She rented a car and, by midmorning, having discarded six time zones from the Wheel, she was approaching De Kalb, a quiet university town of about one hundred thousand. Baxter Intelligence was located on the north side in an area of lush trees and oversized hedges. She pulled into the parking lot in front of a flat, gray, two-story building that would have housed maybe a dozen employees at most.
A chill wind was coming from the west as she got out of the car, crossed the lot, climbed two stone steps, and went inside. A guy probably in his midtwenties was seated behind a desk. He looked up at her and smiled. “Yes,” he said. “What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to see Dr. Wolf, please.”
He glanced at a pair of doors that opened into a passageway. “Do you have an appointment?”
“No. But I think she’ll see me. My name’s Hutchins.”
He nodded. “One minute, please.”
The walls were decorated with award certificates and advertising extracts testifying to the value of Baxter AIs. There were also photos of homes, trains, and large buildings presumably under their reliable care. “She’ll be right down,” he said. He glanced at the divan and chairs scattered around the room, but she indicated she was fine and remained on her feet.
Within a minute one of the twin doors opened, revealing a smiling Monika. The smile was tight, though. Almost pained. “Priscilla,” she said, “how good to see you.” She held the door open. “Come on in.”
Priscilla followed her down a corridor. The woman had aged. Not that any gray streaks had appeared in that pristine black hair. Or lines in her near-classic features. But she had hardened somehow.
“How are you, Monika?” Priscilla asked.
Monika picked up the pace a bit. They passed several doors and stopped at an elevator. “I’m sure you can guess,” she said. The elevator opened, and they got in and rode up to the second floor. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.”
Monika nodded and led the way into her office. “I’ve looked forward to seeing you again, Priscilla.” She turned and leaned back against a worktable, waiting for Priscilla to sit.
Again, she remained standing. “Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“You know what I mean.”
She tried to look puzzled. “What are we talking about?”
“When we were coming back, in the Venture, you were angry.”
“Well, sure. Of course I was. I’d just been through all that nonsense with Chappell.”
“And—what was it?—Project Rainbow.”
“Yes. It was frustrating.”
“You were going to come back and raise hell about it. At least that’s what you told me.”
“I know.”
“I never heard anything from you. Not a word.”
She shrugged. “I guess I cooled down a bit.”
“I guess. Then there was that morning in the Venture. When I got up early and walked in on you on the bridge. That was when you set it up, right? That’s when you put the bug in the system.”
Desperation was creeping into her eyes. “This is ridiculous. You can’t prove any of this. The FBI’s already talked to me.”
“Really? Why?”
“They talked to everybody who had access to the Venture.”
“They haven’t talked to me.”
“That’s because they probably don’t feel you have enough of a technical background to have rigged the AI.”
“But you do.”
“Of course I do. But that doesn’t mean I did it.”
“You know Jake Loomis died.”
“Yes,” she said. “I know.” She lowered herself into one of the two armchairs. “I know. I was sorry to hear about Jake.” She wiped her eyes. “I knew him.”
“I killed him,” said Priscilla.
“I heard how it happened. You did what you had to. But you didn’t—”
“You have any idea what I’m living through right now? What I’m going to live with for the rest of my life?”
Her voice broke. “I’m sorry, Priscilla. I really am.” Her eyes closed. “I’d thought—I thought those idiots at Kosmik would back off when I sent the original ultimatum to the FBI. How could they not have? Ignorant sons of bitches. There was no way they could not have realized it was a serious threat. I gave them too much information. I thought they’d concede, and it would never go as far as it did.” She looked at Priscilla with horror. “You must hate me.”
Priscilla stared back in silence.
“It was a trade, Priscilla. I wish I had it to do over. I’m sorry for Jake. And for you.”
“Well, you’re really being hard on yourself, aren’t you? I’m happy to tell you, Monika, that it was a near thing for a lot of people.”
“Ultimately,” said Monika, “they were going to kill everything on Selika.” Her fists were clenched, and she was beating the arms on the chair in a slow synchronicity. “But they’ve stopped. I didn’t know any other way to force their hand.”
“Monika, let me make one thing clear: Right now, I don’t give a damn about the cause. You don’t get to endanger innocent people no matter what your cause is. Worse, you and I killed a close friend. So if you’re looking for sympathy—”
“I’m sorry to hear you say that, Priscilla. I’d thought you were better than that. But I understand. It’s your fault, too, you know.”
“I know.”
“That’s not what I mean. How can you believe I’d actually put several hundred people at risk? If you’d stayed out of it—If you’d just left things alone, the Venture would have veered off at the last minute. There’s no way I would have done the things you’re accusing me of.” She began to sob. “There’s no way.”
A sense of rage and guilt swept through Priscilla.
“Turn me in if you want,” Monika said. “You call it. But keep in mind who’s really guilty here.”
Priscilla got up, walked to the door, and opened it. “If I’d known who you were, I’d have left you on Selika.”
Monika nodded. “I wish you had.”
“Yeah. You can explain your feelings to the FBI.”
Chapter 55
DRAKE PEIFER, IN the Baumbachner, needed another two days to get back to the Wheel. Priscilla had just finished conducting a tour and was on her way to her office when she received a call from Morgan White. “They’ll be here in about thirty minutes,” he said. “We thought you might like to come down and be the comm op who brings them in.”
She needed a boost. “Yes. Absolutely, Morgan. Should I dress for the occasion?”
“Just come as you are, beautiful. We’ll have champagne for the occasion.”
She called Frank’s office and left a message letting him know where she was going. But he and Patricia were already at the operations center when she arrived. And, as usually happens when a ship comes in, a crowd of sightseers had shown up. Appropriately enough, Yoshie was the op on duty, but she got up and gave her seat to Priscilla. “Live mike,” she said.
“Starhawk,” she said. “Get ready to turn control over to us.”
Drake laughed. “Hi, Priscilla. Ready when you are.”