C. Cherryh - Cyteen

"To trap him, you mean. God, Catlin, to push him into it, what do they think people are made of?"

"Maybe they will," Catlin said. "I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about Justin being here. I'm worried because he's going to be upset when he can't go to his father. Sera, —" This was terribly hard to say. She had it in her hands of a sudden, the whole picture that had been worrying her and she made a violent gesture, cutting sera off, before she lost the way to say it. "The trouble is in Novgorod. With people who hate you. And Jordan Warrick was with these people a long time ago. It doesn't matter whether it's his fault or their fault—what matters is they're making him a Cause. And that's power. And when he's got that—"

"He's got to do something with it," sera said.

Catlin nodded. "And Justin's real close to you, sera. Justin's inside. And his father's a Special in psych—and he's your Enemy. That's real dangerous. That's terribly dangerous, sera."

"Yes," she said, very quiet. "Yes, it is." And after a moment more: "Dammit, why didn't Denys tell me?"

"Maybe he thought you might talk to Justin, sera."

"I could fix this," sera said. "I could fix this– Damn, I'd—"

"What would you do, sera?" That sera might have an idea did not surprise her at all. But it disconcerted her to see sera's shoulders fall, and watch sera shake her head.

"Politics," sera said. "Pol-i-tics, Catlin. Dirty politics. Like our friends who aren't speaking to each other. Like fools, Catlin, who won't tell anyone the truth about what they want—like people want Reseune destroyed for a whole lot of reasons, and some of them are sane and some of them are crooked as hell. Like crazy people who blow up subways for peace. What does reason matter?"

Catlin shook her head, confused.

"I want to know who these people are," sera said in a hard voice. "I want to know, Catlin, whether any of them are of azi ancestry. Whether any of them are azi or whether this is a CIT craziness Reseune didn't have anything to do with." And a moment later: "I've got to think about the other. I've got to think about it, Catlin."

"Sera, please don't go to Justin with this. Don't tell him."

A long silence. "No," she said. "No. That's not the thing to do."

ARCHIVES: RUBIN PROJECT: CLASSIFIED CLASS AA

DO NOT COPY

CONTENT: Computer Transcript File #78346 Seq. #7

Personal Archive

Emory I/Emory II2423: 11/5: 2045

AE2: Base One, what data do you have on: keyword: assassination: keyword: Ariane Emory: keyword: death?

B/1: Ari senior has a message.

Stand by.

Ari, this is Ari senior.

You've asked about assassination.

This program will assess your current security problems while this message plays.

Most of all, beware the people you know. The others you would in no wise allow to approach you.

You've asked about death. First, don't mistake my limits for your own.

I don't know how much time there is as I write this. I know, at least, that rejuv is failing. So does Petros Ivanov, who is sworn to secrecy.

How do I face death? With profound anxieties. Anxieties because I know how much there is yet to do.

God, if I could have another lifetime.

But that's yours, sweet. And I'll never know, will I?

Base One has completed its assessment.

You are 17 years old. You are legally adult.

The indices this program uses in Security records indicate a troubled period. Do you think this is an accurate statement?

AE2: Yes.

B/1: Is your life in danger?

AE2: Yes.

B/1: Is the threat internal or external to Reseune?

AE2:1 don't know.

B/1: Do you think you can trust the Science Bureau?

AE2: I don't know. I need more information. I want my clearance raised, Base One.

B/1: Working.

Describe the things you want to know.

AE2: Everything. I want this program to do everything it did for Ari senior and I want it to do it without leaving any flags in the system.

B/1: Your request is being processed.

Ari senior has a message.

Stand by.

Ari, this is Ari senior.

You've asked for Base One to assume full operation. The program is assessing your psychological profile, your current test scores, the state of House offices and departments.

Have you considered that the security wall this will create in the House system may be detected by other Bases? Are you knowledgeable enough to create cover?

AE2: Yes.

B/1: I can't foresee your situation when you make this request. I can't advise you in specific. The program, however, is biased to grant this expansion on your request, on a complex weighting of: the length of time you have held your legal majority, the amount and nature of covert activity in other bases, your own test scores and psychological profiles, and a number of other factors you may explore at your leisure.

I had thought about dividing the power of Base One, making it possible for you to acquire information first—without giving you the power to take certain actions through Base One's accesses, this for your protection, and Reseune's.

I decided against that . . . simply because I could not foresee your circumstances. But the program is running as it is because you are asking for a House system rating exceeding that of the present administrators of Reseune.

This may be necessary. It may be a grievous mistake.

Before you proceed, consider that the larger your real power grows, the more it makes you a danger to others. This move of yours, if detected, may increase the number and energy of persons working against you.

Do you still wish to proceed?

AE2: Yes.

B/1: I earnestly advise you, don't use Base One's interactive functions beyond the limits you have used already, until you have a political base to back you: I mean specifically covert actions on a level shutting out Denys Nye, Giraud Nye, Petros Ivanov, Yanni Schwartz, Wendell Peterson, or John Edwards, because they are very likely to catch you at it real-time, in ways that have nothing to do with the House system. You may be brilliant as I was, young Ari, but you are inexperienced at this level. Consider whether a 17-year-old is a match for the experience and political savvy of these people.

It's perfectly safe, however, to use the information-gathering functions of the new level: use that to learn what's going on in the House, by all means, just don't do anything about it until you know damn well you can keep your actions completely covert or until your position is overwhelmingly stronger than any opposition inside Reseune—or the Bureau, or wherever. I am not at all convinced that an inexperienced person can conceal actions within this system.

I am, as you have detected, extremely uneasy about this step. In my day Reseune knew secrets that could mean war or peace.

I did not wield Base One fully until I was 62. I estimate that I had the ability to have handled it when I was 30. But I would have taken it up then with precisely the same caution and by the same degrees I advise you to use at 17. If you cannot survive on wits and knowledge alone, either the situation is worse than mine, or you are not as clever as I was.

Do you wish to proceed, against all these cautions?