A last guard entered the hall, and the doors were closed. Seeing this, President Len turned to the table and took up the ceremonial mace-privately Hashi considered it a "cudgel"-which symbolized his office. Now all the Members, advisers, and secretaries sat down, leaving only the President and the guards on their feet. Summoning up his dignity, Len brought his mace down on the tabletop with a thump which somehow conveyed hesitation despite its weight.

"Your attention, Members of the Governing Council for Earth and s.p.a.ce," he announced sententiously. Again he thumped the surface in front of him. "Today we meet in extraordinary session, and we are ready to begin."

After a third thump, he set his mace down.

In a less formal tone, he went on, "As you know, this session has been convened to consider a matter which the Senior Member for the United Western Bloc, Captain Sixten Vertigus, wishes to bring before us." He nodded toward Captain Vertigus, who continued to doze. "This Council has a number of pressing issues to consider"-he may have been asking the old Member to pay attention-"including, but by no means limited to, the recent, appalling terrorist attack on Captain Vertigus himself, the even more recent murder of the UMCP's then-director of Protocol, G.o.dsen Frik, and the public confirmation of his successor, Koina Hannish." The President bowed politely in Koina's direction. "However, Captain Vertigus has claimed Member's privilege. By virtue of his long service to the Council, as well as to humankind, our charter grants him precedence. Other matters will be raised as time and circ.u.mstance permit.

"Are there any objections," he concluded, "before I ask Captain Vertigus to speak?"

This call for objections was a mere formality, one of the codified courtesies which gave government its illusion of collegiality. Hashi was surprised when Sen Abdullah immediately took his feet.

"President Len"-the EU Senior Member's voice was unfortunate: it whined like a maladjusted servomechanism-"fellow Members, I must object. Without disrespect to Captain Vertigus, the present situation is too extreme for any of us to claim privilege. A kaze has attacked him, a kaze has killed G.o.dsen Frik. And this occurred only a short time after we conducted a video conference which might mildly be called 'provocative' with UMCP Director Warden Dios and Data Acquisition Director Hashi Lebwohl."

He didn't glance at Hashi.

Cleatus Fane studied the speaker with a hooded gaze, revealing nothing.

Abdullah cleared his throat as if Fane's scrutiny made him uncomfortable. "President Len, fellow Members, the Special Counsel appointed by this Council to investigate allegations of malfeasance against Director Dios and the UMCP has uncovered several issues which are cause for grave concern. The UMCP have risked covert operations within forbidden s.p.a.ce, employing persons of doubtful character. The Data Acquisition director has admitted delivering one of Enforcement Division's ensigns into what might be called prost.i.tution-if it is not called enslavement. A notorious illegal, Captain Angus Thermopyle, has escaped from Data Acquisition in the company of a traitor.

"And now"-Abdullah gestured toward Hashi with a chop of his hand-"here sits the same director of Data Acquisition who so horrified us when he spoke for Director Dios. We will be derelict in our duty if we miss this opportunity to question him.

"Captain Vertigus," the EU Senior Member whined, "I must ask you to yield your privilege. I will use it to provide a forum for Special Counsel Maxim Igensard's investigation."

Igensard leaned forward in his seat, eager to stand.

Like everyone around him, Hashi turned toward Captain Vertigus. Sen Abdullah's demand would have been difficult to refuse at the best of times. With Cleatus Fane watching him, the old man might find refusal impossible.

Captain Vertigus still sat with his head back and his eyes closed. His open mouth emitted a small rasp like a snore.

"Captain Vertigus." President Len disliked rudeness-not to mention a.s.sertiveness-and his discomfort made him unnecessarily peremptory. "You must answer. Will you yield your privilege to Senior Member Abdullah?"

The old man twitched. His head came down: he opened his eyes, then gazed blearily around him as if he'd forgotten where he was. "What?" he asked. At once, however, he went on, "Oh, very well." His voice held a p.r.o.nounced quaver.

From where he sat, Hashi saw Koina's shoulders tighten. Several of the Members seemed to have stopped breathing.

"I'll be glad, delighted, to yield to my esteemed colleague," Captain Vertigus said thinly.

Igensard started to rise. Fane hid his reaction behind his beard.

"As soon as I'm done," the UWB Senior Member finished.

Shock jolted the chamber like a static discharge. Hashi allowed himself to smile as Igensard's face twisted and Abdullah bit back a retort. "Nicely played, Captain," he murmured, only half aloud. Sixten Vertigus had looked the dotard for so long that most people had forgotten his old courage.

Koina didn't react; hardly moved. She couldn't afford to betray the fact that she knew what Sixten intended.

