"Because it does, " does, " she snapped at him. she snapped at him.

"Ari, I"m in charge of your education. Your maman and I agreed that there are some questions I just won"t answer, because they"re for you to figure out. You"ll be mad at me sometimes, but I"ll have to stay by what I agreed with your maman. You"re very, very bright. Your maman expects you to figure out some of these things yourself, just the way the first Ari would, because she knows how good you are at figuring things out. It"s part of your growing up. There"ll be a lot of times you"ll ask me things-and I"ll say, you have to figure that one, because you"re the one who wants that answer. Just remember this: whatever you ask anyone-can tell them a lot. You think about that, Ari. "

He closed the door.

Ari thought about it. And thought that uncle Denys was maybe doing what maman had said; and maybe again uncle Denys wasn"t. It was hard to tell, when people could be lying to you about what maman had said.

Or even about what she was.

In a little while more Florian and Catlin came in, very quiet and sober. "Ser Denys says you have orders for us, " Catlin said.

Ari made her face azi-like, very quiet. Her eyelashes were still wet. She figured her nose was red. They would pick all of that up, but she couldn"t stop that, they had to be near her. "I"ve got something to tell you first. Sit down on the bed. I"ve found out some answers. "

They sat down, one on a side, very carefully, so they didn"t jostle her.

"First, " she said, "uncle Denys says I"m not from maman"s geneset at all, I"m a PR of somebody else, and she was a friend of maman"s. That maman has a grown-up daughter and a granddaughter maman never told me about, and Nelly and Ollie both knew all about where maman got me. But he won"t tell me a whole lot else. He says I I have to find it out. " She made the little sign with her fingers that said one of them should come close and listen. But she couldn"t make it with the right hand. So it was Florian who got up and came clear around the bed to put his ear up against her mouth. "It might be uncle Denys Working me. I don"t know. And I don"t know why he would, except Giraud is his brother. Pa.s.s it to Catlin. " have to find it out. " She made the little sign with her fingers that said one of them should come close and listen. But she couldn"t make it with the right hand. So it was Florian who got up and came clear around the bed to put his ear up against her mouth. "It might be uncle Denys Working me. I don"t know. And I don"t know why he would, except Giraud is his brother. Pa.s.s it to Catlin. "

He did, and Catlin"s eyebrows went up and Catlin"s face got very thoughtful and still when she looked at her. Catlin nodded once, with a look that meant business.

So she was not sure whether she felt stupid or not, or whether it was true at all, or whether part of it was.

Florian and Catlin could track down a lot of things, because that was what they knew how to do.

It answered a lot of the What"s Unusuals, that was what scared her most, except it didn"t answer all of them.

Like why the Disappeareds and what Giraud was up to.

Like why maman hadn"t written her her a letter in the first place, or what had happened to it if maman had. a letter in the first place, or what had happened to it if maman had.

There were new ones.

Like it was Unusual that they didn"t just tell her the truth from the start.

Like it was Unusual maman had gone all round the thing about her name, and told her her papa was a man named James Carnath. Which was still not where she got the Emory.

It was Unusual maman had dodged around a whole lot of things that maman had not wanted to answer. She had not wanted to ask very much when she was a little kid, because she felt it make maman real uncomfortable.

And when she thought about it, she knew maman had Worked her too, she could feel it happen when she remembered it.

That was what made her want to throw up.

She was scared, scared that nothing was true, not even what uncle Denys was telling her. But she couldn"t let anybody know that.

That last uncle Denys had said was something she knew: what you asked told a whole lot to somebody you might not want to trust. So uncle Denys knew that too, and warned her not to ask him things.

Like maman, only uncle Denys did it a different way, straight out: don"t give things away to me because you don"t know whether I"m all right or not.

If uncle Denys wanted to Work her, he was doing something real complicated, and the pain medicine made her brain all fuzzy. If that was what he was doing he was starting off by confusing her.

Or taking her Fix off what she was trying to look at.

Dammit, she thought. Dammit.

