"Slow," Ari muttered. She"d had time to hold converse, and they were just now closing up AG? "They can move faster than that."

Storm sirens blew. Finally. They advised anyone out to get under cover, into the storm tunnels. Lethals might be patrolling the grounds: the little weedzappers, which already had a camera function, turned suddenly nasty and helping defenses target any response. It wouldn"t be a time to be walking around out there.

"Well," Maddy said with a nervous little laugh. "I"ll stay in the Wing tonight. Champagne, anyone?"

There were takers, most of the party, and staff moved about seeing to it.

"It"s just become a dinner party," Ari said. "In case any of you had planned on elsewhere after this: we"ll be serving something, and serving late, Joyesse, go tell Wyndham so."

"Yes, sera," Joyesse said.

"Catlin, tell Wes put the security screens up."

"Yes," Catlin said. Florian was in the hall, checking something, probably conversing with Wes and Marco, maybe communicating with Rafael and company.

The fish tank went opaque, dark blue. Then the other wall came alive with images, some with sunset darkening to night, showing the downed tower from a perspective below the cliffs, some with numbers, and one showing the view from a bot scurrying at turf level across Reseune grounds.

"Ari." Justin came up at her elbow. "My father. I"d like permission to leave."

Above all else she didn"t want Justin running around in the dark with the whole complex under alert. No was the reflexive answer.

But she couldn"t hold on to him. Or she"d lose him. She understood that.

"I"m going to be a s.p.a.cecase until you get back. You"ve got Mark and Gerry with you. Get your father on the phone. Be sure he"s all right before you go anywhere. Security may have moved: Mark and Gerry can pull rank."

"I" he started to protest, but the security comment quieted any objection.

"Thank you," Grant said, and the two of them went for the door, while she advised Marco to have Mark and Gerry meet them somewhere before the security desk.

Amy drifted over to her side, champagne gla.s.s in hand. "Something up with Jordan?"

"Not in play," she said to one of her oldest co-conspirators. "Whatever"s going on, if it"s Paxers, or if it"s not, Jordan"s a piece worth pinning down. Justin"s just going to tell him we care."

Amy nodded, took a slow sip of champagne. Quentin was over with Florian and Catlin, getting information, watching the screens, which weren"t apt to change much this far into the emergency. Just the little robot skittering along in the dark, gone to night-vision.

From Novgorod to Moreyville, even in Big Blue and faroff Planys, that scene was playing. The world was on alert.

Wonder if they knew, Ari asked herself. Wonder if this is specially for me. Another housewarming gift.

That implied a certain knowledge of the inner workings of Reseune where the fact of so many relocations into Alpha Wing had, in fact, created quite a stir, and quite a lot of gossip.

The storm sirens still blew. Not a physical storm in the offingbut a storm, all the same.

Chapter vi.

July 3, 2424 1934 H.

Two security were in the lower hall, black-uniformed, rattling with full kit, including seldom-worn helmets, and on an intercept. It didn"t make quiet company, but they were earnest typesMark and Gerry, their names were. They hadn"t had time to introduce themselves formallytwo lanky, tall azi, a lot alike: Mark, a serious fellow and Gerry a little less so: Justin actually recalled their files; but both were deadly serious at the moment.

"Ser," they called him, and they said "ser," to Grant, too, keeping their pace with no effort at all.

"We"re going to Ed," Justin said. "My father lives there. I want to be sure he"s all right, considering what"s going on." He had his ordinary pocket com. He punched the fast-response b.u.t.tons as they exited the lift toward the security station, and let it ring.

And ring.

"Brilliant," he said to Grant. "He"s not home and he"s not answering."

"Probably out at dinner," Grant said.

"Ten thousand-odd people are probably caught out at dinner." They reached the desk and Justin showed his keycard. "Sera"s direct permission," he said. "Out to Ed, personal."

"Yes, ser," the guard said. "Stay to the tunnels."

