthe Eversnow project, which we didn"t say at the time, nor mentioned Patil"s namegot Thieu very exercised. He He breached security, at least within that close community of academics, and contacted a student of his currently teaching in Novgorod, qualified in the field, security clearance, to be sure, but not a contact he was authorized to make." breached security, at least within that close community of academics, and contacted a student of his currently teaching in Novgorod, qualified in the field, security clearance, to be sure, but not a contact he was authorized to make."

"Patil."

"Patil. He"d corresponded with her for years, but all those letters were innocuous, two scientists talking about programs, and definitely subject to censors who actually can read in that field. Recall there"s a strong Centrist bent in Novgorod University, through the social studies department and into some very shady nooks of the rebel chic. Patil"s work has a cult following. She doesn"t encourage the radicals. But they get excited when she publishes. When she lectures, they show up at her lecture series. If we revive the old studies for use at Eversnow, I want to be sure it doesn"t get used here on Cyteen by some lunatic with a lab vial. Let me tell you, with Thieu retired and Patil"s whole operation off at Eversnow we"re actually saferbarring something coming back by ship. All of which I mention to you just in the case I should should fall down the stairs and break my neck" fall down the stairs and break my neck"

"Please don"t!"

"in case, I say, I"m telling you verbally. There is that one very untidy and roundabout link to Jordan Warrick that we don"t like, the elderly and sometimes erratic Dr. Thieu, who connects with Patil, who"s the person we want to use at Eversnow, partly for very political reasons. But while we"re going ahead with the Patil nomination, we"re also going through the establishment on Planys with a microscope right now on the excuse of investigating Jordan, and it"s why we shouldn"t roundtrip Jordan right back to Planys at first excuse. If fire and fuel can meet, we just want to be very sure the bottles are secure. Once we ship Patil out to Fargone, we"ll feel a lot safer."

"But you"re saying it"s possibly all innocent."

"Patil"s a natural candidate for the Eversnow post. But hauling her from the Centrist party to the Expansionist side of the slate is going to mightily annoy some people. It"s possible certain factions will be more interested in the politics of it than in the actual science, which is years off. Short-term, it"s very likely to be political."

" Rethinking the Theory of Long-Period Nanistic Self-direction." "

"G.o.d, where did you run across that?"

"It was going to run in Scientia Scientia last year. It was pretty thick going, but I read it." last year. It was pretty thick going, but I read it."

"I should think it was. You and the censors. How did you get it?"

"The Centrists had made a fuss about it, pre-publication, said it proved they could do what they wanted to do on Cyteen without killing the rejuv ecology. Uncle Denys was mad about it. He was threatening to have the editor fired if it ran, so they pulled it. I figured I should give it a look. So she was writing up what she shouldn"t have written about?"

"It was an agitation on her part. But a quiet one, the presentation of a theory, not a how-to. The War"s over. We could enlist any nanistics expert we want out of Beta, and willbut for various reasonsincluding the fact she"s the darling of the Paxers, the Centrists, and the military, and could get us the votesshe"s our pick for the lab going out to Eversnow. It"s a dream a.s.signment for her. She may be the Centrist intellectuals" darling, not that they understand half of what she"s about, but she does want to see her theories put into the field, and she"s she"s how we got the two Councillors to shift their vote to support mine, notable Defense and Citizens. And just to draw a line under the fact of who"s in bed with whom, our Jordan"s spent the last eight years having lunch with the professor who taught Patil." how we got the two Councillors to shift their vote to support mine, notable Defense and Citizens. And just to draw a line under the fact of who"s in bed with whom, our Jordan"s spent the last eight years having lunch with the professor who taught Patil."

"He doesn"t have have a Base in System any more. So how did he know about it? How did he get the card? Maybe he wanted us to have it. Maybe he"s trying to ask a question ... in his unique way." a Base in System any more. So how did he know about it? How did he get the card? Maybe he wanted us to have it. Maybe he"s trying to ask a question ... in his unique way."

"That would be an interesting position," Yanni said. "Or maybe he just wanted Justin to take exception to the ensuing investigation."

"To drag Justin into it on his side," Ari said, "but I don"t think he did what Jordan would want him to do."

