Charles Sheffield - Starfire

He said abruptly, “I think I’m gonna do you a favor. You say you were sent up here to keep an eye on John Hyslop, right?”

“That’s correct.” Maddy added to herself, And a lousy job I’m making of it.

“If that isn’t why you’re here, then you better watch it. You’re leavin’ tracks big enough to fall over.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s what you would say, no matter what. Listen hard, ’cause I’m only gonna say this once. When we got nowhere a-walkin’ the halls up here, I had to find me a different tack. I set up shop in the information center. I looked at what people in Sky City was doin’ at the time of each of the murders.”

“I don’t think you’ll find the killer that way. Other people must have attempted the same thing.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they did. But you see, now I have me an advantage. I know the name of the murderer.” Seth watched Maddy’s reaction. “I guess that’s news to you.”

“It certainly is. Who is it?”

“Mebbe I’ll tell you who — in good time. But first you gotta help me some more. An’ I’ll help you. Tit for tat.”

“Forget it. I’ve done enough for you.”

He went on as though she had not spoken, “See, it’s not enough to know a name. You still have to catch ’em.”

“Seth, I’m going. I don’t need to listen to nonsense.”

“Me neither. So when your buddy John Hyslop came over to talk to me last week, I didn’t much listen at first. Then me an’ him got to talkin’. Want to know what we said?”

He was goading her, luring her with Hyslop’s name. “Go on.”

“He’d been catchin’ up on things that happened while he was away, records and actions and materials, that sort of crap. An’ I’d been skimmin’ the data banks. He told me he’d noticed somethin’ peculiar. I told him that I had, too. We compared notes. He told me he didn’t have time to follow up on it, the new defense system was takin’ every minute he had. But what he’d noticed involved the Argos Group, and I was with the Argos Group. So he said, maybe I could take a closer look at it.”

Why didn’t John ask me? Maddy said, “You’re here for the murders. Argos Group activities seem more like my line of experience than yours.”

“That’s what I thought, too. Why not you? Me, I’m not a chart-and-figures type. But I doubt Hyslop’s hopin’ to get into my pants, so that could make a difference.”

“If he wants to get into mine, he’s certainly taking his own sweet time.”

“As a friend of mine who you’ll never meet an’ would never want to keeps tellin’ me, you have to be patient. Fact is, Hyslop asked me because I was already there an’ already diggin’. So I look at the stuff he’s pulled out, compare it with mine, an’ guess what? Some of the Argos Group records are awful strange. If I had to guess, I’d say there’s fiddlin’ going on that don’t sound like violins.”

“Cheating?”

“Records of deliveries that were never made. Double entries for shipments. Differences between stated quantities delivered and shop counts. I’d call that cheatin’.”

“I have nothing to do with shipments.”

“I hear you. But again, that’s what you’d say if you did. And there’s more: defective materials in vital places. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that some Argos Group actions were designed to slow shield development, ’stead of speedin’ it up.”

“What do you propose to do about this?”

“Me? I’ll do nothin’. Like you said, it’s not my job. I don’t care if old Gordy is robbin’ Bruno Colombo and his boys blind.”

“So why are you telling me?”

“To let you know that if you are playin’ games, you better stop. And why am I doin’ that? Well, I said I was gonna do you a favor, an’ you’re wonderin’ why. So I’ll tell you. You can do me a favor, too. I got a job to do, an’ I don’t want it screwed up by a bunch of morons in green eyeshades countin’ the spoons an’ clutterin’ up every room on Sky City. So, a word to the wise: If you’re the one doin’ it, stop right now. ’Til I’m done, that is. After that, it’s all yours, I don’t care what you do.”

A decision sitting at the back of Maddy’s brain jumped to the foreground. “I never had anything to do with shortchanging Sky City on deliveries, or ruining schedules. But even if I had, it’s irrelevant. I’m leaving the Argos Group.”

His attention had been wandering, as though the meeting had served its purpose and was now ending. He jerked back to face Maddy. “You’re gonna quit?”

“You’ve got ears. Yes.”

Brown eyes bored into hers. “You serious? Yeah, I can see you are. Bet you don’t do it, though. What’s your problem? You think Gordy’s ready to be taken to the funny farm?”

“He is, but it’s more than that.” And what was it? Maddy needed time to think. Seth’s words had started a whole new chain of logic running in her head: about John Hyslop and his changing assignments, about her own role and the timing of events. Aware of her long silence, she added, “I’m not even sure I’ll go back to Earth. Not for a while.”

“Ah. So that’s what it’s about.” Seth sniffed. “Well, good huntin’, that’s all I can say. If you want my advice, tone it down an’ go slow. You’re a bit of a high-powered sexpot for someone like him.”

“For Gordy?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Maddy Wheatstone. I mean John Hyslop. Act dumb an’ flutter your eyelashes if you like, but don’t rush it.” Seth stood up. “Leaving Argos, eh? Well, I think about doin’ that myself now an’ again. But I bet you back off when it comes right down to it. I’ve seen Gordy when people tell him they’re leavin’.”

Maddy grimaced. “So have I. Maybe I won’t get up the nerve. But I’m going to find out. Unless you have something else to say, I’d like you to leave.”

“You want to sleep?”

“No. I’m going to call Gordy and resign.”

“Says you. I bet you don’t go through with it. But if you do quit, I’d like to know what he says.”

Maddy paused, the telcom unit in her hand. “Tell me the name of the murderer. Then maybe I’ll let you know what Gordy says.”

Seth Parsigian didn’t know the name of the Sky City murderer, Maddy felt sure of that. He had spoken with total confidence, but anyone with such hot information would be knocking on the door of Sky City security within a minute.

She had spoken with total confidence, too, announcing that she was about to present her resignation to Gordy Rolfe. But with that call ready to go through, she was suddenly not so sure.

Was she seeing a pattern to events where there was none?

When John Hyslop was assigned to the Aten asteroid project, shield development had been behind schedule but catching up rapidly. Maddy felt certain that John deserved credit for that. With him gone, there would be new delays. Then the news came in that the particle storm would arrive much earlier than expected. John was instantly reassigned to work on the shield. And Gordy told Maddy to stick with him and watch what he did, even though there was no logical reason for her presence.

John was being used to control the pace of shield development; and Maddy, without her knowledge, was being used to control John. If all that were true, there was no doubt who was pulling the strings.

That was even more reason to quit her job. And yet …

The Argos Group had a high turnover. Gordy Rolfe must be used to it, but he behaved as if each loss was an act of personal betrayal. She had been with Gordy in The Flaunt six months ago and seen him stamping and cursing and throwing things. That was when a midlevel project manager who couldn’t take the pressure stepped into thin air out of a fortieth-floor window. That was the one sure way out of the Argos Group unless Gordy fired you.