Pause. "And then?"

"We find Natch."

Rey Gonerev quietly worked on untangling a knot in her hair for a minute. Magan suspected she was stil smarting from the way Natch had sized her up and shoved her aside at the Kordez Tha.s.sel Complex a few weeks ago. But Magan had made no move to rea.s.sure her, either then or now. She would need to exorcise that demon if she intended to continue as his right-hand woman when he took the high executive's seat. "How do you propose we find him?" she said.

"The fiefcorp master is a wanted man, Rey. His Vault account has been locked down. His license with the Meme Cooperative is stil suspended. Al of his friends and acquaintances are under surveil ance. Every drudge on the Data Sea knows his picture and identifying characteristics. If Natch so much as steps on a public tube train, we'l know. The chal enge isn't finding him. The chal enge is finding him before Len Borda does."

Rey Gonerev frowned. "And what-what if Natch is dead?"

"He's not."

The Blade reached for the side of the hoverbird and steadied herself against it. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I've never been more certain of anything in my life."

The other fiefcorpers cut their multi connections and went home, but Jara was not quite ready to face the existential blankness of her empty wal s.

Instead she threaded her way through the corridors of the Surina Enterprise Facility and found the double doors that would lead her out to the courtyard.

Her heart was pounding at a tempo that might have been appropriate for one of Geronimo's mocha grind songs.

The crowds had returned to the Surina complex, spurred by a temporary lul in the winter weather. A corpulent sun sat in the sky, announcing that spring was right around the corner. Tourists were streaming in and out of the Center for Historic Appreciation again, and Jara saw that the Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton statues had been shouldered aside to make way for a new monument to Margaret Surina. Half a dozen couples stood in the center of the courtyard with arms around one another, some staring up at the Revelation Spire, some staring down at the engraved plaque marking the bodhisattva's burial place. "I don't care about the strikes and the infoquakes and the unrest," Jara heard someone say. "I'm not going to let that rule my life."

The a.n.a.lyst found her way to the railing, where she could see the city of Andra Pradesh laid out before her feet. She prived herself to al communication and let her skin absorb the sun's energy.

As soon as Magan Kai Lee had left the meeting, it occurred to Jara that she had unilateral y rejected his offer without so much as a ConfidentialWhisper to the rest of the fiefcorp. Certainly the obstinate Benyamin would have backed her up, but Merri? Vigal? Horvil? She could imagine a hundred reasons why they might have leapt at the lieutenant executive's offer. A chance to restore their careers and their business credentials al in one shot. A chance to leap back into the bio/logics game without penalty, and al they had to do in return was help track down a man who had scorned and abandoned them anyway. At the very least, someone might have objected to the way Jara made such a major choice about their lives and careers without consulting them. Imperious decision making seemed almost ... Natchlike.

But then Jara realized she was not running a democracy.

She was running a business.

Did she think she could just flee from everything Natch stood for and stil run a successful fiefcorp? Life wasn't cut into such predictable shapes. For al his failings, Natch had led his company from complete obscurity to the height of the Primo's bio/logic investment guideand he had done it quicker than anyone else in history. There were good things to be salvaged from any boss who could do that. Her job as the new leader of the Surina/Natch MultiReal Fiefcorp was to take the good ideas, to reject the bad ideas, and most importantly, to pound her fist on a tabletop and make the firm determination which ideas belonged where. Jara could scarcely believe it, but in the past few weeks she had discovered that she had this ability.

She thought about the looks the fiefcorpers had given her before cutting their multi connections. Merri, Horvil, Benyamin, and Serr Vigal had regarded her not with admiration or awe or thankfulnessbut simply with respect. Jara was their leader now, and they accepted that.

Jara cal ed up ConfidentialWhisper and fired off a message to the rest of the team.

"Everyone get some rest today," said the fiefcorp master. "We've got a lot of work to do to get this company back on track. And we start first thing tomorrow morning."

APPENDIXES.

APPENDIX A.

A SYNOPSIS OF.

INFOQUAKE.

Natch is an entrepreneur with a burning ambition. He simply can't define what it is.

The world he lives in is a ripe place for ambition. Having suffered a cataclysmic Al revolt hundreds of years ago, the world embraced Sheldon Surina and his science of bio/logics. Now, 359 years later, thousands of smal software companies-fiefcorps-compete ruthlessly for the right to sel the programs that run the human body. Order is maintained by a patchwork of subscription-based governments cal ed L-PRACGs. Overseeing these governments is the Prime Committee, which uses the Defense and Wel ness Council as its police force.

