“Military azi.”
“Military azi, as in the azi who served in the armed forces.”
“Yes.”
“Question?”
“An alpha azi named Kyle AK‑36.”
“Giraud’s assistant. Correct?”
“I need to take him down. I need to deprogram Kyle AK‑36. I need advice.”
A small pause. Her heart picked up its beats, apprehension that the first Ari might not have any advice to give about the man who’d gotten through her defenses.
“This program can locate files on Kyle AK‑36. Proceeding.”
“Could Defense have reprogrammed Kyle AK‑36 while he was in the military? I have reason to believe Kyle AK‑36’s mindset no longer corresponds to his personal manual. His axe code failed.”
Another long pause. Longer than the first.
A mechanical voice, different than Ari One’s, said, “Base One is prepared to open file on Kyle AK‑36.”Then a synthetic female voice said: “Axe code failure. Causes: 1. Incorrect manual, 2. Block installed. 3. Psychset conflict. Choose one.”
“1,2, and 3. Psychset conflict. Report.”
“Psychset conflict: axe code failure. Three cases on record.”
“Print case files to local computer.”
“In process.”
“1. Incorrect manual, re Kyle AK‑36. Check and report.” She had a sip of coffee. She didn’t think it was the cause, either. Kyle had functioned well enough to be in Admin, in both a military and a civilian operation. A conflict tended to show. Running on an incorrect manual–showed.
“Manual on file corresponds with original manual.”
“Block, re Kyle AK‑36. Check and report.”
A much faster answer. “Information incomplete. Base One cannot access information from Defense secure system. Further attempts may leave trace.”
“Thank you. Base One. No further attempt. Method of removing a Defense‑installed block.”
A long pause. “Case record follows.”
“Physical print, Base One.”
“Printing. Transcript is three hundred and two pages.”
Her head hurt even thinking about it. But the print began shooting into the tray.
“Base One, Giraud failed to detect Defense Bureau block on AK‑36 when he used an axe code. Method of concealment of block: check and report.”
“Base One has no record of Giraud failure.”
“Well, he did fail, dammit.” She dropped her head into her hands. “Base One, did Ari ever successfully deal with a Defense Bureau block? if yes, did Giraud ever access that file?”
“First question: yes. Second question: Giraud’s Base insufficient to access Base One record.”
Well, therewas an answer. And he hadn’t gone to Ari. He hadn’t admitted failure. He might not have recognize it. Faced with dealing with an alpha, he hadn’t opened up his files and Denys’ to Ari’s close scrutiny, especially counting that Denys’ certificate was a damned lie. His secrecy would have been compromised if he’d let Ari into the manuals he had. Open one, all might have been of interest. Wasn’t that like Giraud, too?
“Note for Giraud Two: dealing with failure. Tell Base One. Dammit.”
“Recorded.”
She thought a few beats, while the printout flipped into the tray. “Base One, did Ari ever successfully deal with a Defense Bureau block in an alpha subject?”
“ Yes.”
“Print case file.”
“Printing. Transcript is three hundred and two pages.”
“Is that the same file currently printing?”
“Yes.”
Damned stupid computer. “Cancel second print. Continue.”
Same case. At least there were only three hundred two pages to read before she slept.
Catherine Lao was in the hospital with a coronary, a real one, and diminishing liver function. It was likely the tail end of rejuv. Nobody could locate her Proxy, who was either dead in Swigert Bay or hiding out under an assumed name, trying not to be dead, and it was getting chancy whether Yanni could muster the usual closely knit bloc of Reseune‑friendly vote’s on Council. Yanni could call the Council of Worlds into session–but that got into regional fights and vote trading between stations and Bureaus and it was just a whole either headache. They didn’t want to go to that, and get Pan‑Paris at odds again with Fargone… God, no. Yanni had done his job. Catherine Lao was asking Yanni to come to the hospital, and Ari’d told Yanni no, don’t go, just come home, but was he going to listen?
She couldn’t swear to it–because it Yanni wasgoing to call a Council of Worlds, it was more politic to do it from Novgorod; and because Jacques hadn’t gotten right onto the evening news and made Tanya Bigelow his Proxy Councillor…
God, it was a mess. And she, meanwhile, was wasting time trying to figure out who’d been responsible for killing her predecessor twenty years ago, which wasn’t relevant, and trying to make sure Yanni had good information, which was; and most of all trying to find out if Kyle AK had gotten some signal for some other kind of mayhem, beyond murdering her…which could relate to what he’d been into twenty years ago, when somebody, maybe the same people that wanted Khalid in office, had been politicking behind closed doors in the Defense Bureau, dealing with Jordan with one hand and arranging her predecessor’s murder with the other.
She took a headache remedy. She wasn’t supposed to. She’d do better going to the hospital herself, or just asking Wes to look her over, but her pupils looked the same size in the mirror, and she didn’t want to upset Florian by admitting he’d cracked her head that hard. So she just took the headache remedy and then threw up, and took another, with less water, which staved down.
It might not be smart. But it was what she had to do. Scan the files she had to absorb, make sure they were safe, and then have a long stint with deepstudy.
BOOK THREE Section 5 Chapter xii
AUG 2, 2424
0548H
Breakfast on a sunny morning in Novgorod…they’d been down to granola bars and coffee they made themselves, things from random vending machines, since they’d stopped trusting the hotel kitchens.
But after days of short commons, Quentin AQ, the Carnath girl’s Quentin, had showed up with a case of dried fruit, another of oatmeal, four cases of bottled water, five kilos of ground coffee, a case of orange drink, a commercial carton of real eggs, fifteen loaves of bread, a case of precooked bacon, five bottles of vodka, and a large carton of irradiated sandwiches that wouldn’t go bad for the next decade. Thatlot was a gift for which Yanni and Frank marked Amy Carnath down for future brilliance. They’d sent ReseuneSec down to the hotel kitchens to confiscate a portable grill, a room refrigerator, plates, silverware, and detergent, and ran their own kitchens in the diplomatic suite. A man named Bert BB‑7 and his partner took instruction from Frank on elementary cooking, managed not to overcook the eggs, which the Carnath girl had offered to resupply on call; and they’d three times hosted Jacques, damn him, who showed up with two aides and a lengthening list of concerns, the last over a supper meeting of grilled sandwiches, salted chips, and wine Jacques brought, while he and his staff stuck to the vodka.
In the first three meetings it had gone moderately welclass="underline" Jacques wasn’t sure of Bigelow and said there was some concern because the station Defense people weren’t happy with her, and they wanted to propose another candidate, a Tommy Kwesi, who’d been out at Beta…who would be here in a week.
“We can’t have this dragging on another week,” Yanni had objected, and then alter two days of arguing for him, Jacques revealed that Khalid was landing within the hour in Novgorod, and that Khalid absolutely refused to accept either Bigelow or Kwesi.