Mark Tiedemann - Mirage

"Perhaps your design was faulty?"

Derec hesitated. "Perhaps." He had not wanted to admit that possibility-especially not to Ariel-but he could not reject it.

"Or was it subverted the same way the RI was?" Ariel asked.

That surprised him. "I can't see how. But I don't know how the RI was subverted, so your guess is as good as anyone else's. There's no way to tell. If I had Bogard here, I might be able to determine what went wrong, but it's gone. Destroyed."

Ariel tapped a finger absently while she regarded Derec. Suddenly, she slapped both hands on the top of the console. "All right, I'll help you. I've got unanswered questions myself. But I want to know what we're supposed to do if we find something."

"Like what?"

"Like what we both suspect-that this is more than the actions of a group of disaffected bigots. Unless those bigots have members in the government."

"I suppose that depends on just who it is we find. If it's the authorities, we can't very well go to them, can we?"

"It's not likely to be all of them."

"No, but-"

"The problem, Derec, is that whoever is behind this, the consequences of uncovering it could be worse than leaving it alone."

"Are you serious?"

"Perfectly," Ariel replied. "Right now, as much as I hate to admit it, we have a diplomatic crisis. We're left with a shattered program and we have to start allover. What we do not have is a war. Push this and that's exactly what we might have."

"War? You're overstating a bit, aren't you?" Rana asked.

"I already told you: I'm perfectly serious. If it becomes clear that the Terran government, or a part of it, engineered an assassination of an Auroran ambassador, the only conclusion Aurora and the Fifty Worlds can make is that Earth cannot be trusted. They could decide that the only way to deal with it then is containment. No more Settlers will be permitted out. No more trade. No more anything. Isolation."

"Is that doable?" Derec asked.

Ariel shook her head. "No, not entirely. We can't even get rid of the pirates that have been raiding the lanes. But it doesn't matter. It's enough to set off a war."

"So who would benefit from that?"

"I don't know. Someone always benefits from a war. But that's one possible outcome of this." Ariel paused. "So. I'll ask again. What do we do when we find out?"

"We may not be able to do anything. I think we need to find out what we can first, then decide."

"No going off on your own. We decide."

Derec nodded. "Agreed."

"All right. Where do you want to start?"

"Well… getting inside Union Station would be good. I need to do a physical inspection to see what's been done to the matrix."

"I may be able to help with that."

"Good. That will do for a start."

Ariel gave him a curious smile. "It would really help if you could talk to Bogard?"

"Of course it would! But-"

Ariel's smile broadened. "Why don't you come with me. I have something to show you."

In light of recent revelations," the newscaster declared from the subetheric, "the death of Special Service Agent Mia Daventri and the destruction of the experimental robot assigned to guard Senator Clar Eliton have taken on new significance. The entire team of agents charged with the security of Eliton and his staff during the Union Station meeting with Spacer legations has now been killed. Special Service is conducting an internal investigation on which they refuse to comment, except to suggest that certain irregularities are at the heart of the tragedy. The utter failure of a trained team of agents to protect one of Earth's most prominent politicians cannot be explained unless that failure was part of a larger movement. Sources inside the Terran Bureau of Investigation have let it be known that flies have been opened on the agents involved, and their affiliations with various organizations-ostensibly in the line of duty-are being questioned. Nevertheless, the question no one seems willing to either answer or deny is the Spacer connection."

Mia pressed the contact on the remote, shutting off the subetheric. After going from one newsnet to another in between other tasks she felt nervous and edgy. None of the news reassured her, almost all of it had raised more questions, and she should have stopped listening. She especially should not have watched this 'cast.

Dal Kammer, one of the top-rated newscasters on subetheric, implying that Mia and her teammates had been involved in the conspiracy to kill Eliton and Humadros, made her cringe. If it had been any of a dozen other newsnet people she might have shrugged it off-there was more detritus on the subetheric than legitimate data-but Kammer was prominent, reputable. That did not mean he would not twist, color, alter, or fabricate his facts. But it meant that to get him to do so was expensive.

Or he was being led to believe the reports…

Mia lay her head back against the pillow. The medical robot had left over six hours ago, giving her a pain blocker along with a tissue accelerant and instructions to move around as little as possible until its next visit. She wondered if squirming counted.

Her datum lay on the table beside her. She had spent most of the day sending queries through Ariel's com system, using a pair of alternate electronic personas working in tandem, so if any back traces were attempted they would lead into blind alleys, to see if any of her passwords worked anywhere. Nothing. The Service had shut her out of everything, which puzzled her. If they thought she was dead, why be so thorough so fast in blocking her access? Unless they really did think she had been part of a conspiracy. Then it made sense-they would suspect someone else possessed her codes.

A few names appeared on the small screen, possible contacts she might yet be able to trust: a newsnet reporter named Holis, her old instructor at the academy, and Coren Lanra, the ex-Service agent she had seen at the gallery, now working for DyNan Manual Industries. Holis would help her in return for an exclusive, which meant that she needed something with which to bargain. So far, except for the fact that she was alive, she had nothing solid. She was uncertain how much trouble she might cause for her old instructor. As for Lanra, she did not know where he stood, except that he had no loyalty anymore to the Service. She had contacted none of them.

What had gone wrong?

Mia glanced over at Bogard, standing against the wall between where she lay and the door, still and solemn. Two hours ago, after its own datum search, it had reported on the type of weapon used at Union Station. No direct match, but it bore similarity to a twenty-first century Staros, nine-millimeter automatic. Modifications had been made, altering them enough to call a direct match into question. But that meant they had probably been manufactured exclusively for this strike, which reinforced Mia's opinion that Kynig Parapoyos had provided them.

The other name on her screen tended to confirm that. Bok Vin Golner. It was the likeliest match she had come up with from the name Bok, given the other parameters she had attached to the search. Retired Terran military, Captain, a veteran of two campaigns, including the Ganymede Suppression, and, since leaving the army, an irregularly employed security specialist. He had been arrested once for civic disturbance during a Terran First rally and another time for trafficking in unlicensed merchandise, black market. In both instances he had been represented by a lawyer he could not reasonably afford and the charges had been dropped. He was listed as an affiliate to a couple of anti-Spacer groups.

If you want to set up a military assault, Mia thought, use someone who knows how and can follow through…

Bogard shifted the three meters to the door. Mia blinked. A few seconds later, R. Jennie trundled into the room, but stopped upon seeing Bogard blocking the entrance.