Bok walked away.
“Asshole,” the other, familiar, voice said softly. Then: “Are you awake?”
Derec did not move.
“This is unbelievable,” the other said. “Absolutely unbelievable.” He sounded strained, barely in control. “All this was supposed to be... damn. No one was supposed to get hurt and after the station they told me it was over, no one else would get hurt, and then... this is unbelievable.”
Now Derec opened his eyes. He lay on a thick pad, several centimeters from the floor, in some kind of stall. The light was dim and came from outside the small area, spilling over the contents unevenly. Across from him, sitting against a wall, was Tathis Kedder, his legs drawn up against his chest, one hand pressed flat against the floor, the other hovering by his mouth. He was staring out of the stall.
Derec recognized the space, then: the garage with the ambulances.
Kedder looked around and saw him. “You are awake.” Kedder stared at him for a time, then seemed about to crawl across the stall to his side. He made the first move, then changed his mind and pressed his back firmly against the wall and shook his head. “This isn’t my fault.”
“What isn’t?” Derec asked.
“This.” He waved a hand at Derec, then at the garage around them. “None of this. I had nothing to do with this.”
“Of course not. You only set me up to be abducted. Now it looks like you’re in about the same position I’m in. Except you’re not bound.”
Kedder swallowed loudly and started shaking his head in desperate denial. “I am not like you. I didn’t ask too many questions. I didn’t scan where I wasn’t supposed to. I did what I was told and nothing more. I shouldn’t be here!”
Derec waited for Kedder to calm down. “So, why are you here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I don’t.” Kedder glared, his eyes wide and moist. He rubbed a hand over his mouth and looked away. “All I was asked to do was to modify a couple of reports. It was research. That was all. Basic research, they said, the installation of a few extra components, nothing vital, attached to a couple of maintenance nodes. In the interest of--the money was very good.”
“Who asked you? Imbitek?”
Kedder nodded. “I looked over the specifications--there didn’t seem to be any harm, and it takes forever to get clearance for some of the simplest changes. Did you know that three years ago, we needed an upgrade in the lavatories? A new processing unit had to be installed specifically to handle the increase in Spacer traffic. A few new microbes had gotten into their systems and the standard purification filters just didn’t clean it all out anymore. Nothing serious, mind you, but it was a concern that should any of these flora get into the general sewage system, there could be a problem or two, so the request was made to upgrade. It took three months for the clearances. Do you have any idea how many people use the station facilities in a day? In three months, when you consider all the traffic, well, a major plague could have gotten started before the bureaucrats made up their minds. So when I was asked to help with this, well, you understand, it was with that in mind--”
“You were thinking of toilets and took the money. I understand. Makes perfect sense.”
Kedder blinked at him, frowning. “The money was very good. And frankly, I didn’t think I’d have a job for that much longer.”
“At Union Station? Why not?”
“Things... it’s a positronic unit--was--and I just couldn’t see it lasting. When I’d tell people what I did, most of them thought I was weird. A few called me a traitor. If the idea was to get people used to the idea of positronics it wasn’t working. And I was tainted. It occurred to me, Mr. Avery, that I might have trouble finding employment after the program shut down.”
“You were certain it was going to shut down?” Derec asked.
“Be serious. Did you think it would last as long as it did?”
“Senator Eliton--”
“Would do what his constituency told him to do. That’s his job, that’s what he’s paid to do. His numbers were dropping. If this conference succeeded as advertised, I imagine he’d be voted out of office. People don’t want positronics. They don’t want robots. They don’t want--”
“So why did you study it if that’s how you felt?”
“What? Oh. I--well, I didn’t always feel that way. But after working there and--I lost friends, Mr. Avery. I was a pariah among certain people.”
“Find new friends. Not everyone on this planet is a bigot.”
Kedder grunted and lapsed into sullen silence.
Derec licked his lips; his mouth felt dry and numb--leftovers from the anæsthetic. “So let me see if I guessed correctly. Imbitek paid you to allow them to install a few experimental components. Since they were already an authorized contractor on the project, you couldn’t see a legal problem, certainly not an ethical one. They offered enough money to assuage any other doubts you might have and, besides, they convinced you that the RI was temporary and afterward, if everything went well, you could have a position with them. So you agreed. You also helped them with locating the nodes they wanted. They even had a Solarian consultant to convince you that nothing would go wrong. You know your training in positronics isn’t on par with a specialist from Solaria, so this makes perfect sense. All you have to do over the course of the next several months is log any glitches that crop up and route the reports to the Solarian consultant rather than to the authorized service contractor--me.”
Derec tried to shift onto his side to make breathing a little easier, but without success. ”‘Adjustment errors,’ they told you--happens from time to time, nothing to worry about. Then it all blew up in your face when the attack on the conference delegates happened. You knew something to do with those systems had interfered with the RI and compromised security. You didn’t know what, you probably didn’t even know that it was supposed to do that. You only knew that something you had allowed to happen had caused a major disaster. I show up and you decide, on the spot, to say nothing. Maybe I’d conclude it was Imbitek’s fault, which I did. It never occurred to me to question you or Hammis, not till I found out that no directive had been issued by the Calvin Institute to route those ‘adjustment errors’ to them instead of me. Even then, I didn’t really think it was you. I thought you’d been lied to. I wanted to find out who’d done that. But now... let me guess, it was pointed out to you that your continued cooperation was necessary or the facts of your violation of protocol would be made public. You’d be lucky to escape imprisonment.”
