“Why can’t you just wait for me? What’s therush?”
I wished I knew who or what would bereviewing the recordings of this conversation, but it seemed apretty safe bet that Yoshio Nakada wouldn’t be on the alert list;after all, if ’Chan was right, everyone in Nightside City thoughthe was dead, and the old man himself had said he had no reliablecommunication with anyone on Epimetheus.
“’Chan, I made a deal to get you out as mydown payment. I don’t start the investigation until you and Dad areon Prometheus. You think my client’s willing to wait untilsunrise?”
“So put it on hold! Go ahead and do your job,then come back for me.”
“You really think I’ll be able to findNakada’s killer?”
That stopped him dead.
“Oh,” he said. “I assumed… I mean, Ithought… I always thought you were pretty good at what youdo.”
“I’m not bad,” I said. “But think aboutit-someone went after Yoshio Nakada. You asked me when Istarted working for people who have their own ships, and I tried toclick past it, but you had a good point. I’m a widget. I’m going totry, I’m going to put in an honest effort, but I’m just an ordinarydetective. I can’t hack the universe’s code. Anyone who could getpast Nakada’s security can probably hide her tracks well enoughthat I’ll never find her. My client’s playing a long shot, hiringme. If that long shot comes in, if I find whoever’s behind it, thenwe’re smooth, I get paid and you get a free ride to Prometheus, but’Chan, what if it doesn’t pay off? I can’t ask for a fee I haven’tearned.”
“Well, you could ask,” he saidwryly.
“But I wouldn’t get it. But if I get you offEpimetheus now, that’s my deposit, I can keep that. Getit?”
“I get it,” he acknowledged. “And Iappreciate the try, Carlie, but it’s not going to work. I’m stuckhere. Find Dad, take him back to Prometheus with you, do your job,and if you pull it off you can come back for me, and if you can’t,hey, I’m no worse off than I was an hour ago.”
I sighed. I wasn’t ready to give up, but Ialso saw I wasn’t going to convince ’Chan of anything unless Icould bring something new to the conversation, something I hadn’tthought of yet. “Fine,” I said. “Can you help me find Dad?”
He shook his head. “No. I didn’t evenremember the name of the company. I don’t know anything more thanyou.” He glanced at the wall display. “I need to get back towork.”
“When do you get off? In case we want totalk.”
“Midnight. But I’ll probably be too tired todo anything but sleep, and what is there to talk about?”
I grimaced. “Probably nothing,” I said, “butI’m keeping on open mind.”
“You do that, Carlie.” He headed for thedoor. “And see if you can find out who killed Yoshio Nakada. Dothat, and we’re all set.”
“Yeah. I’ll try. Good night, ’Chan.”
Then the door closed behind him and I wasalone in the break room.
I looked at the wall. The hype for SeventhHeaven was still displayed.
“Locate nearest human-operated office forSeventh Heaven,” I said. I thought I’d do better persuading a humanto cooperate than software.
The hype vanished, and a map appeared, withdirections. I snorted.
Seventh Heaven had an office directly underthe Ginza. Very handy for the gamblers whose luck ran out. All Ihad to do was go back up the service corridor and out into thelower level of the casino, then take an elevator down two storiesinto Trap Under and follow the signs. I trotted out the door andheaded for the casino.
When I reached the turn where I didn’t headfor the door I’d come in through, a voice said, “You are notauthorized beyond this point.”
“I’m heading to an office down on B3,” Isaid. “Seventh Heaven Neurosurgery. Nothing to do with IRC or theGinza.” I kept walking.
For an instant, it didn’t reply. Then itsaid, “If you diverge from your announced route, you will beescorted from the premises and risk trespassing charges.”
“I love you, too,” I said. “I won’tdiverge.”
And I wouldn’t. I wasn’t giving up on mybrother, but I wasn’t going to be able to fly him away as easily asI’d hoped. For now, I was going after Dad, and once I had him, Iwould worry about ’Chan.
I told myself I should also look into thisstory that Yoshio Nakada was dead. If I could trace it back to itssource, that might tell me something useful. I didn’t really thinkI could clean out the conspiracy; I’d told ’Chan the truth aboutthat. I was operating far beyond my specs, and I knew it.Grandfather Nakada must have known it, too, but hiring me hadn’tcost him anything he couldn’t easily spare, so why not? Play enoughlong shots, and eventually one of them will come in.
I wondered what other programs the old manwas running. Surely, I wasn’t the only one.
But whether I was the only one or not, I’dbeen hired to do a job, and I was going to do my best to do thatjob.
I wished I had my old office com, in myoffice out on Juarez. It had all the software I’d need to rootthrough half the data on Epimetheus. I’d brought a selection of mybest wares with me from Alderstadt, but that wasn’t the same ashaving the network I’d spent years building up here in NightsideCity.
I swung open the door and stepped out ontothe casino floor, where a flood of sound and color flashed over me.The slap of cards on felt, the buzz and clatter of a hundreddifferent randomizers, and the hum of voices filled the air. So didglittering visual come-ons of every sort, stardust swirls andimages of naked women and flashing holograms of personal cardsshowing million-credit balances, bouncing balls and playing cardsand tropical beaches.
It made me homesick. Oh, Alderstadt andAmerican City had their share of advertising, but it wasn’t thesame as the Trap-Alderstadt closed down at night, and American Cityseemed to do everything in pink and silver. Nightside City had itsown style. I’d had a glimpse of it during the cab ride from theport, but it hadn’t really sunk in the way this view did. Thecasino was like a miniature version of the view of Trap Over I’dhad from my old office.
But I wasn’t allowed to diverge from myroute, so I couldn’t stop and take it in. I couldn’t poke around. Ikept moving.
As I made my way toward the elevator Iwondered what had become of the place on Juarez after I left.
Then I told myself I was being an idiot. Iknew what happened to it-nothing. Juarez was in the burbs west ofthe Trap, and sunlight was already crawling down the western rim ofthe crater that sheltered the city. Most of the west end wasalready abandoned and empty. There was no way my old landlord hadfound another tenant.
I stopped in my tracks as a thought hitme.
There was no way my landlord had foundanother tenant. My old office would be standing empty. Had he evenbothered to change the codes, or clear out my old furniture? Thatcom system I had been missing might still be there. Oh, I’d shut itdown when I left, but I hadn’t taken the time to wipe it properly;there wasn’t much on it I’d cared about enough to make sure it waserased.
That was something I might want to check outwhile I was in town.
Right now, though, I was headed down intoTrap Under to find Seventh Heaven and my father’s still-breathingremains. I started walking again, ignoring the floaters that werestarting to cluster around me, offering free drinks, or a buy-inbonus for the tables, or discounted admission to the privateshows.
The elevator was feeling chatty when Istepped in, but I didn’t listen as it started telling me about allthe delights Nightside City had to offer. “Down,” I said. “LevelB3.”
The doors closed, and once it heard that Iwas headed lower the ads changed mood. “Rough night?” the elevatorasked. “We’ve got options-credit on easy terms, service contracts,a dozen ways to get back in the game.”
“I’m here on private business,” I said. “Shutup.”
“Yes, mis’.” Then it shut up. Some places theelevators would have kept talking, but the Ginza was a classoutfit.
The door opened on a quiet corridor carpetedin a restful shade of blue, with walls that shimmered gently. Adisplay hung in the air, directing me to the Ginza’s financialcenter and personnel offices, an organ broker or two, and SeventhHeaven Neurosurgery. I reached up and tapped that last one, and itturned orange. Orange arrows appeared in the carpet, as well.