Two minutes of reading in silence.
Papadelias: “From this report, the victims tend to be, how should one put this…”
Guildbreaker: “Unpromising individuals.”
Papadelias: “I was going to say ‘losers,’ but that’ll do. People with few friends, low-impact hobbies, and jobs which don’t generate much that’s used by anyone else—no artists, researchers, teachers, great industrialists, corporate leaders, athletes, or anything.”
Guildbreaker: “Yes.”
Papadelias: “And all the victims are either Masons, Cousins, Brillists, or Hiveless. No Humanists, no Mitsubishi, no Europeans, and, of course, no Utopians, since the Utopians have their separate transit system.”
Guildbreaker: “Humanists, Mitsubishi, and Europeans have died in crashes on occasion, but Cato did not have episodes before those crashes, and less than two point five percent of their deaths were influential, just as in the case of beestings or elevator crashes. And they die in crashes substantially less often than Masons, Cousins, or Brillists.”
Papadelias: “How did no one notice that before?”
Guildbreaker: “Perhaps because there are many more Masons and Cousins anyway. Or perhaps because the entire press and media of the whole world is united in a conspiracy to conceal this. Or something in between.”
Papadelias: “Heh. And one of them has the gall to go by ‘Sniper.’ ”
Guildbreaker: “You see it, don’t you?”
Papadelias: “It’s too much. I expected a small conspiracy, a couple murders, not dozens over years, thirty-five using the cars themselves, as many by other means, but Cato knew … No wonder the others wouldn’t let Cato quit and become a Utopian.”
Guildbreaker: “Yes. Yes, that was what led me to this, actually.”
Papadelias: “Oh?”
Guildbreaker: “Cato said, quote: ‘The Utopians aren’t dirty like the rest of us.’ From the point of view of someone who runs the cars, the thing which most distinguishes Utopians from everyone else is that they have their own separate system. Utopians can’t be killed in crashes, and you won’t find any Utopian names in the lists of people killed by other means either.”
Papadelias: “Of course not. Anything that kills a Utopian they investigate until they solve it. If I were an assassin I’d never touch them.”
Guildbreaker: “Exactly. Utopians don’t profit from the system and they aren’t targeted by it. They’re untouched, ‘clean’ from Cato’s perspective, while the rest of the world…”
Papadelias: “While the rest of the world has been held together by shoestrings and assassination for the past seven years.”
Guildbreaker: “For the record, Commissioner General, would you please explain out loud the conclusion that you’ve come to, so a third party can compare it to my independently derived conclusion which I recorded just before I came?”
Papadelias: “Relax, Guildbreaker. I know you’re a Mason, but there are limits to how methodical you have to be.”
Guildbreaker: “For the record.”
Papadelias: “Fine. Since coming of age, the current generation of Saneer-Weeksbooth bash has been carrying out a series of systematic assassinations. The two Cartesian set-sets, Eureka Weeksbooth and Sidney Koons, can use the Transit System computers to figure out how to influence events by identifying low-profile people to assassinate, whose deaths won’t seem suspicious but will have the desired impact. This bash’, or someone controlling it, has been using these assassinations to manipulate world politics for at least seven years. They’ve conspicuously avoided killing any Humanists, Mitsubishi, or Europeans, either because those Hives are backing them, or just because the bash’ are Humanists, they have old ties with the Mitsubishi manifest in the ancestry of Sniper, Cato, and Eureka, and … no, I have no theory about Europe at the moment. The assassins know they can’t kill too many people in crashes or the sudden increase will look suspicious, so members of the bash’ had to develop other ways to kill, culminating in the unfortunate Cato Weeksbooth, who’s been using their scientific expertise for murder, and feels so guilty about it that they come close to attempting suicide every time. Twelve times a year for seven years makes at least eighty murders, is that about right?”
Guildbreaker: “My set-set is still looking at earlier years.”
Papadelias: “It’s hard not to see it when you look. All it took was someone to point us at the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash’ and connect it with Sugiyama through Black Sakura. Someone wants this exposed.”
Guildbreaker: “Yes, that’s very worrying. I still have no clue who, or why. Do you?”
Papadelias: “Only hunches. It’s best not to share hunches.”
Guildbreaker: “May I ask a couple more details?”
Papadelias: “Fire away.”
Guildbreaker: “How do you account for the suicide deaths? The recording of the phone call to Aki Sugiyama proves O’Beirne was talking about wanting to kill themself, whether or not that was what actually made the car crash, and the autopsy of Esmerald Revere left no doubt that that was suicide. If you review the list of supposed victims, more than thirty percent of those who didn’t die in crashes are suicides.”
Papadelias: “Suicide is the most common cause of death. Any smart killer tries to make their murders look like suicides.”
Guildbreaker: “Would you guess this conspiracy involves every member of the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash’ or just some of them?”
Papadelias: “No telling yet, but my gut says all. They must know Cato is the weak link; if they’ve involved Cato they’ll have involved everyone. Plus, every member of that bash’ is insane to some degree. Being a mass murderer will do that to you. So will murdering your own ba’pas when they find out.”
Guildbreaker: “Then you agree the rafting accident was no accident?”
Papadelias: “I investigated that myself when it happened. There was no evidence of foul play, but it always smelled fishy to me. Now we know why. This system couldn’t work if the parents were against it, if nothing else the older set-sets would have figured it out sooner or later.”
Guildbreaker: “Do you think the bash’ calls the hits themselves, or are they working for someone?”
Papadelias: “It would be wonderful, wouldn’t it, if they were calling the hits themselves? Then we could jail them and have an end of it. But Ganymede sure did look worried talking to Sniper at the party. And it’s been people at the top, not in the bash’, above the bash’, working so hard to keep me off the case. Hive leaders involved in eighty assassinations over seven years will make Mycroft’s rampage look like a slow news day.”
Guildbreaker: “Do you think Mycroft knew about this? They spend time with the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash’. A lot of time. Mycroft doesn’t have spare time to spend.”
Papadelias: “Maybe we shouldn’t have switched desks after all.”