Hurrying to avoid conflict, President Len put in, "You won't reconsider, Captain? I'm sure we'll have time for you when Special Counsel Igensard is done."

Captain Vertigus sighed. "No"-strain showed in his voice as he stood up-"I won't reconsider. This is too important." Supporting himself on the tabletop with his arms, he added, "And it's not irrelevant to all those 'provocative' subjects my esteemed colleague mentioned.

"Don't worry, Abrim," he muttered with a touch of asperity. "This probably won't take as long as it should."

"Very well, Captain Vertigus," Len sighed. His hand on Sen Abdullah's shoulder urged the EU Senior Member to sit down. "The session is yours."

Bowing, the President seated himself.

"This better be good," Sigurd Carsin murmured to no one in particular. She was Sixten's Junior Member, but she'd never concealed her impatience at giving precedence to a man she considered "senile."

"'Good'?" Captain Vertigus c.o.c.ked his head at her. "I don't think so. These days I'm not sure 'good' exists anymore. But if you'll pay attention, I'll offer you something better than what we have now."

Carsin glared at him, but didn't speak again.

Slowly the captain raised his head between his hunched shoulders so that he could address the whole chamber.

"You're right, of course," he began. "I was attacked. Poor, pompous G.o.dsen Frik was killed. Warden Dios and Hashi Lebwohl nauseated us-some of us, anyway-with what they said during that conference. Captain Thermopyle has escaped, and what we know about DA's covert operation in forbidden s.p.a.ce stinks. Events are moving too fast for us to control. The Special Counsel probably has good reason to think he's on the trail of the worst kind of malfeasance."

His old voice seemed to lack any of the force which would have made it effective. Nevertheless Hashi found himself listening as if he were entranced. Sixten had a quality which counted more than force: he had frailty; the kind of earned human frailty that only grew from long years of valor and probity. He was persuasive because he'd earned the right to be.

"I support the United Mining Companies Police," he announced as if his quavering were a form of strength. "I always have. I believe in the job they're supposed to be doing. What's happened makes me even more nauseous than the rest of you.

"I want to do something about it. All of it-everything you've mentioned. And everything Hashi Lebwohl hasn't bothered to tell us yet. I want to clear the obstacles out of the Special Counsel's way so he can do his job right." right."

Hashi feared that the captain's voice would crack when he pushed it; but it held firm.

"As it happens, I know how. I've already done the work. All you have to do is vote on it. Then our situation can start to get 'better.' "

A hundred people watched the old man as if they were as rapt as Hashi; eager for what came next. They all heard Fane remark amiably, "You fascinate me, Captain Vertigus." A none-too-subtle reminder of his presence-and of the man he represented. "What can you possibly propose that isn't already being done?"

Sixten ignored the distraction. Still leaning on his arms, still speaking in a high, thin voice which threatened to waver out of control whenever he raised it, he said distinctly, "President Len, fellow Members, I wish to propose legislation which I call a Bill of Severance. This bill will decharter the United Mining Companies Police as a subsidiary unit of the United Mining Companies and reconst.i.tute that organization as an arm of the Governing Council for Earth and s.p.a.ce."

Decharter-?

Reconst.i.tute-?

The ensuing consternation gave Hashi a keen sense of pleasure. Members gasped. Some of them actually turned pale; others turned to hiss urgently at their aides. Secretaries clutched each other's arms; advisers floundered. Igensard slumped backward like a man who'd been poleaxed. In contrast, Fane rocked his bulk forward as if he meant to launch it into the air. After a stunned moment fifty or a hundred voices began gabbling at once.

Through the confusion, Hashi heard Koina say softly, "Thank you, Captain," although her voice wasn't loud enough to reach Sixten. "Thank you."

"Please!" President Len was on his feet, shouting to lift his appeal above the noise. "Members, please!" please!" With his mace, he pounded the table as if he were belaboring an a.s.sailant. "We must have With his mace, he pounded the table as if he were belaboring an a.s.sailant. "We must have order!" order!"

After a moment his shout-or perhaps the possibility that he might break his mace-had an effect. Slowly the tumult eased. Fl.u.s.tered Members adjusted their garb, straightened themselves in their seats; aides and advisers stopped talking and started attacking their data terminals; some of the secretaries made shushing sounds which others eventually heeded.

The guard who had entered the chamber last left his post at the doors and took a few steps along the wall across from and above Hashi's position, then stopped and stood still. Apparently he'd moved in order to improve his view of the chamber.

Hashi thought that Cleatus Fane would demand a chance to speak; but he didn't. Instead he subsided in his seat, brandishing his beard like a shield.