As an orphaned boy in the care of the neural programmer Serr Vigal, Natch is plagued by strange and hal ucinatory visions. He learns to use his wits to best his childhood enemies and achieve top scores in his cla.s.s. His only obstacle is Brone, a boy with an equal y cunning intel ect and a more charismatic way with people. But Brone is soon dispatched during the boys' initiation by a bear attack that is partly accident, partly fate, and partly Natch's dark vengeance.

With his prospects for financial success dimmed by the Shortest Initiation, Natch turns to a series of low-paying jobs at the bottom of the programming world. Only gradual y, after much Machiavel ian scheming against enemies such as Captain Bolbund, does Natch climb to the top of his profession. But he hasn't achieved this alone. He's had his childhood friend, Horvil; his mentor, Serr Vigal; and his market a.n.a.lyst, Jara, to aid him.

With Horvil's and Jara's help, he achieves one final coup. Natch arranges a complicated con involving a fake black code attack on the Vault banking system. This con al ows Natch's fiefcorp to replace his bitter rivals, the Patel Brothers, at the top of the Primo's bio/logic investment guide rankings.

Where Natch was once an outcast, now he is a celebrity.

Furthermore, the scheme brings Natch to the attention of Margaret Surina, heir to her ancestor Sheldon's fortune. She's been working on a technology to create "alternate realities" cal ed MultiReal for decades. But now she fears that Len Borda, the high executive of the Defense and Wel ness Council, is preparing to take this technology away from her-and possibly kil her in the process. The Council sees MultiReal as a weapon of potential y apocalyptic proportions, one too dangerous to remain in private hands. It's the same conflict Margaret's father, Marcus, went through with his teleportation technology many years ago, a conflict that ended in a fiery hoverbird accident.

Margaret offers Natch an opportunity to license her new technology. He is to stir up enough trouble to keep Len Borda off balance for the next week; then, after Margaret reveals the existence of MultiReal in a widely publicized speech, Natch needs to quickly put together a prototype to show the world that the technology is real. The fiefcorp master agrees.

Natch goes looking for a source to fund his company's new project, but, partly due to his shady reputation, n.o.body wil support him in this new and undefined venture. Final y, with the help of his new apprentice, Merri, he snags an appointment with the leader of Creed Tha.s.sel, an organization dedicated to the power of selfishness. The leader turns out to be none other than Natch's old nemesis Brone. Brone, stil smarting from the wounds of the Shortest Initiation, offers Natch a quick loan and foretel s a future where the two of them wil work together to market MultiReal. The fiefcorp master, seeing no other alternatives, accepts the loan from his old hivemate.

Armed with a new infusion of cash, Natch hires a new appren-tice-Horvil's young cousin Benyamin-and forms a partnership with sales channeler Robby Robby to help market the new product.

The day of Margaret's speech arrives, and with it comes an incursion into the Surina compound at Andra Pradesh by the troops of the Defense and Wel ness Council. As Margaret unveils her new technology before hundreds of mil ions of people, the Data Sea networks explode with a strange new computational disturbance: the infoquake. Thousands die in the tumult, but the Council does not fol ow through with its implied threat to kil Margaret and seize MultiReal.

Natch gathers the fiefcorp for a meeting the next day, where he informs his col eagues that a frightened Margaret has practical y handed over the reins of the company to him and al owed him to rechristen it the Surina/Natch MultiReal Fiefcorp. Furthermore, Natch wil get a new apprentice, Quel . A longtime confidant of Margaret's, Quel is an Islander, a member of a society that has spurned al but the most rudimentary forms of bio/logic technology.

For a short time, it appears that Natch has gotten the upper hand. He is on top of the world and has even used his newfound partnership with Margaret to pay back Brone and sever his ties with the Tha.s.selian.

But Natch's expectations are soon dashed when he discovers that his dire enemies the Patel Brothers have also secured a MultiReal licensing agreement with Margaret Surina. Margaret soon reveals that Natch is in fact the third fiefcorp she approached. The first, programmer Pierre Loget, did not understand the import of the technology; the second, the Patels, she suspected of sel ing out to the Defense and Wel ness Council. Only after she despaired of working with the Patels did she turn to Natch, who she knew would never give in to pressure from Len Borda.

