Alex asked the question. “What does this batch do?”
Skip turned his palm briefly to the ceiling. “Not sure. That was why they sent us the sample. They felt that our proximity to Dream Park might give us some additional testing options. Preliminary testing indicates that it is a general emotion intensifier. If this is true, and it is a substance as totally harmless as all preliminary testing indicates, it is an incalculably valuable advantage over our competition. The theft of the sample, and of the printed matter, breaks us wide open.” He folded his hands in his lap. “That’s most of it.”
Harmony sat up in his chair and turned to Griffin. “Well, Alex? What do you think?”
“I think I was right. Industrial espionage. How many people knew the stuff was here, Skip?”
“Maybe five, myself included. Perhaps twice that many in Sacramento.”
“Thanks. You saved me my second question. There’s leak, that’s for sure. Whether it’s electronic or human can’t say now. With twice the people knowing it in Sacramento, it might be twice as likely for the leak to originate there. It would be a neat trick to wait until a sample is transferred here. Then again, it doesn’t take a genius to see why I’d rather believe that theory.” He sighed. “Well. It happened. I don’t believe the damage is irreversible.”
Harmony’s ears perked up. “Why?”
“I don’t think that the thief has left the scene yet.”
O’Brien seemed troubled. “The building was searched. If the thief didn’t leave the building he must be one of us. The security men, the psychology staff, and whoever else was here.”
“A small group from engineering was still on the fifth.”
“Right. We were all routinely searched, so the stuff wasn’t on any of us physically, but that doesn’t help. It could be hidden in the building.”
“Might be, and we’re checking on that.” Griffin nodded, arranging his thoughts. “I don’t think that’s it, though. I found some traces in the basement of R&D that suggests that the thief came into the building from Gaming Area A. That is the weakest link in our defenses. We have excellent protection on all outer perimeters, but between Gaming and the basement. . .” He shrugged. “The Gamers are so out of touch with reality that they were never considered a serious threat. But the thief used surgical bandage. Gamers carry medical kits . . . Skip, how long ago did the sample arrive?”
“Three weeks.”
Griffin tsked discontentedly. “Maybe still. Better yet . . . Skip, how long before that was it known that a shipment was to be made?”
“At least another month.”
“That’s the margin for error we need. That gives plenty of time for the information to reach our competitors. Time for them to research our defenses. After they found our weak spot, they looked for a Game that was running at the right time. After that, find the aah . . . right, the Lore Master being challenged. Get the names of the people he’s likely to choose, and make your approach from that list. Complicated, but with seven weeks lead time, not impossible.”
“What exactly do you see as the sequence of events here, Alex?” There were oceans of tension crackling just beneath the superficial calm of Harmony’s voice.
“At approximately nine o’clock last night, one of the Gamers in Gaming A broke away from the others and headed toward the northwest corner of the Research and Development complex, staying clear of any workmen renovating the Gaming area. This person entered a service duct and gained access to the lower level of the complex. He reached the first floor by stairs or elevator. Rice blocked his path, so he rendered Rice unconscious with a ‘sleeper’ hold of some kind, probably an air or blood strangle. They’re easier than nerve strangles. Rice was tied and gagged, and our intruder completed his business with no further trouble.”
“Rice’s death was accidental?”
“I’d think so. Would you bind and gag a dead man? The important thing is that the killer is still in the Game. If we move now, we can collect them all before morning and begin questioning.”
Harmony raised a single thick finger. “There are several problems inherent in this situation. First of all, we cannot detain these people against their wills without involving outside law enforcement agencies. They would demand to see their attorneys, and in such a meeting information concerning the drug could change hands. If the thief becomes aware that we know he’s a Gamer, before we know which gamer it is, the drug could be hidden anywhere in the seven hundred and forty acres of the Gaming area. It may already be stashed away, and we might never find it. Then there is the Game itself to consider. We stand to lose a good deal of money if the drug escapes our control, but we also stand to lose approximately—” He consulted figure scrawled on his deskpad. “—one point five million dollars of our money already invested in the South Seas Treasure Game. Not to mention an estimated twenty-two million in revenue over the next eight years if film, book programming, and holotape leasing and sales go according to estimations.”
