Mark Tiedemann - Chimera

"The bin was cracked. The air leaked out fairly quickly-not all at once, but in a vacuum it must've created a current. We think it drew her to it. Her clothing was pulled through. "

"Cracked," Ariel mused. "Big enough for your robot to slip through?"

"Hardly. You can see the dimensions for yourself."

Ariel frowned and gave Derec a look Coren could not read. "It would be unlikely, I think," she said. She sighed. "You still haven't given us a convincing argument to indict a robot." She pointed to the image of Coffee. "What do you think, Derec? A modified DW-12?"

"Looks like it. But it's not possible, Mr. Lanra. There is no way to modify a positronic brain to subvert its Three Law constraints. Tampering at that level would destroy the brain. The fact that it's collapsed proves that its programming was consistent with its original protocols. It witnessed the deaths of humans ostensibly in its charge. It failed to protect them. It collapsed."

"As I recall," Coren noted, "a positronic brain was modified at Union Station to cause the deaths of a good number of people."

Derec stiffened. "That's…inaccurate. It was modified to ignore a lethal situation. It caused nothing. And it collapsed shortly after it realized what had happened." He frowned thoughtfully. "What was this robot doing at the rebreather controls?"

"As far as we can tell, trying to shut it off."

"You've said 'we' a few times now. Who else is involved in this investigation?" Ariel asked.

"Kopernik Station's chief of security is working with me on this," Coren replied.

"How are you keeping it out of the newsnets, then?"

"The bin was delivered to a Settler dock. She has an arrangement with the Settler security people. It's isolated, outside the usual legal channels. For the time being, it doesn't exist. That won't last long."

"And the robot?" Derec asked.

"Stored."

"Still in the Settler section?"

"In Chief Palen's morgue."

"We need to have it."

"There's no way I can bring it down here. Not in time, anyway. I need someone to go to it."

Ariel looked at Derec. "What do you think?"

Derec shook his head. "A risk. I'm still not sure what my status is."

Ariel looked at Coren. "Our…range of free movement may be somewhat curtailed. Especially Mr. Avery's."

"Mine isn't," Hofton said. "I could accompany Mr. Avery up to our embassy branch on Kopernik." He glanced at Derec. "You'd be in the diplomatic pouch, so to speak."

Derec grunted, smiling thinly.

"Excuse me," Coren said. "There's no question here, is there? You're going to help me."

"You wouldn't be talking to us otherwise, Mr. Lanra," Ariel said.

"Why."

Ariel looked thoughtful. "Before I answer that, let me ask you something. Where was Nyom Looms taking this group of baleys?"

"Nova Levis."

"Why there? I can think of at least a dozen other Settler colonies that would accept baleys that aren't under blockade."

"I don't know. Nova Levis is…romantic."

"That's hardly a reason. But even so, the next question is, why kill them?"

"Her father is running for office," Coren said. "Something like this"

"Just letting it out that she ran baleys would accomplish as much, " Ariel said, shaking her head. "What was there about this run that warranted murder?"

Coren said nothing.

"That's the question, then," Ariel said. "Answer the why, you discover the who. Theoretically, anyway. And it won't be a robot."

Coren leaned across her desk and touched an icon on her flatscreen. "I'd like your opinion on these, then."

The image from Ariel's desk projector vanished, replaced a moment later by the autopsy images Sipha had sent him of the Brethe dealer who had died in her holding cell. The sight brought a sharp hiss from Derec Avery; Burgess paled.

"At first we thought this was unrelated, " Coren explained. "Maybe it is, but I'm guessing not. Frame sixteen-" he gestured for Ariel to find that image "-is an enhanced display of a handprint left subdurally. Tell me what you think. "

Ariel touched her projector control and the autopsy images shifted. The false color view of the oversized handprint bloomed.

"Too big for a human hand…" Derec mused.

Coren watched Ambassador Burgess. Finally, she nodded. She glanced at him, frowning briefly, and looked away.

"I'd have to agree with Derec," she said. "A human hand didn't make that. But that still leaves the field open to a number of explanations. Prosthetics, for one."

"I ran a catalogue check for any prosthetics commercially available that match that pattern. Nothing turned up. That doesn't rule out a custom manufacture, of course, but…"

"But you still think it's a robot."

"Something managed to slip past all the security in a police cell block to do this. I already told you the robot I saw was blind to my optam. It may be the same technique in this case: a masked robot, invisible to surveillance monitors."

"So now it's a conspiracy of robots," Derec said. "Less and less likely."

"Can you give me a better explanation to account for the damage?" Coren asked sharply.

"Isn't that what we need to find out?" Ariel Burgess said. "You asked why we're helping. What you've proposed here is a good enough reason for me. Earthers think the worst of robots on a good day. This-" she waved at the projection "-validates all your fears, if true. A chance to head this off and perhaps prevent a very ugly purge would be a good enough reason, don't you think?"

"For your part, that seems plausible. But that's not the only reason."

Ariel bowed her head in mock acceptance. "Of course not. Illegal emigration is a point in common between us and Terra. There's a quid pro quo in that, too."

"You're working with ITE?"

"No. We're working with you. "

Coren looked from one face to the other, returning to Ariel. He expected them to keep things from him, most of it details of their involvement that really did not concern him. But he also expected them to be subtle about it. Instead, they were very obviously not telling him something. If he did not need their expertise…

"What specifically are you getting from this arrangement?" he asked.

Ambassador Burgess gave a faint smile and a slight shake of the head. She gestured at the image of the dead woman on her screen. "Who was this? Why was she killed?"

"According to Chief Palen, she was a small-time narcotics dealer," Coren lied. "Could be any number of people she may have crossed in the course of business."

"This seems excessive for a bad debt, " Ariel said. She drew a deep breath, slowly released it. "Aurora has been asked by Terran authorities to look into the Nova Levis situation. That involves a lot of baleys. I was asked by my immediate superior to lend you aid. Partly, we may have a problem with Spacer businesses shipping illegally from Earth. It's being suggested that Spacers are colluding in bypassing immigration and trade laws. I presume they believe we'll find things that will be mutually helpful. Is that sufficient answer for you, Mr. Lanra?"

Coren folded his arms across his chest. "It will do… for now."

"In that case," Ariel said, smiling uneasily, "how do you want to proceed, Mr. Lanra?"

We have work, Thales. " Derec started feeding disks into the reader on Thales' console. "Load these."

"Has Phylaxis been revived, Derec?" the RI asked.

"No. This is an embassy assignment. Sort of." Derec slid the last disk into the reader, then pulled a chair over. "To be honest, I'm not sure about this. There's a possibility that our situation could get worse."

"Then, is it advisable to accept?"

"We don't have a lot of choices, Thales. Ariel has been handed this by Ambassador Setaris. I get the impression that Setaris is just passing on instructions from Aurora." He leaned back and laced his fingers under his chin. "We're to assist the chief of security for DyNan Manual Industries, a man named Coren Lanra, in an investigation concerning the death of Rega Looms' daughter, baley running, and a possible robot involvement."