"Absolutely." They went out the door, into the familiar storm-tunnel level of Wing One, and took an immediate left, Mark and Gerry rattling along behind. The sirens were intermittent now, as they were during a storm. The main corridor as they came out of Wing One and into the area of Admin was full of traffic, people generally in a fair hurry, one direction and the other, most trending the same direction they were going, which led, as the rim of a great box, through the Ed tunnels and over to the Residencies and the Labs. Anybody from the Township was going to have a long wait for buses or a long hike, via the Labs, to the second tier of storm tunnels and shelters & and there were people with children, one upset lost childthe father came and swept the lost boy up out of the bewildering traffic just as they came in range: the father and his partner had four others in their group, and tried to urge them to more speed.

"It"s all right," Justin said as he came up with the harried father. "It"s a precautionary alert. No rush."

Others heard, shouted out, "What"s going on?" and Justin yelled, "Precautionary alert. Damage upriver is all."

He didn"t know if he made a dent in the distress, but a little further on, just as they were leaving Admin, Yanni"s voice came over the general address: "This is Director Schwartz. The alert is downgraded to level three. Those with indoor business are advised to pursue it with attention to level three cautions. Repeat &"

That calmed things, afterward. People caught their breath and quit trying to buck the flow. People began to walk normally, and to talk, and to ask questions, particularly of Gerry and Mark, who just said, repeatedly, "We"re on duty, ser. We can"t stop."

Justin made another try on the com. "Dad? Answer, dammit."

And a second one, after the next intersection. He wasn"t used to this much exercise. His legs were burning. "Dad? Come on, answer."

"What in h.e.l.l"s going on?" the question came.

"Where are you?"

"Abrizio"s."

"Right below you. Coming up." He was vastly relieved. And he had two large, heavily armed azi in tow, who weren"t going to help his father"s nerves at all. "Mark, Gerry, you"re on my tab. Just go in, after us, order soft drinks and sandwiches, sit, and have dinner until Grant and I leave."

"Ser," Gerry said, "we"re on duty."

"This is your duty, to look inconspicuous and not have my father create a public furor, which is bound to cause me and sera trouble. Just do it. You"re doing personal security at the moment: my rules apply."

"Yes, ser," came back, from both, and meanwhile they reached the escalator and rode it up, this time, to the concourse level of Education.

"He"s going to notice them," Grant said. "They won"t stay that far back."

"I"m sure he will."

They had Abrizio"s in sight: yellow lights were flashing, lending an unwholesome look to the area, but people were moving about in a fair simulation of calm. He and Grant lengthened stride, got a little ahead of Mark and Gerry as they reached the door, came in and advanced a few paces to try to spot Jordan. Things had gotten quiet, just as Paul stood up to make clear where they were. Paul"s eyes were averted to something behind them, and Justin didn"t look: the silhouettes of two helmeted ReseuneSec agents appearing in the doorway, blinking with ready-lights, could generally put a pall on conversation, or stimulate it, and both happened.

They had Paul and Jordan in view, however, and wended their way through the clutter of tables to take the vacant two seats.

"You"re being followed," Jordan remarked as Justin sat down.

"The whole d.a.m.n place is under alert," Justin said. There was a half-eaten order of chips and cheese with peppers. It was one of Abrizio"s better offerings. He took a chip with cheese. "Just came from supper and a party. Not real hungry."

"The same," Grant said.

"Party," Jordan said.

"Social evening. The new wing"s open. We"ve moved again. We didn"t plan to."

"And you just got lonesome for our company," Jordan said.

"Drop the barbs. I got worried. There"s been an explosion at the up-river construction. We don"t know if there"s anything going on here, but since you draw trouble the way I did, I borrowed a couple of Ari"s guards and came looking."

"An attack on the construction. Interesting. And a couple of Ari"s guards in attendance. I should be flattered."

"It"s nothing. It"s probably just an accident, hit a gas pocket in a dieoff area, something like that. Methane. Blew a new precip tower to bits. Security"s on alert, nonetheless. They"re not letting anybody onto the grounds."

"We heard the announcement," Jordan said glumly.

At least Mark and Gerry had taken off the helmets and the lights on their gear didn"t show. The waitress was over there. They were making their order, likely soft drinks. Maybe sandwiches.

