She tapped one long fingernail on each of the boxes. "Whoever's playing tricks would've altered the data on the Taurus region stars-not anywhere else. Right?"

"Reasonable a.s.sumption."

"There's unpublished data in here on those stars?"

"Megabytes of it. I study dozens of parameters on each object. I use an ultra-customized Carrington-Worthy database. Infinitely variable, so no two entries are alike."

"I see. Do you have doc.u.mentation on the customizing?"

"In my personal calculator."

Lorie sat down at a nearby console and called it to life. "Patch in and shoot me all of it, plus anything else on the catalogue's operation. I'll bet the saboteurs didn't know about the customizing. Next, I want an exhaustive list of everything in the Taurus region. And I need your index of attribute summaries. Then send out for enough sandwiches and coffee to last all night. Shimon, do you think you could stick around in case I need some help?" She raised her eyebrows at t.i.tus as if to say, Are you still here?

"I'll see to it all, Lorie," answered t.i.tus. And to Shimon, he added, "You're both on double-time overtime."

"I'll stay," replied Shimon, and began to connect the twin catalogue modules into the system while asking Lorie what she Wanted on her pizza.

t.i.tus retired to his office and transferred the data Lorie Needed, then stuck with it as she demanded other items.

Nearly two hours later, he rocked back in his chair to watch her at her console, her intensity creating an aura of s.e.xual beauty. She now had six monitors set up around her and was tapping away on three keyboards. Shimon was hovering in the background, loose cables festooned around his neck, ready to build her any configuration she wanted, his whole att.i.tude betraying how attracted he was to her.

Idly, t.i.tus pulled up Lorie's records, discovering her last name was unp.r.o.nounceable, and her credits in her field were staggering. Small wonder she'd tackle the absurd at a moment's notice. She was simply having fun.

Finally, t.i.tus relaxed enough to consider things in perspective. He made some notes in his Bell 990 on Ebony, listing the flimsy evidence against her, her physique, her political background, her Brink's file entry showing lack of computer literacy, and that Gold was in one of her cla.s.ses.

Gold. Gold! He sat bolt upright.

a.s.sume Ebony was a terrorist and knew about the cloning project and about the sleeper. Destroy the sleeper, and make it look like the Project was covering up after Gold's accusation. That would be the end of Project Hail.

It might already be too late.

t.i.tus tore out of the lab.

Chapter thirteen.

t.i.tus rounded the corner into the Biomed corridor at a dead run. He pulled up short. All the guards were gone.

It was third shift, "night." But that was no reason for the corridor to be deserted. He crept along, holding his breath until realized where the sense of wrongness came from. All the _ panels labeling the doors were dark.

He approached the short hall leading to the sleeper's chamber. The security equipment had vanished with the guards. The sleeper's door was dark. No security evident.

Disbelieving, he touched the hall floor with his toe, all senses alert for alarms. There were Brink's alarm systems he'd ever heard of. Theft wasn't his field. Nothing here!

Fear put an edge on his senses. As he approached the door, felt his way into the room beyond. Abbot! The feel of his father's Influence was unmistakable.

Half a dozen humans were in there, too, all intent on their work. Two bored guards flanked the door on the inside.

The sound of a power drill inside decided t.i.tus. He opened e door and marched in, planting himself between the two guards and gazing through the double-walled bio-isolation lock and shower into the chamber. Hands behind his back, he bounced on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet and intoned, "I have to check progress here." He ignored the two heavy dartguns aimed at his back. "Well? How much longer will it be?"

"How should we know, Dr. Shiddehara?" asked one guard The other added, "Sir, you're not on our clearance list."

"I know that," he snapped. "So does Dr. Colby." He didn't even have to Influence him to the desired conclusion.

Across the room, Abbot turned to look toward him with raised eyebrows.

"I'll be right there," called t.i.tus, and stepped aside into the opaque shower alcove to strip and walk through the shower stall, then dress in the disposable suit and light bubble mask everyone else inside wore.