Because she was stuck in this bed and she hurt and she couldn"t think at all past the trank.

xii Report to my office, the message from Yanni said, first thing that Justin read when he brought the office computer up; and he turned around and looked at Grant. "I"ve got to go see Yanni, " he said; and Grant swung his chair around and looked at him. the message from Yanni said, first thing that Justin read when he brought the office computer up; and he turned around and looked at Grant. "I"ve got to go see Yanni, " he said; and Grant swung his chair around and looked at him.

No comment. There was nothing in particular to say. Grant just looked worried.

"See you, " Justin said with a wry attempt at humor. "Wish you could witness this one. "

"So do I, " Grant said, not joking at all.

He was not up to a meeting with Yanni. But there was no choice. He shrugged, gave Grant a worried look, and walked out and down the hall, with his knees close to wobbling under him, it was still that bad and he was still that much in shock.

G.o.d, he thought, get me around this.

Somehow.

Grant had kept track, with Grant"s azi-trained memory and Grant"s professional understanding of subject, psychset, and what he was hearing, of everything that had gone on around him while he was answering Giraud"s questions and of everything that had gone on around him in recovery, right down to the chance words and small comments of the meds that had taken him home. Playing all that back and knowing it was all all that had gone on, was immeasurably comforting; having Grant simply that had gone on, was immeasurably comforting; having Grant simply there there through the night had kept him reasonably well focused on here and now, and made him able to get up in the morning, adopt a deliberately short-sighted cheerfulness, and decide he was going to work. through the night had kept him reasonably well focused on here and now, and made him able to get up in the morning, adopt a deliberately short-sighted cheerfulness, and decide he was going to work.

I can at least get some of the d.a.m.ned records-keeping done, he had said to Grant, meaning the several towering mounds of their own reports that had been waiting weeks to be checked against computer files and archives and hand-stamped as Archived before being sent for the shredder. Can"t think of a better day for it.

He could not cope with changes, and he reckoned on his way down the hall and up to Yanni"s door that Security thought it had found something or suspected something in the interview, G.o.d knew what, and Yanni- G.o.d knew.

"Marge, " he said to Yanni"s aide, "I"m here. "

"Go on in, " Marge said. "He"s expecting you. "

A flag on his log-on, that was what.

He opened the door and found Yanni at his desk. "Ser. "

Yanni looked up and he braced himself. "Sit down, " Yanni said very quietly.

Oh, G.o.d, he thought, gone completely off his balance. He sank into the chair and felt himself tensed up and out of control. he thought, gone completely off his balance. He sank into the chair and felt himself tensed up and out of control.

"Son, " Yanni said, more quietly than he had ever heard Yanni speak, how are you?"

"I"m fine, " he said, two syllables, carefully managed, d.a.m.n near stammered.

"I raised h.e.l.l when I heard, " Yanni said. "All the way to Denys" office and and Petros Petros and and Giraud. I understand they let Grant stay through it. " Giraud. I understand they let Grant stay through it. "

"Yes, ser. "

"Petros put that as a mandate on your charts. They better have. I"ll tell you this, they did did record it, not on the Security recorders, but it exists. You can get it if you need it. That"s Giraud"s promise, son. They"re sane over there this morning. " record it, not on the Security recorders, but it exists. You can get it if you need it. That"s Giraud"s promise, son. They"re sane over there this morning. "

He stared at Yanni with a blank, sick feeling that it had to be a lead-in, that he was being set up for something. Recorded, that was sure. Trust the man and he would come in hard and low.

"Is this another voice-stress?" he asked Yanni, to have it out and over with.

