"You?"
"Seth Canobil Hospice and Social Rehabilitation Center. Lifelong resident. I graduated from there before entering the Academy."
Ariel seemed to think about that for a time. "All right, so you were both orphans. This police officer, Wenithal, was investigating a kidnapping. Children were stolen from orphanages and eventually sent offworld. To Nova Levis?"
"Maybe. " He stared out the window for a time. "What is it we're supposed to be stopping Nova Levis from doing with this blockade?"
"You're insisting you have the right to on-ground inspection. You're looking for pirates."
"'You'? I thought Aurora was backing Earth on this one."
Ariel shrugged. "You notice we haven't sent any ships."
"Point taken. "
"Where was Nyom Looms taking her baleys?"
"Nova Levis."
Ariel nodded. "I think we should have a talk to this police officer. "
"I agree. But I'm not sure what good he is. His information is a couple of decades old. "
"If Spacers are involved, that's meaningless. They can be very patient. "
"'They'?"
She shrugged. "Sometimes I don't feel very much like one of them." She frowned. "But this might be the very same case your Mr. Wenithal was investigating. It may be that whatever was going on then has just come back home. If it ever really stopped. Why did he resign?"
"I don't know." Coren sighed. "There's something else."
"Always. "
Coren laughed. "No, I mean another coincidence. I did a background on the warehouse where Nyom connected to her killers. I tried to find the dockworker who met them-a man named Yuri Pocivil. I did a trace and found out he was a Settler immigrant. From a colony called Cassus Thole."
Ariel stared at him. "The same as?"
"I don't know. Interesting coincidence, don't you think? The fact is, he came to Earth six years ago-from Cassus Thole. Along v nth a good number more who all work for the same company. Six years ago. Long after Cassus Thole supposedly became Nova Levis. So either there are two colonies with the same name-"
"Or there's a problem inside ITE. Your acquaintance, Brun Damik-do you think…?"
"It's something I intend to check into now."
"I think we need to find out what else this Hunter Group owns as well. Maybe we should ask Mr. Wenithal what corporations came up in his investigation."
"Settlers, Spacers, and Terran companies. Rather unusual circumstances that could bring them all together."
"In my experience, profit explains such anomalies nicely."
"But profit from what?" Coren asked.
"Kidnapping from orphanages."
"But-"
Ariel pointed. "That disk I gave you has a full screening of a blood sample taken from the finger joints of the robot Nyom Looms had with her."
"Blood."
She nodded. "We typed it, scanned it, and ran a match. It seems Nyom Looms had a brother."
Sixtwwn
The cab let them out in front of Lanra's building. Ariel followed him up the stairs to his office. The building showed considerable age-the stairs worn where countless feet had pressed upon them, dust accrued in corners, an uncovered access to conduit and wiring long unrepaired-but it seemed moderately well maintained. Cleaner than she might have expected in this old neighborhood, which lay on the outskirts of the Infant District, just off the Southwest Corridor of D.C.
A light glowed above Lanra's fourth floor office door, illuminating a nameplate-COREN LANRA, I.S.I.
"Do you have any neighbors here?" Ariel asked.
"An industrial cleaning firm," Coren said, gesturing toward the other lighted door down the hall. "The floor below is empty. Three businesses on the one below that. Two below that."
"And above?"
"Storage. Past tenants left stuff, paid to have it stored. Or not, but management kept it all anyway. "
He let them in.
"It's a more prosperous district than that," he continued, "but there are only so many lawyers to fill available office space." He shrugged. "A lot of tenants have left in the last year. I don't know why."
"Trends are merciless."
He nodded distractedly. "Especially on real estate. Wait here a moment." He pushed through the inner door, to a private office. Ariel heard a brief verbal exchange and wondered if he had a secretary. The thought annoyed her for some reason. "All right, come in," Coren called.
When she stepped through the door she found Coren seated behind a broad desk, its surface illuminated by a touch-sensitive grid. He had taken off his jacket and was absently rubbing his left shoulder. Ariel studied the desk.
"That's impressive," she said.
"And as expensive as it looks. Sit down." He leaned over the desk then and started entering commands. His fingers danced deftly.
"AI?" she asked.
"Yes…" He inserted the disk Ariel had given him into a reader slot. A flatscreen extruded on one corner of the desk. Coren studied it. "The DNA is a close match…what are these other things? Proteins?"
"Derec hasn't finished his analysis yet. Proteins, yes, but there are a few puzzles-for instance, a high concentration of myralar. "
"What's that?"
"A polymer, synthetic. A distant analog of nylon. It's used in robotics for joints, pivots, dry lubricant. Apparently the robot you found grabbed someone. We found the blood samples mixed with these other materials in its fingers. "
Coren frowned at the screen. His fingers worked. "Not Nyom, but…"
"Very close."
Coren 's glance flicked over her, a hint of irritation. "I didn't think robots could hurt anyone. "
"Not intentionally, no."
"So where did the blood come from?"
Ariel shook her head. "We'll have to wait for Derec's excavation before we know that. "
"You're so sure it couldn't have been the robot."
"Not that robot."
"And you don't believe in my second robot."
"I didn't say that. "
Coren grunted. His eyes closed for several seconds. Ariel began to think he had just fallen asleep when he straightened abruptly in his chair. He winced as he stood.
"I'm sorry, " he said, "would you like something to drink?"
"You're hurt."
Coren nodded. "I was rolled in Petrabor."
"When was this?"
"The last time I saw Nyom, when she left. " He walked stiffly toward another door. "I think I could stand a drink, if you don't mind. "
"You didn't say anything about being attacked."
He shrugged and went through the door. Ariel heard the faint sound of liquid on glass, then a deep groan. Silence stretched. Ariel went to the door and looked in.
Coren sat on a long divan, a drink perched on his right thigh, eyes shut. An open bottle sat on the low table before him. She lifted it to her nose and sniffed. Bourbon. She found a row of glasses on a shelf above a small liquor cabinet. She poured three fingers and studied the room.
Shelves, a pair of closet doors, another chair, a set of drawers. It reminded her of the monk's hole Derec had kept on the premises at Phylaxis.
Last year…ages ago…
A box lay open on top of the table. Ariel stared down at a collection of images of a young woman, almost gaunt, but with a bright smile and large eyes. She looked vaguely familiar.
Looms, she realized.
Coren cleared his throat. Ariel looked to see him watching her, a worried frown creasing his forehead. She picked up the top image.
"Nyom?"
He nodded.
Ariel dropped the picture. "This isn't a case file."
"Nyom wasn't a case."
"You're not doing this for Rega?"
"Partly. Mostly I'm doing it for myself."
"It's personal, then."
"Very."
Ariel pulled the chair close to the table and sat down across from him. "What's that like?"
Coren pulled himself straighter and set the glass on the table. "I don't think this is relevant."
"Maybe not to the universe at large, " Ariel said with mock gravity. "But I'm interested."