Did he mean to make that that public as well? Did he intend that Koina should name the Dragon's role in the conduct of the UMCP before the Council itself? public as well? Did he intend that Koina should name the Dragon's role in the conduct of the UMCP before the Council itself?

Of course he did.

The prospect took Hashi's breath away. He flapped a hand in Chief Mandich's direction as if he were trying to shoo Security's petty honesty from the room. The nature of Warden's game transcended such considerations.

Hashi couldn't inhale enough to raise his voice. Softly he murmured, "Yet you choose to reveal it now."

"Yes," Warden rasped without hesitation. "Listen to me, all of you." He aimed his single gaze in turn at Koina, at Hashi, at Chief Mandich. "Get this straight. I choose to reveal it now."

Now, when the GCES had just been stampeded into rejecting a Bill of Severance which would have broken the Dragon's hold on the UMCP.

Hashi's lungs strained for air.

Would it work? Would Warden succeed at toppling Holt Fasner with his own fall?

Perhaps. With Hashi's help: perhaps. These revelations, these unguessed gravitons of information, might well lack the force to pull Fasner from his throne unaided. The great worm was profoundly entrenched. They could be augmented, however- An almost childlike sense of affection for his director swelled in Hashi's chest. At the same time he felt that he had been personally exalted by several orders of magnitude. Suddenly he was aware that he could comprehend and partic.i.p.ate in the quantum energies of this crisis on a scale which would have been impossible for him only moments earlier. A blaze of illumination had effaced the shame of his incapacity to grasp Warden's game.

He found himself beaming unselfconsciously, like a senile old man. A joy as acute as terror throbbed in his veins.

He knew at once that he would give the UMCP director all the help he could.

Baffled by a rush of information he was unable to manage, Chief Mandich retreated into a pose of clenched stolidity. He belonged to ED; and as Min Donner had sometimes said, ED was the fist of the UMCP, not the brain. The Security Chief was accustomed to using his mind for his own duties, not for a.n.a.lyzing the underlying purpose of Warden's policies. Hashi felt sure that Mandich was full of outrage. He was also sure, however, that the Chief would continue to take orders-and carry them out faithfully-at least until Min Donner returned to account for herself.

Koina may have understood Warden's intent as little as Mandich did, but she responded differently.

"Director Dios," she said coldly, "I'll certainly tell Special Counsel Igensard-as soon as an appropriate occasion presents itself." The chill in her voice was extreme. Her inflections might have been rimed with ice. "But that's a secondary issue. Under the circ.u.mstances, whether or not the UMCP has any integrity"-she froze the word to such brittleness that it threatened to shatter-"can't be our first concern. The Amnion have committed an act of war. That's primary.

"Are you going to tell the Council?"

"Of course." A tightening around Warden's eyes made Hashi think he found the question painful. "That's the law. It's also my duty.

"But first I want to know where events are going, what the stakes are. If I can't tell the Members what the threat actually is, they're liable to do something stupid."

Indeed they were. Hashi agreed completely. From a historical perspective, it was plain that elected officials acting in legislative bodies seldom did anything which could not be called stupid. And in this case the difficulties were greatly increased by the fact that many of the Members derived their positions, directly or indirectly, from Holt Fasner-who in turn derived much of his wealth and power from trade with the Amnion.

Koina appeared to grant Warden's reply a provisional a.s.sent. However, he had already moved on as if he neither wanted nor needed any acknowledgment from her.

"Which brings us," he said mordantly, "back to Suka Bator.

"You three were there. Chief Mandich, you've been made responsible for security on the Council island. In particular you were responsible for security during this extraordinary session of the GCES."

The Chief tightened his lips to a pale line; but his only reply was, "Yes, sir."

"Director Hannish," Warden continued, "you were responsible for representing formal UMCP policy before the Council. Director Lebwohl"-the UMCP director paused to study Hashi momentarily-"I will presume you were there because you're responsible for our investigation of the kazes who attacked Captain Vertigus and killed G.o.dsen Frik."

Hashi nodded, but he held his tongue.

"I want to know the exact nature of the threats we face. That means I want to know what the Amnion are doing. And I want to know what's behind these kazes. Who's sending them? Why are they being sent? And why are they being sent now, when the Amnion have just committed an act of war? How we respond to one is likely to depend on what we do about the other."

