Palace (22 page)

When Hi laid his left hand on the top sash of the pair, a casual gesture, he could feel his palm jack vibrate. Everything was online. Good. No doubt Dukayn’s security programs knew all about this sash, but so far at least they’d found no way to disable it. They would, however, expect him to try to circumvent them. A certain amount of predictability in these matters went a long way to establishing trust, or so Hi always thought. He laid his other hand on the back of a chair, felt power flow back and forth between the two jacks - between two different subroutines of the damaged AI. Hi sent Caliostro a kill message for the datachair, waited till he felt it die, then sat, smoothing his robes decorously under him. A small door behind the hologram opened, so that the First Citizen seemed to stride out of the stars. Peronida looked every inch the commander with his tall build and Fleet uniform, bristling with gold braid and medals. His hands, though, made a strange contrast - all veined and sinewed, calloused and pitted as if they’d never forget his long years of poverty on a primitive world. Karlo smiled, very briefly, and sat down in the high-backed leather chair behind the desk.

‘I’ll be blunt,’ Karlo said. ‘I called you here to tell me what your guild thinks of this L’Var girl.’

‘Very little, actually, since we’ve never met her.’

Karlo lifted an eyebrow but didn’t challenge him.

‘Well, you will at the public reception. I take it you can stay? Good, good. But you know what I mean, Jons. What about that genotype? The one you people have been moaning about publicly all these years.’

‘Does she have it? It’s a dominant gene, sure, but it’s not automatic. There were plenty of L’Vars who lacked it.’

‘Cardinal Roha’s office found her medical records, including a blood scan. She has it, all right. I’ve seen her myself. The coding you want is gene-linked to the L’Var red hair, and now that I’ve seen her, I can tell you that she’s got the hair.’

Hi leaned back in his chair, put his fingertips together, and considered Karlo for a moment.

‘Interesting,’ Hi said at last. ‘I wonder if she’ll pass it on? It’s not automatic, you know.’

‘Yes, so you’ve said. But I can’t worry about that. Who knows what the future will bring, eh?’

‘Some people do their damnedest to have the future bring them exactly what they want.’

‘Well of course, that’s only natural.’

‘Of course, First Citizen. Perfectly natural.’

Karlo smiled; Hi waited.

‘There’s one other matter,’ Karlo said. ‘A minor thing.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Your sister, Barra Jons y Macconnel. I hear she’s been appointed to the Nimue project.’

‘Yeah, she sure has.’

‘I’m very pleased, of course. My factor tells me that she’s the best person on planet for the job.’

‘Well, I’d jack into any station she reconfigured, that’s for sure.’

Karlo blinked several times, as if he were translating this bit of tech speak, then went on.

‘But I also understand that the military presence on the team is insisting on holding the command.’ .

‘So I’ve heard. You’d know more about that than I do. He comes from your Fleet.’

‘Yes, he does.’

Karlo leaned back in his chair and waited. Hi folded both hands on his sash. The chair was trying to turn itself back on - he sent another kill order.

‘Um, well,’ Karlo said. ‘I’m in a position, of course, to give the command to whomever I choose.’

‘You sure are, First Citizen. I can’t imagine that anyone would try to countermand you.’

‘Just so. Overriding the military CO on this would cause some friction, of course.’

‘Of course. It’s not the kind of thing you’d do, right? Unless there was a good reason.’

‘Just so.’ Karlo hesitated, then shrugged. ‘Well, no use playing around about it. I want my son Damo assigned to that project.’

‘What? First Citizen, I’m sorry, but first of all, he’s just a boy, and second, he’s not a member of the Cyberguild. We can’t let him anywhere near guild work.’

‘I know you have your rules ...’

‘Rules and principles. Hell, any guild would hold to the same: of the guild, by the guild, but for the World.’

Briefly Karlo looked sour, then shrugged again.

‘You’ve probably heard all the gossip about the boy being a genius. I’ll give you my personal word that it’s true.’

Since the guild had accessed the school map for Government House long ago, Hi already knew a great deal about this strange genetic anomaly - an undoubted genius born from a woman better known for her breasts than her brains. Not that anyone would have ever called Karlo stupid, of course, but still, Damo’s intelligence was an outstanding example of the kind of surprise that unregulated breeding gave you.

‘It’s a damn shame,’ Hi said at last, ‘but-’

Karlo leaned forward and rested his large fists on the smooth and silvery top of his icelight desk.