The line between Yanni"s brows deepened. "No. It"s not. I want to explain some things to you. Things are real difficult in Giraud"s office right now. A lot of pressure. They"re going to have to break the secrecy seal on this. The kid"s timing was immaculate. I don"t want to go into it more than that, except to tell you they"ve broken the news to Ari, at least as far as her not being Jane Stra.s.sen"s biological daughter, and her being a replicate of somebody named Ariane Emory, who"s no more than a name to her. So some of that pressure is going to be relieved real soon. She"s got a broken arm and a lot of bruises. They threw the news at her while she was tranked so they could at least hold the initial reaction to the emotional level where they could halfway control it, get it settled and accepted on a gut level before she heads at the why of it with that logical function of hers, which, I don"t need to tell you, is d.a.m.ned sharp and d.a.m.ned persistent. I"m telling you this because she"s come your way before and she"s going to be hunting information. If it happens, don"t panic. Follow procedures, call Denys" office, and tell her you have to do that: that Security will get upset if you don"t-which is the truth. "

He drew easier breaths, told himself it was still a trap, but at least the business a.s.sumed some definable shape, a calamity postponed to the indefinable future.

"Do you have any word, " he asked Yanni, "how Jordan came through this?"

"I called him last night. He said he was all right, he was concerned for you. You know how it is, there"s so d.a.m.ned much we can"t do on the phone. I told him you were fine; I"d check on you; I"d call him again today. "

"Tell him I"m all right. " He found himself with a deathgrip on the right chair arm, his fingers locked till they ached. He let go, trying to relax. "Thanks. Thanks for checking on him. "

Yanni shrugged, heaved a sigh and scowled at him. "You suspect me like h.e.l.l, don"t you?"

He did not answer that.

"Listen to me, son. I"ll put up with a lot, but I know something about how you work, and I knew d.a.m.n well you hadn"t had anything to do with the kid, it was Giraud"s d.a.m.n b.l.o.o.d.y insistence on running another d.a.m.n probe on a mind that just may be worth two or three others around this place, never mind my professional judgment, Giraud Giraud is in a b.l.o.o.d.yminded is in a b.l.o.o.d.yminded hurry, hurry, to h.e.l.l with procedures, to h.e.l.l with the law, to h.e.l.l with everything in his way. " Yanni drew breath. "Don"t get me started. What I called you in here to tell you is, Denys just put your research on budget. Not a big one, G.o.d knows, but you"re going to be seeing about half the load you"ve been getting off the Rubin project, and you"re going to get computer time over in Sociology, not much of it, but some. Call it guilt on Administration"s part. Call it whatever you like. You"re going to route the stuff through me to Sociology, through Sociology over to Jordan, and several times a year you"re going to get some time over at Planys. That"s the news. I thought it might give you something cheerful to think about. All right?" to h.e.l.l with procedures, to h.e.l.l with the law, to h.e.l.l with everything in his way. " Yanni drew breath. "Don"t get me started. What I called you in here to tell you is, Denys just put your research on budget. Not a big one, G.o.d knows, but you"re going to be seeing about half the load you"ve been getting off the Rubin project, and you"re going to get computer time over in Sociology, not much of it, but some. Call it guilt on Administration"s part. Call it whatever you like. You"re going to route the stuff through me to Sociology, through Sociology over to Jordan, and several times a year you"re going to get some time over at Planys. That"s the news. I thought it might give you something cheerful to think about. All right?"

"Yes, ser, " he said after a moment, because he had to say something. The most dangerous thing in the world was to start trusting Yanni Schwartz, or believing when indicators started a downhill slide that it had been a momentary glitch.

"Go on. Take a break. Go. Get out of here. "

"Yes, ser. " He levered himself up out of the chair, he got himself out the door past Marge without even looking at her, and walked the hall in a land of numb terror that somewhere Security was involved in this, that in the way they had of getting him off his guard and then hitting him hardest, he might find something had happened to Grant-it was the most immediate thing he could think of, and the worst.

But Grant was there, Grant was in the door waiting for him and worried.

"Yanni was polite, " he said. The tiny, paper-piled office was a claustrophobic closeness. "Let"s go get a cup of coffee. " No mind that they had the makings in the office. He wanted s.p.a.ce around him, the quiet, normal noise of human beings down in the North Wing coffee bar.