Why are they being sent now? Hashi considered this interrogative a trifle specious. He was convinced that Warden understood the timing of recent events very well. He kept his belief to himself, however.

"So you tell me," Warden concluded, "the three of you. What happened? What the h.e.l.l is going on?"

He did not single out Chief Mandich for answers. Perhaps he realized that no question he could ask would search the Chief more intimately than Mandich searched himself.

Nevertheless Chief Mandich considered it his duty to report first.

"I'm still waiting to hear from DA, sir," he began. "I can't account for what happened myself." That admission came awkwardly for him. His sense of culpability was plain on his blunt face. "We took every precaution I know of. Retinal scans. Every kind of EM probe we have available." The kind of scanning which Angus Thermopyle had been constructed and equipped to circ.u.mvent. "Full id tag and credential background verifications. For everybody on the island. And everybody who arrived or left. The kaze still got through. He must have been legit-even though that's supposed to be impossible.

"Since then it's been up to DA. I've sealed the island. n.o.body in or out-except our own people. Some of the Members are squalling about it." The Chief shrugged. He had no qualms about discomfiting the Members. "They want to go hide. But if whoever is behind this is on Suka Bator, I'm going to make sure he stays there. So we can find him."

Hashi nodded his approval. He knew that no direct evidence would be found on the island. A chemical trigger released on a preconditioned signal by a man in a state of drug-induced hypnosis would leave no traceable data. Nevertheless he wished to be certain that the responsible individual would not escape.

Casually he asked, "Has the Dragon's estimable First Executive a.s.sistant posed any objection?"

"No," Chief Mandich retorted.

Of course not. In such matters Holt Fasner's aides and cohorts preserved an illusion of complete cooperation.

"I haven't had time to study the reports," Warden put in. "Cleatus Fane attended the session?"

He did not appear to be taken aback.

"Oh, yes," Koina answered before the Chief could speak. Hashi suspected that she held Mandich blameless and wished to spare him unnecessary chagrin. She was capable of such consideration, even when her own chagrin ran high. "I was surprised to see him. So were quite a few of the Members.

"Several of them had the impression he was there because he knew why Captain Vertigus had claimed Member's privilege. That doesn't make sense to me. I don't see how anyone could have known what Captain Vertigus had in mind"-she held Warden's gaze without faltering-"unless he told them. But Fane was there anyway, emitting bonhomie like toxic radiation."

Hashi chuckled pleasantly at her transparent dislike for the UMC First Executive a.s.sistant.

Still facing Warden, she said, "You know what happened." She made no pretense that this was a question. "Captain Vertigus used his privilege to introduce a Bill of Severance. He wants to dissolve us as a branch of the UMC and reconst.i.tute us as an arm of the GCES."

For his part Warden made no pretense that he had been caught unaware.

"Fane raised a number of objections," she stated. "Then he called on me to support him. I announced formally that our position on such matters was one of complete neutrality. I gave our reasons. Fane didn't seem to like them much."

"I'm sure he didn't," the UMCP director remarked acerbically. "Maybe that explains why he's been trying to call me"-Warden indicated his intercom-"every twenty minutes for the past two hours. Fortunately I've been too busy to talk to him."

Maybe: maybe not. Hashi could think of at least one alternative rationale for Cleatus Fane's calls.

Apparently Koina could not. Or she saw no reason to redirect her account of the session. "After that," she resumed, "Director Lebwohl spotted the kaze. He still hasn't told any of us how he managed that. But if he hadn't been there, a lot more people would have died. Some of the Members might have been killed.

"As it was, the cost was high enough." Complex fears darkened her tone. "GCES Security lost a man. An ED Security ensign lost a hand. And we lost the bill. I suppose the Members believed Fane's argument that we would be weaker if we were separated from the UMC-and right now their lives depend on making us as strong as possible."

She fell silent. After a moment her gaze shifted from Warden to Hashi.

Warden and Chief Mandich were also looking at the DA director. The time had come for him to speak.

He didn't hesitate. He was at home among the uncertainties which crowded Warden's office, the swirl of secret intentions; in his element. "Director Dios," he offered with a sly smile, "you might find it entertaining to accept the First Executive a.s.sistant's call."

"Why?" Warden asked.

Hashi shrugged delicately. "I suspect that his reasons for wishing to address you have little or nothing to do with Captain Vertigus' Bill. The issues he hopes to obfuscate may prove to be of another kind altogether."

