Votes were coming in electronically, ship-mailed from time-lagged stations, to be opened simultaneously on Cyteen Station as polls closed on Cyteen itself. That would happen in July, given the longest round trip of messages, which was Fargone. But he owned one advantage in going into a negotiation with Defense, whoever ended up at the helm: Defense could look forward to a few years of fairly reasonable, low-key Yanni Schwartz before they had to deal with a sharp witted and adult Ari Two, whose agendas were as yet unknownand the military didn't like unknowns. It preferred the devil they knew. Khalid, if he won, certainly had rather deal with him; and Spurlin certainly didn't want him making any cozy deals with Khalid. Jacquesn.o.body cared, nowadays, what Jacques thought.

He took Frank in with him on this one, Frank carrying a briefcase that never strayed far from his side. Communications, that was. Defense knew it, probably had a truther aimed at the room, would run electronic surveillance to see if any signal went out from that briefcase, and G.o.d knew what other probes it brought to bear, trying to penetrate the secrets in it.

Yanni didn't sit down. Since there was no Spurlin as yet, he made himself at home. He drew Frank a cup of coffee, indicated a chair to the side, where Frank ensconced himselfthey'd been together lifelong, he and Frank, close as brothers. He wasn't comfortable outside Reseune when circ.u.mstances excluded Frank, was much more at ease in a room where Frank was, and he took himself and a second cup of coffee to a seat at the oversized conference table.

Spurlin came in, a walking stormfront of a man, with uniformed aides, who dispensed papers, water, gla.s.ses, and old-fashioned pens and notepads, G.o.d knew what they were supposed to do with those.

The aides settled primly around the edges. An ache hit the roots of Yanni's teeth as Spurlin lowered his wide-shouldered, uniformed and be-medaled bulk into the head chair. A silencer had started running, to prevent any eavesdropping.

"Admiral," Yanni said with a dip of his head.

"Ser," Spurlin answered. It had a note of question.

"Patil just agreed to terms," Yanni said plainly. "No alterations worth mentioning, except a 2,000-kilo ma.s.s limit and freedom to publish after the cover's lifted." He eased back in his chair, a little less ramrod straight. "Well. So we're all go."

"We're go."

"We'll handle communication with our own people at Fargone. There's a freighter going out on the twenty-fourth."

"Skip the freighter. No Alliance transport." Freighters were that, Alliance merchanters, plying the routes between Union stations. "We have a courier. It can leave after the vote tomorrow."

Low ma.s.s, big engines, faster by a cla.s.sified number of daysespecially if the courier was ready to launch. And no Alliance snoopery, though if they black-boxed it, there was no likelihood Alliance would snoop at all. Yanni nodded. "If speed is an issue. We have the appropriate orders ready. We can make your schedule."

"You were that convinced she'd do it," Spurlin said.

"I thought she would, yes," Yanni said. "A research scientist, with a life's-work project backed up on hold for decades? I was very sure she'd do it."

"Her Paxer const.i.tuency really isn't going to like her taking a Reseune post. Domestic security had better take hold and look sharp when that news breaks."

The Paxers, the peace party, had fallen on hard times after the War. They weren't the threat they had been. They'd had a spate of bombings. A certain number of their intellectuals showed up at Patil's public lectures. So, shadier and more violent, did a few of the Rocher Party, the Abolitionists. But it was a public forum, the Franklin Lecture Series, sponsored by a Centrist-leaning agricultural processing consortium, and as much as Patil's speeches usually generated web chatter, she didn't partic.i.p.ate in the fringe-element chat. She more or less politely dealt with everyone who actually showed up; but she had a sharp manner when asked a stupid question, and only the intellectuals tended to ask her questions, not the subway-bombing lunatic fringethey probably lived in terror of her. So did the tea-sipping social set who'd attend any function on the library circuit.

"ReseuneSec is going on alert when Patil's acceptance of a post goes public," Yanni said.