"Oil, it probably was within his guesswork," Yanni said. "I a.s.sume Jordan expected the card to be confiscated, and Justin to be involved, and upset, and maybe more amenable to Jordan"s arguments. He"s psych, not nanistics, educational psych, at that. I don"t like the notion he could have gotten this card from Thieu, and gotten it through our screening. Security"s got to take a look at that. But it"s not much more comfortable a thought that someone here gave it to him . . . probably with information."

"It has a reader-strip, ser," Florian said. "We didn"t put it into a System-connected reader."

"Probably a very good notion," Yanni said. "d.a.m.n it! d.a.m.n Jordan to b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l."

"I"d rather not if I can avoid it," Ari said. "But Justin is staying in Wing One."

"Granted," Yanni said. "No question. Good call."

"You didn"t bring Patil"s name up with Jordan, did you?"

"h.e.l.l, no."

"Just asking," she said easily. It remained a possibility, all the same. But less likely, perhaps.

So Justin was safe. But Jordan definitely wasn"t.

Chapter iii.

April 26, 2424 0855 H.

Late to bed, late to rise, and not that early to the office.

The morning was definitely off routine, when you had to rack your memory to recall what your own office address was, and it was entirely surreal to walk in and find the set-up pretty much what you remembered and you hadn"t put it there.

Justin had expected boxes. The office wasjust moved. Things were on shelves in exactly the same order . . . apparently so, at least. Florian hadn"t exaggerated.

"Well," Grant said, at his shoulder, "they were neat."

"Certainly better than some invasions we"ve had," Justin muttered, and let go a long, long breath. He hadn"t known he was that wound up about the move, but he had been. He didn"t see a safe. Opening several desk drawers didn"t turn up Ari"s material. It had gone somewhere, and that bothered him.

"Her stuff isn"t here," he said.

"Security will have it," Grant said. "Five against ten, Florian will have gotten it, personally."

"Well, it"s not a bad office," Justin said, looking around. It wasn"t bad. It was even good, given there was room for the two of themample room, but nothing for staff. G.o.d knew what Em thought, this morning, arriving to find he had no office and no job.

There was a window. The view from the purported window was fake, but it was a very expensive fake: a screen showed the Novaya Volga from, one supposed, the top of the cliffs, more likely the top of one of the precip towershe"d never been up there: n.o.body went there, except the repair and maintenance crews working on the weather system, and most of those were robots.

It was a dizzying image, if one thought about it. It gave an illusion the whole building was forty stories tall, when the brain knew for a fact they were on the ground floor.

"Nice view," Grant said.

"You"re such an optimist." Justin ran his hand over the spines of the physical books on the shelf, finding no flaw in the order of themprintout of this and that psychset. He liked printout, when it came to review. He marked-up with abandon, and liked things in order, his order. The stacks on the desk looked like his stacks. He thumbed through them. They were in a reasonable order. Likely the stacks on Grant"s desk were the same.

But he wanted to find something they"d messed up. He checked the drawers. Exact order, exact contents. "I hate it when I don"t know what they"ve done wrong. I"m sure there"s something."

"The movers were ReseuneSec, weren"t they?" Grant asked. "They"re used to not having things look disturbed."

That was worth half a laugh at least.

There was an in-office coffee dispenser sitting on a sideboard. That was new, and good. The machine was loaded and it turned on and functioned at the touch of a b.u.t.ton. That was even better.

And the movers had improved on one other thing: the move had organized the supply cabinet contents in a logical, eye-pleasing way, with little colored bins for the various styli and clips and pointer-tags. He surveyed it top to bottom, looking for flaws.

"Color-coded." Justin remarked, giving up his search. "I suppose our mess was too much for them to get here intact. We have all shiny new paper clips."

"Have a cup of coffee." Grant handed him one, an implicit calm-down. "You know Jordan"s going to be beside himself this morning."

"Likely he is," Grant said. "Just about now."

He took a sip. It was better coffee than what they"d had available down the hall in the old office. Much better. It was probably real. "Pricey."

"Free," Grant said.

"Meaning we"re entirely on her tab." That didn"t improve the taste.