"Terrans?" Derec asked.
"Settlers," Polifos said. "We needed to find a cure. To do that we needed to find the vectors and we needed to understand the nature of the host system. We set up Nova Levis as a research lab in prostheses to cover the actual research into the new plague."
"And what was the vector?" Harwol asked.
"Only certain colonies. We found a series of enzyme deficiencies that produced chronic conditions that were treatable but rendered the system vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Those colonies tended to be the smallest and most isolationist. The influx of new colonists had been cut off for a variety of reasons-diplomatic, financial, other things. We were afraid that the plagues might adapt sufficiently well to become generally virulent and infect us. It was a small population that was at risk. We found a vaccine that was communicable by touch and could be spread through viral transfer."
"How did you get around the immigration barriers?" Harwol asked.
"Baleys," Derec said.
Polifos nodded. "Slipped them in through the back door."
"What about the infants?" Masid asked.
"We continued our research on them. We found that the diseases had reworked their basic genetic structure in some cases, demanding augmentation in key organs. We thought we were finding a cure. We found that the disease had left us with an organic system perfectly suited to the introduction of symbiotic machine prostheses. But it was a holistic approach. We couldn't fix one organ, we had to address the entire system."
"You started playing with positronics," Derec said.
Polifos nodded. "We got them through our Solarian contacts."
"That means you. You're Solarian."
Polifos shook his head. "I was born here, on Earth. My parents were Solarian and I kept my citizenship, but I've never been there. "
"Then who was your Solarian contact?"
"Through the embassy mission. I never knew who."
"Why was the lab shut down?" Palen asked.
"We started getting infants in large numbers. We'd developed a method of introducing self-sustaining support into the organic matrix, freeing them from the massive support systems they'd been forced to live in. The babies showed up, we'd refit them, and then they'd disappear. Director Holani was our head of staff. She found out they were going offplanet. She started demanding to know what was going on. She threatened to go public. That's when everything was closed down."
"So how does this explain that thing Baxin's working on?" Palen demanded, gesturing in the direction of the cyborg's remains.
"We stumbled on a process that would enable us to fuse machine and organic systems. The vonooman infection opened the way for the introduction of fully symbiotic artificial components. Puberty alters too much for reintroduction-a lot of it is mitigated by viral infections, RNA recompositions, stuff like that-but from infancy, we found we could grow a composite organism to adulthood. That's when the traffic in infants increased."
"So that thing may have been one of your patients?"
"May have," Polifos admitted. "I went to the Aurorans when my colleagues started dying. I told them what was going on. They took me in and hid me." He looked around at them. "I don't want to die."
"Where's the work being done now?" Derec asked.
Polifos frowned.
"Where are the cyborgs being grown now?"
"A sister lab was built on Cassus Thole," Polifos said. "A transfer point for baleys to the other colonies where the plague was taking root."
"Cassus Thole?" Palen asked. "I never heard of that one."
"It's an old name," Masid said. "It's now called Nova Levis. " Yuri Pocivil did not try to run when he saw the cyborg corpse. He swallowed, hard, and stared at it. Slowly, he turned to Palen.
"I don't know anything," he said.
"You worked the baley run out of Petrabor," Palen said. "You worked with this thing. We have documentation on it, so don't bother lying. "
"I'm just a dockworker, that's all," Pocivil said.
"Running baleys?" Masid asked.
"Baleys, drygoods, food, manufactured components-it's all just cargo. My job is strictly dockside. I don't know anything."
"You know who pays you," Palen said. "You know your contacts. You get your assignments from somewhere."
"I also know what 'dead' means," he said.
"You should, " Derec agreed. "You already are. That was coming to kill you. " He nodded toward the cyborg. "You know that. "
After a time, Pocivil nodded. "I got caught. That's against the rules. "
"So why protect them?" Palen asked.
Pocivil shrugged. "A gato's got to have standards."
"Pretty low ones, in your case, " Masid said. "You know all those baleys were murdered. The last shipment you sent up here."
Pocivil sighed. "Shit. I guess it doesn't matter. You won't find them, anyway. "
"Why not?" Palen asked.
"Because the operation is over. It's being shut down. I was on my way home when your people grabbed me."
"Shut down," Derec said. "You mean, no more baley runs? No more-"
"Nothing, no more anything. They're closing up shop. It's over."
"Why don't you tell us where and who, then?" Palen asked.
Pocivil let out a long, shuddering breath and turned away from the autopsy theater. "What do you want to know first?" Derec watched through the transparency as Polifos assisted Baxin in removing the brain and brain stem from the cyborg body. He finally realized what bothered him about the scene: the colors were all wrong. The blood was nearly purple, organs were gray or bronze colored, nothing looked like it came out of a human body.
He glanced back at the robot. Thales/Bogard remained nearby, silently observing the same operation.
"What do you think, Thales?" Derec asked. "Or should I call you Bogard?"
"Either, both, or some new name," the robot replied. "What do I think about what, Derec?"
"This," Derec said, gesturing at the cyborg.
"I have not decided yet."
"What do you mean?"
"The cause of Coffee's collapse was due to a misidentification. It believed that it was intervening against a robot. When he injured the being and realized that it had just assaulted an organic form, it naturally recoiled, assuming it had just attacked a human."
"Assuming? "
"I am not certain this construct qualifies as human."
Derec felt a disquieting coldness form around his thoughts. He stared at the robot for a long time.
"You be sure to let me know when and what you decide," he said finally.
"I shall, Derec."
Twenty-Six
Ariel felt intense relief upon seeing Coren Lanra.
He slumped in one of her sofas, head propped on one hand, elbow on the sofa arm, eyes half-lidded. He looked profoundly weary, fighting sleep. He smiled crookedly when he saw her, and made an effort to sit straight. He put weight on his left arm and winced.
"As long as you're here," Ariel said, "we're getting that shoulder looked at."
"No time," Coren protested. "I had an interesting talk with the police last night. "
"Don't avoid the issue, you have no choice. I won't continue this with a damaged partner."
His eyebrows raised. "When did we become partners?"
"I'm not sure. Am I assuming too much?"
"That depends."
Ariel ignored a spike of annoyance. "It always does." She started unsealing his shirt. "You 're still getting looked at. "
"That was never a question. " He smiled.
Ariel hesitated. Then, impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed him, very quickly and lightly, on the mouth. Coren stared at her, startled and, she thought, pleased. She continued removing his shirt.
"What have you been doing since Taprin?" he asked.
"Hiding for the most part. Turn around."
"The police surgeon said it's cracked." '
The bruise was spectacular. "Is there some point you need to prove by finishing this in pain?"