"You can have it."
A short silence. Then, "That was easy."
"I mean it. Take the punking thing. It's yours."
"Well, that's settled." Another pause. Then the voice said cautiously and a little wonderingly, "You'd really hand it over with no fuss?"
"Absolutely. It's worth nothing to me. In fact, it's been nothing but a liability. Besides, no one has any idea what the thing is. Odds are it's not a Roadmap."
"Yes, there's no telling what it is. But it's worth a great deal. To me, anyway."
"Why?"
"Well, my original deal with the Colonial Authority still stands, I suppose, which is that I deliver you or the Roadmap or both to them in exchange for immunity from unpersonhood. But seeing as how the Authority wasn't entirely straight with me, I don't feel entirely obliged to hold up my end of the bargain."
"How did they doublecross you?"
"It wasn't a doublecross per se. More a matter of withholding pertinent information. They didn't tell me anything about the Black Cube."
"Maybe they didn't know about it," I suggested.
"I'm pretty sure they did. If Darla's story about getting the Cube through the dissident network is true, and if key people within the network have been subjected to Delphi scans, they'd have to know about it. Mind you, I've pieced this together from snippets of conversation I've overhead since I came on board. I'm fairly sure you think they know about it."
I saw no use in denying it. "You're right."
"And when the deal was struck, it was emphasized that they wanted you alive. And they wanted your truck, too. That tells me they were very interested in searching for something hidden on board or on your person. What I don't understand is why they didn't tell me about the Cube. I was ready to hand Winnie over to them, which of course would have elicited gales of laughter."
"It might be a question of timing, Corey," I said. "When did you cut your deal with the CA?"
"Several months ago. Two or three. There was a prolonged period of negotiation."
"Uh-huh. Well, according to Darla's timetable, they ran the Delphi on Assemblywoman Marcia Miller only a month or so ago. They could have found out about the Cube then."
"Yes, there is a time element to be considered here. Hmm." A long pause. "I think you may be right; Jake. When I bargained with them, they may only have had rumors to go on. Rumor had it that you were in possession of a Roadbuilder artifact, a Roadmap. They knew it wasn't Winnie―of course they neglected to tell me―"
"No one knew or could have predicted that Winnie would come along on this trip. Our picking her up was a total fluke."
"So I gather. As I was saying, at the time the deal was cut, the Authority may only have known that you had a Roadmap, nature unspecified. A few months later, they find out about the Cube."
"And naturally enough," I said, "they thought the Cube was the map."
"Naturally enough. But they should have told me, dammit." He sounded hurt.
I laughed. "And have you wind up with it? Tell me you wouldn't have demanded that your deal be renegotiated just a tad.
"I'm truly embarrassed: You're right, of course."
"You should be, you sneaky son of a bitch. When you had us aboard the Laputa, even I didn't know that Darla had the Cube. She seemed to have thrown in with you guys then."
"Yes, the cunt. I'd be wary of her, Jake."
"I am."
"But…" The voice did an imitation of a weary sigh. "But wouldn't I have wound up with the Cube anyway?" A thoughtful interlude. "No, I guess not. I never suspected for a moment that Darla had it."
"No, you didn't, and you wouldn't have as long as you had to string Darla's father along in believing that all the brouhaha was for the purpose of protecting your little drug-running scheme."
"I see your point. Talk about not being in the know. That fool… that contemptible idiot. And then he goes and shoots me, for Christ's sake."
"His finest moment."
"Really, Jake. But it still seems to me I would have found out about the Cube eventually. Wasn't the Authority taking an awful risk? After all, they didn't know Darla was carrying the Cube. Did they?"
"I'm not sure," I said. "Maybe they did. If not, though, I'll bet that when Miller spilled her brains they got really worried. That was probably when they dispatched Petrovsky to get the Cube. Your deal was rendered null and void then."
"Ah, Petrovsky. Yes, I see. I see." The voice clucked mournfully. "It all does seem to fit together, doesn't it? Marvelous bit of deduction, Jake."
"Elementary, my dear shithead."
"Please, Jake, it's been amicable so far."
"I don't feel the least bit amicable toward you," I said.
"I suppose not. Can't say that I blame you. And I must admit that I've bumbled through this whole affair shipping no small amount of merte in my cranial compartment. I made some bad moves."
I was amazed. "The real Corey Wilkes would never make an admission like that."
"No? I guess not."
"I have a question for you."
"Shoot," the voice said.
"Why did the Authority agree to hire you to catch me? Why didn't they assign Petrovsky to me in the first place? Or any other part of Militia Intelligence―or anybody else for that matter. Why you?"
"A couple of reasons," Wilkes' voice answered. "For one, I happen to be one of the highest ranking Militia Intelligence officers around, have been for years. I hold the permanent rank of Lieutenant-Colonel-Inspector. Plainclothes division of course, undercover section."
I smiled, nodding. "Sam and I always suspected you were an MI agent."
"So you see, all this has been in the line of duty, don't you know."
"Of course."
"Also, the road and everything that happens on it is my bailiwick, and what with my past association with you, I would have been the natural choice anyway."
"I see. Sounds logical enough."
"And Petrovsky… if he's still alive. He's in bad odor with the Authority generally, by dint of his lifecompanion's having turned up as a double agent. He was hardly their first choice."
"Right." I took my legs down from the dash, sat sideways on the chair and crossed my legs. "Well, what now?"
"Don't really know, Jake," the voice said. "I'm playing this strictly by ear. I suppose you hand over the Cube, then―"
"I want Sam back first."
The voice was placating. "You'll have him back, Jake. Don't worry."
"If you've done anything to him…"
"I said don't worry. He's fine. I simply erased him from main memory. His VEM is in perfect working order and you can load him back in anytime I give the word. In fact―" A long pause. "In fact, even as we speak, Sam is doing something strange down at the microcode level. Hmm. Now, how the hell…?"
I grinned evilly.
"I'll be damned," Wilkes' voice said in awe. "I sensed that this hardware had three-dimensional system architecture, but there was really no way I could… Well, look at that, look at that."
"Anything interesting?" I asked after waiting a few moments.
"Very. This is really strange. If they had only had more time back at the garage… Amazing. What could he be doing?"
"If you can't take a castle by escalade," I said, "you dig under the walls."
"Apt metaphor." The voice did an approximation of an admiring whistle. "Could he be setting up a simulation of his VEM in microcode? No, that'd take him years."
I laughed.
"No? I don't understand-" The voice made a noise like throat-clearing. "Well, I can see Sam is going to do his best to worry me to death at least, if he can't do anything else―so, let me do this… and this."
The voice was silent for about thirty seconds.
"There, that ought to hold him. I hope. Wily old Sam."
"I still want him back first," I said.
"Now, wait a minute, we still have some bargaining to do."