Breaking schedule, being anywhere out of the ordinary, could win them both another session with Giraud. Nothing was safe. Anything could be invaded. It was the kind of terror a deep probe left. He ought to be on trank. h.e.l.l if he wanted it.

He told Grant what Yanni had said, over coffee in the restaurant. Grant listened gravely and said: "About time. About time they came to their senses. "

"You trust it?" he asked Grant. Desperately, the way he had taken Grant"s word for what was real and what was not. He was terrified Grant would fail him finally, and tell him yes, believe them, trust everything. It was what it sounded like, from the one point of sanity he had.

"No, " Grant said, with a little lift of his brows. "No more than yesterday. But I think Yanni"s Yanni"s telling the truth. I think he"s starting to suspect what you might be and what they might lose in their preoccupation with young Ari. That"s the idea he may have gotten through to Denys. If it gets to Denys, it may finally get through to Giraud. No. Listen to me. I"m talking very seriously. " telling the truth. I think he"s starting to suspect what you might be and what they might lose in their preoccupation with young Ari. That"s the idea he may have gotten through to Denys. If it gets to Denys, it may finally get through to Giraud. No. Listen to me. I"m talking very seriously. "

"Dammit, Grant, -" He felt himself ludicrously close to tears, to absolute, overloaded panic. "I"m not holding this off well. I"m too d.a.m.ned open, even wide awake. Don"t confuse me. "

"I"m going to say this and get off it, fast. If If the word is getting up to them from Yanni, it"s perfectly logical they"re turning helpful. I"m not saying they"re any different. I"m saying there may be some changes. For G.o.d"s sake take it easy, take it quietly, don"t try to figure them on past performance, don"t try to figure them at all for a few days. You want me to talk to Yanni?" the word is getting up to them from Yanni, it"s perfectly logical they"re turning helpful. I"m not saying they"re any different. I"m saying there may be some changes. For G.o.d"s sake take it easy, take it quietly, don"t try to figure them on past performance, don"t try to figure them at all for a few days. You want me to talk to Yanni?"

"No!"

"Easy. All right. All right. "

"Dammit, don"t patronize me!"

"Oh, we are are short-fused. Drink your coffee. You"re doing fine just fine, just get a grip on here, all right? Yanni"s gone crazy, you re put fine, I"m just fine, Administration"s totally off the edge, I don"t know what"s different. " short-fused. Drink your coffee. You"re doing fine just fine, just get a grip on here, all right? Yanni"s gone crazy, you re put fine, I"m just fine, Administration"s totally off the edge, I don"t know what"s different. "

He gave a sneeze of a laugh, made a furtive wipe at his eyes, and took a sip of cooling coffee.

"G.o.d, I don"t know if I can last this."

"Easy, easy, easy. One day at a time. We"ll cut it short today and go home, all right?"

"I want us near witnesses.

"Office. " He drew a slow breath, getting his pulse-rate back to normal. And bought a holo-poster at the corner shop, on the way back, for the office all over his desk.

Grant lifted an eyebrow, getting a look at it while he was handing the check-out his credit card.

It was a plane over the outback. FLY RESEUNEAIR, it said.

Verbal Text from: A QUESTION OF UNION.

Union Civics Series: #3 Reseune Educational Publications: 9799-8734-3 approved for 80+

In the years between 2301 and 2351, Expansion was the unquestioned policy of Union: the colonial fervor which had led to the establishment of the original thirteen star stations showed no sign of abating.

The discovery of Cyteen"s biological riches and the new technology of jump-s.p.a.ce travel brought Cyteen economic self-sufficiency and eventual political independence, not, however, before it had reached outward and established a number of colonies of its own. The fact that Cyteen was founded by people seeking independence from colonial policies of the Earth Company, however, provided a philosophical base important to all Union culture-the idea of a new form of government.