"That's better." The President sounded like a peevish aunt. No doubt he was hard-pressed to manage his own surprise-as well as his congenital fear of consequences. When the noise had sunk to a persistent rustle of hardcopies and whispers, he said, "I think you'd better explain yourself, Captain Vertigus."

Sixten had stood without moving while confusion poured down the tiers at him; now he gave no indication that he'd heard any of it. As if he hadn't been interrupted, he resumed.

"The entire bill has already been written. It can be enacted as it stands. If you want to look at it, it's available on your terminals." In a flurry Members and aides hurried to confront their screens. "Log onto the public files and bulletins of the United Western Bloc, query my name, and enter the code word 'survival.' "A sharp rattle of keypads followed, but he ignored it. "My proposed legislation is there, complete."

The strain of holding his head up showed in a slight wobble, but he didn't let himself relax.

"While you read, let me answer some of your more obvious questions.

"Because of the crises we're facing right now, my bill provides that the present resources, personnel, and functions of the Police will be preserved intact. The GCES Police won't miss a moment in their defense of human s.p.a.ce. And funding will be supplied by a proportionate tax on all chartered corporations which operate in s.p.a.ce. Procedures for levying the tax are included in the bill. On that score, also, the new Police will have no reason to falter.

"But if so little is going to change, what do we gain by enacting this legislation?"

"My question exactly," someone put in-Hashi didn't see who.

"In the short term, obviously," Captain Vertigus answered, "the primary benefit is that the Police will now be accountable to us us, not to the UMC. Special Counsel Igensard will be able to pursue his investigation whether Holt Fasner or or Warden Dios approve of it or not. But in the long term that one benefit will produce hundreds of significant improvements." Warden Dios approve of it or not. But in the long term that one benefit will produce hundreds of significant improvements."

He paused, summoning strength or determination, then went on more firmly.

"If we pa.s.s this bill, we will finally be able to do the work we were elected for-the work of defining and preserving humankind's future in s.p.a.ce." Despite its quaver, his voice took on a trenchant edge. "As matters stand, all we really do is argue about decisions someone else has already made. Right now, today, it is Holt Fasner who sets human policy. And his subordinates carry out that policy. Occasionally he allows us to ratify some small part of his designs. The rest of the time we might as well as be asleep. asleep.

"I want to change that. We can. We We can; We have the power. As humankind's elected representatives to the Governing Council for Earth and s.p.a.ce, we can; We have the power. As humankind's elected representatives to the Governing Council for Earth and s.p.a.ce, we have have the power. All we need to do," he finished, "is make up our minds to pa.s.s this bill." the power. All we need to do," he finished, "is make up our minds to pa.s.s this bill."

Finally his head dropped. He supported himself on his arms with his head bowed as if he were waiting for someone to pray over him.

In front of Hashi, Koina sat with her hands at her sides like a woman restraining an impulse to applaud.

If she'd started clapping, he would have been tempted to join her himself.

How many Members, he wondered, felt the same way? Sigurd Carsin appeared nonplussed, dismayed by involuntary admiration for her Senior Member, whom she'd always despised. Abrim Len fussed with his mace: he seemed to think his dignity depended on the proper placement of his ceremonial rod. Vest Martingale looked back and forth between Cleatus Fane and Captain Vertigus as if she wanted to flee, but didn't know where safety lay. Punjat Silat beamed like a benevolent idol. Despite her reputation for serving on the Council only because it supplied her with opportunities for s.e.xual conquest, Blaine Manse studied Sixten with a new glow of purpose on her face.

Hashi would have looked farther, but his attention was attracted by movement among the guards opposite him. The man who had stood at the door earlier changed positions again, moving another three or four meters away from his original post. Then he stopped once more. His face was partially in shadow: Hashi couldn't see his features clearly.

Now what, Hashi asked himself, do you suppose that man has in his mind?

"Captain Vertigus," the Dragon's First Executive a.s.sistant asked solicitously, "do you feel well?"

Sixten didn't turn his head. "Read my bill, Mr. Fane. It will tell you how I feel."

Cleatus Fane shifted his weight in a way which caused him to appear larger. "Then I'm forced to say-with all deference to your years and reputation-that this is preposterous."

His tone had a cloying, medicinal quality, as if he kept it sweet to make its underlying bitterness palatable.

"In the name of the United Mining Companies, as well as for the benefit of this Council, I must mention several points which you have apparently chosen to overlook."

He didn't ask permission to speak. He didn't need it; he spoke for Holt Fasner, and President Len made no attempt to stop him.

"First, your a.s.sertion that the charter of the UMCP can be transferred to this body without disruption-without 'missing a moment'-is pragmatically absurd. Such things may be imagined in the abstract. In practice they do not occur. Structural change has structural consequences. At a time when humankind's survival depends on the Police as never before, you ask this body to ignore the inevitable upheavals-and their inevitable cost."

