It jittered me that my own brother didn’tthink I had the ram to do what I said, but I kept my temper. “Hehas reasons to keep this off the nets. You come on,’Chan-you think I’d come in here and tell you this if it weren’ttrue?”
“I don’t know, Carlie. It’s crazy, andsometimes you can be crazy.”
“Fine, then, but give me this much-come tothe port with me and take a look at the ship yourself. If there’sreally a ship, and the captain says he’ll really get youoff-planet, will you come?”
“Of course I will! You think I’m an idiot? Idon’t want to fry. I saw what you looked like after your littlestroll on the dayside. Nightside City’s going to be a fuckingmicrowave in a couple of years.”
“Then come on to the port with me and I’llshow you.”
’Chan hesitated, then admitted, “Ican’t.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about. Ithought he was just being stubborn, playing the big brother whodoesn’t want his little sister taking charge. “Why not?” Idemanded. I remembered that IRC was almost certainly listening,given where we were, so I added, “I’m not asking you to skip out onyour contract. Just come out to the port, so you can see I’m notcrazy. Then you can come back here, and when I’m ready to go youcan buy yourself out, nice and legal.”
“I can’t,” he repeated.
“Why not?”
“I’m on call,” he said.
“So what?” I didn’t see how that was aproblem.
“It means I agreed to accept an implant,” heexplained. “I can’t go more than ten minutes from the casino or mylegs shut down. I can’t go as far as the port to check out yourstory. And I can’t buy out my contract-that was part of the deal,too. Like it or not, I’m here until sunrise.”
Chapter Six
I couldn’t believe my own brother had been thatstupid. “What the hell were you thinking, agreeing to that?” Idemanded.
“I was thinking the bonus would be almostenough for my fare off-planet,” he answered instantly.
“Almost enough,” I repeated.
“Yeah, almost,” he said, and I couldsee he was getting angry-partly with me, but partly with himself.“I knew they were keeping it just a little short of what I’d need.IRC isn’t a charity; they want me to stay here until everythingcooks. I figured it would help. I wasn’t going anywhere for awhileanyway, so I’d have time to find the rest somehow. I didn’t know mykid sister was going to show up with a magic carpet to whisk me offto Prometheus.”
“It’s a ship, not a magic carpet, and gettingyou and Dad out of here with it is part of my fee.”
“Your fee? What the hell, Carlie-who agreedto that? Whose ship is it? Since when do you take anything butcredits?”
“When I don’t want the job and the clientneeds to come up with a way to make me take it anyway,” I said. “Away I’m having second thoughts about the more I look at you.”
“I didn’t ask for your help!”
“Neither did Dad. I’m here anyway.”
“You can leave any time, then. I’m stuck hereuntil my contract is up. Come back for me when the sun’s up.”
“The offer isn’t good that long. The clientwants me now, and I wouldn’t work until he got you two outof here.”
“He’s willing to hack off IRC andSixth…Seventh… the dreamtankers to get you?”
“Yes, he is.”
“I hadn’t thought my little sister was asspecial as all that.”
I was getting annoyed, but ’Chan had alwaysbeen able to hack my code, and he was angry enough himself that hedidn’t mind doing it. “Now you know,” I said.
“I know it, fine, but who knows it whodoesn’t mind risking a stay on IRC’s blacklist? You never used tooperate at that level.”
“I told you, I’ve done all right onPrometheus.”
He looked at me, and I could almost see thescreen flash. “You said Sayuri Nakada’s friends and family-you’reworking for one of the Nakadas, aren’t you?”
“None of your business. I’m here to get youoff-planet, not tell you my life story.”
“That’s it, though, isn’t it? And I can guesswhat the case is, and why they aren’t hiring one of the bigfirms.”
That froze me up for half a second. Hecouldn’t possibly know about the rigged dream enhancer, so what didhe think was up? “What are you talking about?”
“Someone hired you to investigate YoshioNakada’s murder, didn’t they?”
I stared at him for a moment, then said, “SoGrandfather Nakada’s been murdered?”
“Of course. Don’t try to tell me you didn’tknow-it must have happened while you were still on Prometheus, andthere’s no way you could have missed it. The family tried to hushit up, but it’s all over the nets. And whoever hired you didn’t goto one of the big firms because they don’t trust them-they knowthose people will switch sides and back the highest bidder if themoney’s big enough, and the killer may be one of the big heirs.You, though-you’re old-fashioned. You stay bought.Especially when they’re paying you with me and Dad.”
“Lovely theory, ’Chan,” I said, but what Iwas thinking was that he’d come closer to the truth than I’dwanted.
And it was… interesting to know thateveryone on Epimetheus thought Grandfather Nakada was dead, thatthe assassination had been successful. I wasn’t sure whether it wasgoing to make my job easier or harder, but it definitely pulled upsome new menus.
One was the possibility that he reallywas dead, and that I’d been hired by an actor-I didn’t thinkit could be a simulation; sims aren’t that convincing. I couldsmell the old man when we spoke, and we shook hands when heleft me on his ship, it wasn’t just image and audio.
Maybe an actor with a good makeover…
But why would anyone bother? And how hadwhoever it was gotten me the run of the old man’s yacht?
No, I’d spoken to the real Yoshio Nakada, andhe’d still been alive when I left Prometheus.
“I notice you aren’t denying it,” hesaid.
“I’m not confirming it, either. I’m trying tofigure out how I’m going to get you out of here-you and Dadboth.”
“You can’t.”
“I’m not convinced.”
“Look, I’m going to have almost enough moneywhen my contract’s up-why don’t you just leave me here untilsunrise, then loan me the difference out of all the fat fees you’recollecting?”
“You know better than that. Once the sun isover the rim of the crater the fare off-planet is going to beeverything you can afford, no matter how much that is. It’ll leaveyou broke. If I try to contribute, it’ll leave mebroke.”
He tried to look as if he didn’t agree withme, but it didn’t work. He shifted aps.
“You can’t get me out, all right? Don’t worryabout it. Do your job. Get Dad out if you really want to, and ifyou can, then go back to your magic spaceship and fly back toAlderstadt. I’ll be fine. I may be broke when I land on Prometheus,but so what?”
“So I’d prefer you to not be.”
“If I break my contract with IRC, I’ll beworse than broke. Come back when it’s run out.”
“I can’t come back.”
“Why not? Make that part of your fee.”
I looked around, wondering just where thecams were, and what software would be processing this scene. Then Iturned back to my brother.
“Break your contract,” I said. “The fine’slimited to a million credits, and I can cover that.”
He stared at me as if I’d been pixelated.“How did you know that, and where would you get a millioncredits?”
“My client.”
“Well, your client must know that whateverthe official fine is, IRC isn’t going to be content with that.”
I couldn’t argue with that-unless ’Chan wasunder someone’s protection, someone like Grandfather Nakada, IRCwas likely to be vindictive. I knew that from first-handexperience.