Harmony’s voice dropped a bit. “Frankly, there another problem. You are both aware that our water rights and tax privileges are coming up for review next year. If we can isolate our suspect before we call in the authorities we’ll be that much further ahead, without investigating teams crawling over us.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“I’m not totally sure. I need to think about this, and we’ll need to consult the I.F.G.S. I believe that the Game lasts four more days? Then that’s how long we have before it, becomes necessary to call in outside help. I believe our legal department can negotiate us that much time. Alex, please meet me back here at nine o’clock, in—” He consulted his watch. “—three and a half hours. You may or may not like my idea, but I think it may be for the best.”
Chapter Eleven
GAME PLAN
The world around Alex Griffin blurred like dream the sharpened to near-reality, as Bobbick and Millicent fiddled with the focus of the hologram projector. Griffin found himself in the living room of an apartment at the Cowles Modular Community.
The apartments were almost infinitely malleable to the tastes of the occupants. Windows, built-in accessories raised or lowered ceilings or additional rooms were no problem. Even entire living units could be moved in varying clusters with a minimum of difficulty. Griffin’s own apartment presently included a small gym, a large library study and a sundeck overlooking one of the starburst shaped pools.
He didn’t recognize this one. “What have we got her Millicent?”
“It’s Rice’s apartment, Griff,”Bobbick answered, chewing the end of a pen. Griffin restrained a snort. Chewing gum, pens, fingernails, Bobbick always seemed to have something in his mouth. He wondered idly if the man’s oral compulsion had anything to do with his popularity in the secretarial pool.
The viewpoint backed away from the fireplace for an overall view of Rice’s living room. The gas burning fireplace was brick-encased and raised a foot above the living-room rug, which was light brown and high-tufted. There were two shelves of books and what looked like a microcube reader to the right, with wrought iron spider bookends. The other wall was a picture window.
The scene blurred, sharpened. Kitchen . . .
“When were these taken?”
“This was about a month ago, standard shots for our designers to study. We’ve been wondering if the vandalism in Rice’s apartment was all coincidence.” Millie hesitated, then plunged ahead. “It’s an awful thing to think, boss, but since Rice wasn’t shifted to the night schedule until after the vandalism, well, it just seemed kind of strange to us, that’s all. We thought we’d look a little closer, that’s all.”
“Rice didn’t report anything stolen . . .” Where did that thought lead? Could Rice have been involved in the Neutral Scent Affair? If he wanted to change shifts, he could have done it with a simple request. That might have been suspicious, so he had a confederate set off the alarm while . . .
Too much, too complicated. And too grotesque. But not imp
ossible.
“ All right,” he said at last, “just keep me posted on any developments. I need to think for a while. Let me know when Dr. Novotney comes up with anything, will you?”
Millicent and Bobbick acknowledged and went back to their viewings.
Griffin let himself into his office and plopped into his chair without bothering to turn the lights on. He leaned back and put his feet up on his desk.
They want me to handle this, he mused. I wonder what Harmony will come up with? I wonder if the legal deparment can buy us the time we need.
In the middle of a Game, one of the players had departed and returned unnoticed. What kind of Gamer would do that? Possibly for the first time in his life, Alex wished he knew more about the Games.
The thief would have to have some experience, though. Enough to be able to find that extra time, that opportunity. To count on it. Ideally, he would have played one or more Games in Gaming Area A itself. It’d be in their records . . .
Alex had seen Rice twice in the two or three day preceding the . . . burglary? Accident? Murder? Call it accident for the moment. Rice had called in the vandalism forty-eight hours ago. About thirty-six hours ago Alex had seen him for the last time, hauling luggage for the Lopezes, What were his last words? I’ll see you later, Chief. Right Rice.