‘Record him as an observer. Induct him as an apprentice. Adopt him into the guild. There are a thousand ways to get around the rules. You people do it all the time.’

‘Damo isn’t a full citizen of Palace.’

‘Don’t give me that. His mother was a citizen. He was born here.’

‘Born here illegally in most people’s eyes.’

Karlo went still, dangerously still, his huge hands clenched on the desktop. Hi was amazed all over again by the effrontery of the man, daring the Lawgivers to take his second son away, daring them to enforce the laws at the expense of the Saviour of Palace.

‘Screw most people,’ Karlo said at last.

‘Yeah? You owe them a lot. It was their votes in the polls that kept Damo out of Pleasure Sect.’

Karlo made a sound deep in his throat, then leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes. For a moment Hi felt utterly baffled, then realized that the man was trying to calm himself, that this exchange was running close to the edge of physical violence. The savage from Kephalon what a lot of Palace citizens called Karlo behind his back - was trying not to live up to his reputation. Briefly Hi wondered if he himself were frightened, or should be. Karlo’s eyes snapped open, and he leaned forward, openhanded, onto his desk.

‘Don’t you ever say that to me again.’ Karlo’s voice rasped, steel on steel. ‘Do you understand me?’

‘Perfectly well. I suggest you never give me any reason to.’

Again that dangerous stillness. Hi considered, weighing risks, decided against speaking, even something conciliatory. At last Karlo sat back in his chair.

‘First Citizen,’ Hi said. ‘The Cyberguild was created to
serve
the average citizen. We maintain the Map. The Map is the real body of this world, and information is its blood. Think. Do you remember six years ago when Imports had that grid crash? Remember the chaos? And the panic?’

Karlo nodded.

‘That’s why the guild’s important,’ Hi went on. ‘That’s why it has to be trusted and trustworthy. A good newsgrid image isn’t enough.’

‘That panic was... impressive.’ Karlo made the admission slowly. ‘There was a Map on Kephalon, of course. We had full access, we used it. But it was nothing like I see here.’

‘Kephalon was a very different place, yeah. The Map there was limited, with only one AI on planet, and besides, the government didn’t run on it. When no-one votes, having everyone online isn’t as important. But here -’

Karlo raised one eyebrow, as if daring Hi to go on.

‘That crash,’ Hi said instead. ‘It turned out to be the work of saboteurs, unguilded people, working with a former cybermaster. Extortion was their game. You know what happened.’

‘They were all hanged on Exiles’ Square. The vidscreens broadcast it all over the planet.’

‘Yeah. It’s an archaic way of executing someone, but it makes a good object lesson. The ratings were real high. Just like for the L’Vars.’

The insult drifted between them for a long long moment. ‘Go on,’ Karlo said.

‘The guildmaster tightened the nooses around those nine necks.’ Hi lifted his hands from the arms of his chair and spread them. He still saw the eyes of those people in his nightmares. ‘
I
am the guildmaster. I’m ultimately responsible for my guild and for any damage to the Map. I can’t break the rules for a personal favour.’

‘Personal favour? Does the guild really want its team on Nimue to be working under military command?’

‘No. But we can live with it if we have to.’

Karlo considered, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair. He knew, it seemed, how easily the guild could circumvent most military controls, because he made an effort to smile.

‘Well, guildmaster, seems to me I’ve heard of exceptions to the rule. Isn’t there an old tradition among the First Families of fostering promising children across guilds?’

‘The First Citizen’s been doing his research. The pages, yeah. A strange term, isn’t it?’

‘I think of it as an apprentice factor. Foster Damo to Barra, and I think we can bypass the guild difficulties. Look, let me be blunt again. I know you’re afraid I’m sending a spy, but he’s just a child. If he were Barra’s page, he couldn’t do one damn thing without her knowing it.’

‘That’s true.’ Hi hesitated. ‘First Citizen, may I ask why this is so important to you?’

‘It should be obvious. He’s my son, isn’t he? And so I want what’s best for him. Everyone tells me that he belongs in Cyber. He talks about the damn Map all the time, he spends every minute he can fiddling around with his terminal. It’s my fault, damn it, not his, that I didn’t get that second licence. Why should he pay for it?’

Hi nearly gaped from the shock of realizing that the man was perfectly sincere. He wanted Damo in the guild because the boy wanted it and because he’d do well there. That was all. Nothing more.