Abbot was waiting when t.i.tus stepped ouf of the airlock and closed it behind him. Abbot greeted him with an ironic bow. "That was bold, but foolish. They'll report you."

"I expect. But this is an open secret now."

Cloaking his words, Abbot asked, "You expect me to handle Carol for you?"

"I can handle Carol. And I won't need Influence for it anymore than I did with those two back there."

Abbot studied him skeptically, then strolled over to two men who were wrestling an instrument up onto the workbench. The casing bore signs of having been cut open, then repaired. All the cloning equipment that had been in crates was now up on the counters, and showed similar signs of modification.

As t.i.tus followed Abbot, he saw a crate that hadn't been opened-the variable womb. It was being used to support a piece of countertop which held a terminal and some locked file cabinets. When Abbot paused, t.i.tus gestured to the scene about them. "Was this your idea?" He had to admit it was clever. The incriminating evidence had suddenly been modified into customized lab equipment unsuited for cloning.

Casting a pall of blurring Influence around them, Abbot demanded, "t.i.tus, why didn't you come to me with the hunger-Why did you pretend you were all right?"

G.o.d. I did fool him! "I felt all right. And I am now." Around them, people wrapped up their work and one-by-one, began leaving.

"I shouldn't have believed you. I should have checked the data on how long you were dead. But I was worried about Sisi. I figured it was no accident you had her in there alone. When I found I was right, I admired your technique. I doubt if anyone else would have detected your work on her."

t.i.tus glanced about and noticed that Sisi wasn't there. "I expected you to detect it," brazened t.i.tus. "But I didn't plan on her getting hurt. I don't know how she could have escaped suffocation since I was driven dormant."

"She crawled down to a floor vent where there was a little more air. She was injured doing it, though."

"I see. I'm sorry."

Abbot frowned. "No, you don't see. You were dormant more than the three minutes the humans thought you'd been dead. After I checked on Sisi, I went into the wreckage of the centrifuge computers and found you'd suffocated at least eighteen minutes before they got that thing opened!"

s.h.i.t. No wonder I was so hungry.

"When I found that out," continued Abbot, "I looked for you, but couldn't find you. Then I ran across your unMarked, and discovered what you'd done to her."

t.i.tus bristled. "When I found out what you'd done to her, I wanted to kill you! Just be glad I didn't go even a bit feral, or I'd"ve ripped you apart when I got in here."

Abbot recoiled, and t.i.tus wondered if he'd let a little too much ferocity show for a sane luren.

"Listen," said t.i.tus. "The Law says you could have done worse and been within your rights. Blood Law means as much to me as to you, so you'll never catch me in a violation." Inea's bare word is as good as any planted compulsion.

"Let's hope I don't," Abbot intoned, gazing at t.i.tus with wide-open eyes. "You know what my duty would be then."

t.i.tus's confidence evaporated. Maybe he knows she was unsilenced! t.i.tus had checked, but he was no match for Abbot.

He could have missed a clue. Then, sternly, he told himself to stop building his father up into a demiG.o.d. That tendency stemmed from the intrinsic physiology of being the man's son. He flogged his paralyzed brain back into combat. "I a.s.sume you've got the computer record to prove how long I was dormant in case you have to prove I'd gone feral."

"Of course, but have I ever used blackmail?"

"There's always a first time."

"You wrong me deeply."

"No. I know how much you want to go home."

"And I know how much you fear that my signal may get through. If you've gone the slightest bit feral, that fear could drive you to any unpredictable and dishonorable act."

Oh, it was a neat trap. t.i.tus would have to toe the line as never before. Even his handling of Sisi Mintraub could be questioned. Best defense is a strong offense.

"I'll make a deal with you," offered t.i.tus. "Promise to treat Inea as my Marked, whether or not she is Marked, and I'll tell you what the ninja's next move is going to be."

