"May have," Polifos admitted. "I went to the Aurorans when my colleagues started dying. I told them what was going on. They took me in and hid me." He looked around at them. "I don't want to die."
"Where's the work being done now?" Derec asked.
Polifos frowned.
"Where are the cyborgs being grown now?"
"A sister lab was built on Cassus Thole," Polifos said. "A transfer point for baleys to the other colonies where the plague was taking root."
"Cassus Thole?" Palen asked. "I never heard of that one."
"It's an old name," Masid said. "It's now called Nova Levis. " Yuri Pocivil did not try to run when he saw the cyborg corpse. He swallowed, hard, and stared at it. Slowly, he turned to Palen.
"I don't know anything," he said.
"You worked the baley run out of Petrabor," Palen said. "You worked with this thing. We have documentation on it, so don't bother lying. "
"I'm just a dockworker, that's all," Pocivil said.
"Running baleys?" Masid asked.
"Baleys, drygoods, food, manufactured components-it's all just cargo. My job is strictly dockside. I don't know anything."
"You know who pays you," Palen said. "You know your contacts. You get your assignments from somewhere."
"I also know what 'dead' means," he said.
"You should, " Derec agreed. "You already are. That was coming to kill you. " He nodded toward the cyborg. "You know that. "
After a time, Pocivil nodded. "I got caught. That's against the rules. "
"So why protect them?" Palen asked.
Pocivil shrugged. "A gato's got to have standards."
"Pretty low ones, in your case, " Masid said. "You know all those baleys were murdered. The last shipment you sent up here."
Pocivil sighed. "Shit. I guess it doesn't matter. You won't find them, anyway. "
"Why not?" Palen asked.
"Because the operation is over. It's being shut down. I was on my way home when your people grabbed me."
"Shut down," Derec said. "You mean, no more baley runs? No more-"
"Nothing, no more anything. They're closing up shop. It's over."
"Why don't you tell us where and who, then?" Palen asked.
Pocivil let out a long, shuddering breath and turned away from the autopsy theater. "What do you want to know first?" Derec watched through the transparency as Polifos assisted Baxin in removing the brain and brain stem from the cyborg body. He finally realized what bothered him about the scene: the colors were all wrong. The blood was nearly purple, organs were gray or bronze colored, nothing looked like it came out of a human body.
He glanced back at the robot. Thales/Bogard remained nearby, silently observing the same operation.
"What do you think, Thales?" Derec asked. "Or should I call you Bogard?"
"Either, both, or some new name," the robot replied. "What do I think about what, Derec?"
"This," Derec said, gesturing at the cyborg.
"I have not decided yet."
"What do you mean?"
"The cause of Coffee's collapse was due to a misidentification. It believed that it was intervening against a robot. When he injured the being and realized that it had just assaulted an organic form, it naturally recoiled, assuming it had just attacked a human."
"Assuming? "
"I am not certain this construct qualifies as human."
Derec felt a disquieting coldness form around his thoughts. He stared at the robot for a long time.
"You be sure to let me know when and what you decide," he said finally.
"I shall, Derec."
Twenty-Six
Ariel felt intense relief upon seeing Coren Lanra.
He slumped in one of her sofas, head propped on one hand, elbow on the sofa arm, eyes half-lidded. He looked profoundly weary, fighting sleep. He smiled crookedly when he saw her, and made an effort to sit straight. He put weight on his left arm and winced.
"As long as you're here," Ariel said, "we're getting that shoulder looked at."
"No time," Coren protested. "I had an interesting talk with the police last night. "
"Don't avoid the issue, you have no choice. I won't continue this with a damaged partner."
His eyebrows raised. "When did we become partners?"
"I'm not sure. Am I assuming too much?"
"That depends."
Ariel ignored a spike of annoyance. "It always does." She started unsealing his shirt. "You 're still getting looked at. "
"That was never a question. " He smiled.
Ariel hesitated. Then, impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed him, very quickly and lightly, on the mouth. Coren stared at her, startled and, she thought, pleased. She continued removing his shirt.
