"Consider it done. Nobody arrests anyone on my station unless I say so."
"Good, good. I'm also sending you a list of names. This is a fishing expedition, frankly, but it might turn up something. See if any of the deceased match in any way."
"I'll do what I can. Have you found your informant?"
"No. Someone else is looking for her, too. It might be a race." He thought about that. "Keep your people alert to her coming through Kopernik. If she's on the run she might try leaving Earth."
"Got a description?"
"I'll forward you an image. What about on your end? Anything new?"
"We found some fibers on the bin that match fibers taken from Nyom Looms' fingernails. She fought. Our target may be banged up a bit."
Somehow I doubt that, Coren thought. "What kind of fibers?"
"Synthetic of some kind. We're still analyzing it. I'll let you know when we identify it." She paused. "You're sending Derec Avery up. Does that mean you're staying down?"
"Afraid so. I've got some things to follow up."
"And you really don't want to get back on a shuttle, do you?"
Coren smiled wryly. "No, not really. Sorry."
"You're going to have to get over that some day. Especially if you ever expect me to continue our friendship."
"We'll see."
"Uh-huh."
Coren shrugged. "Hey, can I help it if I'm just an ordinary Terran?"
"You aren't, though. That's why your aversion annoys me."
"Yes, well…" He felt awkward, caught wordless. "Did you tell Looms?" she asked.
"Um…yes. He took it better than I expected. Or maybe not. It's hard to read him, sometimes."
"Does he want you to keep looking?"
"Yes."
"You would, anyway."
"Yes."
Sipha nodded as if understanding something else about him. "Let me get back to work. I'll see to it Mr. Avery gets to the Auroran embassy."
"Right." Coren started to reach for the disconnect, then hesitated. "Sipha, have you ever caught anyone smuggling stolen children through Kopernik?"
She stared at him, momentarily stunned. "No. Why?"
"Something…just a peripheral bit of information I stumbled on. An old case, nothing current. Just thought I'd ask. Thanks. "
"Talk to you later."
The screen went blank.
Coren cleared his throat and shrugged, as if trying to physically reset his thinking. "Desk, do you have that public file on Wenithal's last case?"
"Yes."
"Display it, please. "
The screen filled with text. Coren leaned forward and began to read.
Eleven
Union Station D.C. looked much the same as always, but Derec never felt at ease with it-not after the assassinations and the subsequent ruin of his company and his hopes. The floor had long since been cleansed of blood and now shone with the high polish of smokey mirrors. People hurried about their business beneath its cavernous arch, announcements echoed over the P.A., and no one seemed to notice how much it had changed.
As Derec walked toward the customs desk, Hofton behind him carrying a large bag and a columnar container, he kept looking around, searching, until he realized what it was he sought.
Robots. There were no robots.
Union Station had once, for a short time, been a kind of free zone where robots worked openly. The Terran Senate had passed special legislation to allow positronics here, as a testing ground to see how Earthers would react, and to show Earthers the nature of robots. Spacers came through Union Station D.C. and no other port on Earth, so it was convenient to provide them with a reception area that offered familiar accommodations. A Resident Intelligence had been installed to supervise the complex operations of the facility and manage all the robots. Derec's company, the Phylaxis Group, had overseen its installation and had been contracted to do the maintenance and troubleshooting for it, but subsequent events took all that away. And more.
He was nervous here: partly because it had been months since he had visited Union Station and his last memory of it held death, and partly because this was the first time since the trials at which the conspirators in the assassinations were found guilty and sentenced he had left the embassy. Though treated primarily as witnesses, Derec's staff had been detained and questioned for several weeks, and at least one person had been arrested on a minor charge tangentially related to Phylaxis and its activities. In the aftermath, it had been made clear to Derec that his presence on Earth may be required indefinitely. He was to make himself available to the court.
His passport had been confiscated.
Later, Ariel had let him know that she had interceded in his arrest. His Auroran citizenship was reinstated and he received a new passport, but his position became tenuous in the course of action taken by ITE to challenge the new document, and an injunction resulted barring him from leaving Earth.
"Legally," Ariel had explained, "this is absurd. It's a gesture. They can't keep you from leaving unless they arrest you. They can't arrest you on Auroran soil. If you do leave, your Auroran passport won't be questioned anywhere else and without criminal charges being filed, there are no grounds for extradition. They're trying to keep you here because they don't know what they want to do with you. You frighten them. We all do."
I have news for you, Ariel, he now thought as he placed his one small bag on the customs desk, they frighten me…
Hofton set his burdens on the desk beside Derec's and extracted a disk from his jacket. He handed it to the attendant.
"I didn't even have a chance to find out anything about the director of the lab," Derec said. "Rotij Polifos. Never heard of him. "
"I had a chance," Hofton said. "And?"
"I think later…?"
Derec looked at the customs attendant, who seemed totally absorbed by their documents. "Sure," he said.
In retrospect, Derec realized that he saw the attendant push the button. She closed out one screen, turned smoothly, and her hand brushed across a depression on the desk to the right of her keypad. A second later, she handed Hofton a disk.
"Derec Avery?"
Derec turned to the voice and found himself confronted by three men in uniform and a fourth in a dark suit. One of the uniforms stood closest.
"Yes?" Derec replied, his pulse picking up.
"Port Authority," the uniform said. "Would you come with us, please?"
"Um…I…"
"Excuse me, officer," Hofton said, stepping forward. "Is there a problem?"
"We have some questions for Mr. Avery."
"You may ask them here. We have a shuttle to catch."
The uniform frowned. "Who are you?"
Hofton extended his ill. The officer slipped the disk into a palm reader, then showed it to the man in the suit.
"We are on Auroran embassy business, " Hofton said. "Unless you have specific issues that you are willing to state publicly, you have no legal grounds to detain us. Our passage is to Kopernik Station and we will be staying at the embassy annex there. I can cite you the relevant part of the diplomatic accommodations code if you like, but I believe you already know it. "
"There's no need to-" the man in the suit said.
"Identify yourself, sir," Hofton said. "Are you also Port Authority? If not, please produce a valid warrant."
"Warrant…?"
"If you wish to detain Mr. Avery, I believe a warrant is required-you may not do so on spec. If there is such a warrant, we are permitted to return to the Auroran embassy here for consultation with our law department. Mr. Avery is currently working under a brief from Ambassador Burgess. You may check that. The brief extends her diplomatic immunity to her agents. You may check that in the code as well. But you may not detain us while you do so unless you have a valid warrant."
"What is the nature of your visit to Kopernik?" the man in the suit asked.