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She nodded somberly. They didn t tell you one other thing.
What?
Someone had disabled the viewers in that section of the garage, with enough
care that it was planned.
That scarcely surprised me, not so much as a norm covering my illegal loop.
Daryn & began Anna as I guided the glider through the darkness back toward
her office. It was almost midnight.
Yes?
Can you tell me what this is all about?
I can tell you what I know, but you already heard that. My smile felt
lopsided, perhaps the result of a post-reaction to the truth-nanites. What
I m guessing is that there is a political move to take over UniComm as the
first step in somehow changing the Federal Union system.
There was a silence. That makes sense. She nodded. What are you going to
do?
Fight it.
Why?
I grinned, again feeling the expression off-center. I didn t like the world
my father liked, but he was fair. I have the feeling I d like the world these
people want to create even less.
What do you want from me?
A good securities and multilaw specialist I can trust. Plus, I ll probably
send Majora to you for a property allocation bequest as well.
You re not going to fight their way, are you?
I laughed. How could I? I don t know anything about fighting that way. I ll
have to fight my way. If I could make it work.
I dropped her off at her office.
If what I were doing were scripted into a VR, then I d be chasing all over the
globe, quietly or noisily assassinating or killing one and then another of the
evil pre-selects & or commandeering a spaceship and traveling to 31 Pavo and
Gamma Recluci to blow up alien Gates & or something along those lines. Oh &
and I d have had it all solved before the first board meeting, and persuaded
Majora to have married me by then.
The only problem was that those kinds of actions wouldn t stop or solve
anything, however much they might please those who loved bodies and blood &
and nothing moved quite that fast in the real world.
Then, of course, there was the problem that I didn t know how to stalk people,
and the CAs and skytors were probably watching everything I did. I didn t have
access to clones, or to thugs who d been carefully removed from the world
database. Nor did I even know those who were after me with enough certainty
even to use illegal tactics, and conventional legal remedies were impossible
to employ.
I did have some brains, some talent, some friends, and, if I could keep it,
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the largest comm net in the world.
And Majora.
Chapter 69
Helyna
On the way back from Kewood, I connected myself to the AllNews desk at UniComm
and offered a statement. It wasn t perfect, but this was a time when a good
statement in a timely fashion was far better than a perfect statement when
everyone had forgotten what had happened.
Then I called Mother.
& Daryn & it s late. Why don t you have an image?
I m in the glider. I just called to tell you that I m all right. Some thugs
came after me this afternoon, and there are going to be news stories, I m
sure.
You might consider an armored glider and a chauffeur for a time, dear.
I ve thought about it, although my glider is almost that. It was after I left
the glider.&
When I d briefed her, I called Majora.
Where are you? I saw the stories. Are you all right?
On the way back from Kewood. I m all right.
I ll be waiting.
And she was, right at the front door. Her full-body hug felt good warm and
reassuring & and loving. We hung on to each other for a time before we
disengaged and closed the door.
I saved everything that ran on the news, Majora said as we moved toward her
great room. Your mother also called.
I frowned. I called her.
She was calling to reassure me, in case you hadn t.
I laughed. She likes you. Then I frowned. But I hadn t had a chance to tell
her, about our getting married, or about my staying here.
She knew you d called from here before. She s very sharp.
That, I already knew.
I have tea ready, and a plate for you. I ll run the news clips while you
eat.
So I sat and ate a very good goulash with noodles that were perfectly al
dente, sipping tea and watching and listening.
The first image was that of a CA office, although not the Kewood one, and then
a shot of me presiding over the stakeholders meeting as the narrative voiced
over the image.
& Civil Authorities took the director general of UniComm into custody today in
connection with the deaths of three un-identified men Alwyn, a former FS
officer with extensive military training, apparently killed all three men. The
Civil Authorities have made no comment, but released Alwyn after perfunctory
questioning. Alwyn recently inherited the controlling interests in UniComm,
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