Below and across from them, Cleatus Fane dug his beard into the air. "I will ignore your insult for the moment," he snapped. "What is is the point, Captain Vertigus?" the point, Captain Vertigus?"

Sixten sighed. He may have been exhausted, but once again he mustered enough force for a retort.

"You keep talking about the practical application of power. 'Diligence and dedication can't compete.' Of course they can't. But that's not the subject of this bill. It has to do with ethics ethics, Mr. Fane-ethics and responsibility.

"We are humankind's elected representatives. Holt Fasner is not. The responsibility for guiding and controlling the actions of humankind's Police belongs to are humankind's elected representatives. Holt Fasner is not. The responsibility for guiding and controlling the actions of humankind's Police belongs to us us, not to him."

Bravo, Captain, Hashi thought. Still he kept moving. As he walked, he concentrated on projecting the impression that he was engaged in some trivial activity-perhaps that he'd lost his way to the san. Above all he didn't want the guards to begin watching him rather than the Members and their aides.

Cleatus Fane snorted through his stiff whiskers. If Sixten's answers-or determination-took him aback, he didn't show it. And he certainly didn't lack for answers himself.

"I think you'll find," he drawled sardonically, "that the Police themselves aren't so sanguine. And they may also have something to say about your absurd claim that Holt Fasner can't be trusted to keep them honest. In fact, I don't hesitate to predict that Warden Dios himself will denounce this bill, for the same reasons I've already given you. I've heard him discuss 'ethics and responsibility' many times, and I'm sure of what he'll say."

Abruptly he turned toward Koina.

"Director Hannish?" Like his beard, his bulk aimed itself at her like a demand. "I know you haven't had an opportunity to consult Director Dios on this, but perhaps you can comment on the UMCP's position."

Hashi had reached a point on the curve of the hall which allowed him to see Koina's face. Her mask was immaculate, untroubled: she wore her beauty like a shield. But to his eyes the pressure of her hands as she gripped the edge of the table betrayed her tension. Cleatus Fane had just demanded that she proclaim the UMCP's allegiance to the UMC-her own as well as Warden Dios'. In the circles where Holt Fasner wielded his might, no subordinate could refuse such a demand.

A tension of his own clutched at Hashi's heart. He'd urged Koina to let Warden know about Captain Vertigus' bill; but she'd declined to tell him how Warden had reacted to the information. Just for a moment he halted to hear her response.

She didn't stand. She didn't need to: every eye in the chamber was on her; she had the Council's complete attention.

"On the contrary, Mr. Fane," she replied, "we've discussed this bill many times." A low throb of emotion in her voice showed that she grasped what was at stake. "Not this specific bill, of course. How could we? I mean that my fellow directors and I have often considered the idea of a Bill of Severance. We have debated its merits and formed our opinions. I don't need to consult my director now in order to inform you of our position."

"Please, Director Hannish," President Len put in, making at least that one small attempt to regain control of the proceedings. "Go ahead."

The First Executive a.s.sistant nodded as if to say, I'm waiting. An intake of breath caused his body to swell ominously.

Sixten didn't raise his eyes to Koina. His posture suggested that he was resigned to abandonment.

"Thank you, President Len." Her apparent calm seemed to emphasize the background intensity of her tone. "Mr. Fane, Captain Vertigus, Members of this Council"-she regarded the chamber with a firm gaze-"our position is one of absolute neutrality."

Startled, Fane opened his mouth to protest; but Koina didn't let him interrupt her.

"In the most necessary sense," she explained, "we disavow responsibility for it. That responsibility is yours and yours alone. Our function, our our responsibility, is to serve humankind according to the terms and conditions of our charter. If we seek to determine the nature of those terms and conditions, we will inevitably become a force of tyranny, no matter how benign our motives may be. responsibility, is to serve humankind according to the terms and conditions of our charter. If we seek to determine the nature of those terms and conditions, we will inevitably become a force of tyranny, no matter how benign our motives may be. That That responsibility must rest with you. When our organization began, you chartered it as a branch of the UMC because you saw fit to do so. If you now see fit to alter our charter, we will abide by it without question. responsibility must rest with you. When our organization began, you chartered it as a branch of the UMC because you saw fit to do so. If you now see fit to alter our charter, we will abide by it without question.