Kedder sniffed. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”
“What about Hammis? Was he part of it?”
“No, he--I trained him. Sometimes I think he was better than me, but--he never knew. I think he suspected.”
“So you had him fired.”
Kedder shrugged. “Yes.”
“Where is he? His apartment’s been searched.”
Kedder gestured with his thumb toward the wall at his back. “In the next stall. Dead.”
Derec felt a chill grow down his back. “That means you’re next, Tathis.”
“Maybe.” He looked at Derec. In the half-light his tears glistened. “You’re only half correct about the Solarian. There was one, but he wasn’t introduced to me as a Solarian but an Auroran, someone on staff at the Calvin Institute. Later I checked because I found his name on the roster of the Auroran legation en route.”
“Tro Aspil?”
Kedder nodded. “The one I talked to was Solarian.”
“How do you know?”
“Accent. During my training and during the installation of the RI I talked to both Aurorans and Solarians. They sound different. It’s hard to define, but... I didn’t think anything of it at the time... Solarians work for Aurorans, there are Solarians at the Calvin Institute...”
“But none on Earth.”
“Not with the Institute, no.”
“So who was this man?”<
br />
“I don’t know. Just not Tro Aspil.”
How far does this go? Derec wondered. Imbitek, probably Mikels himself-no, certainly Mikels himself--and at least two Special Service agents. And a Solarian? It would make the installation of those growths easier, certainly. Then there were his present captors--Managins. Maybe.
“I’m sure they know I’m awake now,” Derec said. “So, could you help me sit up. This is a very awkward position.”
At first, it seemed Kedder would not move. Then he unfolded from the wall and quickly turned Derec onto his side and helped him up.
“Thanks.” Derec saw then that he was on an ambulance gurney.
Kedder resumed his position on the floor against the wall.
“So,” Derec said, “who’s Bok?”
“Bok Golner.”
“Am I supposed to know him?”
“He’s…dangerous.”
“So I gather. Managin?”
Kedder nodded.
“All the gunmen at Union Station?”
Another nod.
“All nine of them?”
Kedder shot him a startled look. “How--?”
“I wanted to ask the same question. Do you know?”
“Part of the... modification... to the RI. They carried holographic projectors, tied in to the RI communications network, just like all the robots and other security systems.”
“Everything became part of the game the RI was playing.”
“It couldn’t discern game targets from reality. The sensor feed was completely subsumed into the game, except for a couple of satellite systems. The trick was getting it to play the game long enough. It could go through a high order scenario in seconds. They needed minutes.”
“The adjustment errors.”
“Testing different games, different levels, different difficulties.”
“You figured this all out later?”
“In the last few days.” Kedder looked at him. “You’ve got to believe me”
“You never intended it to turn out this way. Of course I believe you. It doesn’t matter. Any way it turned out, it would have been your responsibility. Even if no one had been harmed, what you did was wrong.”
“Damn it, Mr. Avery--”
“Find absolution somewhere else. I’m not interested.” Kedder looked stunned. “You--but I thought--”
“You thought what? That confession brings instant forgiveness? I understand what you did, Kedder, but people died.”
“I didn’t know! They told me no one would get hurt!”
“And the money was good, so you believed them.”
Derec was not sure what reaction he expected, but Kedder suddenly launched himself off the floor. He slammed into Derec and both of them plus the gurney went over. Derec hit the floor solidly across the shoulders, his arms complaining sharply. Kedder tried to get to his knees but he could not stop himself from punching ineffectually at Derec, hitting the floor more than his face.
Running feet filled the stall, then grunting, and suddenly the weight was off him. Three men held Kedder while a fourth shifted an impatient gaze between him and Derec.
“Get him out of here,” he said, and Derec recognized Bok’s voice. “Put him next to his friend.”
Derec rolled slowly off his bruised wrists. Bok grabbed his shirt and hauled him to his feet with astonishing strength. He held Derec with one hand and righted the gurney with his other, then sat Derec down on the edge.
“Welcome back to the world of the waking,” Bok Golner said. “What did you do to piss him off?”
“Told him he was a killer.”
Bok Golner stared at him for a few seconds, then laughed. “No. He’s just a scared fool. I, on the other hand, am a killer, Mr. Avery. I’m very good at it. Now, you be good. I won’t be far away.”