Griffin rubbed his eyes, tried to remember. Rice had thrown a housewarming party four months after coming to Cowles Industries, a fairly drab affair with tons of official issue smiles and politely inebriated people acting mild scandalous. There had been a few moments of genuine hilarity, notably Millie and one of the maintenance techs singing a duet of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with the male and female roles reversed. There had also been a tiny tiff of some kind, between . . . who had it been? Rice and some buyer from Costuming over something or other. Couldn’t remember.
Griffin’s eyes kept wanting to close without permission. He shook his head to wake himself up. He was losing the battle when the intercom buzzed. “Griffin,” he said automatically.
“We may have found something, Chief. Could you step out here for a minute?” Millicent’s voice had perked out of its lethargy.
“Right.” Somewhat to his own surprise, Alex was on his feet instantly. He walked from his office into another shot of Rice’s living room. “What have you got?”
Bobbick rotated the view three hundred and sixty degrees. “There are a few minor changes in this shot. Oh, this holo was made about three hours ago. Rice cleaned up whatever mess had been made. Remember that he insisted on handling it all himself, said there was nothing missing? That may have been a fib. Millie, would you put on the other shot?”
Reality blurred; then an almost identical picture colored the air. “This is a shot taken a month ago. See that statue?” Bobbick pointed out a simple but very attractive statuette a meter tall. It was of a nude woman reclining on crumpled cloth, her face a graceful oval. “The statue isn’t in the later shot.”
“It isn’t?” For an instant Griffin was uninterested, then suddenly he remembered. “The argument at Rice’s party with that lady from Costuming.”
“Mrs. Kokubun.” Millie sounded positive. “She really wanted to buy it from him, made him a good offer, too.”
“Right.” Griffin remembered now. “He begged off for some reason or other. Didn’t he make the statue himself?
Something about the ‘last relic of a misspent youth’?”
“It’s nowhere in sight now,” Millicent said. “We looked.”
“Maybe it was broken,” Bobbick murmured.
“Could be. Why wouldn’t he make an insurance claim then? He had a roomful of witnesses who could verify that he was offered a stiff price for it. If it was destroyed by the vandal—”
“No,” Bobbick interrupted, “I mean maybe it fell over accidentally.”
“Hmmm. I see what you mean. It’s fairly low to the floor on that shelf, but I could see it happening. It’s a horizontal motif, though, so it wouldn’t be easy to just knock it over. If it did fall . . . probably wouldn’t shatter, not in that carpet. It’s worth looking into.” Griffin looked at his watch. “Eight-fifty?” He smacked his palm to his forehead in mortification. “I didn’t even know I’d fallen asleep. Let me wash my face, I’ve got to be back in Harmony’s office in ten minutes. Well done, people, keep looking.” And he disappeared into his office while Millie and Bobbick counted softly to each other. At the count of thirty, Griffin exploded out still pulling on his coat, and was gone.
There was an ironhaired woman in Harmony’s office. It took Alex a moment to place her. “Ms. Metesky,” he said with an unconscious bowing motion. He took the chair next to her, nodded his greeting to Harmony. “Where are we?”
Harmony brooded before answering. “Alex, I’m still not sure how this is going to hit you.”
“If it’s a good one, I’ll go with it.” Alex crossed his legs and sat back. All right, let’s see how much trouble I’m in . . .
“It goes like this. Until the South Seas Treasure Game breaks up, we have all our suspects in one place. They don’t know that we’ve narrowed our search to Gaming A. Our legal department has notified me that we can proceed on our own initiative as long as all suspects are made available for questioning after the Game is over. Ms. Metesky understands the severity of the situation, and has already spoken to the Lopezes concerning my proposal. To save the Game, they have consented.”
“To what?”
An ironic smile tugged at the corners of Harmony’s mouth, and his voice was more soothing than ever. “I want you to join the Game, Alex. It is scheduled to last another three days and some hours. We hope that in that time you can identify the killer, and perhaps even find the missing sample. Of course you’ll get special compensation for this unusual duty, but I’m sure that the main attraction will be the chance to handle the situation ourselves.”