From the time the tensions between Cyteen and the Earth Company they had fled, led to the Company Wars and the Secession, we have to consider Cyteen as one planet within the larger context of Union. Within that context, the desire for independence and the strong belief in local autonomy; and second, the enthusiasm for exploration, trade, and the development of a new frontier-have been the predominant influences. The framers of the Const.i.tution made it a cardinal principle that the Union government will not cross the local threshold, be it a station dock, a gravity well, or a string of stars declaring themselves a political unit within Union-unless there is evidence that the local government does not have the consent of the governed, or unless one unit exits its own area to impose its will on a neighbor. So there can be, and may one day be, many governments within Union, and still only one Union, which maintains what the founders called a consensus of the whole.

It was conceived as a framework able to exist around any local structure, even a non-human one, a framework infinitely adaptable to local situations, in which local rule serves as the check on Union and Union as the check on local rule.

But, in the way of secessions, Union began in conflict. The Company Wars were a severe strain on the new government, and many inst.i.tutions originated as a direct response to those stresses-among them, the first political parties.

The Expansionist party may be said to have existed from the founding of Union; but as the war with the Earth Company entered its most critical phase, the Centrist movement demanded negotiation and part.i.tion of s.p.a.ce at Mariner. The Centrists, who had a strong liberal, pacifist and Reunionist leaning in the inception of the organized party, gained in strength rapidly during the last years of the War, and ironically, lost much of that strength as the Treaty of Pell ended the War in a negotiation largely unpopular on the home front. Union became generally more pro-Expansion as enormous numbers of troops returned to the population centers and strained the systems considerably.

From that time the Centrist platform reflected in some part the growing fears that unchecked Expansion and colonization would lead to irredeemable diffusion of human cultures-and, in the belief of some, -to war between human cultures which had arisen with interests enough in common to be rivals and different enough to be enemies.

But except for social scientists such as Pavel Brust, the princ.i.p.al proponent of the Diffusion Theory, the larger number of Centrists were those who stood to be harmed by further colonization, such as starstations which looked to become peripheral to the direction of that expansion, due to accident of position; and the war-years children, who saw themselves locked in a cycle of conflict which they had not chosen.

The Centrists received a considerable boost from two events: first, the peaceful transition within the Alliance from the wartime administration of the Konstantins to that of the Dees, known to be moderates; second, the discovery of a well-developed alien region on the far side of Sol. Sol, sternly rebuffed by the alien Compact, turned back toward human s.p.a.ce, and it became a princ.i.p.al tenet of the Centrist Party that a period of stability and consolidation might lead to a reunification of humanity, or at least a period of peace. To certain people troubled by the realization that they were not only not alone, but that they had alien compet.i.tors, this seemed the safest course.

In 2389 the Centrists were formally joined by the Abolitionists, who opposed the means by which existing and proposed colonies were designed, some on economic grounds and others on moral grounds ranging from philosophical to religious, denouncing practices from mindwipe to psychsurgery, and calling for an end to the production of azi. Previously the Abolitionists had lacked a public voice, and indeed, were more a cross-section of opposition to the offworld government, including the Citizens for Autonomy, who wished to break up the government and make all worlds and stations independent of central authority; the Committee Against Human Experimentation; the Religious Council; and others, including, without sanction of the official party, the radical Committee of Man, which committed various acts of kidnapping and terrorism aimed at genetics research facilities and government offices.

To those who feared Sol"s influence, and those who felt the chance of alien war was minimal, the Centrist agenda seemed a dangerous course: loss of momentum and economic collapse was the Expansionist fear. And at the head of the new Expansionist movement was a coalition of various interests, prominent among whom, as scientist, philosopher and political figure, was Ariane Emory.

Her murder in 2404 touched off a furor mostly directed at the Abolitionists, but the Centrist coalition broke under the a.s.sault.

What followed was a period of retrenchment, reorganization, and realignment, until the discovery in 2412 of the Gehenna plot and the subsequent investigations of culpability gave the Centrists a cause and an issue. Gehenna lent substance to Centrist fears; and at the same time tarnished the image of the Expansionist majority, not least among them Ilya Bogdanovitch, the Chairman of the Nine; Ariane Emory of Reseune; and admiral Azov, the controversial head of Defense, who had approved the plan.