Natch hadn"t realized how dire the situation in Andra Pradesh was; now he understood Quel "s apprehension. Those slippery cousins of Margaret"s must have final y tired of chafing under her mercurial leadership and taken action. With the Council"s support, of course. It was barely worth mentioning that Islanders were nonent.i.ties to the Meme Cooperative; Quel could earn an apprentice"s wages but was legal y unable to make any binding decisions for the company.
Natch ran his hand over his forehead and rubbed a spot on the bridge of his nose. "You"re stupider than I thought," he said, shaking his head. "Didn"t you think this through? You can temporarily decapitate the fiefcorp.... You can convince those inbreeds at Andra Pradesh to push Margaret out of the way.... You can bribe my a.n.a.lyst to go along with a fat sheaf of credits." Jara leaned forward to make an objection, her expression confused and angry, but Natch didn"t give her the chance to speak. "But you stil don"t have access to MultiReal.
Don"t you of al people know the law? Even if you throw us in prison, the Possibilities program stays in receivership. It just floats out there on the Data Sea for years until the courts have had their say. You can"t touch it. Len Borda can"t touch it. Meantime, the rest of us pay a twothousand-credit fine to the Meme Cooperative, and we get our licenses back in thirty days."
Magan seemed utterly unfazed. Natch got the impression that he was stil fol owing the Council"s preprepared script. "It"s you who doesn"t understand,"
said the lieutenant executive. "The Defense and Wel ness Council has no intention of seizing MultiReal. The program rightful y belongs to the new master of the Surina/Natch MultiReal Fiefcorp-and there it wil stay."
"New master?"
"The only member of the company whose business license hasn"t been suspended. The Meme Cooperative has handed control of the fiefcorp to your a.n.a.lyst, Jara."
Natch could feel the black code creeping across his flesh, biting, gnawing, envenoming him with each breath. He remembered feeling this way when he had discovered that Margaret had kept the Patels" MultiReal license secret from him.
He had felt this way during the horror of the Shortest Initiation. But now, his emotions were amplified somehow by the black code inside him, or the MultiReal code inside him, or both.
Magan"s face reflected a look of workmanlike satisfaction, like someone who had just completed a vexing puzzle. "You wil be receiving an official notification from the Meme Cooperative at any moment," he said. "The Cooperative is compel ing you to hand over core access to the MultiReal code to Jara."
"And if I refuse?" said Natch.
The lieutenant executive gestured at the troops surrounding Natch"s chair, who were suddenly placing their hands on their dartgun holsters. "We are authorized to take you to an orbital Council prison until you comply," said Magan.
Along the sides of the table, the fiefcorpers were subtly recoiling from Jara. Horvil had a look of concentration as if he were factoring polynomials in his head. Had Jara real y made a deal with the Council to seize control of the fiefcorp? Or was this just part of Magan Kai Lee"s vicious game against them?
Jara"s emotions were hunkering down behind a perfect PokerFace, but her nervous fidgeting told Natch that she was tremendously conflicted.
Natch admitted that the Council"s plot against him was indeed an elegant one. Rope off MultiReal, keep it in an isolated area where he could touch al he wanted but was unable to make a profit from it. Put the company in the hands of Jara, who was certainly much more pliable than Natch and predictable to a fault. Summon the drudges to a press conference and get the bal rol ing right away.
And what could Natch do about it? He supposed he could use MultiReal to escape from the Kordez Tha.s.sel Complex. Would even MultiReal be enough to evade the dartguns of al the guards standing around here? But after that, he would be a fugitive. And escaping the Council"s notice this time would be much more trying, since the Meme Cooperative had given them the legislative cover to freeze his Vault account, seize his apartment, even put a price on his head.
Yet there was something missing. If Magan was looking for an empty suit that Len Borda could intimidate into handing over MultiReal, wouldn"t Merri or Vigal have been better choices? He gazed across the table into the eyes of the Council lieutenant, chestnutcolored and mysterious. Natch knew the look of a man who had something to hide.
Within the cusp of an instant, Natch felt himself looking at the world from Magan Kai Lee"s perspective. And in that moment he knew where Magan had made his crucial mistake.
The entrepreneur grinned, leaned farther back in his chair, and propped his feet up on the table. "Horvil," said Natch with a mad glint in his eye, "have you cleaned out the dock lately?"
The engineer looked around the mountaintop as if he expected to find another Horvil who would understand why his boss had abruptly switched gears.
The fiefcorp dock? he mouthed silently. Benyamin offered him a perplexed shrug. So Horvil pursed his lips as he cast his mind out to the Data Sea and scanned the company"s program launch s.p.a.ce. "Al clean now," he said.
"Good. Load Possibilities 1.0 on the dock. We"re releasing it right now."
A cyclone of gasps came bl.u.s.tering across the table. Magan Kai Lee"s jaw clenched, and Natch could almost hear the grinding of Rey Gonerev"s teeth. Jara leaned over and grabbed Merri"s arm out of instinct. Natch could feel the Council officers encircling him tense up and give one another looks of confusion.
"The Meme Cooperative voted to yank our licenses," said Natch. "But that notice says it doesn"t take effect until January third."