"What have you been doing since Taprin?" he asked.
"Hiding for the most part. Turn around."
"The police surgeon said it's cracked." '
The bruise was spectacular. "Is there some point you need to prove by finishing this in pain?"
Coren laughed sharply. "I told you I made an appointment with my doctor. You didn't answer my question."
"Nor did you." She stood, his shirt in one hand. "But you will have that looked at."
He shook his head. "I need to talk to Jeta. Tresha. Whatever her name is. Where is she?"
"Three floors down, under guard. She'll wait."
He tried to stand. "Then I have to go to Nova Levis."
Ariel frowned. "The colony?"
"No, the lab."
She pressed down on his shoulder. He winced but sat back down. "Don't bother. It really was dismantled." She turned toward her robot. " Jennie? Who's working the infirmary now?"
"I don't suppose I can reason with you," Coren said.
"Dr. Jerios," the robot replied.
"Of course you can," Ariel told Coren. " Just do what I say. Thank you, Jennie. Let her know I have a patient for her-we'll be right down. And bring me a robe, please."
Coren let his head fall back. "Can't she come here?"
"She can; her equipment can't. Come on. Up. One more trip before you can sleep."
"Make up your mind, will you? Up or down." Coren grunted as he got to his feet. He stumbled. "Oops. One stim too many, I think. What do you mean, Nova Levis was dismantled?"
"What I said. After it was closed down, the facility was gutted and converted to its present use. There's nothing there." Ariel took his right arm and guided him toward the door. " Jennie, route my calls to the infirmary."
"What about Wenithal?" Coren asked.
"He's fine. Same floor, separate quarters, under guard."
"Guard?"
"Infirmary first. "
"I need to talk to Tresha first. "
"No, first-"
"She's not Jeta Fromm." Coren disengaged from Ariel. "The police identified Jeta's body in Lyzig. We need to speak to Tresha now."
Ariel regarded him for a moment. "All right. We can stop there on the way. "
"Fine."
They continued on down the corridor to the elevator.
"Ambassador Burgess?" he said.
"Yes."
"Thank you. "
"For what?"
Coren smiled. "The list is too long. Just say 'you're welcome."'
"You 're welcome. "
The elevator let them out on the guest floor. Ariel led the way to the rooms.
A tall, uniformed Auroran stood outside each of two doors along the corridor. Ariel led Coren to the nearest. The guard bowed slightly and stepped aside.
Tresha sat on the bed, pillows behind her, watching the subetheric across the room. Ariel glanced at what was being broadcast-it was a very old hyperwave drama; she remembered it vaguely, something based loosely on the first modern Terran permitted to visit a Spacer world after the long quarantine of Earth-and stepped in front of the set, blocking the woman's view.
"I hope you're here to apologize," Tresha said as she touched the remote to switch off the subetheric.
> "For what?" Coren asked. "Not recognizing you sooner?"
The woman laughed. " Just who is this 'Tresha' person you keep talking about?"
"You tell me," Coren said. "I'd like to know why she killed Jeta Fromm."
"Tresha shook her head. "Look-"
"Jeta's body was found…and identified."
Tresha stared at him, eyes narrowed. Finally, she shrugged.
"Why kill her?" Coren asked. "She was just a data troll."
"Why worry about her?" Tresha returned. "She was, as you say, just a data troll."
"Did Mikels order it?"
Her eyes widened briefly. Then she shrugged again. "If you know so much…"
Ariel said, "We have both Kyas Vol and Yuri Pocivil in custody. Your cyborg is dead-it's being dissected even as we speak. So, if you want to play guessing games, it's all right with me, but we don't have to participate."
Tresha pursed her lips. "You 're talking to the wrong person, gato. I don't know anything."
"Nonsense," Coren said. "You were the contact for Damik and Wenithal. You handle all the legwork on the ground."
"So the messenger is supposed to know what the message is?"
