Mark Tiedemann - Mirage

"I did my best, Mr. Avery," Hofton said quietly. "It's my impression, though, that the TBI have an agenda not stated in their warrants."

"TBI…" Mia said. "Not Special Service."

"Significant?" Derec asked.

"I don't know. Possibly. There's a strict code of territoriality between us. We don't encroach on each others' investigations. If Special Service takes control of something, TBI stays out, and vice versa."

"Unless this is an unrelated investigation," Derec said.

"What are the chances of that?" Hofton asked.

Mia grunted.

They rode the rest of the way up to the embassy offices in silence. The doors opened and they stepped into a scene of restrained chaos. Staff huddled by office doors down the corridor, while others flitted from room to room. In the reception area, Ariel was bent over the desk, going over something with a secretary while three other aides talked tersely among themselves. Two security guards stood at the main entrance.

Ariel looked up at them and gestured for Hofton to take Derec and Mia into her office.

"Can I get either of you anything while you wait?" Hofton asked. He pointed at Mia. "Pain blockers, yes, I'll see to it. Anything else?"

"I could stand something to eat," Derec said. "Nothing for me," Mia said.

"I'll return as soon as I can," Hofton promised and left.

Almost immediately, Ariel came in, shutting the doors behind her.

"Are you all right?" she asked Derec. She stopped short of arm's length from him. "I was-"

He raised his hands and nodded. "I'm fine, I just-it-"

Ariel started to back away, then winced visibly and pulled Derec into a hug. He hesitated, his arms extended as if unsure what to do next. Then he closed them around her and they stood like that for a long time.

When she did break away, Mia saw her eyes glint wetly. Ariel sniffed once, loudly, then seemed to seize control of herself.

"Your prisoners are in two of our debriefing rooms," she said. "They're for high security conversations, completely shielded. Who are they?"

"One is a positronic tech," Derec said. "Tathis Kedder, one of the two at Union Station. The other…"

"Otin Cupra," Mia said.

Ariel stared at her. "You snatched a Service agent?"

"Chance encounter," Mia said. "He showed up just when we were about to rescue Derec."

"The garage," Derec said with emphasis.

"I see," Ariel said, folding her arms. "Well, I doubt it could worsen the situation in the long run."

"What's happened?" Derec asked. "Hofton said my people are in custody."

"Phylaxis has been shut down and seized by the TBI. I tried to get the personnel declared Auroran nationals, but they weren't backing down. They want you, too. Now that you're actually here, I can reinstate your Auroran citizenship and grant asylum, but you can't leave the embassy at this point. At least, it wouldn't be a good idea to go shopping."

Derec almost laughed. He looked around the office and moved to a couch. He dropped into it, sprawling, and put a hand to his face, gently rubbing his eyes.

"What happened?" Ariel asked. "You were vague on the comlink."

Mia described the events in the garage, watching Derec as she spoke to see how he reacted. He did not move. As Mia finished, Hofton returned with a tray bearing food and a small plate with pills which he offered to Mia.

"I gathered you wanted something stronger than a med robot would permit."

Mia gave him a smile and scooped the pills from the plate. There were four. She took two and pocketed the others.

Derec sat up as Hofton opened the legs under the tray and set it before him. "Thanks," he murmured and examined the contents. He took a piece of bread and started eating it.

"Why the local police?" Ariel asked.

"To complicate things. However far this conspiracy goes, I doubt it includes the D. C. cops. Those men we snagged will go into the system and will be explaining themselves to a local judge, effectively out of reach of higher authority… at least, for the time being. It will be a matter of public record by morning, and maybe some questions will be asked that aren't being asked now."

Ariel scowled. "I wonder if this could be made to constitute 'arrests' in the eyes of Aurora."

"What's happening here?" Mia asked.

"Solaria has officially pulled out of the conference. They jumped the gun on us; we had no response. I haven't gotten word from Setaris and as far as I know she hasn't gotten word from Aurora."

"Then it's over. They won."

"That's not clear yet. Aurora can pressure Solaria to return to the table, but we have to have a reason."

"All you're going to do is push Solaria further away," Derec said. His words came out muffled around a mouthful of food. He was eating heartily now. "Maybe that's exactly what they want."

"What do you mean?" Ariel asked.

"Solaria's involved. Your friend, Tro Aspil? He was introduced to Kedder as a representative from the Calvin Institute, an Auroran, but Kedder says the man he met was a Solarian."

"When was this?"

"Over a year ago."

"That's not-he was introduced as Tro Aspil?"

Derec nodded. He took a long drink, then started telling them about Kedder's confession. Cupra struggled against Bogard's grip on both his arms until they entered the lift. Michensol, the embassy security man, accompanied them. Mia noted that he looked distantly disapproving of Bogard, but he said nothing. Cupra resigned himself once they were in the small car and kept shifting his gaze between Mia and Michensol, wary but helpless and resentful.

"Where are we going?" Cupra asked finally.

"A new experience," Mia said.

The lift came to a halt and the doors opened onto a small chamber. Opposite the lift was another door. The lift closed, leaving the four of them, three humans and a robot, in the quiet, almost intimate space.

"Have you ever seen a sunset?" Mia asked conversationally.

Cupra blinked. "Of course-"

"I mean a real one." She touched a contact and the door opened. A breeze swept into the chamber and Cupra's eyes widened slightly. "Bring him, Bogard."

Mia stepped out onto the observation platform.

"What are you doing?" Cupra demanded, his voice tinged with anxiety.

"Giving you a treat," Mia said.

She felt a few moments of apprehension herself, standing suddenly beneath an open sky, walking across a wide terrace to the railing, and gazing west toward a distant, uneven line of bluish mountains. By the time she reached the rail, she had control and began to admire the view.

The roof of D. C. stretched before her, multileveled, aerials and dishes and towers forming a kind of forest-inabstract all the way to a point where it blended with the landscape. The green of actual forest became, finally, the blue of the mountain range, and above them the sky was yellowing as evening approached. The wind was cold and came in gusts; some of the roof's protrusions waved slightly.

"I remember the first time I came up like this," she said as Bogard brought Cupra to the railing beside her. "I was four and my parents were Settler hopefuls. They had to prove that they could tolerate the open, so they started making excursions outside the city. Naturally, they brought me. We went to the Smokey Mountain Preserve-you had to get a permit and there was a time limit. They let you out in stages. First, there was a shuttle ride to the visitor's center, then there was the orientation lecture, then a covered area with wildlife that opened at one end and let onto the forest proper. My parents wanted to stay back under the canopy, but I got loose and ran for the open. All of a sudden I was Outside. I looked up at the trees reaching above me. The tops broke into thousands of little shapes. Leaves. And through the breaks in the leaves was all this blue. Somehow I realized that it was sky. And I screamed."