Mark Tiedemann - Chimera

"With all due respect, " Derec said, "might I be allowed to choose my own lab assistant?"

Leri blinked. "Of course."

"I'd like Rana."

The ambassador almost frowned. "She is not, I believe, fully credited-"

"Nor is she Auroran. I understand that. But we worked together before. I found her most adequate. "

"I see no objection," Leri said.

"In that case, I'd like to see the lab as soon as possible."

"I understood this would be a priority situation. I've had Rotij prep an area just for your use."

"Shall I wait for you?" Palen asked.

"Yes, if you could," Derec said. "This won't take that long. Then I'd like to get the robot here as quickly as possible."

"May I ask," Leri said, "what robot?"

"You haven't been briefed?"

"Not in all the particulars…"

Derec did not know what orders Leri might have had from Sen Setaris. Best to say nothing, he decided, and sort out the protocols later.

"I'll leave it to higher authority, then," he said. "I'm sure Ambassador Setaris will update you as needed. "

"But-"

The lab, sir?" Derec prompted.

Leri frowned. "This way. "

Derec caught a look from Rana. She rolled her eyes as if to say now there's going to be trouble, then nodded for Derec to follow Leri.

The small reception area gave no indication of the volume the embassy occupied. Leri led Derec, Hofton, and Rana down a hallway to an elevator. Four levels down, it opened onto a lab area Derec guessed at about five hundred square meters.

Derec took a few tentative steps forward, surveying the equipment neatly arrayed across the room. He recognized most of it, but a few pieces looked unfamiliar.

"We finished a complete overhaul six months ago," Rana offered.

Derec whistled appreciatively, Terran fashion, then saw Leri's puzzled look. "I'm very impressed, sir. It doesn't look like you want for anything. "

"This is a working lab, Mr. Avery," Leri said with a mixture of pride and contempt. "Kopernik hosts a large population of robots in the Spacer sections. We service the positronics of all the incoming and outgoing Spacer ships."

"Including the Solarian?"

"The Solarians do not possess such a lab. They contract us to do their service and repair work."

A small cluster of people huddled together in a far corner, talking among themselves. Derec counted five and wondered which among them was head of the lab.

"Rotij," Leri called.

One of the group looked toward them, raised a hand, then excused himself from the discussion. He approached with long strides; he was typically tall, with a Spacer's indeterminate age.

"Yes?" he said, stopping before them.

"Rotij Polifos," Leri intoned, "this is Derec Avery and his aide, Hofton…" Leri blinked at Hofton uncertainly.

"That's correct," Hofton said. "Hofton, from the groundside mission. The people I spoke to you about, from Ambassador Burgess's office…?"

"Yes, of course," Rotij said. He seemed distracted and mildly put out. "Honored, Mr. Avery. I know your work."

"Thank you."

"Rotij," Leri continued, "is chief roboticist and director of this positronics lab." He looked between them for a few moments, then nodded, satisfied. "According to my instructions, you 're to be accorded every service of the facility. Should you require anything else, please feel free to see me."

"Thank you, Ambassador," Derec said. "You're very kind."

"If I may, I'll leave you to Director Polifos-"

"I need a minute, Yart," Polifos said.

Leri blinked. "I'm sure we can get together later and-"

"Now. If you please."

"Mr. Avery requires immediate attention. Afterward, of course." With that, Leri spun around and returned to the elevator.

Polifos glared after Leri for several seconds, then laughed caustically. "Busy man." He turned toward Derec with a sigh. "Well. How can I help you? Ambassador Burgess's instructions were vague except on the point that you're to have the run of the place. I'm afraid I'll have to ask that you leave us some area to do our regular work-"

"I need a single station," Derec said. "For one robot, full range diagnostic ensemble, and a large memory cache for an RI direct link. "

The Director's face lost expression. "Well…I don't see a problem…did you say an RI direct link?"

"Yes," Hofton said. "And it's quite heavy." Polifos wanted very much to watch while Derec set up the link to Thales, but his attention was divided by the work he had been supervising when Derec and Hofton first arrived. He was both relieved and disappointed when Derec made it clear that he wanted to work with Rana.

The instant Polifos returned to the huddle on the other side of the lab, Rana began reconfiguring a commlink station for Thales' requirements.

"I assume nothing's changed," she said, fingers moving deftly over the board.

"Thales' configurations? No, only location and peripheral memory cache. Here are the numbers." He scribbled out the address and the current parameters.

Rana frowned. "How did you get all of it into that small of a buffer? Thales must feel absolutely claustrophobic."

"Daily complaints. I didn't have much choice. The move into the embassy was rather hasty. I'm lucky it wasn't confiscated."

"I was going to say, I'm surprised you still have him."

"'Him'? That's very Spacer of you."

"I'm working on it. " She flashed him a smile. "I never expected to see you again. "

"Ever?"

"Well, not this soon, anyway. " She glanced over her shoulder, across the lab. "I'll see about having this area shielded. Then you can tell me what the hell is going on."

Derec followed her gaze. Hofton had left with Palen to fetch the robot. For the moment it was only Rana and himself and a couple of technicians on the far side of the room, intent on their own work.

"Is there a problem?" Derec asked quietly.

"Nothing overt. Rotij can be a pain sometimes." She shook her head.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Qualifying for Auroran citizenship."

"Seriously?"

"Perfectly. This is what I salvaged. Frankly, it's more than I ever expected. The TBI was really upset with us, you know. I have a chance to go to Aurora and maybe study at the Calvin Institute. It would have helped if…" Rana shrugged.

"If Ariel had retained some cachet?"

"To put it mildly."

"We're working on recovering some. That's part of what this is all about. "

Rana finished configuring the board. She pulled a cable from the case containing Derec's link and connected it to the console. She pressed a contact and waited. After a few seconds, she entered more commands.

"You're very good," Derec said.

"I should be. You trained me."

"I think you were a better student than I was a teacher."

Rana initiated a long encryption sequence, then turned to another, smaller board. She watched it briefly, touched one button, and sighed.

"All right," she announced, clapping her hands dramatically. "Unless someone is trying very, very hard, we're secure from eavesdropping. "

"Do you think anyone would?"

Rana gave him a wry look. "Our Ambassador Yart Leri is a jealous little god and is not at all happy at being kept ignorant about your mission. He wouldn't do it out of malice, just vanity."

"What about Rotij Polifos? He seemed unhappy about all this."

"This? Maybe. But one of our interns was arrested yesterday and he's naturally upset about it. I don't consider Rotij the jealous type. Not that way."

"I saw a Spacer in Palen's lockup. What was the charge?"

"Disorderly conduct. It doesn't mean anything, it's just an excuse for Palen to haul someone in for questioning. What her questions might be, who knows? Just have to wait for Masid to be released and find out."

"Polifos. Is he good?"