Ariel waited for Coren's move. He said nothing. Tresha looked at him, then at Ariel, her eyes no longer so certain.
"Ask," Tresha said.
"Why'd you kill Jeta?"
"She was nosy. She poked around into the wrong places."
"How'd you pass for her in Lyzig?"
"They didn't know her. I moved in there shortly after we terminated Fromm."
"Why take her place?" Ariel asked.
"Common sense. If one commission for that data had come her way, more might. I wanted to find out how many vectors there were leading to that information. "
"And the baleys?" Coren asked quietly.
Another shrug. "I don't think I'll answer that."
"Do you think you're getting out of here without answering it?" Ariel asked.
Tresha smiled thinly in response, then looked at Coren. "I understand your ex-lover died on that last run. For what it's worth, I apologize. It wasn't personal."
"That's very comforting," Coren said tightly. "You've been tidying up, haven't you? Closing things down. Were you going to kill Wenithal when you showed up at his apartment?"
Tresha touched the remote again and turned up the volume. Music swelled.
"Your cyborg is dead!" Coren shouted.
Tresha looked at him and shook her head. "We're done." She smiled briefly, then ignored him.
Coren stalked out of the room.
"Who's the Solarian in charge?" Ariel asked. When Tresha continued to ignore her, she spun around and jabbed the OFF on the subetheric. The sound died instantly. "The Solarian in charge," she repeated. "Who is it?"
Tresha sighed. "You 're not as bright as I thought. "
"Do you have any idea what it is you're playing with?"
Tresha snorted derisively. "Oh, please! Is this going to be an appeal to my naivety, or just my conscience?" She sat forward. "It's all power, Ambassador-raw, absolute, overwhelming, carnal, irreducible power. Do I know what I'm playing with?" She grinned. "I'm not playing, Ambassador."
She stabbed the remote again, once more filling the room with sound.
Ariel found Coren waiting in the corridor, his back to the wall.
"Do you want to talk to Wenithal?" she asked.
"No. Let's get my shoulder looked at first." He said no more till they arrived in the embassy infirmary, where two robots placed him on a gurney and pushed him into a diagnostics bay.
"What's the problem, Ariel?" Dr. Jerios asked as she tapped commands into her console. "He looks like he needs about three days' sleep." Jerios frowned at her. "So do you, by the way."
"That would be a good start. But I need him up and alert by morning. He's been running on stims and painblock for about four days now. His left shoulder is-"
"Cracked," Jerios said. "My word, how did this happen?"
"He was grabbed by a very strong hand."
Dr. Jerios shook her head skeptically, gazing at the scan image. "Some hand. I can see why he's in pain. All right, I can pump healant and accelerant into this. Actually, the stim saturation will be harder to deal with. He should be allowed to sleep it off."
Ariel shook her head. "No time."
"Then he's going to be very grumpy."
"As long as he's alert."
"Oh, he'll be alert. I hope you get along well if you have to work together tomorrow."
Ariel looked at Coren through the transparency separating them. He looked asleep now, his face relaxed as the robots carried out Jerios's instructions.
"I think we get along well enough, " Ariel said. In a whisper, she said to the sleeping Lanra, "You 're very welcome. " "Ariel, there is an emergency comm message for you," R. Jennie said.
Ariel opened her eyes. For a moment, she did not remember where she was; then realization came. She was in her own apartment, still fully dressed. Coren was asleep in the guest bedroom. She blinked at her robot.
"A message from…?" she asked groggily.
"Security."
Ariel snapped to her feet and crossed the room. She slapped the ACCEPT on her comm. "Ambassador Burgess here."
"We've had a break-in, Ambassador," the security officer said. "Two guards have been found unconscious, a third dead. We're sealing the embassy grounds and alerting staff. Please stay in your apartment-"
"Negative. Send extra security to the protected apartments. The two people I brought in last night-"
"We've already dispatched extra personnel there. I am to advise you-"
She broke the link and ran out the door. The scene she found when she stepped onto that floor shocked her. At least five guards lay broken along the corridor. Both apartment doors stood open.