Natch immediately goes on the offensive to counter the Patels. Frederic and Petrucio Patel have scheduled a demo in less than a week's time; Natch decides that he's going to hold his demo first, in three days. But after he commands his fiefcorp to prepare a quick-and-dirty demo, a group in black robes ambushes him in the streets of Shenandoah. Natch is. .h.i.t by their black code darts, fal s unconscious, and vanishes.

Meanwhile, unaware that Natch is missing, the fiefcorp goes about preparing for their product demo. Quel and Horvil work to prepare the MultiReal code for its first public appearance; Benyamin works with his mother's a.s.sembly-line programming shop to complete al the mil ions of programming tasks necessary for the program to function in front of hundreds of mil ions of people; Merri works with the company's sales partner, Robby Robby, to generate excitement about their product; and Jara struggles to put together a presentation that wil capture the public imagination.

It's only hours before the demo that the fiefcorp realizes Natch has disappeared. The fiefcorpers frantical y attempt to find him before the demo as Len Borda's forces once again march on Andra Pradesh. Jara makes a last-ditch effort to convince Margaret to deliver the product demo in Natch's stead.

Margaret refuses, choosing instead to retreat to the top of her private tower as the forces of Len Borda once again invade the compound. Jara decides that she wil give the presentation instead. Horvil catches up with her and attempts to dissuade her from making this dangerous presentation, in the process confessing that he has developed deep feelings for her. But Jara wil not be deterred.

And then, at the last possible minute, Natch shows up. He had awakened from his black code coma, in his apartment, mere hours before. With him is Len Borda-who, as it turns out, has brought the Council troops to Andra Pradesh at Natch's request, in an effort to scare off any potential black code attack. In exchange for this intervention, Natch has hurriedly promised Borda access to MultiReal.

Natch delivers the product demo to an audience of five hundred mil ion. The demonstration involves using the power of MultiReal to simulate hitting a basebal to al five hundred mil ion spectators simultaneously and goes off swimmingly.

The audience reacts more enthusiastical y than anyone could have antic.i.p.ated. (The Patels' demo, meanwhile, is a disaster.) As Infoquake draws to a close, it occurs to Natch that the attackers in black robes could have been sent by the Defense and Wel ness Council as a ploy to get MultiReal under its control. There are, in fact, any number of organizations out there that might be using the black code inside him as leverage to get control of MultiReal. Brone, the Patel Brothers, and even Margaret Surina are listed as potential suspects.

Natch is beginning to feel the deleterious effects of the black code inside of him; but as he tel s his mentor, Serr Vigal, he's up for al the chal enges ahead. He's come this far against al odds, and he won't back down now.

APPENDIX B.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS.

For more comprehensive definitions and background articles on some terms, consult the Web site at http://www.multireal.net.

APPENDIX C.

HISTORICAL.

TIMELINE.

The chronicling of modern history began with Sheldon Surina's publication of "Towards the Science of Bio/Logics and the New Direction for Humanity." Surina started the Reawakening, which ended the period of the Big Divide that began with the Autonomous Revolt. The publication of Surina's paper is considered to be the Zero Year of the Reawakening (YOR).

APPENDIX D.

ON THE CREEDS.

The creeds were founded with a n.o.ble goal in mind: to promulgate the spread of ethics and responsibility strictly through scientific and rational means.

HISTORY OF THE CREEDS.

Organized religion had largely disappeared into the Pharisee Territories with the chaos and destruction promulgated by the crazed prophets known as the Three Jesuses in the early years of the Reawakening. Wanton destruction in the name of G.o.d by New Alamo and the subsequent splinter Texan governments contributed to this as wel .

But with the rise of Sheldon Surina's science of bio/logics, many began to fear an intel ectual imbalance. The great minds of the day traded horrified what-if scenarios about a society devoid of any moral compa.s.s. The atmosphere soon became ripe for a return to spirituality.

The cryptic hermit known only as the Bodhisattva fil ed that gap. He began wandering through Europe and Asia gathering fol owers in the early 100s, much as the Three Jesuses had done throughout the previous century. But the philosophy he preached about the search for Objective Truth was nonviolent, nonjudgmental, and extremely personal in nature. He al owed an administrative organization to coalesce around him almost as an afterthought.

Other organizations quickly took up the model that the Bodhisattva had put in motion.