"As individuals we all have personal opinions and beliefs. But as the United Mining Companies Police Director of Protocol, I am forced to contradict Mr. Fane. I say-and Director Dios will say with me-that this decision rests on you. What you decide, we will accept. If we do otherwise, we have betrayed your trust, and humankind would be better off without us."

Bowing her head, Koina concluded, "Thank you for allowing me to speak."

The Council had suffered too many surprises in one session. The Members and their people peered at her as if they were stunned. Cleatus Fane's resemblance to Santa Claus had become an illusion: the glare in his eyes was murderous and dark. Wonder shone on Sigurd Carsin's face. Len strove to close his mouth, but his lower jaw had become too heavy for him. Maxim Igensard seemed to bounce in his seat as if he were frantic to address the gathering. Slowly Captain Vertigus raised his head to look at Koina: he may have had tears in his eyes.

Hashi was more than pleased: he was profoundly relieved. To this extent, at least, he hadn't been wrong in his a.s.sessment of his director. What you decide, we will accept. What you decide, we will accept. Warden's strange game-whatever it might be-was being played against Holt Fasner. Warden's strange game-whatever it might be-was being played against Holt Fasner.

As a result the complex question of Hashi's own loyalties was simplified.

To confirm that Ensign Crender was still with him, he glanced aside at his companion.

The guard looked impossibly pale, drained of blood, as if he were about to faint. In a blink of intuition, Hashi realized that the youth understood the struggle taking place in the hall. He was merely young, not stupid.

The DA director had no time for delay, however. A movement caught the edge of his vision: Nathan Alt was coming closer. Now the man Hashi hunted had reached a position against the wall above and behind Captain Vertigus.

"My point remains the same," Fane growled harshly; but he may have been bl.u.s.tering. "If this Council does anything to disrupt the Police-if they're weakened in any way at a time like this-I think we're all going to regret it."

Praying G.o.d or Heisenberg that the ensign was intelligent enough to react quickly, but not so intelligent that he paralyzed himself, Hashi started forward again, quickening his pace to narrow the gap before Alt noticed him.

President Len had begun to speak, hesitantly calling the GCES back to order, but Hashi paid no heed. Alt was too near Captain Vertigus. Worse, he was closing the distance between himself and Cleatus Fane. Concentrating exclusively on the former UMCPED captain, Hashi hastened around the wall.

Three meters from Nathan Alt, he stopped. At last he was close enough to read the id patch on the man's uniform, the clearance badge clipped to his breast pocket.

Both identified Alt categorically as "GCES Security Sergeant Clay Imposs."

Hashi was taken aback. Caught in the uncertain swirl of subatomic possibilities, he studied the man.

Alt didn't so much as glance at the DA director. His dis-focused stare was fixed, opaque; aimed at nothing. Unequal dilation distorted his pupils. Pallid and waxy, the skin of his face hung slack on his cheekbones.

Hashi knew the signs. He'd worked with such things often enough to be sure of them.

Nathan Alt was in a state of drug-induced hypnosis.

Woodenly he continued his incremental progress in Cleatus Fane's direction.

Too late, it was already too late, Hashi had delayed too long, letting uncertainty carry him when he should have been sure. Only Alt's chemical stupor saved him.

Wheeling on Crender, he barked, "Arrest that man! Get him out of here!"

The boy froze. Youth and inexperience betrayed him. Instead of springing forward, he blinked openmouthed at Hashi's demand as if he found it incomprehensible.

"He is a hazel" hazel" Hashi shouted; almost screamed. Hashi shouted; almost screamed. "Get him "Get him out out of here!" of here!"

Then he leaped at Alt himself.

Ignoring the instant pandemonium around him, the cries of the aides and secretaries, the surging of the guards, he clawed the clearance badge from Alt's uniform, ripped open the front of Alt's uniform in order to s.n.a.t.c.h at the id tag around his neck.

An instant later Crender burst past him, slammed Nathan Alt away. Yelling in fright, the ensign half drove, half threw Alt back toward the doors.

Almost immediately Forrest Ing roared orders. Two more guards rushed to help the boy. Together they manhandled Alt along the wall as fast as they could. On the far side of the hall, Ing shouted at his communications tech, warning Chief Mandich and the guards outside.

Drugged and oblivious, Alt put up no resistance. Perhaps he wasn't aware that anything was happening to him.

Nevertheless he might explode at any moment. The fact that he was hypnotized, volitionless, only meant that the bomb inside him was controlled by other means: an internal timer; an external radio signal.