As Bok Golner walked away, Derec let out his breath, not realizing till then that he had been holding it. He shuddered once, rolled his shoulders to ease the pain, then turned to examine the contents of the stall. Now that he was alone, he might be able to find a way out.
tactical parameters, multilevel facility, modifications from standard include unidentified internal security array, status standby; three additional access conduits, two in sublevels, one on topmost level; coded access monitor security level eight, recent manufacture, inconsistent with age of structure or registered usage; present status of structure occupied, census required, stealth mode active, surveillance initiated, defense mode on, census acquisition minimal First Law Violation, nominal Second Law Violation within acceptable parameters, negative Third Law Violation, proceeding maximum covert imperatives
sublevels, main level, second level, third level unoccupied, all stored equipment connected to maintenance systems on standby, four individuals on fourth level, armed, decommissioned military style stunners, model APS-4 7, comlink active and open, fifth level unoccupied, eight individuals on sixth level, one decedent, armed, APS-47 stunners, two nine-millimeter projectile rifles type unknown, identical to type previously noted, two military style blasters, model SIB-90, current standard issue, two operational transports, two individuals under restraint, one unidentified, one identified Derec Avery
First Law protocols assigned to primary, Derec Avery, initiating analysis for optimal retrieval
Besides a few odd bits of machinery, Derec saw nothing that could be easily used to cut his bonds. He curled his fingers palmward as much as he could and managed to brush against the cord around his wrists. Thin, probably a carbon-fiber analog, likely as not a molecular seal. Even if he had a knife it would be useless.
“Why did you bring him here?” demanded a brusque voice outside the stall.
Derec sat still and listened to the new voice.
“We were told to obtain and hold him,” Golner answered. “Where else would you suggest?”
“Try Manassas.”
“We weren’t told to move them that far.”
Derec recognized the newcomer--Cupra. The puzzle was assembling itself. Too bad he might not survive its completion.
“All right, let me talk to--”
“We were told to wait for instructions. We didn’t hear anything about circumventing the chain of command.”
“Be current, will you? We’ll be lucky if this doesn’t--”
“Doesn’t what? Cause an incident?”
The other Managins laughed.
“You could as easily,” Cupra went on, speaking a little louder, “have kept him at Kedder’s apartment. Why move him?”
“We brought Kedder, too.”
“You brought--you ass. We need Kedder.”
“I don’t see why,” Golner said.
“He’s our roboticist.”
“So?”
“So we have a robot. We retrieved the bodyguard.”
“What? How?”
“It was called in, wandering in the sublevels. Badly damaged.”
“It shouldn’t even exist anymore. That was a bubble nuke you used. Everything should have been--”
“It survived. Now we need Kedder to do a full vetting.”
“No one leaves till we hear word.”
“I’m going to get you word, Golner. Where’s Avery and Kedder?”
“Over there.”
“Captain,” another voice cut in. “There’s a problem. Point isn’t responding to check.”
“Perimeter?” Golner demanded.
“No breaks. Comlink is down. We--”
Derec heard a soft impact, like someone flopping to the floor for a nap. Then running.
“Hey--“
“Left! Left!”
The clatter of boots diminished, one pair at a time.
Derec tried to stand.
“No, no,” Golner whispered from behind him, his arm suddenly around Derec’s neck. The barrel of a pistol pressed against his right temple.
“I can’t run with my feet hobbled,” Derec said as calmly as he could.
The barrel shifted to the small of his ba
ck and the arm retracted. A second later the bindings around his ankles fell away. He put one foot forward and slammed the other back. It impacted with concrete, though, and Golner jerked him back and forth twice before wrapping his arm around Derec’s neck again.
“Very good, you have nerve. You‘ll never be fast enough.” The barrel returned to Derec’s temple. “What’s out there? Nothing human could get past our perimeter surveillance. Is that your toy?”
“I have no idea. You heard what Cupra said.”
“Cupra’s an idiot. You built that machine out of amalloy. I watched what it did at Union Station. Imitating damage wouldn’t be much trouble for it, would it?”
“How’d you have time to notice? You were so busy slaughtering people.”
“That wasn’t slaughter, Mr. Avery. That was surgery. Like any competent medic, I pay attention when I operate.”
“I don’t know where Bogard is,” Derec insisted.
Golner was silent for a time. The garage was still now. Derec heard nothing but a distant ventilator.
“It’s definitely not human,” Golner said. “We’re getting out now, Mr. Avery. You move when I move, stop when I stop. You mean nothing to me but a shield. Clear?”
Derec nodded.
“Good.”
“But you won’t make it. You aren’t fast enough.”
“You hope.”
Golner urged Derec forward, out of the stall. Derec tried to turn his head left to see down the aisle, but Golner jerked him to the light and frogmarched him toward the far wall.
“I’ll kill him!” Golner shouted. “You can’t stop me!”
“No?” a woman answered, off to the right.
Golner reacted. The barrel left Derec’s head to aim toward the voice. Derec bent forward against Golner’s arm and tried kicking him again. He missed again, but suddenly Golner released him, and Derec sprawled face down on the cold concrete.
He rolled left, quickly, until he came up against a wall.
When he managed to sit up, he saw Mia Daventri across from him, leaning on the divider between two stalls. Between them lay Golner--unconscious, limbs sprawled. Standing over him was Bogard, almost invisible in the dim light, the trace of its optical array slicing across its head, brilliant and white.
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