"I need a single station," Derec said. "For one robot, full range diagnostic ensemble, and a large memory cache for an RI direct link. "
The Director's face lost expression. "Well…I don't see a problem…did you say an RI direct link?"
"Yes," Hofton said. "And it's quite heavy." Polifos wanted very much to watch while Derec set up the link to Thales, but his attention was divided by the work he had been supervising when Derec and Hofton first arrived. He was both relieved and disappointed when Derec made it clear that he wanted to work with Rana.
The instant Polifos returned to the huddle on the other side of the lab, Rana began reconfiguring a commlink station for Thales' requirements.
"I assume nothing's changed," she said, fingers moving deftly over the board.
"Thales' configurations? No, only location and peripheral memory cache. Here are the numbers." He scribbled out the address and the current parameters.
Rana frowned. "How did you get all of it into that small of a buffer? Thales must feel absolutely claustrophobic."
"Daily complaints. I didn't have much choice. The move into the embassy was rather hasty. I'm lucky it wasn't confiscated."
"I was going to say, I'm surprised you still have him."
"'Him'? That's very Spacer of you."
"I'm working on it. " She flashed him a smile. "I never expected to see you again. "
"Ever?"
"Well, not this soon, anyway. " She glanced over her shoulder, across the lab. "I'll see about having this area shielded. Then you can tell me what the hell is going on."
Derec followed her gaze. Hofton had left with Palen to fetch the robot. For the moment it was only Rana and himself and a couple of technicians on the far side of the room, intent on their own work.
"Is there a problem?" Derec asked quietly.
"Nothing overt. Rotij can be a pain sometimes." She shook her head.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Qualifying for Auroran citizenship."
"Seriously?"
"Perfectly. This is what I salvaged. Frankly, it's more than I ever expected. The TBI was really upset with us, you know. I have a chance to go to Aurora and maybe study at the Calvin Institute. It would have helped if…" Rana shrugged.
"If Ariel had retained some cachet?"
"To put it mildly."
"We're working on recovering some. That's part of what this is all about. "
Rana finished configuring the board. She pulled a cable from the case containing Derec's link and connected it to the console. She pressed a contact and waited. After a few seconds, she entered more commands.
"You're very good," Derec said.
"I should be. You trained me."
"I think you were a better student than I was a teacher."
Rana initiated a long encryption sequence, then turned to another, smaller board. She watched it briefly, touched one button, and sighed.
"All right," she announced, clapping her hands dramatically. "Unless someone is trying very, very hard, we're secure from eavesdropping. "
"Do you think anyone would?"
Rana gave him a wry look. "Our Ambassador Yart Leri is a jealous little god and is not at all happy at being kept ignorant about your mission. He wouldn't do it out of malice, just vanity."
"What about Rotij Polifos? He seemed unhappy about all this."
"This? Maybe. But one of our interns was arrested yesterday and he's naturally upset about it. I don't consider Rotij the jealous type. Not that way."
"I saw a Spacer in Palen's lockup. What was the charge?"
"Disorderly conduct. It doesn't mean anything, it's just an excuse for Palen to haul someone in for questioning. What her questions might be, who knows? Just have to wait for Masid to be released and find out."
"Polifos. Is he good?"
"Competent. Secretive. I don't know a lot about him-he never talks about himself."
"Anyone else I should be concerned with?" Derec asked.
"No one comes immediately to mind, but this is Kopernik. I doubt your presence is even known on the rest of the station, but I don't like taking chances." She glanced at her encryption, then sat down. "So. What is this all about?"
"We're doing a favor for Rega Looms."
He waited while Rana digested this. A smile worked at her face. "You are joking."
"No. Not in the least. Of course, that's not all of it. I don't know what it's about on Ariel's end, but Looms' problem apparently dovetails with a project Setaris gave to Ariel. Hofton will be returning with what looks like a standard DW-12 that witnessed a murder. It's collapsed, we need to see if we can recover anything. "
"I haven't heard about any murders. Not recently, anyway."
"Baleys. Fifty of them, looks like. You haven't heard anything because Palen is working on the same favor and keeping it silent as long as she can."
"How long has it been so far?"
"Two, two and a half days. I'm guessing."
"And how exactly does Rega Looms fit into this?"
"His daughter was one of the victims. "
Rana stared at him blankly. Then: "I see."
Derec coughed softly. "So, tell me about this Auroran citizenship."
Rana shrugged. "A gamble. When the dust settled last year, I applied for emigration. ITE refused, based on essential skills, but I couldn't get an employment stamp, either. So I went to Ariel and asked if she could help. A few referrals later, it looked possible that I could get Auroran citizenship due to the fact that I'm an undesirable. "
Derec started. "What?"
"I'm a positronic specialist." She grinned wryly. "Absurd, isn't it? But just the fact that I worked in a field that was for all intents and purposes outlawed on Earth put me in a special category of almost-but-not-quite foreign spy. I have the entire law in my apartment and I occasionally read through it for a laugh. Anyway, we started the data flowing. I've gotten this far, a transfer to Kopernik. The longer I work here, in this lab, the less desirable I become to Terran authorities." She smiled. "When the Aurorans here found out I was a positronics tech, they didn't know whether to believe me or throw me out. When they learned how I'd become one, they wanted to hand me off to someone else. Anyone else. Ariel got dragged back in. Her suggestion was to hire me as a contract worker and go from there. I've had to start the application process over three times now. I can't blame them for being cautious. But it's in the works now. My application has been forwarded to Aurora. All I have to do now is to continue proving that I know what I'm doing." She bobbed her eyebrows. "So that's where I stand. Waiting. Like I said, six months ago we upgraded the whole lab. I did most of the conceptual work with Rotij-who's very good, by the way. Rotij has added his name to my list of sponsors. "
"I'm glad. It would be interesting to watch you at the Calvin. "
"I might shake them up a little?"
"Just might. "
Rana smiled. "What about you?"
Derec shrugged elaborately. "Like you-waiting. Only difference is, I don't have any clear path. Ariel got my Auroran citizenship renewed, but there's some…complication… with the Terran authorities. I'm stuck in the embassy unless I want to be barred from Earth forever."
"I thought you were cleared of any charges?"
"Not quite that simple. This is Earth, after all. I suppose it would make everything easier if I just packed up and left."
"Would that be so bad?"
"I don't know. Yes…no…maybe. It's…I like Earth. For all its maddening irrationality, there's so much here. They have history. Thousands of years of history. There's something intoxicating about it." Derec felt clumsy, as if groping to make sense. "It's the first place I really came to know after I recovered from amnemonic plague. I might as well have been born here."
"I forgot about that. Sorry."