Taking the only precaution he could think of, Hashi flung himself headlong down the tiers into the terrified frenzy of bodies and seats.

In his fists he clutched Imposs/Alt's clearance badge and id tag as if they were precious enough to ransom his entire species.

More guards rushed into the confusion. At last their training took hold: half a dozen of them forced an aisle through the wailing tumult; others threw open the doors; still others helped move Imposs along. Abrim Len shrieked at the Members to clear the hall. If they'd been able to obey, the crush would have made it impossible to remove Imposs. But reinforcements arrived in time to block the Members and their staffs out of the way.

At a run, Ensign Crender and the other guards impelled Imposs or Alt from the hall. Immediately Chief Mandich ordered the doors closed again. Men and women who didn't know what they were doing kicked Hashi from side to side. In self-defense, he picked himself off the floor just as the high portal slammed shut.

Across the moil and din Ing shouted fiercely, "Sit down! Sit down! down! Get below the blast!" Get below the blast!"

His yell produced an instant of frozen silence. But before anyone could move, obey, a detonation as heavy as thunder shook the chamber.

The blast was too close to the doors: they cracked from top to bottom. The floor bucked in the concussion. People staggered; some lost their feet. Powdered plaster, paint, and cement filled the air as the shock wave hit the walls and ceiling.

Then it was over.

The Members stared at each other with dismay on their faces and dust in their hair. For a moment they seemed stunned to find that they were still alive.

Unaware that a smile stretched his thin face like a rictus, Hashi stooped to the floor and started looking for his gla.s.ses.

Apart from Nathan Alt/Clay Imposs, only one man died. A GCES Security guard too close to the explosion was blown to pulp. And only one was seriously injured: Ensign Crender lost his left hand and forearm. For the most part, however, Chief Mandich had taken effective measures to m.u.f.fle the blast and protect lives. A number of Security personnel-both GCES and UMCPED-suffered damaged eardrums and other symptoms of concussion, but they were spared any lasting harm.

When the ensuing pandemonium had eased, and order had been restored, President Len offered to adjourn the session so that the Members would have time to recover. To his surprise, virtually all of them declined. Under the circ.u.mstances, the consensus of the Council was that the UWB Senior Member's Bill of Severance should be brought to an immediate vote.

The Bill was rejected by a significant margin. The Members were too shaken to approve it. They heeded Cleatus Fane's a.s.sertion that severance would disrupt the efforts of the UMCP to protect them. Any kind of centralized authority seemed preferable to terrorist attack.

In their fear, the Members felt too vulnerable to accept responsibility for their own survival.

The fact that Cleatus Fane himself had been the kaze's apparent target gave his arguments added weight. The threat came, not from humankind's enemies, but from the UMC's. Therefore the UMC should deal with it.

When the extraordinary session was adjourned, Captain Vertigus limped out of the hall. However, his carriage was erect, uncowed. He might have been on his way to make humankind's first contact with the Amnion.

Koina Hannish couldn't contain her indignation. To that extent, her professional mask failed her. "How did he get in?" in?" she demanded repeatedly of Forrest Ing. "Is this the best ED Security can do? Why did I work so hard to put Chief Mandich in charge of Security here, if he isn't capable of stopping a kaze? A kaze I warned him about?" she demanded repeatedly of Forrest Ing. "Is this the best ED Security can do? Why did I work so hard to put Chief Mandich in charge of Security here, if he isn't capable of stopping a kaze? A kaze I warned him about?"

The deputy chief, poor man, had no answer.

But her ire had another, truer question behind it. Implicit in her outrage was the a.s.sumption that if a kaze hadn't gained entrance to the chamber, the Bill of Severance might have pa.s.sed.

Hashi deemed that plausible. He'd heard Captain Vertigus' arguments, and they were better than Cleatus Fane's. Even Members bought and paid for by the UMC might have been swayed.

Nevertheless the DA director considered the session a success.

Warden Dios had a.s.sured Koina she was in no danger. Apparently he'd meant that the danger wasn't aimed at her personally. The earlier attacks on Captain Vertigus and G.o.dsen Frik didn't imply that she was next. They had another significance entirely.

In the aftermath of Nathan Alt's death and Sixten Vertigus' defeat, Hashi Lebwohl could see that significance clearly. Events in flux had resolved themselves: he was sure of their position.

On the other hand, he had no idea what might happen next.

MIN.

She was already on her way to the bridge when Punisher's Punisher's fire alarms began yowling like banshees. fire alarms began yowling like banshees.

