That means, among other things, if we find these people are reliable, I can actually get out of this wing and go places on a regular basis–for the first time since Denys died, with minor exceptions. I’ll be able to go wherever I want in Reseune, whenever I want, and I’ll be so glad of that. I haven’t ridden Horse for months: his trainer is taking care of him. I haven’t been out to the pond to see the goldfish. I haven’t seen the new construction, just the virtuals. Note maybe I can do all those things. I feel as if I haven’t been able to breathe for weeks, and now I almost think I might–and yet I have all these worries about Yanni, and Hicks, and the very people who are supposed to be helping Florian and Catlin–not to mention new staff coming into the apartment…those are all delayed while we look through their records and check through the tape they’ve had.
One thing I’m certainly going to do, so when you accede to power, you won’t have to go through what I have, and risk what I’ve risked. My security office may not outlive me–but I’m going to see to it that a security staff inside ReseuneSec is automatically offered to your Florian and your Catlin when you reach your majority, and that you don’t have to fight for it or ask for it or wait until someone offers. I very much suspect Denys ordered Giraud to take the first Ari’s security apparatus apart when she died, under the excuse it was dangerous to his power. I don’t know what circumstances may apply when you’re hearing this. But by the time you’re making your first steps into being an adult in charge, you have to have information and a secure perimeter, and you have to have it fast. I was very lucky to have had Yanni, and not somebody much worse than Denys stepping into control of Reseune, or I might not have survived.
So as soon as Florian and I can manage Base One the way we need to do, I’ll be making the re‑constitution automatic, embedding various provisions that won’t look like they’re working together, the pre‑training of certain Contracts, with an instruction that will trigger retraining for personnel on a certain date to be set by your circumstances–meaning they’ll turn up in your life when the time is right, and assemble themselves, because I’m going to have a direct hand in the tape they get. It’s not going to be apparent even to the directors out at the azi facilities that these people and these programs have any connection with each other. On a given trigger, they’ll assemble, and they’ll know what to do.
And your Florian and your Catlin will run that office, so that’s the explanation of one mystery for you, which you may have already seen in operation. I hope it’s a peaceful transition.
I was lucky to survive my teens, and I don’t count on luck even once, let alone twice. Thank me for your safety, which will at least be greater than mine, granted I live long enough. And do the same for your successor, and leave notes for her time. Learn how to program Base One, how to really handle it, and get your Florian to. We’re running behind on that. I’m able to do the links that surround the segments I’m recording for you, quite honestly because I’m copying what’s there on the files she gave me; and I’m making notes; but it’s not integrated, yet. It won’t run yet the way Ari I and her Florian made it run because I haven’t linked the whole structure in yet, just made a chain of unerasable files, to make sure you get my thoughts appropriate to the age I am now, and that I can’t edit them, and I really hope you aren’t having to excavate those files the hard way.
My office hasn’t gotten anything solid for me yet on the ongoing puzzles we’re Working. The questions are all still questions. But at least I’m about to refuse to be confined to the Wing and I intend to start asking questions of my own.
BOOK ONE Section 3 Chapter iii
MAY 2, 2424
1342H
Florian opened the office door, and Ari slipped into the space where two men, one extravagantly red‑haired, one common brown, were busy earning a living.
Or at least–they’d been trying to.
“Hello!” she said in her brightest tone, and Grant half‑turned and raised an eyebrow. Justin swiveled his chair around, leaned back against its auto‑adjust, and crossed a foot over his knee.
“Well,” he said. “Is it trouble?”
“Oh, never.” There wasn’t another chair. It wasn’t her scheduled day to be here, and she hadn’t been in this office ever, though Justin and Grant had moved in nearly a week ago. These two didn’t do patient‑consultations, and they no longer had staff, nor any room for them, so there was no available chair for a visitor. She had to stand, and simply leaned back against the wall, until Grant, seeing the situation, surrendered his with a small flourish. “You’re so sweet,” she said, and patted Grant on the arm. “We’ve got to get other chairs in here. At least one more.”
“I’ll arrange that,” Grant said, and as Florian rotated past the door frame and out into the corridor, Grant left, too, leaving the two of them alone to talk, herself and Justin.
“I so love the idea of your being in the Wing,” she said to him.
“It seems safer,” Justin said. “So I take it we’re not on the current arrest list.”
“Don’t joke like that. I’m not Denys. I won’t beDenys.”
“I know you’re not. Are we revising the schedule for lessons today, or–”
“We’re keeping to schedule. I’m sorry I haven’t been here this week. I’ve been studying.”
“I thought we agreed you were going to get some rest.”
“Well, it’s important. I’m onto something.”
“What?”
“What we were talking about. The integrations. But I’ll talk about that later. Monday.”
“Sure. Good.” Justin made a gesture toward the other counter. “Coffee?”
“I wouldn’t mind that, thank you.” She watched as he got up and poured a cup. Her stomach suddenly said empty. “You wouldn’t have a biscuit, would you?”
“As a matter of fact, we do,” Justin said, as he opened a packet and laid a tea‑biscuit on a paper saucer. And another for good measure. He gave her that saucer with the coffee. “The place came stocked.”
“I really hope you like the office.”
“I’m getting used to it.”
She regarded Justin’s first office with deep nostalgia. She remembered slipping by and giving him a gift of guppies. They hadn’t lived.
Those days had seemed so much safer. She’d been out and about, un‑watched, or she’d had the illusion she’d been unwatched–and never likely was. And he wasn’t there anymore.
She washed down a biscuit in two bites and a sip and tried to put the past out of her mind. “Mmm. I had breakfast. But I’ve been studying a lot and I know I’m getting skinny, and you’re right, and I’m reforming. I’m taking on real work this week, just a couple of projects. I’ve told Labs to let me run checks and I’ll actually do a theta design. I’m sure they’re going to have someone go over it. But I don’t think they’ll find mistakes.”
“I doubt they will.”
A second biscuit went down. That freed a hand to reach into her jacket pocket. “Here.” She handed him the data stick she’d brought “I’ve looked at it. I want you to.”
“What?” Justin looked amused. “You can do that. I’ve no doubt you can do it.”
“Not the theta stuff. These are staff. All sorts of staff. They’ll be mine. I want you to look them over and make sure there aren’t any bombs.”