"Well, I was going to call you. We"d just had one thing after the other. We took an early supper, headed home from the restaurant to find out we"d been movedmy number hasn"t changed, neither has Grant"s. Office, the whole thing. Then we had a note on the minder we were due at a reception not that long after, so we didn"t actually change for that. Just went. Had a few drinks, so I"m at max. I was going to call you in the morning &"

"We just heard the warning sound," Jordan said, "and there hadn"t been any advis.e.m.e.nt they were going to make weather, so we figured it must be a natural storm. Guess not. Methane, eh?"

Sometimes the web of lies he told Jordan just overloaded. Sometimes, if things were ever going to be different, there had to be a dose of truth. "Fact is," he said, lowering his voice, "it probably wasn"t. Somebody apparently blew up the tower up at the new construction."

"Somebody?"

"The usual suspicion goes to the Paxers. But that would be major for them, a real break with habit."

"Logistics." Jordan had leaned forward, and Paul had too, both of them, just taking it in, and for the first time in a long time, there was no bitter edge. "How in h.e.l.l did they get through?"

"they needed river transport," Justin said. "They had to get either up-river past Reseune or downriver."

"Out of Svetlansk," Jordan said, "maybe. Downriver saves fuel."

"Not much civilization up there," Paul said, "or wasn"tlast we knew."

"Mining, shipping, plenty of opportunity to lay hands on explosives. Unless things have changed."

"Not much to stop them going ash.o.r.e at the new construction," Justin said. "No filtration equipment like here. No weir. No bots. All they"d need to do would be get a boat somewhere, load it with somethinggo ash.o.r.e in suits, get out again."

"So what," Jordan asked with sudden sharp focus, "would anybody at Svetlansk have against whatever"s going on at this new construction?"

And how much to tell Jordan? How many secrets to dance around? He"d gotten a response with the truth, a real change of disposition out of Jordan. He could make Ari mad. But Ari said she wanted to help Jordan. And was that the truth?

"Jordan," he said, "I"m going to tell you something I don"t want to go beyond you and Paul. The new construction is another township in the works. Name of Stra.s.senberg."

"Stra.s.senberg." Jordan gave a short, bitter laugh. "My G.o.d. She"s building a city."

But he kept his voice down when he said it.

"Dad, I"m about as close to Ari as I can get. And that"s likely to be a permanent arrangement." Jordan drew back a little at that, and Justin brought his hand down on Jordan"s, pinning it. "Just listen to me. Permanent arrangement. It"s where I live. I"m not her lover. I"m her teacher. And I"m not inclined to say no."

"Clearly it pays well."

"I want to do it. Dad. I get things out of the arrangement &"

"Oh, I"ll bet you do."

"Listen to me! She"s d.a.m.ned smart, is that a surprise? But I get access to the first Ari"s notes, so you should know money isn"t the game. Neither is s.e.x." Jordan tried to move the hand and he held it, hard. "Listen. Talk to me about this. I want you to understand me, just once. I"m learning. I missed a h.e.l.l of a lot during the bad years. Same as you. I"m getting a break, and I"m taking it. I don"t think that"s such a bad deal."

"Count your change. That"s all I"ll say."

"She"ll use some of the things I know, yes. But meanwhile I get input in what"s going on in the world, I get some policy input, and that"s important. I get to have a say."

"Sure. As long as you agree with her you"ll have a major say. Wake up."

"I"ll have to see how it plays out. I won"t know. But I"m not locking myself away from the chance."

"You look pretty well locked away to me. You don"t get a say in who you can let in" the doordo you?"

"Dad. Eventually, yes. This isn"t the time &"

"Bulls.h.i.t." Jordan jerked his hand free. "Paul. Have you had enough?"

"We"ll walk you back," Justin said.

"The h.e.l.l. With those two over there? The h.e.l.l you will. Paul. Come on." He stood up. Looked down at Justin. "You"re rich. You pay the bill."

"Sit down. Please."

"No, thanks."

Jordan headed for the door, Paul in his wake.

Justin got up. Grant did. "Grant," Justin asked him, "pay the bill."

"We don"t split up." Grant said. "If you go after him, we go."

"Grant, just for G.o.d"s sake, take care of it." He shoved through the narrow gap between two occupied chairs and started to leave, and Grant did, both of them heading for the door, but Jordan and Paul were already outside.