Mark Tiedemann - Mirage

She looked back at Michensol, who was listening intently. "I think-I remember-that it was a scream of delight. But my parents must have thought it was something less wonderful and came rushing out to save me. My father swept me up, stopped, and looked up himself. Then he ran with me back under the canopy. We never came outside again. My parents didn't emigrate. But I've never gotten over that experience. Every time I come outside, it's exciting. The fear goes away pretty quickly and then it's just… intense. I love it. What do you think, Otin?"

Cupra hung in Bogard's hands, head lowered and eyes squeezed shut. He was pale now.

"I take it you don't share my enthusiasm," she said.

"You've made your point," he said tersely. "Do you mind if we go back?"

"No, not at all. After you tell me who gives you instructions."

"Damn it-!"

"We can stay out here all night," Mia said pleasantly. "If you think a sunset is something to see, wait till you experience dawn."

Cupra drew a deep breath, then raised his head and opened his eyes. Mia was impressed. He gazed at the distant horizon for several seconds before finally looking at her.

"What do you want?"

"Answers."

"I can't tell you. You know how it works."

"Sure, I do. But it only counts when it's legal. Last time I checked, covering for a murderer and conspiring to conceal evidence were not things for which we were trained to indulge."

Cupra's eyes closed. He trembled.

"We are going to stay out here all night if necessary. I want to know who's running you."

"You don't know anything. You haven't got any evidence."

"I don't know about that, but if you want to play it that way, fine. Bogard?"

"Yes, Mia?"

"You accessed Service files earlier today."

"Yes, I did, Mia."

"Do you have those files relating to the Service investigation of the Union Station assassinations?"

"Yes, I do."

"Physical evidence. Forensics."

"Fifty-five bullets, nine-millimeter, were recovered from the bodies and surrounding area. Ballistics matches them to the type of weapon recovered from Bok Vin Golner and his associates, which match the rifles recovered from Union Station in the aftermath of the assault."

"Provenance?"

"Specially-built rifles, no traceable provenance. However, the basic frame closely matches weapons seized in a raid two years ago on Mars. The shipment was about to be sold to a buyer from one of the Settler colonies."

"The seller?"

"An agent was arrested and later confessed to being in the employ of Kynig Parapoyos."

"Where were the weapons stored?"

"Standard policy is that all such contraband be destroyed after use as trial evidence. In this instance, no record of such destruction exists. According to the files, the weapons were stored at the Special Service impound facility. A check of the internal log of the impound facility shows that they have not been present for at least six months."

"Interesting," Mia mused. "So the rifles were removed from impound and modified and issued to Managins; namely, Bok Golner. Who does Bok Golner work for, Bogard?"

"His last recorded regular employment was as an environmental technician for Cyvan Industries, a subsidiary of Imbitek."

"I just got done doing a deep background on the bodies of those Managins at Union Station. Every one of them has, at one time or another, been employed by either Imbitek or a subsidiary."

"Very interesting," Cupra said through clamped teeth. "So?"

"Imbitek manufactures imbedded technologies, like the kind found permeating the maintenance nodes of the Union Station Resident Intelligence. An interesting substance. It relays positrons, according to Derec A very. I didn't understand it very well, but it was fairly clear that whatever it is and however it works, it had something to do with disrupting the entire security net of Union Station. That allowed Golner and his people to get inside with their rifles-rifles that seem very similar to weapons once held in a Special Service impound. Now, all that may be circumstantial and may mean nothing."

"That's right."

"But then you and your partner show up and stop Derec A very from investigating what went wrong with the RI. Then you show up at the clinic where I was being treated and reassign the agents who had been there. And later, you came in and bombed my room."

"You can't prove that!" Cupra bellowed.

Mia ignored him. "Finally, you show up at a facility where contraband has been found, and the very same Managins involved with the assassinations are holding not only the chief roboticist from Union Station and his dead partner, but Derec Avery." She shook her head in mock sadness.

"You seem to be in all the wrong places at all the right times, Otin. And you haven't disputed the fact that it was Golner who did the killing. If you knew that, then why didn't you arrest him? Unless you both take orders from the same source. So, I ask again: Who's giving you instructions?"

Cupra shook his head.

"Bogard, suspend him."

In a swift movement, Bogard let one of Cupra's arms go and grabbed his ankle, then stepped up against the railing and stretched that arm out over the drop. He let the agent's other arm go, and Cupra swung free.

He screamed.

"All the texts tell us that torture doesn't work," Mia said. "But I'm not so sure."

"You bitch!"

Mia frowned. "Oh, that's not what I want to hear."

"Bogard won't drop me!"

Mia raised an eyebrow. "You're sure? Bogard is different from other robots. It's already left details out when you asked it questions, and, of course, a robot isn't supposed to be able to do that."

Cupra screamed again. He stopped flailing and let himself go limp. Mia's estimate of his courage went up again.

"Bogard, how many files are there pertaining to the Union Station assault?" Mia asked.

"Forty-seven, Mia."

"Are they available through the general Service data pool?"

"No. Fourteen are open flies. The rest are security locked and coded to specific agents."

"Which agents?"

"Cupra and Gambel."

Mia smiled. "Gets better and better. Maybe we don't need you to talk at all, Otin. Seems like Bogard got all the data we need."

"Please." The word came out as a thin whine. Cupra started trembling again, then tried to curl himself up to grab Bogard's arm. He could not quite make it and fell back.

"Who's running you?" Mia barked. "Who set it up?"

"I don't know!"

"Wrong, Otin! You and Gambel have been running around putting out fifes. You have to know what you're protecting in order to know what fifes to smother."

"Lemme up. Please. Mia, I-please!"

"I want a name, Otin. And it has to be the right one. If it isn't, we do this again until it is."

Cupra waved his arms desperately. Suddenly, he said, "Mikels! Alda Mikels!"

"Old news, Otin. Mikels couldn't sabotage security. Who else?"

"Please, for pity's sake!"

"A name, Otin."

The silence stretched. Cupra flapped his arms again. If Bogard had not been holding him, he might have worked himself loose and into a fatal fall.

Then: "One! One signed off on the security!"

"Bogard, retrieve."

Bogard brought Cupra back over the rail, snatched his arm, and righted him. The robot stood the agent on his feet and kept a hand on the shaking man's shoulder. Drool ran down Cupra's chin. He glared at Mia with open hatred and terror.

"One," Mia repeated. "And Alda Mikels. How does that work? Make it sing, Otin."

"Can we go inside?"

"After you convince me."

Cupra swallowed, closed his eyes, and nodded. "There's a consortium of patriots. Mikels heads it. One is a member. When Eliton first proposed this conference, Mikels approached One to discuss ways to stop it. One came to us."