"That"s today," protested Horvil.
"Here it is. At the Meme Cooperative"s offices in Melbourne, it is. But on the orbital colony of Patronel , at the headquarters of the Meme Cooperative, it"s stil January second, isn"t it? It won"t be the third for another"-Natch squinted his eyes and consulted the time-"two and a half hours. Which means I"m stil the master of the fiefcorp until then. And I say we"re releasing MultiReal now."
"But-"
"Merri, get ahold of Robby Robby. Use an emergency protocol if you have to. I"l bet he can sel at least a few hundred thousand copies of Possibilities in two hours."
Magan, Gonerev, and Ridgel o appeared to be having a furious exchange over Confidential Whisper, punctuated by arching eyebrows and flaring nostrils. Seconds later, the Blade"s right arm shot up in the air. "Radium!" she shouted, and a dozen dartguns snapped into Council hands in unison.
Ben let out a high-pitched wheeze. "Natch, we haven"t run Possibilities through Dr.
Plugenpatch yet. What-what if it doesn"t work?"
"It worked just fine at that soccer stadium the other day."
"But my mother"s a.s.sembly-line floor ... The rol back ..."
Natch laughed with a serenity he hadn"t felt in weeks. "Running it through the Plugenpatch system won"t do any good," he said. "There isn"t a validator out there that knows how to deal with a program as radical as MultiReal. And don"t worry about the rol back right now. They haven"t had enough time to do any significant damage. The cus-tomers"l just have to take their chances. But just in case ... Benyamin, you"ve got sixty seconds. Write me a quick disclaimer that basical y says "Buyer Beware.""
"Launch that program," rasped Magan, "and it"l be the last thing you do." He was now completely thrown off his script and improvising wildly.
Natch ignored him, just as he ignored the ten Council officers who rushed into formation around his chair and bul "s-eyed him with the barrels of their rifles. Merri was rubbing her knees and rocking back and forth, deeply entrenched in ConfidentialWhisper with Robby Robby. Vigal had one trembling hand raised as if waiting for a proctor to cal on him, and Jara was simply dead to the world.
"Okay, Horv," said Natch, "I"ve put a fore and an aft on the Possibilities program.
Version set at 1.0. Ben, got that disclaimer?"
Benyamin looked as serious as a scorpion. "Yeah, I found a good one in Bil y Sterno"s catalog. Should I-"
"Just throw it in the fore table. Horv, get ready to launch the program onto the Data Sea on my signal." Horvil sputtered something multisyl abic and unintel igible. "Wel ? What?" snapped Natch.
"Price?" whimpered the engineer.
"Eighty thousand Vault credits," said Natch without hesitation, choosing the first round number that floated into his head. "Unlimited choice cycles."
Merri slumped to the table like a discarded puppet. Eighty thou sand was a gargantuan number, far beyond the reach of the average Data Sea pedestrian. It wasn"t the highest price tag a bio/logic program had ever earned, but it certainly came close. "Robby wants to know who"s going to buy it at that price," said the channel manager weakly.
Natch"s grin broadened. "Everyone who can possibly get their hands on eighty thousand Vault credits. Lunar tyc.o.o.ns, L-PRACGs, creeds, capitalmen, you name it. Make sure Robby spreads the word that the Meme Cooperative is cutting off sales in two hours. Once people realize this might be their only chance to get a taste of MultiReal, they"l spare no expense. Trust me, by the time dawn arrives on Patronel , people"l be stacking multiple realities up like bricks. And we"l al be so rich that we won"t care what happens next."
The door burst open, and a dozen more white-robed officers swooped into the SeeNaRee with dartguns primed and ready. But they bypa.s.sed Natch altogether and headed straight for Serr Vigal. The neural programmer yelped and tumbled off his chair, final y ducking behind Horvil, who didn"t exactly make inconspicuous cover. Above them, the clouds had conquered the azure sky and looked ready to rain down the fury of the G.o.ds.
"Y-you can"t release that program," stammered the chief solicitor. "The Prime Committee gave the Council the authority to shut down any program on the Data Sea, just last month."
"Shut down?" said Natch. "Fine. Shut it down. Have you even used that authority yet?
You have procedures in place for this? Think you can figure them out and cut through al the red tape in the next"-he consulted the time-"two hours and eighteen minutes?" It was a bluff, but it seemed to work. Was that actual y fear in Rey Gonerev"s eyes?
Benyamin started to say something, then stopped. Horvil stared down the guards and puffed up his chest with sudden bravado. Merri had gotten up from her chair and was backing toward the edge of the stone slab as if she might make a break for it. Magan Kai Lee"s eyes were spotlights.
Natch raised a hand. "Everybody ready?"
Just at that moment, an improbably tal and gangly figure came rushing through the door, white robe flapping in the mountain gale. His eyes were saturated with sheer panic, but it wasn"t a panic that concerned the fiefcorp master or MultiReal. The man bolted straight for Magan Kai Lee, grabbed his sleeve, and blasted some silent message in the lieutenant executive"s face.
Seconds later, the dartguns of the Council officers dropped. A few rifles clattered noisily to the stone.