Warden shook his head. He seemed to be beyond surprise. "I want to hear your report first."

Hashi bowed slightly. "As you wish."

Ignoring the pressure of scrutiny from Koina and Chief Mandich, he presented his information directly to Warden Dios.

"The means by which I identified a kaze in the extraordinary session of the GCES is easily explained. Quite simply, I recognized him. That is to say, despite his GCES Security uniform, I recognized him as the infamous Captain Nathan Alt. You would have done so yourself, had you been there."

Koina caught her breath at the name. The Chief growled a soft curse.

Warden raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

Hashi warmed to the pleasure of his own explanations. "Captain Alt's presence in the Council hall struck me as unexpected," he expounded. "And I admit that I was alert to all things unexpected. Director Hannish had relayed to me Captain Vertigus' fear of another attack. I considered his fears credible. That in large part motivated my presence at the extraordinary session.

"Because Captain Alt's presence was unexpected, I moved to intercept him, hoping to obtain an explanation. When I drew near enough to see him more clearly, I had no difficulty identifying the danger he represented. First, his eyes and his manner indicated that he had been heavily drugged. Second, his credentials were not those of Nathan Alt, former UMCPED captain. They were those of one Clay Imposs, a GCES Security sergeant."

With false ingratiation, Hashi added smoothly, "I'm sure Chief Mandich would have drawn the same conclusions I did-and taken the same actions-if chance had given him the same opportunity to recognize Captain Alt."

Nathan Alt's name was well-known in UMCPHQ. However, his court-martial had taken place several years ago; before Koina's time. On the other hand, as a member of ED-with a personal investment in ED's reputation-Chief Mandich almost certainly remembered the former captain well enough to identify him.

Hashi spread his hands disingenuously. "So much is simple.

"All that remains to be said of the events themselves is that before Chief Mandich's stalwarts impelled the putative Clay Imposs from the hall, thereby saving almost any number of lives, I contrived to s.n.a.t.c.h the clearance badge from his uniform, as well as the id tag from his neck."

Now at last Warden permitted himself a reaction which may have been surprise. His eye widened: he shook his head slightly.

"So what?" Chief Mandich put in harshly. "That tag and badge aren't going to help us. I'm sure you're right about Nathan Alt. I'm sure his credentials are legit for Clay Imposs. Otherwise he wouldn't have been cleared. And I'm sure they were doctored somehow. Otherwise he wouldn't have gotten past a retinal scan. But even if you figure out how they were doctored, you won't be able to prove who did it. His id tag and badge will just confirm what we already know. Which is that whoever's behind this has access to all the right codes."

"You took a terrible risk, Hashi," Koina breathed. "You could have been killed. What did you hope to gain?"

Hashi ignored both her and Mandich. "Since my departure from Suka Bator," he told Warden, "Data Acquisition has been diligent in its a.s.signed functions. The technical aspects of this investigation I have entrusted to Lane Harbinger, whose qualifications for the task are superb. For my part, I have taken the occasion to impose Red Priority security locks on various data venues, hoping to ensure the accuracy of the information which may be obtained from them." Briskly he named the sites he'd sealed. "In addition I have obtained preliminary readouts from Data Storage on both Nathan Alt and Clay Imposs."

"Go on," Warden murmured like a man who couldn't be moved.

Hashi did. He had no intention of stopping.

"The vanished Imposs we may dismiss," he stated. "His records are both correct and clean. No marks tell against him. We must a.s.sume, I believe, that he is dead-a victim of intentions in which he had no other role except to die. It is likely that his body will never be found."

Corpses which had been burned down to their essential energies, or dissolved into their component chemicals, no longer existed in any form which might be susceptible to discovery.

"Nathan Alt, as you might imagine, is another matter entirely.

"I will spare you the less relevant details of his history." Hashi enjoyed lecturing. The more he explained, the more he understood. "The primary facts are these. Less than a year after his court-martial, Captain Alt found employment with Nanogen, Inc., a research-and-development concern studying the production of microchips and electronic devices by nanotechnological means. Specifically he found employment in Nanogen Security, despite-or perhaps because of-his record.

"Not surprisingly," Hashi remarked dryly, "Nanogen, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of the United Mining Companies.