Abbot hardly blinked. "You think I don't already know?"

Oh, he's good! "You don't." Their eyes locked.

Abbot thought it over. "Why not just Mark the woman and have done with it?"

"It has to do with the nature of humans. Utterly beyond your comprehension." Despite what she'd said, t.i.tus was certain Inea was loathe to wear a brand. Abbot has no idea what it feels like to have a willing human ally. "You wouldn't understand my motive if I could explain it."

"No doubt."

"You won't get a hint out of me unless you promise."

"Why would you give away an advantage? If knowledge of the ninja's next move is any sort of advantage."

"Not give. Sell. You'll get value for your sacrifice."

"If what I get is of as little value as what I give, I doubt it would be worth it. It shouldn't take me much effort to discover the ninja's plans."

"But do you have the time? I'll share what I know now if you promise to treat Inea as my Marked."

"For how long?"

"Forever."

"Suppose you Mark her and then release her?"

"Then, too."

"That's not reasonable!" objected Abbot.

"She's only one human. There are so many others."

He shrugged. "Never have understood Residents! So. Inea's off limits to me forever. Now what of the ninja?"

t.i.tus recited his evidence. They were alone now except for the guards sealed on the other side of the isolation lock.

"Ebony statue you call her? Interesting. Ebony is her stage name. And Gold is in one of her cla.s.ses? That's not a lot of information to get for selling a potential stringer."

"Think it through," urged t.i.tus. "I'm surprised Ebony hasn't tried for the sleeper yet. She knew about the clone project from Gold hours ago. If she hasn't turned up-"

"When did you say you saw her with Gold?"

t.i.tus told him.

Abbot went paler than normal. "A bomb."

In two bounds, he was beside the cryogenic equipment, yanking access hatches off the pedestal that held the sleeper's bubble. "Carol pulled the guards off and shut down this corridor to keep reporters from identifying this lab. But it was an hour later that I talked her into this plan for obscuring the cloning project. An hour unguarded!"

Abbot stuck his head inside the pedestal, examining the underside of the platform supporting the sleeper. His voice boomed, "Get the other side. Look for anything suspicious."

t.i.tus ripped off panels. "What am I looking for?"

"A small, crude housing, probably not wired into the mechanisms. She had no time for finesse."

One of the guards called, "Is anything wrong?"

Abbot replied, "Could be a bomb or incendiary! Get-"

"Call that in," ordered one guard to the other. "I'll help them."

Abbot shouted, "No, don't come in! Get out of here, both of you! We can handle it." Despite the Influence Abbot threw into the command, they hesitated, then left.

As soon as the humans were gone, Abbot discarded his face mask, wriggling deep into one compartment.

t.i.tus scanned the last of the compartments on his side. Nothing! Must have missed it!

Abbot ripped off the last panel, pushing himself inside. "I've got it!"

t.i.tus scrambled around to where Abbot's feet jutted out onto the floor. Squatting on his heels, he surveyed the machinery that whirred and shushushed under the sleeper's platform. His eyes scanned the open pedestal restlessly as he tried not to think what would happen if the bomb went off.

What's that? Through the open panel beside Abbot, deep in the shadows, t.i.tus saw a glint of pewter, a lozenge shape that just didn't fit. He had studied so many of Abbot's fabrications implanted into his computer that he was sure this was another one. Or a second bomb?

But no, Abbot had checked that panel just after he got rid of his bubble face mask. t.i.tus edged closer. The foreign shape was visible only from one very narrow angle. It was deep inside. To get at it, a technician would have to take his bubble mask off.

It's a transmitter component. Got to be.

t.i.tus pulled his mask off and thrust himself into the pedestal. The pewter shape was held only by two wing nuts, not wired into anything. It had two expensive logic circuit connectors. It's Abbot's. Fumbling, heart pounding, t.i.tus freed the thing. It was no bigger than the palm of his hand, and hardly as thick as his wrist.