03. The Maze in the Mirror (30 page)

I wasn't at all hesitant about describing the brief but fascinating encounter with Kanda and his great machine to Maria even inside the office. Not any more, although you never knew what other ears might be listening and a certain measure of prudence was still called for. Merely fitting it all together in such a way that they wouldn't just dispose of me wasn't enough; so far, I'd had it nice and easy, with varying but adequate cooperation and it had been essentially a classical situation- the evidence was gathered passively and without much effort.

There was no longer any problem with Maria separating from me in the Labyrinth. That one time out she'd established enough places to jump to and shed any tracing materials that I had complete confidence in her. Besides, it was me they wanted to follow, to make certain that I was a good boy, didn't call in the Company or outsmart Maria and go my own way. They would have no reason to question Maria's loyalty and obedience.

Except for confirming what I already believed was the case and maybe, just maybe, filling in a couple of irrelevant but irritating holes in the picture, there was no other reason to see the rest
of the crew nor sift through more data. The trouble was, not doing so would bring an immediate demand for the full story from Voorhes and most likely my termination, something I wished to avoid, or it would force me to begin the active phase without sufficient time, setup, or information to make it possible-if it was possible in the first place. In other words, I had to go through the motions, without pushing, to buy freedom for Maria to act and time for things to be set up as well as they could considering my circumstances.

Of them all, I wanted to meet Carlos last, not only because of what would come after but because there was always the slight chance he might do something egomaniacal and stupid and make things easier for me.

Maria found the very concept of the great computer unnerving. "Such power without any controls by anyone," she said. "It is far too dangerous to think about."

"I'm not so sure," I replied. "I admit the idea of such a thing is unsettling, even scary, but I don't think Kanda was quite as crazy as he appeared, not in the areas that count. I think there might be no limits to what goes in the thing but extreme limits on what it can actually do. I'm not even sure that in many ways it doesn't reflect the personality of its creator. At any rate, any luck on your end? Discreetly, please."

"Some. Not much. A message
might be
gotten in, but what good would it do?"

"Maybe not much," I admitted, "but it has to be tried, and we have to have some way to get an
answer before we can move-and my time is running out. Damn!"

I felt frustrated, for all that I'd learned. How the hell did my client expect me to do a job like this under these conditions? I went over and sat down in the new office chair that had been delivered to our "front door," as it were, and stared at the computer terminal screen.

Maria was right, damn it, and the more I thought about it the more frustrated I got. "It
is
impossible!" I said disgustedly, and aloud, to no one in particular.

My eyes were suddenly drawn to the computer screen, where words were being scrolled up.

"Not impossible, just unlikely,"
the screen read.

I almost jumped. Hell, I hadn't figured on this. I flipped the input select on manual and drew myself up to the keyboard after making certain that Maria was lying down on her cot well away. Then I typed,
"Who are you?"

"You already know who I am,"
the screen replied. "
I
am the one who hired you."

"How do I know that for sure?"

"Because only I would make an opening statement like that."

Actually, the damned thing had a point.

"Is this line secure?"
I typed, nervous that what one could tap others could tap.

"
I
have disabled the other taps for now, and have the area monitored visually. If Maria should approach the screen will blank."

O.K., that was fair enough.
"It's about time I got some help in this. Why have you waited until now?"

"What help I can be is limited and not to be
squandered. You had to work it out for yourself first. If you did not, I would not have revealed myself at all, since there is great risk. Also, it was necessary that we meet before I could be effective considering your limitations."

Huh. Thanks a lot, buddy. "
I
have a series of problems."

"I am aware of them. As I demonstrated in Tarn's domain I have some resources to give you some freedom, but the results are strictly cosmetic and would not stand face-to-face or exacting monitoring scrutiny. For a limited time, however, I can cover for you, giving you a short period of time sufficient for what you feel you must do. I would prefer, though, that you did not, as it is of grave risk to you personally and if you are caught or killed then the best of the ones I have put on this problem will be done in and I will have to work with inferior minds."

I felt complimented by that, but it wouldn't deter me.
"First things first. I was not a volunteer for this. I was drafted."

"Duly noted. I will see that Maria receives through convincing channels the basics that you will require, and I can supply you from here with the essentials of switch security so that you can pretend to be brilliant and deduce them before bypassing them. With your background it should be no problem being convincing on that one."

I wasn't sure whether I was being complimented or insulted on that one, but it didn't matter. Just when I needed one, here was my Archie, my Paul Drake, with all the work done.

"Can she be forewarned on this?"
I typed furiously.

"Only at great risk and in rather vague terms. I will
see what I can do. Normal security personnel are easily used, but Carlos has his own personal army chemically dependent upon him and his well being. I will only promise to do what I can."

Well, that was all anybody could do.
"But what about the drug itself?"

"If an intact injection cube is provided it can be analyzed and duplicated. It is a synthetic, not an organic. The problem is that they are tailored to individuals and personalized in a secure computer deep in Carlos' lair. Only one a day is created. Withdrawl begins in twenty-six hours. By thirty-five hours it is all-consuming."

"Figured as much."
I told him.
"That's why a message must get through and with sufficient lead time. You see the possibilities."

"I do. I will try. And then what?"

I sat back in the chair a moment and thought about that. Yeah-and then what? "So
what's your objective in all this?"

"I am as dedicated as the rest to the destruction of the Company. An effective opposition must be maintained at all costs."