Some, like Creed Elan and Creed Dao, were old inst.i.tutions that simply found in creedism a convenient struc ture suitable for modern times; others took inspiration from the Bodhisattva and developed new philosophies that appealed to a wide body of fol owers.

ROLE OF THE CREEDS COALITION.

The Creeds Coalition was founded in 237 as a means of formalizing the interaction between the large (and stil growing) number of creed organizations. Most creeds partic.i.p.ate in and fund the operations of the Coalition voluntarily. There are a number of creeds who have refused to join the Coalition and are thus not bound by its rules and regulations. But even those creeds that do not official y belong to the Coalition often recognize its authority because of its long history of good deeds.

The major functions of the Coalition are to keep interactions between the creeds civil and to act as a lobbying and advocacy group to the various government bodies. The Coalition also funds a number of minor creeds and engages in various philanthropic enterprises of its own.

To a lesser extent, the Coalition is a.s.signed the duty of enforcing certain creed bylaws (such as the Objectivv truth-tel ing oath and the Conscientious pledge of resource preservation). However, considering how fearful the Coalition is of favoritism, its oversight is little more than a formality.

Leadership of the Creeds Coalition is an executive committee selected by al partic.i.p.ating members, with membership tending toward heavy representation by the major seven (listed below). Chairmanship of the executive committee is a two-year commitment and is currently being held by the bodhisattva of Creed Enlighten.

One important bylaw of the Coalition is that none of its members are al owed to formal y restrict devotees from pledging to multiple creed organizations. (In practice, however, some creeds do hold such restrictions.) MAJOR CREED ORGANIZATIONS While there are literal y tens of thousands of accredited creeds in the Coalition's rol s, the number with any significant amount of influence is relatively smal .

Creed Bushido (founding date unknown) was one of the products of the Autonomous Revolt. The creed was initial y a martial organization whose aims were to preserve j.a.panese culture and tradition during a time of great upheaval. As the Reawakening got into ful swing and the Creeds Coalition came into existence, the creed softened many of its stances and began incorporating the remnants of many other Eastern cultures into its rituals and traditions.

Creed Conscientious' (founded 322 YOR) goal is to conserve the world's computational resources. The creed is among the newest in the Coalition, and its membership is quite smal (around twelve thousand). But increasing concerns about computational resources in recent years have brought the creed an abundance of favorable press and a disproportionate influence on Data Sea policy.

Creed Dao (founding date unknown), like Creed Bushido, also carries the torch of many of the ancient Eastern religious cultures. Some have likened its philosophies of peace, tolerance, and introspection to the teachings of Daoism and Buddhism. The creed tends to be very insular (if not downright secretive) in its beliefs, however, and therefore its tenets are not wel understood by the population at large. The creed's color is bronze.

Creed Elan (founded as the Elan Society in 39), among the oldest and most venerable of the creeds, was original y known as one of the most generous and self-effacing. In recent decades, it has largely become the creed of the moneyed elite. And while the organization's critics delight in pointing out the hypocrisy of some of its members, Creed Elan stil devotes far more capital to philanthropic endeavors than any other creed. The creed has no single leader, but is run instead by a consortium of major and minor bodhisattvas. Its colors are red and purple.

Creed Objectivv (founded 108) promotes the search for ultimate truth in the universe. Its members take what is known as the Objective truth-tel ing oath, where they promise not to lie and to devote their lives to seeking truth. Founded by a mystical figure known only as the Bodhisattva-the first creed leader to take that t.i.tle-the organization continues to be run by a single leader. As of this writing, Objectivv membership runs in the low hundred mil ions. A good percentage of that number consists of "a.s.sociate" members who are sympathetic to the creed's aims but do not pledge the truth-tel ing oath). The symbol of Creed Objectivv is a black-and-white swirl.

Creed Surina (founded 116) was founded by Prengal Surina and his companion Ladaru to honor Sheldon Surina's memory. The creed's official purpose is to promote "spiritual discovery and mutual enlightenment through technology," which most observers interpret as humanizing scientific progress. Some critics contend that such a goal might have been appropriate for the rampant Luddism of the early days of the Reawakening, but has lost its relevance. The creed has maintained a large membership (two bil ion) largely through the charisma (and money) of the Surinas. Creed Surina's colors are blue and green.