Tresha was missing. No real surprise there, Ariel thought angrily.
She found Wenithal in his bathroom. He was dead-eyes staring blindly, head tilted at an awkward angle.
"Damn!" she shouted.
Behind her, more security officers rushed by in the corridor. She knew, though, that Tresha was long gone. The security recordings of the corridor showed the guards entering the hallway. They joined the two already on station. Minutes later, something caught their attention from the direction of the elevator. Their hands, almost as one, went to their sidearms, but they began falling, one by one, twisting around, writhing in pain, thrown to the floor. Two of the guards managed to fire shots, but they, too, were suddenly seized by some spectral force and crushed.
After they had all been subdued, Tresha's door opened, and she emerged. She rushed up the corridor to Wenithal's room and entered.
The view showed no one emerging.
"Masked," Coren said.
"But before or after the attack?" Ariel asked.
"After," Coren said. "We never saw her leave the room before the attack, so that means she had help."
They watched the recording on Ariel's subetheric. Coren lay propped up in her bed, his left shoulder covered by a thick pad. He had slept nearly six hours. Ariel knew he was angry that she had let him sleep while her people had scoured the embassy for the woman who had pretended to be Jeta Fromm, but he had said nothing in rebuke.
"No one saw her leave the embassy," Ariel said, "but we can assume she's gone. The question is: where did she-or they-go?"
"Petrabor maybe, " Coren said glumly. "Tell me about Nova Levis."
"I had a long talk with Ambassador Setaris last night. I hate it when I'm treated like a child who can't be told the truth." Ariel let herself experience the anger and irritation-she had felt during and after her meeting with Setaris. Just for a few moments, while she composed her thoughts.
"We've known that Solaria has a compound on the ground on Nova Levis for several years, but until now we had no idea what it was or what they were doing. Just an enclave on an island, away from the Settler towns and cities. A lot of traffic in and out. Nothing we could do
anything about. It was a Solarian holding originally, and they then let it to a Settler colony, so we had no legal grounds to go in there to investigate. Several years ago, though, when the first talks began between Earth and Aurora to try to reconcile our differences, we were able to share data on black market trade. Nova Levis was interesting because it seemed to be acting as a haven for several of the ships suspected to be regular contraband runners. Aurora made a few tentative inquiries with Solaria, Solaria offered to look into it, and what followed was a series of reports telling us that nothing illegal was happening on Nova Levis. Then the Tiberius incident happened."
"That's what precipitated last year's conference?" Coren asked.
Ariel nodded. "One of the things. A Terran smuggler challenged by an Auroran police cruiser. For whatever reason, it had drifted into our space and we insisted on inspection rights. They refused and were fired upon. The Tiberius was on its way to Nova Levis. Among the facts that did not become public was that several Solarian nationals were on board-primarily positronics specialists, but also a few geneticists. We decided then to push for more cooperation with Earth as a first step toward forcing Solaria to open up."
"Which blew up in everyone's face."
"Solaria will not allow ground inspections of Nova Levis. "
"I thought Nova Levis was refusing."
"Same thing, as far as we're concerned."
"So why hasn't Solaria's involvement been made public?"
"Games. Aurora can't risk war with Solaria until we know who our allies are. Or how much of the Solarian government is involved. We have to pretend to accept everything at face value until we have the proof necessary to convene a general council of the Fifty Worlds."
"And the Theians?"
"We're using them as a potential cause for convening that council on other grounds if we can't get it any other way. If Solaria moves to interdict a Theian ship, we have the excuse. If Nova Levis fires on a Theian ship, we have the excuse."
"And if Earth actually gets permission to do the ground inspections?" Coren asked.
"What we find will give us the excuse," Ariel replied.
"In the meantime, the dance goes on until someone steps wrong."
"The wonderful world of diplomacy. "
"I suppose that's preferable to arbitrarily getting several hundred thousand people killed. "
Chimera (isaac asimov's robot mystery) Page 34
