The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order (5 page)

The
Dragon, Hashi concluded, would want that cargo or prize for himself.

Hints
and possibilities. He needed more than that.

Kazes
are such fun, don’t you think?

If
you can get her, you bastard, you can have her. You deserve her.

What
was the malign and unreliable Captain Succorso talking about?

For a
moment he scrutinised his covert mind, probing it for answers. But the
intuitive side of his intelligence wasn’t yet ready to speak. Perhaps it still
lacked sufficient data.

He
consulted his chronometer; he considered the hazards involved in contacting
Warden Dios and saying, I have received some information concerning events on
Thanatos Minor, but I decided to withhold it from you temporarily. Then he
shrugged. Some processes could not be rushed.

Whistling
tunelessly through his bad teeth, he keyed his intercom again and issued
another summons.

This
time he was less peremptory; more subtle. He meant to speak to Koina Hannish,
but he had no wish to betray the nature of his connection with her. So he
instructed Processing to seed Protocol’s routine data stream with an update on
one innocuous subject or another — an update which would catch her eye because
it contained a pre-agreed combination of words. Then he set himself to wait.

Unfortunately
waiting didn’t constitute distraction.

You
deserve her?
he inquired. Was it possible that Nick
meant Morn Hyland?

How
could that be? Hadn’t Warden Dios explicitly refused — over Min Donner’s and
Godsen Frik’s strenuous objections — to allow any provision for her rescue to
be written into Joshua’s programming? Whatever Joshua did to Thanatos Minor —
and, not incidentally, to Nick Succorso — his actions would not include any
effort to procure Ensign Hyland’s survival. Therefore she was dead. She wasn’t
aboard
Trumpet
, and only
Trumpet
could hope to escape the
destruction of Billingate.

It
followed impeccably that Morn Hyland was irrelevant.

Yet the
DA director found that he couldn’t let the matter rest there. It reminded him
of other questions which he hadn’t been able to answer.

You
need me, but you blew it.

One was
this: Why had Warden Dios decided to sacrifice Ensign Hyland? The UMCP director
had no history of such decisions. Indeed, he had often displayed a distressing
resemblance to Min Donner in situations involving loyalty toward his
subordinate personnel. Hashi had presented arguments which he considered
convincing; but he was under no illusions about Warden’s ability to ignore
those reasons, if he chose. So why had the director made such an atypical
decision?

Had he
acceded to Hashi’s reasons because he had already met similar arguments from
Holt Fasner — or perhaps even been given direct orders?

Certainly
a living Morn Hyland represented a palpable threat to the UMC CEO. To that
extent, she might conceivably constitute a kaze of a peculiar kind. Within her
she carried information which was undeniably explosive.

As
Hashi had determined during his interrogation of Angus Thermopyle, she could
testify that Com-Mine Security bore no fault for
Starmaster’s
death. And
she could testify that Angus was guiltless of the crime for which he’d been
arrested and convicted. However, the still-recent passage of the Preempt Act
had been founded squarely on those two accusations: that Com-Mine Security had
performed or permitted sabotage against
Starmaster
; and that Security
had conspired with Captain Thermopyle to steal Station supplies.

The
Preempt Act was the capstone of Holt Fasner’s ambitions for the UMCP. If the
perceived reasons for the Act’s passage were revealed as inaccurate, or if DA’s
hand in the fabrication of those reasons were exposed, the Act itself might be
reconsidered. The web of power which Fasner had so carefully woven for his
personal cops might begin to unravel.

Hashi
didn’t doubt that Holt Fasner wanted Morn Hyland dead.

So was
Warden Dios simply following the Dragon’s instructions? Or was he playing some
deeper game?

This
brought Hashi to another question which had troubled him for some time.

Why had
Warden Dios insisted on “briefing” Joshua alone immediately prior to
Trumpet’s
departure? Joshua was nothing more than a welded cyborg: a piece of equipment
in human form. Since when did the director of the United Mining Companies
Police waste his time “briefing” pieces of equipment?

I
don’t care what happens to you.

Hashi
couldn’t persuade himself to stop worrying about Nick Succorso’s flare.

His
chronometer continued to tick threateningly onward. The longer he waited, the
harder-pressed he would be to account for his delay. And that in turn conveyed
other dangers. Under pressure he might find it necessary to admit his dealings
with Captain Scroyle and
Free Lunch
. If those dealings became, in a
manner of speaking, “public” between him and his director, he might find his
freedom to offer Captain Scroyle new contracts restricted. In addition every
passing minute increased the chance that
Free Lunch
might be forced to
move beyond reach of the nearest listening post, which would prevent her from
receiving any new offers — at least temporarily. Hashi would lose his
opportunity to put Captain Scroyle back to work.

He
permitted himself an intimate sigh of relief when his intercom chimed to inform
him that Koina Hannish wished to see him.

He didn’t
admit her right away, however. Instead he took a moment to calm himself so that
he could be sure none of his private urgency showed. Only when he was certain
that he would give nothing away did he tell his receptionist to let the new
UMCP Director of Protocol in.

As
befitted a PR director, Koina Hannish lived on the opposite end of the emotive
spectrum from Lane Harbinger. Where Lane emitted tension like a shout, Koina
breathed an air of quiet confidence. Immaculately tailored and tended, she
conveyed almost by reflex the impression that every word she spoke must be
true, by virtue of the simple fact that it came from her mouth. Hashi supposed
that most men would have called her beautiful. Under any circumstances he could
imagine, she would make a better PR director than fulsome, false Godsen Frik
ever had. She would have risen to her present position long ago if Godsen hadn’t
held the job on Holt Fasner’s authority.

“I don’t
like this, Director,” she said frankly as soon as the office door was closed
and sealed. “It doesn’t feel right.”

