"Yes, thank you…"
Besides the receptionist, two robots occupied niches. No one else was in the room, and while she waited only two com messages came through. It was very much business-as-usual, as orderly as her own offices were chaotic.
Chassik's door opened and a man came out. He crossed in front of the reception desk and glanced at Ariel. He nodded politely, and left.
"Ariel," Chassik called from his doorway. "Good to see you. Come in, come in. I've been meaning to send you a formal congratulations on your promotion. I've been remiss."
"It's only temporary, Gale, nothing to get ceremonious about."
He smiled. "Who can say what's temporary these days? I've been a diplomat almost fifty years now, and I've seen far more 'temporary' changes become permanent fixtures than I care to think about."
"In that case," Ariel said, walking past him into his chambers, "I accept your apology and thank you for your sentiments. I-"
Jonis Taprin stood by one of the two chairs facing Chassik's desk. "Ariel." He smiled hesitantly.
"I believe you know each other," Chassik said as he resumed his own chair.
"Yes, of course," Ariel said. "Senator Taprin."
Jonis's smile faltered. "Ambassador."
Chassik seemed amused, but he said nothing. Ariel took the chair opposite Taprin and sat down.
"Forgive me not telling you that we'd have another party to our discussion," Chassik said. "Senator Taprin, being the successor to Senator Eliton, I think has a special interest in the events of the past week."
"Likely as not," Ariel conceded. "But what I have to discuss with you is confidential."
"Even from-?"
"Right at the moment," Ariel cut in, "I don't see that Senator Taprin has our best interests in mind."
"That's unfair, Ariel," Jonis said.
She looked at him evenly. "No? Your state police are still harassing Auroran nationals. I asked for a word from you to put a halt to it until we can sort out what's going on, and all I got was Terran phobias."
"Senator Taprin," Chassik said, "has come to me with a proposal for putting an end to the harassment."
Jonis's face was slightly red, but he held his temper. "I did talk to the head of TBI after our earlier talk. The investigation is not gratuitous, Ariel. A few of your people have been trading in illicit goods. The TBI is following up on an inquiry that began over a year ago."
"Let me guess. Just after the Tiberius incident."
"There are very specific laws concerning the possession of positronic robots on Earth," Jonis continued. "The TBI has found a number of violations."
"Are they looking into the same violations on the part of Terrans?"
"Ariel-" Chassik began.
"Why now? If this has been an ongoing investigation, why push it now? All they're doing is fueling a panic that could drive most of the Spacer population off Earth. With them goes any hope of improved trade relations, and with that, Earth stands to lose a great deal of money, not to mention risking future conflicts."
"Is that a threat?" Taprin asked.
"No, just a statement of fact. Don't pretend you don't understand me, Senator. Nobody wins from this. The only reason for the TBI to do what it's doing right now is to drive a wedge between Terrans and Spacers. They could just as easily carry out their investigation quietly and later, after we have the people in custody who have committed murder. Murder, by the way, against Spacers as well as Terrans."
"Yes, well…" Chassik pursed his lips. "There's the complication, Ariel. It seems that arrests are imminent."
"Oh?"
"It seems," Taprin said, "that the assault-the conspiracy-was Auroran in origin."
Ariel stared at him. "You have got to be joking."
"He's not," Chassik said. "What's more, they apparently have some evidence connecting you to it."
"Evidence? What evidence?"
"I'm not at liberty to-"
Ariel stood and glared down at Taprin. "Don't give me that, you son-of-a-bitch! Any evidence they claim to have is manufactured and you damn well know it!"
"Please, Ariel," Chassik said, "calm down. You're certainly in no danger, at least not from them. As long as you remain within embassy grounds they can't even question you."
"Question me about what? How dare you believe this, Gale! The assassins were Managins! Order for the Supremacy of Man Again! What possible connection can you make between them and me?"
"It concerns the contraband," Taprin said, marshalling himself. "Now sit down and I'll tell you what I can."
Reluctantly, fighting rage, Ariel made herself resume her chair. Taprin shifted in his own seat, as if physically trying to recover lost dignity.
"The TBI were looking at a man named Udal," he explained. "He operates one of the largest retail outlets for drones and automatons. They've suspected him of dealing in illicit positronics for some time. Earlier today, a facility was seized in the Convention Center District that contained a large stock of undeclared imports, including a cache of positronic brains. The shipment was linked to similar ones that have been traced to Udal's warehouse where he apparently has an operation to switch nonpositronic AI plants with these, converting an otherwise legal drone into a fully positronic robot. In the same facility was found a number of people who have been connected to the same group that did the killings at Union Station. Before Udal could be arrested, you had him picked up by your security people and brought under diplomatic cover to your embassy. You've had dealings with Udal in the past. You knew about the facility in question. You basically rescued Udal from imminent arrest. What else are we to conclude?"
"That possibly I was trying to shut down the same illicit trade?"
"If you were doing that," Taprin said quietly, "why didn't you come to me? I thought the whole point of this conference was to increase cooperation between us."
"Why?" Ariel snorted. "Quite obviously because I couldn't trust you."
"Ariel," Chassik said, "we can help-"
"Help with what?"
"The repercussions."
Ariel grew still. Not calm, no, but clear, understanding. "Perfect. This is perfect. I'm implicated in covering for the black market and in one stroke you discredit me, Aurora, and the Humadros-Eliton treaty. The political fallout reduces Aurora's influence on Terra, and Solaria steps forward to become the new broker of agreements, the defender of Earth-Spacer relations. And I walked right into it. I thought I was doing everything I could to avoid this kind of incident and I walked right into it. Very elegant. Neat."
"Ariel," Taprin said, "what are you talking about?"
"I suppose Derec Avery is implicated, too?"
The senator looked troubled. "Phylaxis has been servicing the illegal robots. Collusion at best. But-"
"Perfect. you know, if you worked this hard and this well to solve problems and do the right thing, the universe would-oh, hell, what am I saying? There's no profit to be made from that, is there?" She got to her feet.
"Ariel-" Taprin began.
"Ambassador Burgess to you, Senator."
Taprin snapped his mouth shut and paled. He shook his head and looked away.
"My offer to help remains open," Chassik said.
"I'm sure it does, Gale. I'll let you know later what you can do with it."
Ariel felt a slight trembling in her legs as she walked out of his office and left the Solarian quarter. She had badly wanted to tell them what she now knew, how elegantly they had not only compromised her entire position but given themselves away as well, but she did not know yet if that information could be used to her advantage. The parts assembled themselves neatly now. They could not have known that she would recognize the visitor who had left before Chassik had ushered her in to hear the sentence they handed her on her career. They could not know that she held his partner and that Mia Daventri, whom they also did not know was still alive, was interrogating him.
No, she was right to keep it to herself. A name was still missing-the keystone, the node that connected Taprin and Chassik to the man she had recognized as Special Agent Gambel. "Very clever," Mia agreed. "A perfect trap."