Mark Tiedemann - Mirage

"Fine. Now please, call off the hounds. I'll be doing damage control until I retire after this."

Taprin winced, but nodded. "I have to return to the arena now and face the lions. I'd like to see you…"

"I'll be in touch, Jonis. I have my own lions to fight right now."

Ariel broke the connection. Her anger thrummed at the back of her head.

What had he said? I don't give a damn about your sacred Three Laws because I don't believe them.

That pretty much said it all, she thought. Jonis had put into words what likely powered all the fear Terrans held for robots. To them, a robot seemed to possess will, and anything with a will was potentially corruptible. Terrans relied on automatons, mindless machines with no will at all, but that could kill or injure purely by accident or if wielded by another human. Their machines could not refuse to be misused that way, could not make a decision to protect a human. They just did their tasks and if flesh got in the way, too bad. An accident. Or a human's fault. They no more trusted that a robot with evident capacity to decide would never harm them than Ariel trusted that Derec's "variation " on robotics would never harm her. Perhaps for the first time she really understood Terrans and their unreasoning fear of positronics and robots.

"Thank you, Jonis," she mused. "Your last act as my lover was at least beneficial."

If Taprin believed that, though, after all their time together and having worked so closely with Clar Eliton for several years, then how could he possibly represent Humadros's and Eliton's beliefs? She thought back over the interview she had seen, and his comments about Bogard.

He's not, she realized. It's over…

"Ariel," Hofton's voice came over the intercom. "Ambassador Setaris is on the link."

Ariel touched ACCEPT. Setaris winked onto her screen.

"Ariel, where have you been?"

"Working," Ariel said, more sharply than she had intended.

Setaris frowned slightly. "Are you aware of the flight?"

"Yes, I am. I've spoken to Senator Taprin about it. I think it should be taken as given that nothing will be done. Special Service has assumed complete authority over the investigation and the TBI is upset about it. They're having a territorial dispute and they somehow think that entitles them to harass our citizens. I don't think we can stop them any time soon, certainly not quickly enough to do any good. I'm going to make the rounds again and see what I can salvage, but with Tralen-" she glanced at the list Hofton had provided "-Shorit, Klasina, Prattek, and Qurvis leaving, I don't expect to have much success."

Setaris was quiet for a time. "I see. Legate Korolin is being put off over when the conference will actually take place, as well. Negotiations have snagged on venue. Once they start arguing about where a meeting is going to be held, it's a guarantee that there will be no meeting."

"It's coming apart."

"It looks that way, yes. Unless arrests can be made in the next day or two, our brief will probably be to sever relations."

"It's that bad?"

"The credits, Ariel," Setaris said wearily. "You have no idea how much money is in play here. Without the conference and some kind of treaty…"

"I see. Then whoever did this has won. Even if they're captured, they did what they intended."

"Who knows what was intended? Yes, you're probably right in the main, but -I have a meeting to attend with the other ambassadors in six hours. I doubt any of them will stay if Aurora pulls out. It would be pleasant if you could give me good news before then."

"I'll do what I can, Ambassador, but-"

"I won't expect miracles, Ariel."

Setaris broke the link.

"How generous," Ariel said to the blank screen.

She resisted the urge to call Mia. They had put Bogard into play, a gamble Ariel had been reluctant to take, and now all they could do was wait to see if it paid off. She surveyed her desk. She had more than enough to keep her occupied, but just now she could not summon the interest to begin.

"Ariel," Hofton broke in again.

"Yes?"

"I wouldn't bother you with this normally, but under the circumstances I think you should take this call. Mr. Udal?"

"Udal…?"

"The vendor who filed a complaint of vandalism with us early in the week?"

Ariel felt a wave of annoyance. "What the hell does he want?"

"As I say, I think you should take the call."

Ariel banged her finger against the ACCEPT contact.

"Yes, Mr. Udal, how can I help you?" She managed only a hint of strain.

"I, uh, request an intervention. I need asylum."

"What? From what, Mr. Udal? Have the vandals come back to smash the rest of your illicit stock"

"Please, Ms. Burgess! I'm quite serious. The Terran Bureau of Investigation is threatening me with confinement."

"For what?"

"Contraband. I swear I didn't know, I swear it, but-"

Ariel felt a solid lump form just below her throat. "What sort of contraband, Mr. Udal?"

"Positronic robots! I swear, I've never handled-"

"Mr. Udal, come to the embassy at once. I want to speak with you in person."

"Do I get asylum?"

"We won't know that until I talk to you. Please come in at once."

"Yes, yes. I'll be there within the hour."

"Sooner." She paused. "In fact, Mr. Udal, stay where you are. I'm sending an embassy limo for you. Is that clear? Don't leave where you are. I'm sending a limo."

"Yes," Udal spluttered. "Yes, I-thank you."

"Hofton, do you have Mr. Udal's location?"

"Yes, Ariel."

"Go there yourself, personally, and pick him up and bring him here. Immediately. Take-what's his name down in security? Michensol? Take him with you. I want Mr. Udal in my office in half an hour."

"Thank you, Ms. Burgess," Udal said. "Thank you."

Ariel broke the connection, more annoyed than when she had answered it.

Contraband. Damn and damn. What next? All she needed was for the TBI to announce the arrest of an Auroran smuggler and the presence of an unknown quantity of illegal robots scattered who knew where on Earth.

I should have stayed home this morning… "I'm not at liberty to discuss the specifics of our investigation, Ambassador. Please understand our position."

Ariel tapped her index finger impatiently on her desk, out of sight of the com screen. The TBI agent had been very polite, very receptive, and very uninformative.

"I understand perfectly," Ariel said. "You've decided that the assassination was directed at Senator Eliton exclusively and Ambassador Humadros simply got in the way… not to mention all the other Spacer nationals killed or injured. They had nothing to do with the fact that only Terran nationals were the target."

The agent-Royan-almost frowned, appearing puzzled more than offended. Ariel tried to imagine Mia like this after several more years in the Service-professional and cynically unresponsive.

"We don't disregard the losses to your people, Ambassador Burgess, but we are conducting our investigation the way we think best. Again, I apologize if this has inconvenienced your people."

"Your people." We're human, aren't we?

Ariel made herself nod, matching Agent Royan point for point with politesse. "If you had come to us before you started rousting Spacers, we might have been of assistance. You could have gotten better results, saved us all time, and possibly moved on to a more productive avenue."

"Ambassador-"

"Let me put it to you this way," Ariel said, hearing another obfuscation coming and losing patience. "If you don't desist from harassing Aurorans I'll file an injunction through the Senate and block you at every step. I've been less than impressed with Terran law enforcement over this. Five days and not one arrest? How hard can it be, Agent Royan? Nine armed assassins charge into Union Station, in front of thousands of witnesses on site and millions more through subetheric, six of them are dead, and you can't find the last three? My government is patient, but with limits."