‘Look.’ Karlo leaned forward a little more and smiled, as ingratiating as a swamp worm chasing prey. ‘I know that Palace is overpopulated as well as anybody. But -’

‘First Citizen.’ Hi held a hand up flat for silence.

Karlo stopped and sat back in his chair.

‘First Citizen, you’re right. This is a pretty unusual case. Why don’t I bring it up with Barra for you? I can’t force her to take the boy on, you know, but I can see what she thinks about it.’

‘Of course. But I’m willing to bet that she’ll think she’d like to be free of military command.’

‘Well, you know, I think that’s a pretty safe bet. The real question is what the Cyberguild will think of it.’

‘Huh.’ Karlo raised one eyebrow. ‘Didn’t you just finish telling me what it means to be guildmaster?’

Hi waited.

‘Come on, Jons! What do you want? There’s something I can do for you, isn’t there? There always is.’

At that, Hi had to laugh. He found Karlo’s famous ‘blunt and simple soldierman’ routine engaging in spite of himself.

‘Well, yeah, now that you mention it. Back in the old days, the master of the Cyberguild used to operate directly out of Government House. We had our own offices and newsgrid feed, Map point, aircar, the works. It’d be a real status coup for me to get that back for the guild.’

‘Is that all?’ Karlo said.

‘Well, it’s going to run to considerable expense.’

It was Karlo’s turn for the expansive laugh.

‘I don’t think that’s going to matter to me from now on,’ Karlo said. ‘Let’s just consider it the cost of my son’s education.’

‘Fair enough. I’ll start the fostering process tomorrow. Barra will treat the kid well, I promise.’

‘Good. Thank you.’

For a long moment they merely sat, considering each other. Behind the First Citizen the holo gleamed as the image of Palace turned in its rotation. On the glowing terminator, caught in a stripe of dawn, lay drowned Nox.

‘Well,’ Karlo said at last. ‘I wanted to ask you about the Pansect Media crash.’

‘Ah yes. We have that under investigation. I started a team of three masters and their journeymen working before I came here.’

‘Good. Glad to hear it.’

Karlo smiled, Hi smiled. Hi crossed his hands on his chest again. The chair sat dead under him, but Caliostro flashed a fragment of the East Tower’s floor plan behind his eyes: movement out in the hall, someone approaching. Hi stood up, and Karlo joined him.

‘Well, First Citizen,’ Hi said. ‘I shouldn’t be taking up more of your time.’

‘Nor I yours. Have your factor transmit mine a list of what the guild needs for those offices, all right? And you’ll be at the public reception, of course.’

‘Of course. May the marriage be a good one, for the girl’s sake as much as anything.’

‘I’ll make sure she’s well-treated. You don’t need to worry about that.’

‘Good. Thanks.’ Hi paused, still smiling. ‘I’ll bet you’re looking forward to grandchildren.’

Karlo’s smile froze, then thawed into something twisted.

‘Of course. I grew up on a world where the people valued their posterity.’

‘Yes, of course.’ You fired the hidden switch that time, Hi told himself, or poked the hidden bruise. ‘Of course, First Citizen. May the Eye see you well.’

‘And you, Master Jons.’

As he was leaving the office, Hi met in the hall another guild-master, Wilso from Power, a skinny, grey little man lost in his scarlet robes. When Hi saluted him with a vague wave, Wilso reached out a bony finger and tapped him on the sleeve.

‘Having a little chat with the First Citizen, eh? No doubt you’re ecstatic about the L’Var girl, eh?’

‘I’m glad to see one of them survived, yeah. It doesn’t mean much to us yet. She’d have to be trained to be any good, you know.’

‘Certainly, certainly, but still, I’ll warrant you’re glad to have the bloodlines back, eh? Can’t underestimate the importance of good genes, eh? I’m certainly pleased that the First Citizen takes an interest in such matters.’

‘If you ask me, Karlo’s interested in putting a lid on the grumbling. The L’Vars had a lot of friends.’

‘Certainly, certainly, of course. But we’ve got the gene bank to think of, eh?’

‘We do?’ Hi performed a pantomime of peering at Wilso’s robes. ‘Funny. These look red to me, not green. When did you switch over to Biotech?’

‘Come on, Jons, you know perfectly well what I mean!’ Wilso glanced round the hall and dropped his voice. ‘We’re outnumbered out here. We must keep that in mind always, eh?