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that HPlus, or another cydroid/clone producer, was evading NorAm registration
requirements. In short, the multis were out to get Erle ... and it was written
almost that bluntly.
Cynical as I was, I had to wonder if some backer of Erie's had pulled the
whole thing off to call attention to the campaign and to portray Kagnar as a
multi tool. If that were the case, no one had really been in any danger,
because the cydroid's first blast would have missed. I'd wondered somewhat
about the ease with which I'd immobilized the cydroid, and that would explain
it.
I stiffened. Wallis. He'd known that the attacker was a cydroid. In the
scuffle at the time, I hadn't caught the fact that I'd never said the attacker
had been a cydroid, but Wallis had known and been ready. Had he been planted
to take down the cydroid? That, or his presence was another unlikely
coincidence. Too unlikely, but there was no way I could get to Wallis on it,
and no way really to prove what I had realized.
None of that really explained why someone was taking such a risk to attack
Erle, as opposed to a more visible PD with a better chance ... unless...
I keyed in another inquiry. Four other PD candidates had been attacked in the
last week, but not seriously injured, and no one had been apprehended. Notes
or other communications had suggested perpetrators who opposed the PD.
Was this a new campaign device? A way around the spending limits? Who would be
behind it, and why? The PD itself couldn't be. At least, I didn't think they
were that stupid. It could eventually be tracked. But it was someone who would
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benefit by PD control of the House. The Senate was out of PD
reach, at least in the current election cycle.
I did a little more digging. What was interesting was that all five seats were
either open, or relatively closely contested. None of the other four were ones
I had picked, but I flagged and added them to my database for the Centre
study.
Finally, after doing what I could, I went back to the technical paper for the
seminar. The strange aspects of the campaigns were just something else about
which I could do nothing. The technical paper and seminar paid and would give
me exposure, which I'd need because I hadn't gotten any new requests for work
since the short analysis for H&F.
I'd probably get some more follow-on work from Reya, and possibly more from
Methroy, but when and for how much was another question.
Chapter 34
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As Yenci walked toward the door to the secure briefing room, Central Four
projected the full holo image of a brunette safo into the chair behind the
table.
The bio-safo opened the door, looked toward the waiting image, and nodded.
"Thank you. It's easier when you don't appear from nowhere. I know it's a
peculiarity of mine. I appreciate your humoring it."
"You made your wishes known." A faint smile appeared on the projected safe's
lips, lingered, and then vanished.
"You know, looking at your projection, sometimes it's hard to believe you're
not real." Yenci frowned.
"That's not right. You are real, but it seems like you're looking more and
more like a bio-person, and not virty system-rep."
"You had suggested a more lifelike approach would be useful."
"I don't know ... What do you have on the crysalkie busts?"
"Twenty arrests and detentions. Fifteen are first offenses, four are
second-timers, and one is up a third time."
"Second-timers?"
"Fridric Carao completed servie obligations one month ago for running
crysalkie four years ago..."
"One lousy month, and he's stupid enough to run crysalkie again?"
"He was caught with half a kilo in the hidden compartments in his belt. He was
also running caak. There were enough DNA traces to establish that he had worn
the belt a number of times."
"So he can't claim he was duped?" Yenci snorted. "Bet his advocate does. Poor
westside boy ... Who are the others?"
"Frank Sebastion, dealing five years back. Angel deToras, dealing seven years
back. Arthur Stevenson, running, four years ago. Stevenson was charged with
dealing, but was acquitted." Central Four continued to synchronize image and
speech.
"The three-time loser?"
"Rees Siegfried. Two previous dealing charges."
"Why's he still Earthside?"
"Extenuating circumstances, sealed records."
"That means he turned in someone big, and he was stupid enough to get back in
the business?"
"He is in detention in the medical block on full support. Prognosis is
unfavorable."
"You mean that without cendie medicals he'll die?"
"Yes. Requests for star priority have been denied by the district prosecuting
advocate."
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"That's that, then." Yenci smiled coldly. "The others are booked?"
"They are."
"What about the cydroid cases?" asked the slender safo.
"There are some irregularities in the cydroid facial scan and DNA search
analyses." The slightest hesitation occurred before the word "irregularities."
"What sort of irregularities?"
"A similar DNA pattern to one set of cydroids was reported missing twenty-one
months ago. A more detailed comparison might prove useful."
Yenci frowned, then nodded. "Do whatever you can with it. Don't know what good
it will do if it was stolen, but it can't hurt." After a moment, she asked,
"Legitimate theft claim?"
"Ascendent and well-documented. He was very concerned when he heard about the
unregistered cydroids. A servie has reported a similarity between the two."
"Friggin' great." The safo snorted. "Now we got cydroid saboteurs cloned out
of cendie genes, and no idea who did it. Better do more than whatever's usual.
Whatever it takes."
Whatever it takes. Central Four documented the command.
After Yenci left the secure briefing room, the projected safo smiled, then
vanished.
Whatever it takes...
Chapter 35
Monday morning was gray and cold. I ran and worked out anyway, getting up a
half hour earlier and running close to my normal route in reverse. That had me
in my office, mug of tea in hand, close to an hour earlier than usual on
Mondays.
I plowed into updating my analysis of the Kagnar campaign, categorizing the
various media uses, which ran from straight literature handouts to some slight
use of off-chord commercial rez prodplacings in her linksite, and the use of
those chords on a muted basis during her rally. All that was minimal compared
to what Carlisimo had been doing. By ten o'clock, I had the Kagnar and Erle
stuff laid out parallel to all the others, and was working on updating what
I'd been sent by the Clerihew coordinator.
A dull crack shivered the house.
Check front entry! Check front entry!The house security system blared through
the gatekeeper.
I grabbed the neurostunner from the drawer the kind allowed in the house, but
not beyond its
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doors and hurried toward the front door, querying the system.
Interrogative status?
Systems intact. House not entered or damaged.
I stopped behind the still-sealed door.
Interrogative intruders?
Negative intruders. No objects massing in excess of a quarter kilogram.
Stunner in hand, I eased the inner door open. The outer permaglass door was
untouched, not even scratched or scraped, but a sealed envelope was taped to
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