Oh, brother! Still, crazy as it sounded— “It sounds better than just turning it over to the State Police. I never liked that.”
Harmony was delighted; his face and hands became animated to the point of nervous tic. “Good, good. We’ll insert you into the Game as Dream Park’s optional player. In this context, your fantasy identity is more important than a cover story about your outside life, and we’ll have one drawn up for you. The Lopezes will keep us informed of their game plan, and so we’ll know where and when to insert you into the Game, hopefully within the first few hours of today’s play. Metesky, you work for us, so I expected you’d approve our request. How did the I. F. G. S. representative react?”
“Myers didn’t like it. He felt that the Game was more important than, as he put it,” and Metesky’s voice became an unexpectedly and wickedly accurate imitation of Myers’ painfully precise diction, “ ‘a little petty thievery.’ He hardly seemed to understand the importance of solving the crime.” She looked down at her folded hands as she said, “When they’ve been at this too long, they forget that dying can cost you more than points. Maybe that’s just what some people want to forget . . . In any case,” she looked up, “Myers agreed to extend the sanction of the I.F.G.S. after I guaranteed minimum disruption of the Game, and threatened to close the Game instantly if he didn’t. “
“So the Game is on.”
“Afoot,” Griffin said softly. “I’m going to need a briefing on Gamesmanship, although I assume Lopez won’t be trying to kill me off . . . ?”
But Metesky was shaking her head, her gray locks rippling around her shoulders. “I’m afraid that’s out of the question. You will have the same chance of being killed out of the Game as any other player. To conduct this in any other way would be disruptive to the Game, as well as a dead give-away to the other players. You will play as novice, and we’ll give you a set of characteristics that serve you fairly well. The rest will be up to you. If you are forced out of the Game, I imagine we’ll have to shut it down at once. The Fantasy Gaming Society will withdraw their sanction if there is any tampering with the odds of a Game, and the Lopeze
s won’t run it without I. F.G. S. support, so there you have it.”
“Just great. I have to stay in the Game and solve the crime at the same time.” He closed his eyes tightly. “I’m going to need a transceiver to stay in touch with my staff.” Any new developments might be more than professionally interesting.
Harmony seemed confused. “What do you mean by that?”
He couldn’t really have missed that point, could he? Alex said, “We’ve been assuming that Rice died by accident. If he didn’t, or even if he did, and our thief becomes aware that he’s being hunted for murder . . . well, I could lose more than experience points.” Griffin seemed on the brink of saying more, then shook his head and stood up. “It’s nine-thirty now, so the Game’s been going for ninety minutes already. I think I’d better get ready. Where do I go from here?”
“Gaming Central for costuming and briefing. As soon as Lopez makes a kill, we will insert you into the Game.” Harmony pushed himself up from his chair and shook Griffin’s extended hand. “Good luck, Alex. We’re counting on you.”
Alex waited until the office door had closed behind to release a soft, amazed whistle. “Of all the cockamamie ideas I’ve ever heard . . .” Then, that one moment of doubt voiced and behind him, he headed for the elevator, his mind filled with variables and unknowns.
Chapter Twelve
OVERVIEW
Myers was adamant. His little black eyes focused down to points. “All right, the snake was justified. I still say that the bird attack was uncalled for, beyond anticipation, an possibly a non-organic part of the Game structure you are building.”
Richard Lopez regretfully pulled his attention away from the Game, secure in the knowledge that Mitsuko could cover any problems.
“Listen, Myers, I run my Games by the book. Melanesian magic is naturalistic. What I mean by that is that in structure is designed to explain natural phenomena: crop shortages, disease, weather peculiarities, luck in hunting and so forth. They explain all of this with a series of myths concerning gods and spirits. Some of them were once men or animals, but in dying they became operative on a higher plane. Human beings gain power through wealth, knowledge, age, social position, or the help of spirits.
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