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being. We don't have it anywhere in the Solar System. The cybercosm doesn't believe we ought to have
it. Besides, Kinna was never downloaded. She's gone.
 You called that you were under attack by Inrai,'' the constable was saying.
"Yes," the machine in Fenn replied. "You'll find two carcasses. The other two are hiding somewhere
thereabouts." He waved at the heights, bluffs, clinkers, the monstrous black lifelessness. "Wait around. If
they call their plane, you'll see it approach and can catch them. If they surrender, you'll have them too. Or
if nei-ther happens, you can sweep the area with high-gain de-tectors and find them. They're worth the
trouble, I think."
To get information that would lead to breaking the Inrai, once and for all.
To get Tanir of Conaire killed or, better, because that was much worse for a Lunarian, locked
permanently away.
Not that Fenn greatly cared. His last strength was go-ing where Kinna had gone. But it would come
back, he knew as an abstract proposition, and he'd think of a use for it.
26
BLOWING DUST MADE the night outside the viewport a blank black. Chuan had dismissed the
mathematical cal-ligraphy from his walls and they curved pale gray, equally featureless. The air was
devoid of music or fra-grance. Only the deep, slowly changeable colors in the floor and its warm
springiness underfoot gave any life to the room. He wasn't sure why he had ordered this. It fit his mood,
but he should be beyond letting externals affect him. Perhaps he had subconsciously thought that a cell
was suitable for the interview ahead. Or a tomb.
Fenn came in. His tread was leaden. He wore merely a drab brown coverall. The brass-hued hair
and beard were unkempt. Though he stayed erect, the dangling arms gave an impression that his
shoulders were hunched.
Chuan looked up into eyes sunken and dark-rimmed. The cragginess of the face stood out like the
prow of a crashed spaceship. "Welcome," Chuan said low.
"Really?" The word rumbled with a certain force but scant spirit.
"We share a sorrow," Chuan answered. "Let that suf-fice."
"You didn't tell me to come here for that."
No, Chuan thought, he'll do his own grieving, as I will do mine.
How understandable that he's sullen, if "sullen" is the right word. Consider everything he has endured
these past three days, since that which happened on the moun-tain. He may just be emotionally numb.
Without psy-chostimulant, he might well have crumbled. Possibly neither guess is quite correct. He is a
strange one, an atavism; he doesn't fit into today's world.
It will actually be kindest to be sharp with him. Or so I think. I could be wrong. I have forgotten so
much of what it is to be human.
Chuan hardened his tone. "No. Nor do I intend re-proaches or accusations," although I could level
them. "A private talk between us is in the public interest. Please be seated."
The big body sank into a lounger but did not relax. "Gracias for it."
"I beg pardon?" Chuan asked, startled in spite of him-self.
Fenn met his eyes as he sat down opposite. "Your straightforwardness. Too many people I've been
with lately were oily."
Chuan could not suppress a flick of anger. "I would call them considerate, civilized." And I don't
imagine the Ronays But all the response they gave my awkward condolence was "Thank you."
"Be glad you are living in the present era," he said. "Most past history would have seen you
imprisoned at the very least."
Fenn shrugged, "I heard talk of that."
Tea stood on the table between them. They ignored it.
"Would you like me to summarize your situation?" Chuan offered. "It may not yet be clear to you."
Under any other circumstances he could have smiled as he added, "Frankly, it was not clear to us until
today."
Fenn continued to stare at him, hardly blinking, as a caged bird of prey might have stared, back when
men kept wild animals in cages. "What do you mean by 'us'?"
He may be more wide-awake than he appears, Chuan thought. Well, that would be for the better.
The objective tonight is to make him comprehend.
"A loose word for the responsible parties in this case. Officers of the constabulary, judiciary, and
commonalty, on both Mars and Earth."
"And the cybercosm," Fenn said.
Chuan nodded. "Yes. It too is integral with the civi-lization that is yours and mine."
Fenn waited. His hands rested quiescent on the arms of his seat, thick, hairy, hands that had held a
weapon that killed two men.
Chuan sat likewise immobile. He had prepared his speech in advance. It was as dry as he could
make it.
"The immediate counsel was to detain you for psy-chological evaluation and judgment. You were
directly involved in appalling events. You committed an unsanc-tioned entry, and your broadcast
of'sequestered data was a flagrant violation, which will have evil consequences. In the past your
imprisonment would have been auto-matic, and in many milieus you would have been inter-rogated under
torture before being put to death.
"However, a number of considerations spoke against arraigning you. You cooperated with the
constables, sub-mitting to intensive interrogation under veracitin, al-though you had the right to refuse." It
was the intelligent thing to do, of course, if Fenn hoped ever to go free, but Chuan wondered whether his
traumas had left him help-less. Then how angry would he grow as he returned to himself? "Thus we have
a full account.
"Let me also rehearse the arguments you had ready. Your possession of a circumventor was
authorized, al-though by an obscure officer on Earth. You were oper-ating not on your own but as an [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]