“Inco will certainly put you up at the Ramada,” added Gillian.
Mary was clearly taken aback. “I …” But then she seemed to reconsider. “Sure,” she said. “Sure, why not?”
Chapter 16
Now that Jasmel had agreed to speak on Adikor’s behalf, the next step should have been for him to take her out to the Rim and show her the scene of the so-called crime. But Adikor begged Jasmel’s indulgence for a daytenth or so, saying there was one more errand he had to run here in the Center.
Ponter, of course, had had Klast as his woman-mate; Adikor remembered her fondly, and had been very sad when she’d died. But Adikor had a woman of his own, and she, wonderfully, was still very much alive. Adikor had known the lovely Lurt Fradlo as long as he’d known Ponter, and he and Lurt had one son, Dab, a 148. Still, despite knowing her that long, Adikor had only occasionally been to Lurt’s chemistry lab; after all, when Two became One, it was a holiday and nobody went to work. Fortunately, his Companion knew the way, and it directed him there.
Lurt’s lab was made entirely of stone; although there was only a small chance of an explosion in any chemistry lab, safety dictated making the structure out of something that could contain blasts and fires.
The front door to the lab building was open. Adikor walked in.
“Healthy day,” said a woman, doing, Adikor thought, an admirable job of hiding her surprise at seeing a man here at this time of month.
“Healthy day,” replied Adikor. “I’m looking for Lurt Fradlo,”
“She’s down that hall.”
Adikor smiled and headed along the corridor. “Healthy day,” he called, as he stuck his head in the door to Lurt’s lab.
Lurt turned around, a big grin on her lovely face. “Adikor!” She closed the distance between them and gave him a hug. “What a pleasant surprise!”
Adikor couldn’t remember ever seeing Lurt during Last Five before. She seemed perfectly sane and rational—and so had Jasmel, for that matter. Maybe this whole Last Five thing was overblown in men’s minds …
“Hello, beautiful,” said Adikor, squeezing her again. “It’s good to see you.”
But Lurt knew her man well. “Something’s wrong,” she said, releasing him. “What is it?”
Adikor looked back over his shoulder, making sure they were alone. He then took Lurt’s hand and led her across the room to a couple of lab chairs next to a chart of the periodic table; the only other animate entities in the lab were a pair of spindly robots, one pouring liquid between beakers; another assembling a structure out of pipes and glassware. Adikor sat down, and Lurt took the seat next to him.
“I’ve been accused of murdering Ponter,” he said.
Lurt’s eyes went wide. “Ponter is dead?”
“I don’t know. He’s been missing since yesterday afternoon.”
“I was at a flensing party last night,” said Lurt. “I hadn’t heard.”
He told her the whole story. She was sympathetic, and never expressed disbelief in Adikor’s innocence; Lurt’s trust in him was something Adikor could always count on.
“Would you like me to speak for you?” asked Lurt.
Adikor looked away. “Well, that’s the thing. You see, I’ve already asked Jasmel.”
Lurt nodded. “Ponter’s daughter. Yes, that would impress an adjudicator, I should think.”
“That was my thought. I hope you don’t feel slighted.”
She smiled. “No, no, of course not. But, look, if there’s anything else I can do to help …”
“Well, there is one thing,” said Adikor. He pulled a small vial out of his hip pouch. “This is a sample of a liquid I collected at the site of Ponter’s disappearance; there were buckets of it on the floor. Could you do an assay on it for me?”
Lurt took the vial and held it up to the light. “Sure,” she said. “And if there’s anything else I can do, just ask.”
Ponter’s daughter Jasmel accompanied Adikor back to the Rim. They went straight to the nickel mine; Adikor wanted to show Jasmel exactly where her father had disappeared. But when they got to the mineshaft-elevator station, Jasmel looked hesitant.
“What’s wrong?” asked Adikor.
“I—um, I’ve got claustrophobia.”
Adikor shook his head, confused. “No, you don’t. Ponter told me how when you were little, you liked to hide inside dobalak cubes. And he took you caving last tenmonth.”
“Well, um …” Jasmel trailed off.
“Oh,” said Adikor, nodding his head, getting it. “You don’t trust me, do you?”
“It’s just that … well, my father was the last person to go down there with you. And he never came back up.”
Adikor sighed, but he could see her point. Somebody—some private citizen—had to accuse Adikor of the crime, or the legal proceedings could not continue. Why, if he now got rid of Jasmel and Megameg and Bolbay, perhaps there would be no one left to press the accusation …
“We can get someone to go down with us,” said Adikor.
Jasmel considered, but she, too, must have been thinking about how everything took on new significance during a time like this. Yes, she could ask for an escort—someone she really knew, someone she trusted implicitly. But that person might be called for questioning, too, if this went to a full tribunal. “Yes, adjudicators, I know that Jasmel is speaking on behalf of Adikor, but even she was too frightened of him to go down into the mine alone with him. And can you blame her? After what he did to her father?”
Finally, though, she managed a small smile—a smile that reminded Adikor a bit of Ponter’s own. “No,” she said. “No, of course not. I’m just edgy, I guess.” She smiled more, making light of it. “It is that time of month, after all.”
But as they approached the elevator station, a particularly burly man emerged from behind it. “Stop right there, Scholar Huld,” he said.
Adikor felt sure he’d never seen the man before in his life. “Yes?”
“You’re thinking of going down to your lab?”
“I am, yes. Who are you?”
“Gaskdol Dut,” said the man. “My contribution is enforcement.”
“Enforcement? Of what?”
“Of your judicial scrutiny. I can’t let you go underground.”
“Judicial scrutiny?” said Jasmel. “What’s that?”
“It means,” said Dut, “that the transmissions from Scholar Huld’s Companion are being monitored directly by a living, breathing human being as they are received at the alibi-archive pavilion—and they will be so, ten tenths a day, twenty-nine days a month, until if and when his innocence is proven.”
“I didn’t know you were allowed to do that,” said Adikor, shocked.
“Oh, yes, indeed,” said Dut. “The moment Daklar Bolbay lodged her complaint against you, an adjudicator ordered you placed under judicial scrutiny.”
“Why?” said Adikor, trying to control his anger.
“Didn’t Bolbay transfer a document to you explaining this?” asked Dut. “An oversight, if she didn’t. Anyway, judicial scrutiny ensures that you don’t attempt to leave this jurisdiction, tamper with potential evidence, and so forth.”
“But I’m not trying to do any of those things,” said Adikor. “Why won’t you let me go down to my lab?”
Dut looked at Adikor as if he couldn’t believe the question. “Why not? Because your Companion’s signals won’t be detectable from down there; we wouldn’t be able to keep you under scrutiny.”
“Marrowless bone,” said Adikor, softly.
Jasmel crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I’m Jasmel Ket, and—”
“I know who you are,” said the enforcer.
“Well, then, you know that Ponter Boddit was my father.”
The enforcer nodded.
“This man is trying to rescue him. You have to let him go down to his lab.”
Dut shook his head in astonishment. “This man is accused of killing your father.”