"My office will be on it," Spurlin said. Spurlin's specific office was system defense. He was a post-war admiral, never in combat. Khalid had that advantage, that he had fought against the Mazianni, the former Earth Company Fleet. "But this is supposing it goes through. Corain's not entirely a surety yet. It could all fall apart."

"I'm pretty confident he'll go with us on this," Yanni said. "Lao's with us." That was no news. Lao of Information was battling rejuv failure herself, another election they were going to suffer, but she was at the session, holding out on painkillers, Reseune's old friend. "I'm scheduled to talk with Coram this evening. But don't give any interviews until after the vote. It'll look bad."

Spurlin had no sense of humor. At all. "Your man at Fargone. The azi . . ."

"CIT," Yanni corrected him.

"Ex-azi. Emory's man. Is he up to handling the security aspects of this? And what will he be telling the girl?"

"I have less doubt of Ollie Stra.s.sen than I do of anyone else involved in this undertaking, ser. And he doesn't communicate with young Emory, never has. We have very efficient management out there. Check your records."

"So now you have a program."

"We will have a program." Yanni gave a small shrug. He wasn't really comfortable with Spurlin. The privacy screen made his sinuses ache. And he was anxious to have the meeting done, in token of which he drank half the very expensive cup of coffee at one go. "Patil will be drawing her own complement from Beta Station, perfectly current with the research. So you'll have plenty of sources who'll talk to you very nicely, I'm sure."

A brow lifted. Spurlin looked marginally happier with that thought: the military fairly well ran Beta, and that was insystem, definitely familiar territory, familiar channels. "So you get your new lab."

"And you get a planet," Yanni said wryly.

"Humanity gets a planet," Spurlin said. That was the theory. Humanity couldn't live on Pell without supplementals, and the fungi were lethal over time. Humanity couldn't actually live on Cyteenif the weather-makers and the precip towers ever failed, they were all dead in a day. Humanity did too d.a.m.ned well at surviving on Gehenna, and if all of them could turn up dead in a day, it would make everybody sleep easier at night. They hoped eventually to do better at Eversnowa viable planet, one they could entirely terraform and render completely habitable, right down to the oxygen balanceand where people could come and go without turning themselves into such deeply acculturated specialists they couldn't integrate with s.p.a.cefaring society.

And not the only such planet, hereafter: once they'd proven the case and established the precedent for terraforming a marginal world, once they'd gotten past the emotional nonsense that bacteria counted as life on a world, young Emory would see the benefit.

That meant activation of the Arks, a use for the stored genetics. A new Eden.

A reserve Earth, in case the unthinkable ever happened.

"I have Patil's name on the contract," Yanni said. "But first out there and setting up at Fargone Station . . . will be ReseuneSec."

That didn't make Spurlin happy, but Yanni said it anyway: "ReseuneSec, for a Reseune installation. We'll establish connections, set up the labs. Our setup won't bother your military 'hospital' there in the least. But where it regards our tech and birthlabs, we don't admit anybody but Reseune personnel. That never changes."

"I wouldn't expect it to," Spurlin said, and, as if the admission were physically painful, added: "Good. We're happy We can back this."

If we're elected, was the unspoken context. And Science was backing him as far as it dared. "Thank you, ser," Yanni said.

"I take it you're going to call on Jacques, upstairs. Give him my regards. And Khalid."

There it was. The direct challenge.

"I'll of course send the proposal up to station," Yanni said. "And of course present it to Councillor Jacques. But I'm very glad to have this particular discussion face to face."

Meaning Jacques was all but an afterthought, and the face to face he'd chosen had been with Spurlin, not Khalid. That had to please Spurlin.

"Good luck in the vote," Yanni said. He didn't mention the name Emory. "Will of the people. Civilized understandings. We'll hope to keep in touch, however things turn out."

There was a little flicker from Spurlin's eyes, a little consideration of that point, in the long-term realities of Union politics, that Councillors could be challenged every two years, and narrowly rejected candidates often came back repeatedlyif not this time, then next. Yanni's bet, personally, was on Spurlinwho, whatever his lack of combat experience, was the better politician. And the polls were running that way.

