Mark Tiedemann - Mirage

"Collusion between legitimate corporations and pirates?"

"Or pirates in the pay of those corporations. Either way, humans can be bribed. Robots can't."

Mia shook her head in wonder. "The newsnets had been going on for months over the proposal for all-robotic inspections of interstellar freighters. That would have been a miracle."

"Maybe. Just short of getting Earthers to accept positronics?"

Mia laughed bitterly. "The Union Station RI was a positronic system. It failed. That's going to be a hard fact to get past."

Ariel covered her reactions with a forkful of egg. The Resident Intelligence at Union Station should not have permitted the catastrophe. There were ample security systems tied into it, it had the capacity and the imperatives to prevent harm to humans. But Mia was right-it had failed. She was right, too, that it would be a difficult wall to break down. Anyone wishing to derail the conference and any future conference could not have wished for a more perfect event. With all the other problems, it may well have made the situation impossible.

But why had the RI failed? It made no sense. Ariel wondered what Derec's Phylaxis Group had found out. She glanced at her com, but quashed the impulse to call him. She looked over at Bogard against the wall-it had failed, too, even with its vaunted "versatility" in interpreting Three Law conditions. That was Derec's concept, his design.

His failure. Mia tensed when the medical robot showed up, but made herself relax and allow it to treat her.

"You should be in hospital," the robot informed her.

"Treat her here," Ariel said. "Strictest confidentiality."

"Confidentiality will be respected unless such treatment places the subject at risk," the robot informed her.

"Understood. Proceed. Do you want me to stay, Mia?"

Mia shook her head. "No, I'm fine. You have things to do."

"In that case, anything you need, ask Jennie. If you have to contact me, do so through her."

Mia nodded, watching the medical robot examine her leg.

Ariel approached Bogard. "You will not admit anyone except me unless you receive an explicit command otherwise."

"Coded?"

"I will say…" Ariel paused. What would she say that would identify her? She wondered if she were being a little too paranoid. She glanced at Mia on the sofa and decided that too much might be just enough. "I will say 'Avernus in Perihelion' and you will match my voice pattern."

"I understand. What are your instructions regarding the visiting robot?"

"Log its identification. Admit no other without my authorization."

"I understand. Have a pleasant day, Ms. Burgess."

Ariel left her apartment with a shudder of relief, as if she had just escaped. Bogard made her anxious and she resented that. No robot should cause ill ease in a human. She wondered at Mia's evident trust in it. Perhaps it took a Terran to come to terms with such a mechanism.

And it had saved her life…

At the end of a short hallway, Ariel boarded a tube. "Embassy level E," she told the mechanism. Several seconds later, she stepped out of the transport into the lobby of her department.

A vaguely humaniform robot occupied the small reception desk. Few Terrans ever came here. Hofton, Ariel's aide, leaned over its shoulder, watching something on its screen. Hofton looked up briefly and nodded, then gave a quick instruction to the robot.

"Ariel," he said, moving to open her office door for her, "it's already shaping up to be one of 'Those Days'."

"I thought it would." She entered her office and immediately switched on the subetheric. "Who called first?"

"They all called at the same time. I was tempted to draw straws to see who I answered first. I decided etiquette demanded it be Setaris. She wants to talk to you, though -she wouldn't discuss anything with me. Next was Gale Chassik from the Solarian embassy. He wants to know the official position of the Auroran business community. I told him we were officially staying put. What certain individuals chose to do was no indication of general policy."

"Good." Ariel sat down at her desk and punched the code for Ambassador Setaris. "Third?"

"Benen Yarick."

Ariel scowled. She wished Yarick would just talk to Setaris and leave her alone. Ariel felt as if her allotment of understanding and patience were being fast used up.

"Just give me a list of the others," she told Hofton… Forward no more calls till I say. I'm not in yet."

"Of course."

"Try to get an official release from the police."

"I imagine that the TBI have assumed control of the investigation, as usual."

"I don't care who it's from. They'd be great." She made a shooing gesture. "I have to joust with windmills now."

Hofton almost smiled as he backed from the room.

Setaris appeared on her com. "Ariel, good morning. "

"Ambassador."

"Please tell me you have good news."

"Well, yes and no. I spent the balance of yesterday talking to our people. A large number of them had already decided not to leave. Not the majority, but enough to surprise me. I managed to use that and a little arm twisting to get most of the rest to agree not to run. I'll need you to sign off on some concessions, but I didn't break the budget."

"I'm sure anything you promised will be reasonable."

"I appreciate your confidence. I'm afraid, though, that there will still be a very visible number bailing out, but that leaves nearly eighty percent of our people willing to wait and see."

"That's not as bad as I thought… so is that the good news?" Setaris asked.

"That's the good part. Last night I spoke to Benen Yarick from Humadros's legation. The survivors want to leave."

Setaris looked pleased. "You did speak to Yarick. Good."

"It's irregular, though. I thought she should speak to you or…"

"Or who, Ariel? Go on."

"Yarick is simply frightened. She claims that even if she brought herself to stay, her state of mind would make her virtually useless at the conference."

"Hm. I suppose I can see her point of view, but… what did you tell her?"

"That it would be a great service to me and the Auroran population here if she reconsidered. As I said, I couldn't convince Yarick to stay, but she said she would talk to the others. I have to return her call this morning. I'm hoping she can tell me they're staying."

"I sympathize with them, of course, but…"

"Is there anyone else on staff that could step in for them if they all left?" Ariel asked.

Setaris sighed. "No, not really. I'm afraid my credibility in this matter doesn't extend quite that far. My position on certain elements of what Humadros proposed is too well known to the Terran delegates. I opposed on principle too much of it to be taken seriously. Oh, and speaking of credibility, I'm starting to get calls about the robotic side of this. Which reminds me. I should have called you last night to tell you, but now is as good a time as then. As of this morning, your credentials have been modified to include ambassadorial authority."

Ariel felt abruptly uneasy. "What prompted this?"

"Let me see… 'Because of the nature of this crisis,' " Setaris quoted, evidently reading something off-screen," 'the liaison from the Calvin Institute has been granted temporary modification of plenipotentiary status. ' "

"What 'nature of crisis' prompted this?"

"The fact that you are the most senior embassy official still alive. Except for me. All I have is junior legates and trainees. And because of the positronic element. The Terrans are claiming a breakdown of the RI at Union Station. You're our positronic expert on the ground, so now you'll be seconded to my department to deal with diplomatic matters relating to the situation. Anything major, of course, you clear with me first, but… congratulations."