Hashi
smiled benignly. “Director yourself, Koina Hannish. I will not waste your time
by thanking you for this visit. You are desperately busy, I know. What is it
that ‘doesn’t feel right’ to you?”

She
settled herself upright in a chair across the desk from him before she
answered, “Seeing you like this. Talking to you. Working for you.”

“My
dear Koina—” As an affectation, Hashi pushed his glasses up on his nose. They
were nearly opaque with smears and scratches: he knew from careful study that
they made him look like he was going blind. But he didn’t need them; his vision
was fine without refractive help. He had trained himself long ago to see past
them. “We have worked together for years. You have never expressed disaffection
for our relationship before.”

“I
know.” A small frown tightened her brows over the bridge of her nose. “I’ve
never felt this way before — not until I got your summons. I’ve been asking
myself why. I think it’s because until today my nominal boss was Godsen Frik.
Just between us, I always considered him ‘slime,’ to use one of his words. He
symbolised everything that’s wrong with this organisation — by which I mean
Holt Fasner. Working for you seemed — well, more honourable than working for
him. Even though I was stuck in Protocol, I was able to help the real job of
the UMCP go ahead with as little interference from him as possible.

“But I
began to have my doubts after I saw the tapes of the director’s video
conference with the GCES — was it just yesterday? You did most of the talking,
Godsen wasn’t on camera at all, but I thought I heard his voice every time you
opened your mouth.” A timbre of anger which Koina made no effort to conceal
roughened her tone. “Hearing you explain how you sold that ensign, Morn Hyland,
so your Nick Succorso could use her any way he wanted to, I felt like I was
witnessing the collapse of everything we’re supposed to stand for.

“When
the director offered me this job, I wanted to turn it down.

“But
that was before he talked to me,” she went on quickly. “I’d never had a private
conversation with him before. Until then, I hadn’t felt how much” — she groped
for the right word — “how much
conviction
he conveys. And he gave me the
cleanest mandate I’ve ever had. Cleaner than anything Godsen Frik ever touched,
cleaner than working for you. If you can believe him, he wants me to do my job
right
.”

She
made a small, vexed gesture, as if she were frustrated by the inadequacies of
her account. “I can’t explain it any better than that. All of a sudden,” she
concluded straight into Hashi’s gaze, “reporting to you behind his back seems —
disloyal.”

“That
is his great gift,” the DA director responded equably, “his ability to inspire
loyalty. If you fear that you alone are vulnerable to such suasion, only look
at Min Donner.” He was engaged in a test of suasion himself; a challenge he
relished. “But permit me to offer another consideration which you may have
missed, and to tell you a fact which you could not have known.

“The
consideration is this. I, too, have felt the force of Warden Dios’ charisma. I,
too, find myself drawn to loyalty.” This was not a notably honest assertion.
Nevertheless it contained an adequate level of factual accuracy. “I ask you to
serve me in Protocol, not to undermine my director in any way, but to help me
ensure that my own service is as apt as possible.

“As for
the fact,” he continued so that she wouldn’t question what he’d just said, “it
is simply that our disloyal Godsen was present when the director and I
addressed the GCES. If you had seen his face, you would, I believe, have found
his consternation delicious. I hardly need inform you that he had no scruples
concerning the use made of Ensign Hyland. In his master’s name, however, he had
every conceivable scruple concerning the revelation of that use. In no other
way could the director have so plainly declared his independence of the great
worm.”

There
Hashi stopped. He didn’t need to add, And I with him. Koina had already
demonstrated her grasp on the importance of Hashi Lebwohl’s role in the
director’s video conference.

“I see.”
Her frown seemed to turn inward as she scrutinised this information. “Thanks
for pointing that out. I should have caught the distinction myself. But I was
so horrified by what I was hearing, I didn’t explore all the implications.”

Still
smiling, Hashi let his glasses slide down to their more familiar position on
his nose. If he’d been a man who kept score, he would have added several points
to his column.

With a
small shake and a deliberate smoothing of her forehead, Koina brought herself
back to the present. “Why did you send for me?” Only a hint of reserve in her
tone suggested that she still held any doubts about her relationship with the
DA director. “Is there something you want me to do?”

Hashi
spread his hands like a man whose soul was as open as his palms. “I seek only
information. My appetite for facts is bottomless, as you know. I am something
of a dragon myself in that regard.” He enjoyed joking about the truth. “One of
my questions you have already answered. I wished to know the nature of your ‘mandate’
as Director of Protocol. All well and good. I approve unqualifiedly. I hope
only that you are willing to tell me what transpires in your department.

“What
actions has the GCES taken? What requests have been made of Protocol? What are
the most pressing matters awaiting your attention?” Deliberately he spoke to
her, not as his agent, but as his equal. “Will you tell me?”

She
held his gaze. “If you’ll tell me why you’re asking. I mean, aside from your ‘bottomless
appetite for facts.’”

On the
spur of the moment, Hashi decided that he’d been amiable long enough. He
permitted himself a sigh. With the air of a man whose patience was running out,
he replied, “Koina, you disappoint me. Have you forgotten that Godsen was
murdered, or that the venerable Captain Sixten Vertigus has been attacked? On
whom do you think the primary responsibility for the investigation of these
crimes devolves? Oh, on Enforcement Division Security, naturally. But Min
Donner’s otherwise admirable cadres are as ham-fisted as they are diligent. The
true work of investigation must be done by Data Acquisition.” The natural
wheeze of his voice took on a waspish buzz. “I seek
clues
, Director
Hannish. For that reason, your own labours, like any other activity here or on
Suka Bator, are of signal interest to me.

“If you
doubt me, ask Chief of Security Mandich what he has learned concerning Godsen’s
murder which my people did not uncover for him.”