"Pleasure," Spurlin said.

"Mutual," Yanni said, and rose and shook hands.

No trail of doc.u.mentsno outside witnesses. There would be a vid record, to be sureDefense was rife with bugsbut he now had to go upstairs and explain to Jacques, who would actually cast the vote, that there was an understanding, and thank you so much for your help getting this far. Jacques' permanent retirement was a few months away, resignation from the militarygiven a sinecure of a corporate position. That had taken a little maneuvering, but Khalid would have beaten Jacques hands down, and no few people had moved to see Jacques step down fast and first, to make Spurlin look as attractive as possible.

Subordinates would work out the details from this point on, and settle such things as a launch time for the military courier, bearing orders for Ollie Stra.s.sen, but not, of course, antic.i.p.ating the formal vote in Council.

Those orders, on a datastrip, he did leave with Spurlin, in a sealed envelope. The envelope, that old-fashioned precaution, wouldn't in the least stop Spurlin's people from getting into it, but it would occasion them just a little hesitationa point of satisfaction, just to tweak their sensibilitiesand they wouldn't learn a d.a.m.ned thing once they did. What he'd told Ollie Stra.s.sen in that message, he'd told Ollie in plain words, because Ollie had his training, had gone CIT, and, canny old Reseune hand that Ollie was, from the inmost circles, he knew exactly what to make of the message: You're getting a new wing and a director who'll be under you. Keep it that way: she'll have notions of her own, but you're in charge. She'll have a h.e.l.l of a budget: a detached module, cleanroom and security lock, all on Reseune's ticket, all strictest security. We're reviving the Eversnow project, total security: she'll run it. She's all yours.

He had his little pro forma meeting with Jacques, who was looking tired and overwhelmed these days, talking about his impending retirement and an apartment on Swigert Bay, and then Yanni ran the media gauntlet to the car, which delivered him and Frank back to the hotel in ample time for a little relaxation, a drink at the bar.

And that lull offered a little opportunity for a side excursion. The hotel had a shop and the shop window, on his way to the tower lilt, had a certain trinket he wanted. He sent one of his staffers back down to buy it, gift-wrapped, and meanwhile Frank ordered supper catered to his suite . . . supper for two, with a choice of entrees, with a later supper for himself: this was pure business. Critical business.

He had time for a shower, a change of clothes, nothing too informal, however. He was combing his hairno haircut really improved itwhen hotel personnel arrived, dogged by ReseuneSec, who'd have superintended the meal from the start, and Frank let them in.

They wheeled a cart in, set up the small table with a politely low arrangement of flowers, and set a pair of wine bottles onto cooling cradles, with two more in reserve . . . not that they might crack a second one, but it was available, a choice of dry or not; and by the time they'd finished, Frank would deserve at least one survivor.

Mikhail Coram of Citizens arrived on time at his door, with no aides, no entourage, and, hopefully, no reporters in train, unless someone had followed him up to the twentieth floor. It was a meeting that would have drawn attentionif reporters had been able to get past VIP security, or accurately figure which of fourteen high-profile guests Corain might be visiting. Corain was, besides Councillor for Citizens, the head of the Centrist Party, and he'd been in career-long opposition to Reseune. Certainly if he could have consigned the first Emory to h.e.l.l, Mikhail Corain would have been happy to see her off. Relations with Giraud Nye had been better, but they hadn't been warm. Relations with the second Emory? Guarded. Very guarded. It wasn't good politics to attack a kid.

Corain didn't look at all comfortable in coming here. But Yanni put on his own best manners, pleasantly offered his hand, offered Corain a seat at the small dining table, while Frank politely and firmly stationed ReseuneSec personnel outside the door, not inside.

Salad was local; the pork loin and the chicken were both Reseune's, and the wines were from Pell. The after-dinner coffee would be an Earth import. The meal encompa.s.sed a significant half of human s.p.a.ce.

"So glad you were willing to come." Yanni said. "Pell Sauvignon? Or Riesling?"

