He nudged Grant, but Grant was already watching, solemn‑faced.
The Councillor’s sudden crisis came in a late committee meeting. She has been in failing health for several months. The Proxy Councillor for Information, Adlai Edgerton, has not been available for comment.
Meanwhile the crisis continues in Defense, as the incumbent Councillor for Defense has continued to postpone any announcement of a Proxy appointment; and has been closeted with the Proxy Councillor for Science in a session closed to the news media.
Meanwhile the state of affairs in Reseune seems to hare normalized, with a declaration by Reseune Administration that, while Yanni Schwartz, current Proxy Councillor for Science, remains as Administrator of Reseune. Ariane Emory, aged eighteen, has formally assumed administrative control of ReseuneSec…
“So they know,” Justin said.
“Lao being sick, that’s no news.”
“That’s the sort of thing they say before somebody turns up dead,” Justin said.
“And Edgerton’s gone quiet.” Grant shook his head and took another draw on the lime. “It’s not sounding good.”
“It’s sounding like we could have a new Councillor for Information before long,” Justin said. “It’s what Ari said, we’re losing too many that have a grasp of what went on.”
“Ignore it,” Grant said. “It’s over our heads. We don’t have an opinion. Keep it that way.”
“I do,” he said. “That’s the hell of it. I can’t advise her. It she asked me what to do, I wouldn’t know the least thing to tell her. And she put me in charge, mores the pity.”
“I’m not sure Yanni knows what to do at this point,” Grant said. “Cheer up.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know why,” Grant said. “I just know it’s what I said, over our heads. We can’t stop it. We can’t do a dammed thing, except–”
“Except wait for Jordan to blow?”
“That, yes.”
“He’s not speaking to me. Remember?”
“I give it seven days.”
“I don’t know why. He has a very good memory.”
“He’s something we can take care of,” Grant said, “so he doesn’tland in young Ari’s new security office…and neither do we. We stay out of there, and we’re doing the best we can be expected to do.”
“And we keep Alpha Wing from revolt,” he said, feeling a little lighter‑hearted. “At least that’s not going to happen.”
“Won’t,” Grant said. “But we can double‑check that the services are going to work, if we do get another shut‑down.”
He nodded. It was a practical thing to do, a Grant kind of thing to do. He’d interfered outside Alpha Wing for what he’ promised himself was the last time, the only time. If Jordan wanted to talk to him hereafter, he’d talk; but if Jordan wanted not to, well, maybe in a quieter world and with Paul better off, he might have options that didn’t exist with the current state of affairs. Time cured some things.
It hurt. It hurt a fair bit that Grant had taken the shot for him, but that was a revelation in itself. Maybe it would penetrate Jordan’s hard head, that that was exactly what Paul had done. Jordan’s perfectly run little hell had just gotten revised, for good or for ill. And what was Jordan going to do about it? Suggest to Paul that he go on absorbing guilt and responsibility, the way things had been?
He didn’t think Jordan would do that, not when it came to putting it into words. And maybe if Jordan read the manual he’ll annotated for twenty years, read it in the light of what he and Grant had just done to fix it, there was a remote chance Jordan would even see it for himself.
BOOK THREE Section 5 Chapter xi
JULY 27, 2424
0403H
“So you want to know about the military,”the first Ari said, out of Base One. “Are you having trouble with Defense?”
“Yes,” Ari said.
“So did I,”the voice said, which was more and more like her voice, or vice versa. “I particularly had trouble with Azov, who was a bastard of the first order. But you probably don’t want to hear about Azov. Is your question about Azov?”
She was tempted. But it was the small hours of the morning, and her head hurt so, and she didn’t have the time. “No.” she said.
“Is your question about defense projects or about the Bureau of Defense? You can give a keyword now. The program will find it.”
“Military azi.”
“Military azi, as in the azi who served in the armed forces.”
“Yes.”
“Question?”
“An alpha azi named Kyle AK‑36.”
“Giraud’s assistant. Correct?”
“I need to take him down. I need to deprogram Kyle AK‑36. I need advice.”
A small pause. Her heart picked up its beats, apprehension that the first Ari might not have any advice to give about the man who’d gotten through her defenses.
“This program can locate files on Kyle AK‑36. Proceeding.”
“Could Defense have reprogrammed Kyle AK‑36 while he was in the military? I have reason to believe Kyle AK‑36’s mindset no longer corresponds to his personal manual. His axe code failed.”
Another long pause. Longer than the first.
A mechanical voice, different than Ari One’s, said, “Base One is prepared to open file on Kyle AK‑36.”Then a synthetic female voice said: “Axe code failure. Causes: 1. Incorrect manual, 2. Block installed. 3. Psychset conflict. Choose one.”
“1,2, and 3. Psychset conflict. Report.”
“Psychset conflict: axe code failure. Three cases on record.”
“Print case files to local computer.”
“In process.”
“1. Incorrect manual, re Kyle AK‑36. Check and report.” She had a sip of coffee. She didn’t think it was the cause, either. Kyle had functioned well enough to be in Admin, in both a military and a civilian operation. A conflict tended to show. Running on an incorrect manual–showed.
“Manual on file corresponds with original manual.”
“Block, re Kyle AK‑36. Check and report.”
A much faster answer. “Information incomplete. Base One cannot access information from Defense secure system. Further attempts may leave trace.”
“Thank you. Base One. No further attempt. Method of removing a Defense‑installed block.”
A long pause. “Case record follows.”
“Physical print, Base One.”
“Printing. Transcript is three hundred and two pages.”
Her head hurt even thinking about it. But the print began shooting into the tray.
“Base One, Giraud failed to detect Defense Bureau block on AK‑36 when he used an axe code. Method of concealment of block: check and report.”
“Base One has no record of Giraud failure.”
“Well, he did fail, dammit.” She dropped her head into her hands. “Base One, did Ari ever successfully deal with a Defense Bureau block? if yes, did Giraud ever access that file?”
“First question: yes. Second question: Giraud’s Base insufficient to access Base One record.”