The cruiser was nearing the huge asteroid swarm where Deaner Beckmann had hived his bootleg lab, and Min wanted to be at the center of information and command. Nevertheless the unexpected squall of the klaxons seemed to change everything. Her instincts hadn't warned her: she hadn't felt the ship's ambient vibrations mounting toward an emergency.

Surprised by disaster, she launched herself forward in the zero g equivalent of a run.

Dolph Ubikwe hadn't arrived yet when she coasted onto the bridge, stopped herself on a handgrip. Command Fourth Hargin Stoval sat at the command station, barking orders at the intercom. Data and engineering shouted back and forth: the other bridge stations clung fiercely to their tasks while her people fought to a.s.sess and answer the damage.

"Status!" Min demanded as soon as Stoval paused for breath.

He hadn't seen her enter the bridge. When he heard her voice, however, he flung his g-seat around to face her and snapped a salute. "Director Dormer. We're on fire." He named a section of the ship's infrastructure near the core. "So far we don't have a clue what started it, but it's pretty bad. Hot enough to feed off every bit of plastic, debris, and oil it can find. We already have two dead, others hurt."

He hesitated momentarily, then said, "I should get down there. If you'll take the bridge, Director-"

Min jerked a nod. "Go." From what Dolph had said about him, she guessed that Stoval was the best man aboard to take charge of the damage-control parties. Captain Ubikwe wouldn't feel slighted if she watched over his command for him briefly.

As Stoval unbelted himself and headed off the bridge, she left her handgrip for a new hold on an arm of the command station. From that position she could see the console and readouts without a.s.suming Dolph's authority.

After a quick glance at the indicators and screens, she turned to the other officers. "Anything else I should know right this minute?"

The bridge crew came from a mix of watches: individual duty rotations had shifted to compensate for lost personnel. Glessen on targ and Cray on communications shook their heads. "We've reached the trailing edges of the swarm, sir," Patrice reported from helm. "In another hour we'll approach the main body."

Porson, the scan officer, punched vehemently at his board until Min gave him her attention. Then he muttered, "Looks like we've lost that entire sensor bank for good, Director. The one we've been working on ever since you came aboard. Fire must have got the wiring."

"Compensate," Min instructed him. "Tell helm what you need to cover us. We can't afford blind spots.

"Data," she went on, "this is your department. What happened?"

The data officer was a young woman named Bydell. When Min spoke to her, she flinched. "Engineering-" she began. "The computer-" She was too young for her duties; too vulnerable to the prolonged strain Punisher Punisher had endured. "I don't know-" had endured. "I don't know-"

She conveyed the impression that she was coming apart.

"Reconstruct it," Min answered firmly. Bydell's distress was Dolph's problem. Min didn't know his people well enough to take their individual personalities into account. But she had no intention of letting them slip into paralysis while their ship burned.

"That's what computer simulations are for. Let's not make Captain Ubikwe wait for answers when he gets here."

"Aye, sir." The data officer did her best to confront her board like a woman who knew what she was doing.

Min turned back to the command board, tapped a few keys to call up new information, then paused to think.

Any fire was bad enough aboard a ship; but this one was more than that. If it spread, it might do severe damage to Punisher's Punisher's control systems. Worse, it could conceivably breach the core-If Stoval didn't put it out quickly, it could cripple the ship. control systems. Worse, it could conceivably breach the core-If Stoval didn't put it out quickly, it could cripple the ship.

Already one of the sensor banks was gone. She confirmed that on the command console, even though she didn't doubt Porson for an instant. One whole scan array had failed, leaving Punisher Punisher blind forward across an arc of nearly thirty degrees. blind forward across an arc of nearly thirty degrees.

A bit of weight nudged her toward her boots as helm began adjusting the ship's att.i.tude in relation to her course.

Min clenched her fists against the familiar fire in her palms and waited for Captain Ubikwe.

He arrived no more than five minutes after she did. Surging onto the bridge as if he were shouldering off fears and weakness, he coasted straight to the command station, pulled himself into his g-seat, and clasped his belts. "Thanks, Director," he said to Min. His voice projected the power and certainty of a pneumatic hammer. "Sorry I kept you waiting. I took the time to talk to Hargin. We've got the moral equivalent of an inferno in there. What's the situation here?"

Min glanced at Bydell and decided to take a chance. "Data was just about to tell us," she drawled calmly.