"The Sauvignon," Corain said, and Frank quietly prepared that bottle. "Frank," Corain said, by way of greeting, and question. "Good evening, Frank."

"Good evening, ser." Frank smiled at him, perfectly at ease in his unaccustomed role. "I'm doing the honors this evening. My discretion is impeccable. My service may not be, but I hope you'll forgive my slips."

Corain nodded. Given his const.i.tuency, which compa.s.sed some of the Abolitionist types, he might be uneasy about the unegalitarian situation that surrounded the dinner, but thoughts pa.s.sed through his eyes, one of which was surely that he'd rather Frank do what he was doing, and not have a leak of what they said here.

Yanni reckoned so, at least, and lifted his gla.s.s. "Who'd have thought we'd sit at one well-stocked table? Here's to . . . what shall we call it, ser?"

"Common sense," Corain shot back, quick on his mental feet, and gla.s.ses touched. They drank. "Did Patil agree?"

"Agreed and signed this afternoon," Yanni said, while Frank served the salad. "She's on board. I've sent a message to Ollie Stra.s.sen. at Far-gone; I just finished a meeting with Spurlin, and he's on board."

"Busy day you've had, ser."

"Very."

"So," Corain said. "How is Reseune faring these days, without the Nyes? A lot more decision-making on your desk? Or do we perhaps represent someone else? I haven't had that ever made clear, and I'd like to have, before the vote tomorrow."

Not a stupid man, Corain: sensing, correctly, that his own position, though he'd been in on the planningnot something Defense knew now came down to the one vote that could and would stop the Eversnow project. His having the critical vote held advantages very much worth exploiting . . . judiciously, getting full value for the transaction.

What Corain surmised was unfortunately quite true: Reseune under the Nyes, while powerful, hadn't wielded the power it had under the first Ari; Reseune after the Nyes was perceived as yet another degree weakened. People believed, to a certain extent correctly, that the Schwartz administration was even more of a caretaker administration, but certain people saw that he was not averse to putting his own agenda forward, and hoped that it might represent a third force inside Reseune. It was a period in which concessions might be gotten, in which Reseune's power might be trimmed a bit, in which difficult agreements might be forced conditions the first Ari, or the Nyes, would never have agreed to, and Yanni Schwartz might, to get what he wanted. That was the notion Corain seemed to have about him.

But he had held these sessions with Patil, Spurlin, and now Corain, in a chosen order and for a very good reason. He was a psychmaster, as the popular term was, out of Reseune, and sensible people in Corain's position, whatever their personal feelings, were open to a presentation of simple, career-affecting facts. He'd laid the foundation for this move. He'd gotten Corain interested before he went to Patil, he'd gotten Defense aboard, which Corain couldn't doand flatly told Jacques to resign and throw his support to Spurlin or see consequences to his reputation and his retirement income. Science was a key player, and Yanni played this one for all he was worth.

"This is your chance," Yanni said pleasantly, "to get something. By the time my successor gets hold of the project, which will be some few years yet, things will be underway, you'll see the terraforming underway, and there'll be nothing much worth remediating at Eversnow. We've extracted microbes from the deep probesnot highly varied, at four widely separated sites. That's the total local life. We have the samples. So it's my estimation that young Emory won't try. She'll go with what's easiest, and she won't do a thing to stop it."

"Seems she already does things. Huge expenditures. New building at Reseune. The new labs upriver. My informants say they're both her projects."

"Keeps her busy," Yanni said.

"Pricey toys, ser."

"Useful in the long run. Reseune had a proven security problem. It won't, hereafter."

"Security problem." The breath of a laugh. Then total sobriety. "So you've just brought the first Ariane's murderer back to Reseune. That just baffles h.e.l.l out of me."

Oh, the man wanted to know about that.

"Shouldn't baffle you at all," Yanni said. "He wasn't guilty."

"You admit it?"

"Jordan didn't like Ari. But he wasn't guilty of murder." There was a small pause in Corain's demolition of the salad. The fork went down.

"And he agreed to detention," Yanni said. "In his best interest."

