"Open," she said.
The door swung open, and Tonya and the man in his forties bowed, letting the older one through the door first. Claire wiped her hands on the kitchen towel and walked up to greet them.
The older man examined her, taking her measure. Age whitened his hair, and he walked leaning on a cane, by the eyes that looked at her from under the thick eyebrows remained sharp. He was carrying a satchel. The other man hovered protectively over him. She didn't recognize either of them.
Tonya approached. "Retainer Shannon, we are sorry to call on you so early in the morning, but our need is great. This is Doreem Nagi, our Building Elder, and Charles Monn."
Claire inclined her head, touching her forehead in a sign of respect. "Thank you for looking after my mother."
Doreem nodded to her.
"We seek your help," Tonya said.
"Please sit down." Claire led them to the couches. Everyone took a seat.
Charles reached into his shirt and pulled out a small tablet. On it an image of a blond teenage boy glowed. The boy's face wore the familiar Uley expression: a flat mask, betraying nothing.
"This is Edu," Charles said. "He's fourteen."
The image slid, turning into a portrait of a teenage girl. "Lada."
Another image, another child. "Karim."
"They are children from our building, refugees like us," Tonya said.
"They got into a fight at school," Charles said. "With some local kids. One of the local boys involved claimed that his dagger was stolen in the commotion. The dagger was found on the boy's desk the next day with a broken blade. The dagger is a family heirloom. The school is willing to overlook the fight, but the child's family is upset."
"The security forces took the dagger," Tonya added. "For trace testing."
"The children were questioned," Charles said. "None of the three is admitting to theft and neither are they denying it. They aren't speaking to authorities."
It was a familiar tactic: when in trouble, say nothing. "I see."
"If traces of their DNA are found on the dagger, they will be charged with theft and destruction of property. The charge violates their probation. The children will be taken from their families and deported," Charles said.
"Did they steal the dagger?" Claire asked.
"Yes," Doreem said. "Edu took it to punish the other child. Edu is my grandson. Karim and Lada helped."
"I see."
"We've offered to make reparation to the boy's family," Charles said. "In exchange for dropping the inquest. They declined."
"We ask you to..." Tonya fell silent and glanced at Charles. They looked at their hands, uncomfortable.
"We need your help," he said. "The results of the testing must be negative."
"You want me to log into the bionet and alter the trace analysis?"
"Yes." Tonya exhaled.
Claire leaned back. The Security Forces Database would be under a layered protection protocol of at least level three or higher. Cutting into it would be a nightmare.
"You are asking me to break into a security installation. It will be very well protected. There are defenses to be overcome. The precise manipulation of data will require time. It's a lot harder to alter data than to erase it."
"We've collected credits," Charles said. "From the families. We will gladly pay -"
He saw the look on her face and clamped his mouth shut.
"We have insulted you," Doreem said. His sharp eyes stabbed at her. "We ask forgiveness."
"Apologies," Charles bowed his head.
They thought that because she had left the building, she wouldn't understand. They thought she only cared about money. She understood. Every refugee from the building had conspired to save the children. That's what a community did in times of trouble.
"Please continue," Charles asked.
"Think of the data as being guarded by a pack of dogs," Claire said. "The AI defenses. If the pack sees me, they will attack and bark all together, making a lot of noise. This noise will bring men with guns, the actual psychers. To be able to do what you ask me to do, I will need help. I will need decoys that will draw the pack away from me."
"We have people," Charles said. "They are not combat-grade, but they can move through the bionet."
"They are utility repair people." Tonya said. "They used to check the bionet installations for the failing sectors."
Low-level psychers, with the mental talent too slight to be affected by the PPP. She'd encountered their type on the bionet before: they could move through it but they had never fought on it.
Claire sighed. "If we're discovered, every person involved will be deported. The children may survive. We will not. Melko will murder all of us."
"We understand," Charles said. "I'm one of those who will be going in with you. We can't do anything more than run, but we'll risk ourselves for the children. We will do everything we can to help you. If you choose to do this."
In her mind Claire was back in her mother's apartment, sitting by the bed, holding her mother's hand. The medic had given her less than twenty-four hours, and Intelligence permitted her this last visitation. She remembered everything in crystal clear detail. The dark spray of black marks on her mother's face. The smile on her mother's lips. Her mother's hair, clean and braided away from her face. Her mother's voice. "I'm content, sweetheart. I'm tired, and it's time to go. Don't cry. I didn't suffer. They say the passing will be peaceful."
Logging into bionet meant risking everything. Her job. Her life. Other lives she took with her.
The debt had to be repaid. If she succeeded, she would give three children another chance at life. If she failed...
She had to succeed.
"When was the dagger taken for testing?"
"Last night," Charles answered.
"What time last night?"
"At the end of the school day," Tonya said.
"Take the credits you gathered and rent a large hotel room in the largest hotel you can find," she said. "If asked, tell them you are having a meeting to welcome new refugees in the community. If not asked, say nothing. Pick someone who can pass for a native and have them purchase a portable liquid interface hub, Grade Five or higher. We will need the bionet cognizance units as well. If asked why, say that you are planning a game party on the bionet. We will need a medic and we will need protection for our bodies while we're logged in. Don't involve anyone who can't be trusted to stay quiet. This needs to be done tonight, before the lab personnel return to work on Monday."
Claire walked down the polished tile of Hotel Aldebaran's sixteenth floor hallway. Charles had chosen well — the three towers of Aldebaran catered to businessmen and families. People strolled back and forth, parents with children heading toward the hotel's pools, tourists going out to explore the city. Nobody paid her any mind.
She approached the door marked 1672 and rapped her knuckles on the plasti-steel. It swung open and Charles let her inside. The suite's main room was wide and devoid of furniture. A three-foot tall hub sat in the middle of the room, an ornate metal pedestal in a shape of three nude women, each supporting the container of dark-grey liquid interface with her left hand and fondling herself with the right.
Claire raised her eyebrows.
"It was on sale," Charles said.
Doreem sat in the lone chair in the corner. He nodded to her. To the left of him stood a young man with a strong resemblance to Karim, one of the children in trouble.
"Kosta," Charles said. "He's Karim's brother and one of your team."
Kosta looked barely eighteen.
"This is Zinaida," Charles said, bowing slightly to an older woman with startling blue eyes. She nodded back.