Leaning his elbows on the table in order to face Sixten more directly, Fane seemed to expand again. His voice grew sharper; mordant behind its sweetness.

"In addition, Captain Vertigus, you ignore the irrefutable fact that as a branch of the United Mining Companies the Police are more effective than they can ever be as an arm of the GCES. Under the present arrangement, the UMCP and the UMC share resources and information, personnel and research; listening posts and other tools. They must because those are Holt Fasner's instructions. However diverse their actions may be, their authority comes from a single source.

"At present the UMCP are better informed, more mobile, and more powerful than they could hope to be under any other arrangement. Not Not, I hasten to say, because the UMC would ever withhold cooperation, information, or support from a separate Police, but because the GCES and the UMC are inherently discrete ent.i.ties-unlike the UMC and the UMCP."

Cleatus Fane looked around the chamber, inviting the Members to agree with him-or to disagree, if they had the nerve.

However, Hashi no longer watched the First Executive a.s.sistant's performance. In a sense he'd stopped listening. The guard who'd left the doors was moving again. When he stopped, he was almost directly behind the section of the table where Vest Martingale sat. Another shift of the same distance would put him behind Sixten Vertigus: two more after that, behind Cleatus Fane.

Hashi studied the guard, trying to get a clear look at his face.

When none of the Members offered an opinion, Fane continued.

"Finally, Captain Vertigus, I feel compelled to observe that your insistence on accountability accountability is misleading. With all respect to this body, it is plain that accountability to any group of men and women can not be as clear and absolute as accountability to a single authority. At present the UMCP must answer to Holt Fasner for everything they do. His personal commitment to the integrity and effectiveness of the UMCP protects against any corruption." is misleading. With all respect to this body, it is plain that accountability to any group of men and women can not be as clear and absolute as accountability to a single authority. At present the UMCP must answer to Holt Fasner for everything they do. His personal commitment to the integrity and effectiveness of the UMCP protects against any corruption."

He paused to give this a.s.sertion force. He might have been asking, "Is there anyone here who dares to say publicly that Holt Fasner is not honorable?"

No one did.

Fane smiled. He could afford to be magnanimous.

"Matters may appear dubious at the moment," he conceded, "but I can a.s.sure you from long and direct experience that the UMC CEO's investigation will root out malfeasance and punish treason better than any Council. The diligence and dedication of the Council's Members can't compete with Holt Fasner's more intimate knowledge of the UMCP's people and operations.

"If you insist on disrupting the Police when so many crises are upon us, you will lay all human s.p.a.ce open to kazes-and worse. Yes, worse," he insisted. "In fact, I fear that any sign of confusion in the UMCP now would give all our enemies the occasion they need to attack."

Now at last the features of the guard Hashi scrutinized caught the light squarely.

Quoting shamelessly in surprise, the DA director whispered, "Now there's a face that flits upon my memory."

Nathan Alt. At one time Captain Nathan Alt, commander, UMCP cruiser Vehemence Vehemence, Until Min Donner had court-martialed him for what she chose to call "dereliction of duty."

Hashi didn't doubt for an instant that he was right. He trusted his vast memory. But what in Heisenberg's name was Nathan Alt Nathan Alt doing here? In the uniform of a GCES Security guard? doing here? In the uniform of a GCES Security guard?

At once the DA director turned in his seat and gripped the arm of the boy Forrest Ing had a.s.signed to him, Ensign Crender.

"Come with me."

Without waiting for a response, Hashi rose and began working his way up the crowded tiers to the back of the hall.

Sixten Vertigus was a frail old man who might as well have been beaten. He made no effort to look up or turn his head. Nevertheless he was the only one in the chamber who answered the First Executive a.s.sistant.

Wearily he retorted, "That's all beside the point, Mr. Fane." Despite his fatigue, however, his words were distinct. "It changes nothing. You would say exactly the same things with exactly the same conviction if your Holt Fasner had sold his soul to the Amnion."

A gasp of shock hissed around the hall. Abrim Len turned toward Sixten with a jerk, gaped aghast at the UWB Senior Member. No one had ever said anything like that aloud in front of the GCES.

Hashi admired Sixten's reply, but he didn't pause. When he reached the last tier and the wall, he turned to Ensign Crender again, pulled the boy toward him.

"Stay close," he demanded softly, so that the nearby guards wouldn't hear him. "Be ready."

Shuffling in his untied shoes as if he felt no need for haste, Hashi began to walk around the back of the hall, hoping to intercept the object of his interest in time to learn whether he was making a fool of himself.

Ensign Crender followed doggedly.