"And you admit that," Corain said. Frank took the nearly empty salad plate. And Yanni's. Corain never looked down. Just sat, with a troubled look on his face. "Why did he agree?" Corain asked finally.

"He had no choice. It was an a.s.signment. For us? Expediency. The need to get Reseune going again. It was paralyzed. The Nyes were trying to get contracts honored, agreements handled . . . He'd broken no laws. But he'd violated Reseune policy."

"Do you know who did kill Emory?"

"No," Yanni said. "It's not actually important, in modern context."

"Context! I don't see it as a question of context. Maybe somebody should bring it up before the Judiciary and ask about your context, ser!"

"Well, you and I can certainly do that, and settle a question of history, or we can proceed on a cooperative project that can benefit all of us."

"I still find it troubling."

"So far as I can do justice in the case, I've done it. Jordie Warrick is back at Reseune. Not my doing, since we're being quite forthright here. Young Emory did it. The possible perpetrators are dead and out of reach, so, outside of correcting history, there's no point."

"Correcting history has some value."

"Actually. I agree. More than that, Jordan's a friend of mine and I personally a.s.sure you we'll be engaged in that, once we've gathered some records that someone attempted to bury. I simply signal you that there's more to the story and I don't want to surprise you with any sudden revelations."

"That would be a welcome change." would be a welcome change."

"Among other things that may improve our working relationshipI want something to write down as an accomplishment for my own tenure, and righting that old wrong is one thing I intend to do. Improving relations with Citizens is another. Part of that is carrying out this Eversnow business. It was one of Ari's last projectsand one she was willing to cede to terraforming. I agree with her, and I think you do, though I don't think you'll be making it a major point for your const.i.tuency's consumptionwe can't make Cyteen a laboratory. That's just out of the question, nowadays: too many complications, including the major city out that window"

Night had brought up the lights of Novgorod, other towers above the hard-roofed arcology that was the subway, the undergrounds, the deep digs, coffer-dammed against Swigert Bay and safe as a pioneering city could be in an atmosphere that could kill you, if you got much above the twentieth floor, outside the bubble. The handful of skysc.r.a.pers were precip stations, pillars of the sky, guardians of human survival.

Corain's look was involuntary, and snapped back with a deep frown. "We won't ever settle that argument, I'm afraid."

"We may not. Say what you like for your voters. We're here, however, to talk about a safe laboratory that we can both agree on. Eversnow can prove whether or not terraforming can ever be done anywhere, and produce an ecology we can live in. And it will prove in the affirmative, I'm firmly convinced. I think there is a place for that science. The effort will teach us things, for the benefit of my const.i.tuents. For yours, Eversnow will be that new Earth everybody dreams of."

"Off in the far dark," Corain said. "At the end of the universe."

"For now. You know the charts."

"Expensive, G.o.dawful expensive, at a time when your successor is busy spending your budget in advance. This is going to cost tax dollars. The whole remediation budget. How is my const.i.tuency going to benefit in the near term? I really want to hear it in words."

"Immediate jobs, at Fargone, where the big construction will start."

"No azi there. None of this moving in your own personnel and calling it proprietary."

"No azi in construction except inside the labs: building of the module, all open to bids. Then there'll be station construction at Eversnow, give or take a decade. More jobs, right down to the first off-hours snack bar, shopkeeper and supplier that pioneers it out there. Then more and more of them. Ultimately a new trade route for Fargone. A military base outflanking any possible Alliance expansion. Spurlin is aboard. Science is; you are; Information is; Trade will be. There are no losers in this project. Not even the local microbes, who are going to get an infusion of heat, light, and a chance to grow and adapt right along with our imports. We're not going to wipe them out. We're going to use them, bootstrapping our way up. But that gets into technicalities."

"Huh." A grunt. The atmosphere had slowly eased. After a brief hiatus in the dinner, in which Frank hadn't moved, Frank deftly offered the choice of main course, pouring more wine.

"So," Corain said, and ate a few bites of chicken. "This is good."