"That's why you didn't just blow this to the Company, then."

"Without an effective opposition it might be many more centuries and far greater cost before another one as effective as this one grows up. I could not allow that. And to simply expose the plan to Company security was no solution. The perpetrators would simply go to ground and be capable of restarting or perpetuating the scheme at some point in the future. And, just as you can not be certain that the real Pandross was killed either time, I cannot truly be certain that I would get all of the real principals. And
no matter how clever they get, they risk everything because they failed initially to trap you in the house, and they understand now that you would never have been coerced into helping them on their project. I gave them something else to worry about and a reason for keeping you alive, at least temporarily."

I had figured that much.
"And now it's time to act."

"NO!!!"
it shot back.
"Complete your interviews. Stall. Go through the motions as you have been. Be particularly careful with Mendelez and Carlos. The others have comprehensible madnesses, but are basically rational creatures doing what they are convinced is right. Those two truly love their work, and neither takes full discipline from the others, so you might be in great danger from either of them even on one of their whims. I will tell you when things are ready. And then I will tell you my own price for helping you. I can hold the taps off no longer. Check back now and again. I will keep in touch."

The screen blanked, and I knew I'd lost contact. Damn it! I had a lot more questions I wanted answered than I got, and I felt frustrated still, but I had to admit that I felt excited as well. Now I knew I was right. I knew not only who killed Pandross but why. I knew who the whispery voice was on site at the raid on the house and what that was about. I also now knew that the side I was truly working for, no matter what Voorhes and the others believed, was the one opposed to the plan- and I even understood why. The most basic motive of all, far surpassing the obvious motive of the five percent dissolution.

I also knew, now, that the odds were very slim
that events alone would allow me to ever tell the full story to anyone else.

It had taken several days, but Voorhes finally came up with the duplicate information I'd pressed him for.

There were so many Voorhes I could hardly believe it. "I would have figured you could have replaced one of them and again taken up your life," I told him. "Or would be killing yourself be too much for you?"

"No," he sighed, "although don't think I didn't think about it. I'm not certain I could have even if that had been open to me, though. It still wouldn't be
my
world, and it wouldn't really be
my
family and career and works. There would be differences even in the very close ones, of which there were only a few, and I would have been constantly reminded that I was living a fraud. However, it wasn't really open to any of us. Remember, we were still essentially working for Company security, even if it was against the Company itself. Until Mukasa himself was unmasked and taken out we were not free agents but more or less at his mercy. The option you suggest would not have been permitted. By the time it was possible it would have been, well, too late, obviously, to pick up where we left off."

That figured. "And no way to really lift out what was important, either."

"You are thinking of Valintina's children. No. Although there are a fair number listed there, and quite a number have children, not a one has the same children she had. Most do not even have the
same father. The few ones that do, well, the genetics and timing is all wrong. I'm not too certain she'd be much good at parenting anyway, even from way back. I almost wonder if she ever really was."

I hadn't met the lady yet, so I reserved judgment. There were a lot of duplicates for all of them, though, including Pandross, but I'd asked for more. I'd asked for a physical check to make certain that all of them were still where they were supposed to be. That was what had taken all the time, and the only thing that made the list in any way valuable.

There were, for example, a hundred and sixteen living Pandrosses, genetically identical to the original and within the temporal window required. All hundred and sixteen were also present and accounted for.

"Why is this of interest to you?" Voorhes asked me. "Do you think we use them with ourselves?"

No reason to sit on it any longer. I was surprised Tarn had sat on it until now. "A second Pandross was murdered at Tarn's while I was there," I told him. "I asked him to keep it quiet for a while."

"What! That's not possible! That means we have
two
dead Pandrosses now, and no missing duplicates!"

I nodded. "Yeah. We're running a surplus, that's for sure. But the guy was head of security and held sway over the security data banks. I think maybe he held out on you. Either that or he had himself cloned or something, or maybe, unknown to all of you, he was in his own world identical twins."

"Rubbish! If he had been we would have known it-before. Both would have been there, or
Pandross would have mentioned it. Any twin would have to be another survivor. No, I can't believe that."

"Well," I told him, "if it makes you feel any better, neither do I. I'm not too worried about it, though. I might not understand how it was done even if it was in front of me in black and white, but I'm only concerned with
why
it was done."

He considered that. "I see. And do you know why?"

I nodded. "I think I'm pretty close, but all the information hasn't checked in yet. I still have three people to see."

"Um, yes. Stacy Cutler wasn't answering her messages for a very long time and when she finally checked in she seemed uncomfortable with the idea of talking to you. We are still trying to set something up to her satisfaction."

Good girl, Cutler! Stonewall some more!

"And the others?" I asked, straight-faced.

"Valintina never liked Pandross and doesn't believe whatever got him has any interest in her. She's been quite busy of late and has been inclined to simply ignore all this. She has, in fact, suggested that we simply do away with you and end all this. We are trying to arrange a meeting that will insure your safety. As for Carlos-he tends not to like to be around anyone he doesn't own, nor expose himself unless it is in the course of a plan he has devised and is running. He particularly doesn't trust or have any love for you, Mister Horowitz. He blames you for screwing up his master plan with his drug plot."

"He not only tried, he actually
did
blow some of my brains out," I reminded him. "That alone gave me a little incentive, and hooking Brandy and putting her through all that didn't help restore great feelings. But you said he was one of them who was enthusiastic over my taking this case."