She couldn’t get through to Jordan, so she’d called Justin…
Couldn’t get through to Jordan.
But that was the one she’d wanted. Couldn’t get Thieu. So she wanted Jordan, as if he should know, or as if he should be warned.
Tell him about Anton Clavery? Thieu was dead, and that name was at issue, and Patil was terrified for her life? She’d gotten her message out. Not all of it. If she’d done a little less arguing with Justin and a little more saying what she had to say, the world would be safer.
It had been a collected, sensible gesture, in extremity. That at least was admirable. The first Ari would have done that, if she’d had time.
But, damn it, why had the woman had to feel her way with Justin and not just say it out loud?
Whoever hadn’t scrupled to kill two Specials was a person they urgently needed to find and deal with.
And which Specials were gone?
Both in nanistics. EverySpecial in nanistics. There were researchers and experts, but the brilliant people, the theorists, were gone.
A bad trade for the universe, she could think: whether she supported the project or not, they’d lost two geniuses in the same field.
It slowed Eversnow waydown. Therewas a problem for Yanni’s program, wasn’t it? Yanni had to move fast, and sign some people, replacing Patil, or his project was going to fall through. Deals Yanni had made with Corain and Jacques were now subject to review.
She ought to be happy about that, but she’d promised Yanni not to oppose Yanni’s objective.
Maybe somebody thought they’d now gotten the better of Yanni, and reduced his political power.
Somebody might have second thoughts about that move if Yanni turned out not to be in charge, and if they suddenly saw they were dealing with someone who was going to be in authority for a hundred years.
But then–maybe it was the project itself that had stirred this kind of opposition. Maybe it was nudging somebody else’s territory. And if someone thought getting rid of Patil and Thieu would stop Reseune from a project Reseune needed–
Well, Yanni needed to talk to her about what was going on, and it had to be very, very soon.
BOOK THREE Section 2 Chapter viii
JUNE 14, 2424
1802H
Another dinner with Yanni…and Yanni had protested, this time. He’d claimed he was too busy, said he had far too many things to do, and she was impinging on the little relaxation he did get.
Dear Yanni,she’d written back, urgent. Be here at 1800h.
And he was.
He did look tired. She showed him right into the dining room, and Haze personally offered him a drink. “What are we eating?” he asked, sensibly, and Haze suggested an early start on the wine, a white, which Yanni agreed would be fine. So it was a Sauvignon Blanc for both of them.
The first sip went down with a deep sigh. Followed by a second. Yanni wasn’t reckless in that regard, not like Jordan in the least. She had one sip, just one, and waited.
“We have a new cook,” she said. “I don’t know what he’s put together, but it should be good.”
“Thanks for the transcripts on the Patil case,” he said, straight to business.
“No problem,” she said, and signaled Haze, who was doing the serving tonight, with Florian entertaining Frank in the conference room, and Catlin on hold for her dinner, just quietly standing in the corner, silent as a statue. Haze brought the appetizers, bacon‑wrapped shrimp, and Yanni’s disappeared fast, without a comment. She gave a second signal, and salads arrived, delicate greens, with a light vinaigrette.
That started going down, too, as if Yanni were half‑starved, and Yanni’s wine was at a quarter of the glass left.
“Yanni,” she said. “You’re worried about something.”
“I’ve got a lot of pieces trying to come unglued,” Yanni said, and swallowed a bite. “Sorry. I’m just elsewhere this evening, I’m afraid.”
“Who’s Anton Clavery?”
“Not a pleasant dinner conversation,” Yanni said.
“But this is our window to have this conversation, unless you want to stay for drinks, and I know you’re tired. Yanni, I need to know what’s going on.”
“We don’t know. Clavery’s nobody. Literally, nobody.”
“Nonperson?”
“Something like.”
“Did he kill Patil?”
“Behind it, we’re pretty sure. Not the hand on the trigger, necessarily, but–”
“Why did he kill Patil?”
“Because…” Another bite went down, chased by the rest of the wine. “Because Patil was coming over to Science, or because certain people know about Eversnow, and shouldn’t, and that blew up before it ever got to public knowledge.”
“Jordan?”
Last bite. She pressed a silent signal, and Haze came in and removed the plates, while Yanni had to think about that question.
Haze refilled Yanni’s wine glass. Yanni let it sit.
“Jordan knew about Eversnow,” she said. “He said he did. I gave you thattranscript, too Did you lie to me, Yanni? I thought you were honest. But maybe you’re just good.”
Yanni nodded. “When I have to be. Yes, I told him about it. He didn’t approve. He hit the ceiling, in fact.”
“In your office before you left. Thatwas what the fight was really about.”
“Young sera, you know quite a lot.”
“It was pretty famous, Uncle Yanni. You weren’t very quiet. And Jordan is news. So yes, I heard there was a fight. So did everybody in Admin and Ed. Why did you tell him?”
Long silence. And Haze wasn’t going to come back in until signaled.
“We’re the same generation,” Yanni said. “Old associates. I know the way he thinks. He was in on the project at the beginning. I didn’t want him to find out later and blow up or go behind my back. I wanted to control how he learned and what he thought and know what his movements were once he knew. And I pretty well got the reaction I thought I’d get, so Jordan didn’t surprise me in that respect. He doesn’t like it. He said he’d had enough of Thieu, and I was crazy, and terraforming anything was a good way to get biologicals loose we just won’t like. Old argument, with Jordan. I said he didn’t like planets on principle, and he said they were good for studying, but he’d rather not live there if he had any choice. And he asked me about his transfer to Fargone, old topic. Which I told him was dead. Totally dead. He’s not going anywhere in the foreseeable future. He shouted. I shouted. He called me a damned fool. We weren’t on record.”
“Somebody slipped that card into his pocket, and it turned up, he says, the night you got back from Novgorod, from all this dealing. You didn’t do that, did you?”
“No.”
“Can I believe that? Did anybody working for you do it? Do I have to pare it down until something finally fits?”
“I have no idea where that came from, or, more to the point, how whoever did it knew Jordan knew– ifthey knew Jordan knew. It’s a damned maze. And it wasn’t my doing.”
“He’s connected to Thieu. Thieu didn’t know about Eversnow, or did he?”
“Thieu did know something, because we made a request for his Eversnow notes back when we set this up.”
“Thieu hadnotes on Eversnow in his files?”
“He doesn’t, now. Didn’t. We borrowed them and didn’t return them. But yes, he was doing some work on that once upon a time. Defense had used his work, in their little version of the Eversnow project. We’d studied it. It’s foundational to what we propose to do next.”
“Hell, Yanni! That’s a little oversight in informing me!”
“It’s a worrisome piece of information to leave out, I agree. Doubly so, now.”
“I don’t suppose Patil phoned Thieu to advise him when she got the appointment. I don’t suppose she said the word Eversnow.”