L Modesitt - Empress of Eternity

"What amounted to a suicide force attacked the Institute at Vestalte, and several other key installations have suffered damage."

"How much damage?" Valakyr?s words were intense.

"They were repulsed and largely destroyed, but the weapons laboratories at Security?s research center were nearly totally leveled." A wry smile followed. "That might not matter. Most conflicts are fought and won-or lost-by weapons already developed or produced."

She didn?t state the obvious-that the Hammer was clearly already developed.

"What would you like from us, ser?" asked Valakyr.

"The same as before. Keep the station secure so that I can continue working. What may be here is likely to be more important than we thought."

"Because of…this Hammer?" Symra?s words were strained.

"Exactly." Helkyria paused, then said, "If there?s not anything else…?"

"No, ser."

Duhyle stepped back to see if Helkyria would need anything else after the officers departed.

Once the two left the station, she looked to Duhyle. "I?ll need some equipment and components from the storeroom…along with your assistance."

Duhyle nodded. He?d thought so.

Maertyn glanced up from the desk screen and out into the darkness beyond the Ministry, absently massaging his forehead with his left hand. He?d spent part of the twenty-sixth and a good portion of the twenty-seventh just going through the reallocation documentation. He was a scientist, not a bureaucrat, and the welter of weasel-worded footnotes and annotations to the various budgets-just within a single subministry-was close to overwhelming.

Outside, he could see the local tube-train station, barely outlined by the backscatter of lights that projected downward. There could only be a few Ministry employees there. Most had left a good hour earlier.

"Sir…?" Marcent?s tentative voice projected into the assistant minister?s office. "Will you be needing me any more this evening? You didn?t say, and it is past six."

"Oh, no. I?m sorry. I should have let you know earlier. I?ve been buried in the bud get documents. By all means, leave."

"Thank you, sir. Good evening."

After a moment more, where he just closed his eyes and tried to relax tight muscles, especially in his shoulders, Maertyn forced himself to look again at the footnote to a subaccount in a submission from the Office of Water Research.

…the monitoring equipment expenditures projected for the final quarter of the budgetary year in this category have been allocated [as req. per MSci 231.b.3.a.], but may not be realized, in view of the longer than contracted lead-time in fabrication of certain key elements of the control-activation subassemblies [see MSci Procurement 1103], in which case said expenditures must be rolled over into the next bud get cycle, in order to avoid the cancellation fees required by the manufacturer, as per CompDec 1103.1, and as approved by the comptroller in the specific case, because no other manufacturer possesses said manufacturing capabilities [defined in CompDec 511.A]…

In short, reallocating the funds would cost the Ministry far more in the next bud get cycle than would be saved in the present.

Maertyn took a deep breath. He suspected that all too many of the footnotes, explanations, and annotations were less than perfectly legally sound in their assertions, but he had neither the knowledge to question most of them, nor the time to go over every suspect justification or assertion with both a procurement advocate and Amirella or one of the other comptrollers.

After reviewing the bud get reallocation documents he?d finished so far and thinking about his meeting with the Assistant Minister for Medical Research, the more puzzled he?d become. Even if every questionable attempt to hang on to research funds within the Environment Research Subministry happened to be suspect, the total amount of funding that could be reallocated to other subministries-or to other ministries-was comparatively insignificant. While he didn?t have access to current-year bud gets of other ministries, the overall bud gets for previous years were a matter of record, and the expenditures of the Ministry of Public Safety or of Transport truly dwarfed the total bud get of the Ministry of Science. And within the Ministry of Science, the Subministry of Medical Research was second only to the Subministry of Protective Services Research. The smallest bud get of all belonged to Environment Research.

So why had Ashauer warned him, and why had Tidok and Amirella pressured him? What else was involved?

He shook his head. Why was everyone that concerned about a few million credits?

Another hour later and perhaps another score of pages later, he closed down his desk screen, no wiser than before, and stood. Another day or so and he?d be ready to formalize his recommendations for Minister Hlaansk, not that he was looking forward to that in the slightest.

He donned his jacket, this one maroon, and like the others, silver-trimmed and designed to protect him against less powerful weapons…and moderate vagaries of the weather. Then he left the office, maglocking it behind him, and headed down to the main level of the Ministry.

A single guard in the dark green and black of Unity Protective Services sat on a high-backed stool behind the security console and gate. Maertyn offered his hand to the scanner and the gate slid open.

"Good night, sir," offered the guard.

"And to you. I hope it?s not too long or too late."

"Thank you, sir. The quiet doesn?t bother me…sort of restful."

A cold misty rain drifted down from low clouds as Maertyn walked the hundred yards across the narrow bridge from the Ministry building out to the car park. Despite its biofoam coating, the bridge walkway was slippery, almost icy in spots, and ice coated the handrails. Maertyn reminded himself to be careful driving.

Once he was inside the vehicle, he checked the power. Despite the fact that the day had been overcast, the level was at eighty percent, considerably more than necessary for the ten minutes needed to return to his town home. He pressed the studs for the running lights and headlamps, then eased the small vehicle out of the car park and along the short drive that led to the avenue bordering the greenbelt.

When he turned onto the avenue, heading roughly southeast, he noticed a larger vehicle pull out of a turnout, as if to follow him. The larger vehicle was obviously traveling faster than Maertyn, without headlamps and showing only running lights, and was rapidly gaining on him.

Maertyn immediately increased his speed, and could sense a growing instability in the runabout, but his pursuer drew closer. He slowed, and the lorry swooshed up and thumped the bumper-bar of the runabout, rocking it slightly, although Maertyn managed to speed up just enough to mute the effect, despite his worries about spinning out on the cold-slicked road. Even the lorry skidded slightly, and dropped back momentarily.

Ahead, on the left was a loop drive that ran around a group of buildings housing various subministries of the Ministry of Infrastructure. Maertyn slowed and made the turn, wishing that the running lights hadn?t signaled his intent.

The lorry followed him, but slewed slightly on the curves, and again had to slow down. Still, after he?d returned to the avenue, still headed southeast, the lorry began to gain on him, then slowed as several other vehicles passed them both coming the other way. With headlamps coming in the opposite direction, their light and sharpness hazed by the continuing chill mist-rain, the driver of the lorry maintained a distance of perhaps fifteen yards between his vehicle and the runabout.

Although Maertyn had no proof, he also had no doubt whatsoever that the driver of the larger vehicle-a small lorry-type, he could see in the rear display-wished to create a crash, most likely one fatal to Maertyn, given the lightness and smaller size of his vehicle.