Creed Tha.s.sel (founded 268) began as a popular movement dedicated to the "virtues of selfishness" and run by the extreme libertarian philosopher Kordez Tha.s.sel. The creed's rituals were believed to be dangerous and mystical for many years, until drudge reporting revealed the mystique as something of a hoax. The Tha.s.selians turned to a more conventional philosophy of hard-core individualism afterward, and the creed has been operating low-key ever since. Creed Tha.s.sel keeps its membership rol s private, but the drudges estimate its membership somewhere south of a mil ion. The symbol for Creed Tha.s.sel is three paral el vertical lines.

MINOR CREED ORGANIZATIONS.

Other creeds with significant membership rol s and some smal amount of public influence include Creed Autonomous, Creed Enlighten, Creed Libertas, Creed Sacrificial, and Creed Tzu.

APPENDIX E.

ON GOVERNMENT.

The whole of humanity has never agreed on a single form of government, but with the so-cal ed L-PRACG system of governance, it can be said that the race has largely agreed on a common framework for government.

THE L-PRACGS.

After the col apse of the ancient nation-states during the Big Divide, people turned to local y organized civic groups to provide the basic services of government. Often these ad hoc groups came together to solve a particular issue and ended up taking on matters of security, trade, and justice by default.

Basic principles varied wildly from culture to culture and place to place.

Eventual y, as civilization built itself back up from the ravages of the Autonomous Revolt, civic groups began to band together. Larger groups had greater col ective bargaining power and were able to specialize on certain aspects of governance. Thus was born the Local Political Representative a.s.sociation of Civic Groups, more col oquial y known as the L-PRACG (p.r.o.nounced ELL [crag).

In modern society, L-PRACGs are responsible for the day-to-day services of government, as wel as security, taxation, and regulation. Often LPRACGs are organized around a central tenet (such as governmentalism or libertarianism), culture (j.a.panese, West African, Texan) or geographical area (the Shenandoah and Harper L-PRACGs). Other L-PRACGs use formulas or free-market tenets to determine the blend of services they provide.

While some L-PRACGs are localized in one particular place, the vast majority are not.

Nothing prohibits citizens from joining more than one government at a time. (This freedom was in fact codified into law by the efforts of High Executive Toradicus in the year 145.) Most people today hold three or four simultaneous citizenships and rotate to new governments every few years. Likewise, in a free-market system, L-PRACGs are constantly shifting their policies and priorities to attract new members for their tax base.

It's not uncommon to subscribe to a local L-PRACG for basic neighborhood services; a vocational L-PRACG to streamline one's work life; and a personal L-PRACG that practices the tenets of one's particular creed or culture.

THE CONGRESS OF L-PRACGS.

Founded in 143 through the tireless lobbying efforts of Prengal Surina and High Executive Toradicus, the Congress of L-PRACGs was intended to be an organization that could deal with the Prime Committee as an equal.

The Congress's main function has turned out to be the settling of interL-PRACG conflict.

Given that there are tens of thousands of L-PRACGs spread throughout human s.p.a.ce, the administrative aspects of coordinating laws and dealing with contradictions between them are formidable.

Most of the Congressional representatives are elected directly by L-PRACG citizens, but some representatives are stil appointed by L-PRACG management. As of this writing, there are over 2,200 representatives on the Congress, headed by a single speaker. Given its large membership, the Congress tends to be slow to make decisions and often professes opinions far outside the mainstream of public opinion. This in turn means that the Congress general y has a difficult time commanding the drudges' attention.

Since the ascendancy of Len Borda to the head of the Defense and Wel ness Council in 302, the Congress's power has been limited.

Governmentalists loyal to Borda control ed the speakership and a slim majority of seats until very recently. In late 359, the governmentalist speaker was indicted in an embezzlement scandal and ousted in favor of radical libertarian Khann Frejohr. Boosted by this scandal, the libertarians recaptured the majority of Congressional seats as wel .

THE PRIME COMMITTEE.

The major governing body of the centralized government is the Prime Committee.

However, since so many of the traditional functions of government have become the province of the L-PRACGs, the Committee is largely a legislative body and an umbrel a organization to the various branches of centralized government.

The Prime Committee is divided into twenty-three voting and six nonvoting groups known as bailiwicks. Voting members of the Prime Committee include the bailiwicks of: Congress of L-PRACGs (12 members) Meme Cooperative (3) Creeds Coalition (2).

orbital colonies (2) Dr. Plugenpatch (1) GravCo (1).