Mark Tiedemann - Mirage

"Who gave that command?" Derec asked.

"I do not know."

"Was it a human?"

"Yes."

Derec felt a chill. "Did it originate from within your enshielding?"

"Yes."

"Do you know who gave the command?" Derec asked again.

"No one."

"Someone had to. Bogard, reset parameters. Follow the logic. You perceived a threat?"

"Yes."

"You enshielded Senator Eliton. "

"Yes."

"You received an amendation from the RI."

"Yes."

"The command to reassign your primary concern came from within your enshielding."

"Yes."

"Who was the last human within your enshielding?"

"Senator Eliton."

"Conclusion?"

"Senator Eliton gave the command." There was a long pause. Then: "But he was no longer there. I lost him. I could not perceive him. The RI had a positive track on him and he disappeared. He could not have been there to give the command."

"Bogard, were you using the RI's telemetry the whole time?"

"Yes, as an augmentation to my own, until the link went down."

"You were relying on the RI for identification and location?"

"Yes."

"Who instructed you to do that?"

"Standard procedure within Union Station. I was told to conform to the required protocol."

"By whom?"

"Agent Otin Cupra, pending verification."

Derec slammed his fist down on the console. "Damn! That son-of-a-" He took a deep breath, exhaled raggedly. "Bogard, did the RI lose track on Senator Eliton at the time of its last amendation?"

"Yes."

"I don't understand," Rana said. "What's going on?"

"Bogard was linked into the RI during the entire assault.

When the RI went off-line, it took Bogard with it."

"That's not possible-Bogard wasn't slaved to it. Besides, Bogard claims the RI communication net went down."

"True, but until that happened, for all practical purposes, at least half of Bogard's sensory net was being used by the RI. It was sharing data realtime. Bogard never got drawn completely into the illusion that took the RI off-line, but it was sufficient to impair Bogard's ability to sort out reality, at least for a short time. Long enough. Bogard was relying on the RI to keep informed of everyone's whereabouts. And why not? One positronic brain to another, what was there to worry about? They both had the same interests, the same standards, the same basic imperatives. Why would the RI intentionally distort data? So when Bogard lost track of Eliton-"

"It was because the RI had," Rana concluded. "Then the link went down and all that remained was the last amendation. But what about this command that Eliton gave? That doesn't make any sense. Bogard didn't know he was within the enshieldment, but still accepted the command? And how did Eliton know it? The primary should never know how to do that, otherwise what good is it having an incorruptible agent as bodyguard. That was the whole point-"

"Rana, it's me, Derec. I know. I designed it."

"But none of this is making any sense. Who's Agent Otin Cupra?"

"One of the pair that threw us off the job at Union Station."

"What authority did he have issuing protocol instructions to Bogard? And why would Bogard accept that instruction when it didn't have to?"

"That's a damn good question. Agent Daventri had field control of Bogard, but within Special Service I suppose anyone could give it orders that don't run counter to its priorities." Derec sighed heavily. "It could take months to sort out all the numbers, but I think Bogard had become-for an instant-part of the game the RI was absorbed in. The command could have come from anywhere. Since Bogard couldn't locate Eliton, it only made sense for it to shift priority to another primary. Left to its own, it might have realized its mistake and covered Eliton again. But it was given a new primary."

"And failed to protect her."

Derec nodded. "At which point Bogard was probably in the process of severing its connection to the RI. Then it found Eliton."

"And failed to protect him."

"And should by any normal expectation have collapsed on the spot. If Agent Daventri hadn't had the presence of mind to reset its priority again-"

"Daventri. The one that died in the hospital later that night?"

"She didn't die. Bogard got her out. Bogard performed faultlessly in protecting her."

"If she's not dead, why are they claiming that her body is in the morgue?" Rana asked.

"Who's claiming that?"

"I saw it on subetheric, oh, yesterday? Newsnet program. The usual interviews with officials, meaningless answers. They did, however, suggest a conspiracy between renegade agents within the Service and the Managins."

"Managins…" Derec winced. "Well, there's a conspiracy, all right, but Daventri isn't part of it. That's why she was killed."

"You said she wasn't."

"It's not her body in the morgue. I know. I saw them both. I also saw Eliton's body, with three wounds in it. But at Union Station he only received one wound."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that Eliton didn't die at Union Station… if he died at all." Derec looked toward the ceiling. "Thales, did you record all that?"

"Everything, Derec. How much longer do you wish me to maintain the receptor's integrity?"

"Talk to it until you're satisfied you have everything of use from it, then let it go."

Rana looked pale. "Now what?"

"Now we get Bogard back up to spec. I have to call Ariel. I think I have a job for it."

"You might want to answer the call you got today."

"You did say something about that. Sorry. Who was it from?"

"Alda Mikels of Imbitek." external diagnostic complete, buffer nodes P-Seven and p-Eight purged, protect encryption reset, internal overrides reset, initiate internal diagnostic for corrupted sequencing, system purged, internal diagnostic complete, potential First and Second Law violations negated, memory download complete as nonvolitonal data, status report generating, complete, initial task designation as personal security to Senator Eliton, Clar, terminated due to death of subject- death of subject Eliton, Clar, analyze relevant data, resume status report death of subject Eliton, Clar, occurred during task designation, responsibility primary, analyze associational data relevant to death of subject Eliton, Clar, indicates a potential Three Law conflict, buffer nodes purged, memory secondary, function secured, analyze context death of subject Eliton, Clar, primary responsibility per initial data analysis death of subject Eliton, Clar, conditional pending analysis of all contextual data death of subject Eliton, Clar, nonverifiable, responsibility secondary death of subject Eliton, Clar, result of conflicting priority, responsibility tertiary pending verification and validation of coded instructions report complete, death of subject indeterminate, responsibility potentially primary pending location of subject, context of disappearance, condition of subject upon recovery, conclusion must determine circumstances of primary failure and disposition of subject end report

Mia watched Bogard stumble away from the transport and felt a twinge of optimism. The plan did not amount to very much, an act of desperation, but it was action nonetheless, and after days of waiting for her body to recover, hiding out in Ariel's apartment, it seemed to her the zenith of plans.

Bogard moved hesitantly, as if uncertain that it could or should walk. The scarring and pitting over its shell, the way one arm hung inoperatively at its side, gave a convincing account of the aftermath of horrible trauma. Its coppery gleam was mostly hidden under a charred black. Anyone seeing it would know that it had been through a conflagration.

Even so, it looked new compared to the ancient walls, columns, and beams of the alleyway. Graffiti formed palimpsests over the corroded, mildewed surfaces, attesting to the centuries of ambivalent residence. Pocked walls, undifferentiated litter softening corners and accruing in shallows mounds, half-open doors, and a smell born of machine, stale breath, yeast, and sweat accentuated the lack of attention the district received. Most of the buildings here stood empty, long abandoned. They were deep in the sublevels of D. C., near where Bogard had brought her on that first night's flight from the infirmary.