"Since then, our subject's career has been one of steady advancement through the vast hierarchy of the UMC's Security departments. Again I will spare you the details. For our purposes, the crucial point is that approximately a year ago he attained the position of Security Liaison for Anodyne Systems, the sole licensed manufacturer of SOD-CMOS chips."

"We know what Anodyne Systems does," Chief Mandich muttered.

Hashi didn't respond. He went on speaking to Warden as if the two of them were alone.

"I suspect that First Executive a.s.sistant Fane will confirm this when you accept his call. One of the redoubtable FEA's duties as the Dragon's right hand concerns the oversight of Anodyne Systems."

"We know that, too," Warden said brusquely. "Get to the point, Hashi."

He didn't add, I have an act of war to worry about. There was no need.

Nevertheless Hashi declined to be hurried. The quantum mechanics of truth yielded its secrets only when its uncertainties were handled with care.

"Quite naturally," he continued as if he were impervious to any exigencies except his own, "as Security Liaison for Anodyne Systems, Nathan Alt had no dealings with us." In his own way he considered himself as unreachable as the UMCP director. "He had no direct contact with the UMCP at all. We supply all working personnel for Anodyne Systems. In particular we supply all security. Rather his duties involved coordinating the flow of knowledge and skill between UMC as well as UMCP cryptographers and Anodyne Systems Security.

"Specifically his responsibilities centered on the design of the embedded code engines which generate clearances for both the Governing Council for Earth and s.p.a.ce and the United Mining Companies Police. His a.s.signed task-I quote from the personnel mandate of his employment-was 'to ensure the highest possible level of precision and invulnerability' in those codes.

"The coincidence is intriguing, is it not? How did a man with Nathan Alt's record-and his reasons for disaffection-attain such a lofty and vital position? Perhaps Cleatus Fane will shed light on that question for us. Certainly our former captain's record suggests brilliance in code design and programming. And UMCP training is apt for security. In that sense he was well qualified for his work.

"Lest you think that we have committed some monumental blunder in regard to his involvement, let me stress that he had no power to select or alter the specific code engines employed by Anodyne Systems. Those decisions were made by Anodyne Systems Security under our explicit supervision. From our perspective Captain Alt was merely a resource which the UMC had made available to Anodyne Systems Security. Therefore we had no reason to protest-or even to remark upon-his partic.i.p.ation.

"Yet the fact remains that he supplied a substantial portion of the source-code and design for the engines currently in use. His proposals were tested and validated, and ultimately accepted, by our own Security techs. They were, in Chief Mandich's terms, 'legit.' Thus he has proved his value as a resource.

"Of course," Hashi remarked casually, "in order to make such a sensitive contribution to our own Security, as well as to the Council's, Captain Alt required a complete knowledge of every facet of those code engines, including those portions which he did not supply."

Obliquely Hashi wondered whether Koina and Mandich caught the implications. Warden a.s.suredly did.

"What is the result?" the DA director asked rhetorically. "Through the intervention-direct or indirect-of the Dragon, a man whom we have court-martialed for 'dereliction of duty' has attained an intimate grasp on the most secret, as well as the most specialized, aspect of our procedures for self-protection."

Now that man was dead.

His death in a state of drug-induced hypnosis suggested that he had not chosen his own end. Holt Fasner rarely inspired the loyalty for self-sacrifice self-sacrifice.

Before Warden could insist again that he "get to the point," Hashi p.r.o.nounced, "Under the circ.u.mstances, we can be certain that Nathan Alt possessed both the skill and the knowledge to subst.i.tute his own physical id for Clay Imposs' credentials."

The UMCP director appeared to study this a.s.sertion as if he had no essential interest in it; as if it changed nothing. But Chief Mandich reacted like a man who had been provoked beyond endurance.

"How?" he demanded fiercely. "Tell me how. G.o.d d.a.m.n it, Lebwohl, if you knew about this, why didn't you say something? We could have stopped him."

Without glancing away from Hashi, Warden lifted a hand to warn the Security Chief that he went too far.

Mandich bit down his protest.

Into the s.p.a.ce left by the Chief's silence, Koina placed a challenge of another kind.

"This doesn't make any sense, Hashi. If he could do all that, why did he choose himself to be the kaze? Don't you think that's a rather bizarre way to commit suicide?"

Warden continued watching the DA director stonily; remorselessly.