“But . . . traitors?!”
“Different people believe different things, Alice,” he said softly. “I’ve heard of people who hate the human race, don’t think it should exist.”
She stared at him, then shook her head, faster and faster, trying to deny it.
Papa shook his head, too, but sadly. “They’re there, Alice. Anyway, I’ve read about ’em.” After all, he couldn’t be sure he’d met any.
Alice turned away, walking down the street, numb and silent.
“That’s why we have to stick together,” Papa said. “All the rest of us.”
Alice nodded. “Because we’re not the only ones who are sticking together.”
“Oh?” he asked. “Who else?”
“Amalgamated and Interstellar—or their chairmen, at least. How else could they all be turning out duds, and all have the same prices?”
“By watching each other,” he answered. “Believe me, informal price-fixing is nothing new. They don’t have to get together and agree on a price. They just watch each other and make sure they don’t charge too much more than the other guy.”
“So.” She frowned. “And cost-cutting could work the same way?”
“Sure.” Papa shrugged. “ ‘If General can get away with twenty percent defectives, why can’t we?’ So they set the quality-control monitors lower, and they’re all producing the same.”
“So.” Alice turned away, walking through the swirling snow again. “One man is enough. Just one—if he’s chairman of the board of one of the Big Three.”
“Yes, one would be enough.” Papa matched her pace. “And he could just be pushing for maximum profit, and the hell with everybody else.”
“Could be,” she said, “but he’s not.”
Papa walked along beside her, matching her pace for a while.
Then he said, “How would you explain it?”
“By somebody telling them to produce as many duds as they can get away with,” she answered.
Slowly, Papa nodded. “That makes sense. So you think the chairman is taking orders?”
She swallowed heavily and nodded.
“From whom?” he asked. “One of the admirals?”
“No,” she said. “The Hothri.”
Papa stopped, stunned. Then his mind cleared and he nodded slowly. He didn’t have to ask why.
“There’s got to be evidence,” she said. “I’ll search the computers and find it.”
“Don’t you dare do any such thing! Any file you find would have such a loud alarm on it that you’d be strung up within minutes. No, you let me take it from here, Alice.”
“But I can’t just stand by and . . .”
“Alice.” Papa rounded on her, looking deeply into her eyes, his shoulders hunched, face solemn. “Since you started getting upset about flawed steel, the dud rate from all Arista’s industries has gone down from twenty percent to about five. You have probably saved the lives of almost as many young soldiers as the entire Medical Corps. They haven’t just been standing by—and you’re too valuable to risk.”
She stared up at him.
“Don’t worry,” he said gently. “The other companies cleaned up their quality control almost as quickly as Industrial did. No one suspects you yet.”
She paled. “Yet?”
Pepe nodded, his gaze locked with hers. “I’ve been worried about that. Wouldn’t take the risk. If there was the slightest sign, Alice, I’d ask you to quit.”
“But . . . if they’re really suspicious . . .”She stared at him. “Have they been following us?”
Pepe shook his head. “Believe me—I’d know if they were.”
“That’s right, you’re always so careful. But . . . Pepe!”
Her stare turned to a glare. “You’ve been seeing other women, haven’t you!”
He nodded, slowly and easily, eyes still on hers. “Of course, Alice. Of course. Wouldn’t want them to think I only had one girlfriend—they might start wondering where I get my ideas. As it is, it’s bad enough that I only date the other ones for maybe a month at a time, while I’ve been seeing you for more than a year now. Bad enough—but not too bad. There are always three or four I’m seeing.” He forced a smile. “Of course, I don’t do anything with them, beyond talking—but a shadow wouldn’t know that, would he? He’d never come inside a dorm to a room door”
“And you always see your ladies home,” she breathed. “So that’s why you never stay.”
“Not even for a drink,” he assured her. “Believe me, Alice, that’s the only reason.”
“Well, I wondered . . .”
“Uh, sorry.” Papa actually looked abashed. “Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
She decided not to ask him about kisses. After all, he had to make it look good.
“But it could have turned dangerous for you, see,” Papa said, “if anybody got the idea we were more than friends. As it is, Industrial might have some suspicions about you, but nothing dangerous—and if they do get nasty ideas, we can always pretend to break up.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“To make you safer? Of course I would.” He turned to face her, a pleading look, almost lost. “I know I’d risk losing you—but I’d rather you found another man than an early grave.”
She managed to keep looking sharp while she melted inside. “I won’t find either one! And we won’t need to break up.”
She turned away and marched down the street to keep her knees solid. Papa hurried to catch up.
“Besides,” she reminded him, “we never said we were going together, or anything. Nothing formal.”
“Can we go together?” he asked, very meekly.
She turned a radiant smile on him. “I thought you’d never ask! But we can’t be obvious about it.”
“No,” he confirmed. “That would be too dangerous for you. Nothing formal.”
He turned solemnly, and she waited, scared but thrilled, and he said, “That’s why I can’t propose, either.”
Peppy had told her not to, but the knowledge of his love inspired her. Besides, Alice was tired of being such a passive link, and perhaps a little guilty, too—she didn’t think she’d really been taking any risks.
Of course, she couldn’t ask Pepe to help her do what he didn’t want her to do—so she went to the technician who serviced her arm.
“You want a what?” He stared, incredulous.
“A video camera,” she repeated, “hooked to a memory chip, inside my arm. I do a lot of paperwork now, Jules. It’d make things a lot easier if I could just point my finger and make a copy.”
Jules sighed and shook his head in wonder. “Well, I must admit it’s a new one. Give me a week, Ms. Biedermann, okay?”
A week was time enough to make friends with her president’s secretary, who was friends with the chairman’s secretary. Then, over a month of lunches, she managed to work in a few questions about the chairman’s business trips. She relayed the information to Pepe and was very surprised when he became upset with her.
“You’re sticking your head into the lion’s mouth!” he stormed. “This isn’t the small time, Alice—these boys play dirty! Please keep out of it!”
Pepe knew that Alice was hurt. He apologized for being so nasty, and he made it up to her-but that only strengthened her resolve. Especially since she was sure he was putting her information to good use.
So she did a little investigating with her data screen—nothing definitely outside her bailiwick, though it was certainly on the border. Records of expense accounts; records of travel accounts—and she copied down the chairman’s expense records while she was busy being numb at the amount anyone trip cost the company. Rank had its privileges—and the private shuttle that was, for all intent, for the chairman’s use only, cost an almighty lot for anyone trip.