"Am I going?"
"Not right now. Not anytime soon. Khalid is just in. Let him make a move."
"Oh, that's a wonderfulidea."
"Don't get smart, sera. Let him draw the line, I say. While you, young sera, do some catch-up studying. You'd better learn what an average fourteen-year-old is like."
"I know. I know real well. I might know better, if my friends hadn't Disappeared to Fargone, mightn't I?"
"Don't do this for the cameras. You think you're playing a game. I'm telling you you can really lose everything. I've explained nationalization—"
"I do fine with big words."
"Let's see how you do with little ones. You're not sweet little Ari for the cameras anymore, you're more and more like the Ari certain people remember—enough to make it a lot more likely you'll get harder and harder questions, and you don't know where the mines are, young sera. We're going to stall this as long as we can, and if we can get you another year, it's very likely you'll have to apply for your majority status. That's the point at which some interest will get an injunction to stop the Science Bureau granting it; and you'll be in court again . . . with a good chance of winning it: the first Ari did at sixteen. But that won'tsolve the problem, it'll only put the opposition in a bad light, taking on a fifteen-year-old who hasto handle herself with more finesse than you presently have, young sera."
"I learn."
"You'd better. Age is catching up with us. Your predecessor's friend Catherine Lao, who's helped you more than you know—is a hundred thirty-eight. Giraud is pushing a hundred thirty. Your presence—your resemblanceto your predecessor—is like a shot of adrenaline where certain Councillors are concerned, but you have to have more than presence this time. If you make a mistake—you can see Reseune sucked up by the national government, and Defense declaring it a military zone, right fast. They'll have a pretext before the ink is dry. You'll spend your days working on whatever they tell you to do. Or you'll find yourself in some little enclave with no access to Novgorod, no access to Council or the Science Bureau."
She looked at Denys straight on, thinking: You haven't done that well. Or how else are we in this mess?
But she didn't say it. She said: "Base One only lets me go so fast, uncle Denys."
"Let me try you on another big word," Denys said. "Psychogenesis." That wasa new one. "Mind-originate," she said, remembering her Greek roots.
"Mind-origination. Mind-cloning. Now do you understand me?"
She felt cold inside. "What has that got to do with anything?"
"The resemblance between you and Ari. Let me give you a few more words to try on your Base. Bok. Endocrinology. Gehenna. Worm."
"What are you talking about? What do you mean, the resemblance—"
The sound-shielding hurt her teeth.
"Don't shout," Denys said. "You'll deafen us. I mean just what I've always told you. You areAri. Let me tell you something else. Ari didn't die of natural causes. She was murdered."
She took in a breath. "By who?"
"Whom, dear."
"Dammit, uncle Denys—"
"Watchyour language. You'd better clean it up. Ari was killed by someone no longer at Reseune."
"She died here?"
"That's all I'm going to tell you. The rest is your problem."
ARCHIVES: RUBIN PROJECT: CLASSIFIED CLASS AA
DO NOT COPY
CONTENT: Computer Transcript File #8001 Seq. #1
Personal Archive
Emory I/Emory II
2420: 10/3: 2348
AE2: Minder, this is Ari Emory. I'm alone. Give me references on psychogenesis.
B/1: Stand by. Retrieving.
Ari, this is Ari senior. Stand by.
The program finds you are 14 chronological years, with accesses for 16 years. This program finds you an average of 10 points below my scores overall.
Your psych scores are 5 points off my scores.
Your Rezner score has not been updated since age 10.
You are 5 points off qualification for access.
AE2: Base One: can my accesses reach data on Bok: keyword, clone?
B/1: Stand by. Retrieving.
Accesses inadequate.
AE2: Try endocrinology: keyword, psychogenesis. Gehenna: keyword, project. Worm: keyword, psych.
B/1: Accesses inadequate.
2420: 11/1: 1876:02
AE2: Minder, this is Ari Emory. I'm alone. Reference: psychogenesis. B/1: Stand by. Retrieving. Ari, this is Ari senior. Stand by.
The program finds you are 14 chronological years, with accesses for 16 years. This program finds you an average of 7 points below my scores overall.
Your psych scores are I point above my scores.
Your Rezner score has not been updated since age 10.
You are qualified to access files. Stand by.
Ari, this is Ari senior. These files can be read only from Base One Main Terminal. All relevant and resultant files are being stored in your personal archive under voice-lock.
You have used a keyword. You now have access to my working notes. I apologize in advance for their sketchy quality. They're quite fine when I was younger, but disregard a lot of the things dated pre-2312: they're useful if you want to see the evolution of thought: psychogenesis was something I was working on as early as 2304, but I didn't have the key studies in endocrinology until I had studied a good deal more; you can benefit from my study notes in those years, but I wasn't on the right track until 2312, and I didn't get the funds I needed until 2331. I benefited a great deal by Poley's work in that same decade: we disagreed, but it was an academic, not a personal difference. We exchanged considerable correspondence, also in the archives. By the year 2354, at the close of the Company Wars, my notes are much less coherent and a great deal more meaningful.
That you have accessed these notes means something has worked.
You have matched my ability. I hope to hell you have a sense of morality.
Your Base can now access all working notes. Good luck.
AE2: Base One: can my accesses reach data on Bok: keyword, cloning?
B/1: Stand by. Retrieving.
AE2: Try endocrinology: keyword, psychogenesis. Gehenna: keyword, project. Worm: keyword, psych.
B/1: Stand by. Retrieving.
B/1: The Bok clone failed because it was assumed genetics and training would create a genius. It was more than a scientific failure; it was a human tragedy. The project files are now available to your Base . . .
B/1: Endocrinology is a multitude of files. They are now available to your Base.