Come now, Scholar Huld. A moment ago you were regaling us with stories of muons and pions, and now you expect us to believe you dont understand simple radio broadcasting?
I didnt say I dont understand it, said Adikor. Its just that Ive never thought about the issue thats been raised.
Bolbay was behind him again. Never thought about the fact, that, while down there, for the first time since your birth, there would be no record available of what you were doing?
Look, said Adikor, speaking directly to the adjudicator, before the orbiting Bolbay blocked his line of sight again. I havent had cause to access my own alibi archive for countless months. Sure, the fact that my actions are normally being recorded is something Im aware of, in an abstract sense, but I just dont think about it every day.
And yet, said Bolbay, every day of your life, you enjoy the peace and safety made possible by that very recording. She looked at the adjudicator. You know that as you walk at night, the chances of you being the victim of robbery or murder or lasagklat are almost zero, because theres no way to get away with such a crime. If you charged thatwell, say, that I had attacked you in Peslar Square, and you could convince an adjudicator that your charge was reasonable, the adjudicator could order your alibi archive or mine unlocked for the time span in question, which would prove that I am innocent. But the fact that a crime cannot be committed without a record of it being made lets us all relax.
Adikor said nothing.
Except, said Bolbay, when someone contrives a situation to secrete himself and his victim in a placepractically the only placein which no record of what happens between them could have been made.
Thats preposterous, said Adikor.
Is it? The mine was dug long before the beginning of the Companion Era, and, of course, weve used robots to do the mining for ages now. Its almost unheard of for a human to have to go down into that mine, which is why weve never addressed the problem of lack of communication between Companions there and the alibi-archive pavilion. But you set up a situation in which you and Scholar Boddit would be in this subterranean hideaway for great spans of time.
We didnt even think about that.
No? said Bolbay. Do you recognize the name Kobast Gant?
Adikors heart pounded, and his mouth went dry. Hes an artificial-intelligence researcher.
Indeed he is. And he will state that seven months ago he upgraded both your Companion and Scholar Boddits, adding sophisticated artificial-intelligence components to them.
Yes, said Adikor. He did that.
Why?
Well, um
Why?
Because Ponter hadnt liked being out of touch with the planetary information network. With our Companions cut off from the network down there, he thought it would be handy to have a lot more processing power localized in them, so that they could help us more with our work.
And you somehow forgot this? said Bolbay.
As you said, replied Adikor, his tone sharp, it was done months ago. Id gotten quite used to having a Companion that was more chatty than usual. After all, Im sure Kobast Gant will also state that, although these were early versions of his companionable artificial-intelligence software, his intention was to make it available for all those who wanted it. He expected people to find it quite helpful, even if they are never cut off from the networkand he felt people would get used to it quickly, so that it would soon be as natural to them as having a dumber Companion. Adikor folded his hands in his lap. Well, I rapidly got used to mine, and, as I said at the outset, I didnt give much thought to it, or to why it had originally been necessary but wait! Wait!
Yes? said Bolbay.
Adikor looked directly at Adjudicator Sard, seated across the room. My Companion could tell you what happened down there!
The adjudicator leveled a steady stare at Adikor. What is your contribution, Scholar Huld? she asked.
Me? Im a physicist.
And a computer programmer, is that not so? said the adjudicator. Indeed, you and Scholar Boddit were working on complex computers.
Yes, but
So, said the adjudicator, I hardly think we can trust anything your Companion might say. It would be a trivial enough matter for one of your expertise to program it to tell us whatever you wanted it to.
But I
Thank you, Adjudicator Sard, said Bolbay. Now, tell us, Scholar Huld, how many people are normally involved in a scientific experiment?
Thats a meaningless question, said Adikor. Some projects are undertaken by a single individual, and
and some are undertaken by tens of researchers, isnt that true?
Sometimes, yes.
But your experiment involved just two researchers.
Thats not correct, said Adikor. Four other people worked on various stages of our project.
But none of them were invited down into the mine-shaft. Only the two of youPonter Boddit and Adikor Huldwent down there, isnt that right?
Adikor nodded.
And only one of you returned to the surface.
Adikor was impassive.
Isnt that right, Scholar Huld? Only one of you returned to the surface.
Yes, he said, but, as Ive explained, Scholar Boddit disappeared.
Disappeared, said Bolbay, as if shed never heard the word before, as if she were struggling to comprehend its meaning. You mean he vanished?
Yes.
Into thin air.
Thats right.
But theres absolutely no record of this disappearance.
Adikor shook his head slightly. Why was Bolbay pursuing him so? Hed never been unpleasant to her, and he couldnt imagine that Ponter had ever presented him to Bolbay in unfavorable terms. What was motivating her?
Youve found no body, said Adikor, defiantly. Youve found no body because there is no body.
Thats your position, Scholar Huld. But a thousand armspans underground, you could have disposed of the body in any number of places: putting it in an airtight bag to keep its smell from escaping, then throwing it down a fissure, burying it under loose rock, or tossing it into a rock-grinding machine. The mine complex is huge, after all, with tens of thousands of paces worth of tunnels and drifts. Surely you could have gotten rid of the body down there.
But I didnt.
So you say.
Yes, said Adikor, forcing calmness into his tone, so I say.
The previous night, at Reubens, Louise and Ponter had tried to devise an experiment that could prove to others whether what Ponter had claimed was true: that he came from a parallel world.
Chemical analysis of his clothing fibers might do it. They were synthetic, Ponter had said, and presumably didnt match any known polymer. Likewise, some of the components of Ponters strange Companion implant would almost certainly prove unknown to this worlds science.
A dentist might be able to show that Ponter had never been exposed to fluoridated water. It might even be possible to prove that hed lived in a world without nuclear weapons, dioxins, or internal-combustion engines.
But, as Reuben had pointed out, all those things would simply demonstrate that Ponter didnt come from this Earth, not that he came from another Earth. He could, after all, be an alien.
Louise had argued that there was no way life from any other planet would so closely resemble the random results evolution had produced here, but she conceded that for some, the idea of aliens was more acceptable, and certainly more familiar, than the notion of parallel universesa comment that prompted Reuben to say something about Kira Nerys looking better in leather.