Without a word or a glance Natchward, Magan Kai Lee arose and made for the door, his face coated with some military flavor of a PokerFace program. He made a quick gesture with his right hand, causing the soldiers to abandon their aggressive positions around the fiefcorp. Ridgel o and his officers formed a tight cordon around the lieutenant executive, and they al marched hurriedly out of the SeeNaRee.
Rey Gonerev was the last to leave. Natch leapt up from his seat and grabbed her shoulder.
"Give me one reason I shouldn"t launch MultiReal right now," he said.
The Blade"s expression was distant, disconcerted. "Because," she said. "Margaret Surina is dead."
17.
Natch had never seen a team shift tracks as quickly as the Defense and Wel ness Council.
A moment ago, the fiefcorpers had been surrounded by armed stormtroopers wearing the white robe and yel ow star; now they were alone in the precipitous mountain SeeNaRee. Even the clouds had abandoned them.
Margaret Surina dead? Last month, Natch would have wondered how any a.s.sa.s.sin could possibly get to the top of that tower with al those guards around. But he had seen the condition of the Surina security forces not twelve hours ago.
Penetrating that protective shel of troops around the Revelation Spire wasn"t such a daunting task-especial y if one had inside help.
Stil , if someone could get to the bodhisattva of Creed Surina that easily, why didn"t they come after Natch first?
Natch looked around the SeeNaRee and took in the stunned expressions flitting across the brows of his apprentices. Any thought of MultiReal and fiefcorp licenses had vanished from their faces. Natch didn"t know whether to feel relieved to be free of the Council or frightened to be without their protection. What he wanted more than anything was to retreat home, or to Omaha, or to the redwoods. Safe places.
And then his thoughts came circling back to Andra Pradesh. Margaret, lying dead at the top of a heavily fortified building, surrounded by a large private security force. There were no safe places anymore.
"I"m going over there," he announced, rebel ing against impulse.
A skeptical pause from the fiefcorp. "Where?" said Jara. It was the first word she had spoken since her abrupt curse when Natch arrived.
"Andra Pradesh," said Natch. "To find Quel . Find out what"s going on."
"Are we sure there is anything going on?" said Serr Vigal. Everyone looked at him. "I mean, do we know Margaret"s death was foul play?"
Jara snorted. "What do you think it was-"natural causes"?"
Horvil suddenly dashed over and gripped Natch by the elbow. "You can"t go," he protested. "What if it"s a trap? What if-what if the people who kil ed Margaret are stil there?"
"Horvil"s right," said Benyamin. He folded his arms across his chest. "How do we know the Blade was even tel ing the truth? Sounds like a perfect setup. Get everyone in a panic, lure you to Andra Pradesh, and then-"
Merri shook her head, despondent. "The bodhisattva of Creed Objectivv just issued a statement offering his condolences. Rey Gonerev wasn"t lying."
The channel manager stopped and pa.r.s.ed her thoughts careful y. "Wel , she wasn"t lying about that, at least."
The entrepreneur noticed that none of the fiefcorpers suspected Magan Kai Lee had dreamt this up on the spur of the moment, to prevent the release of MultiReal. But on further reflection, Natch realized that it didn"t matter. Whether Margaret Surina was real y dead or not, the news would completely overshadow everything else on the Data Sea within seconds. No amount of sales wizardry on Robby Robby"s part would entice people to buy Possibilities in the next two hours.
"Al right," said Natch. "Where"s the closest multi facility?"
The multi gateway at the Surina compound was closed. The network dumped him at a public terminal a kilometer away instead. Natch hiked the rest of the way through the city, studying the compound on the mountain the whole time for any signs of violence. He saw none, although he did see a number of egg-white Council hoverbirds touching down. As for the citizens of Andra Pradesh, word of Margaret"s death had obviously not reached them yet.
When he reached the iron gates at the base of the hil , Natch was surprised to find them already guarded by troops in white, not blue and green. A crowd of curious onlookers began to coalesce across the street. What if they don"t let me in? Natch asked himself.
The Council officers gave the fiefcorp master a long, probing look, and then let him in.
With an armed escort.
Natch couldn"t remember if he had ever seen the Surina courtyard empty. Even in the early-morning hours, after the Center for Historic Appreciation shut its doors and Gandhi University wrapped up its academic semester, there were always people wandering around. Fiefcorpers liked to lounge here between midnight meetings in the Enterprise Facility, and there was always a pair of lovers or some forlorn poet staring reverently up at the Spire.
Now the only feet treading on the mountaintop belonged to Natch and his two Council escorts. The men were shaky and silent as junkies as they led the way to some unannounced destination; Natch could only hope they were going to the scene of the crime. What happened to Surina security? he wondered.
At that moment, as if responding to Natch"s thoughts, the doors to the auditorium burst open and a gang of Surina officers came sprinting their way.
They were moving too quickly and chaotical y for Natch to count, but he figured the number to be about twenty. Some of the Surina troops threw apprehensive looks over their shoulders, as if expecting an imminent pursuit. At the front of the blue-green wedge was a familiar figure.
Quel .
The Islander came to a halt mere centimeters from the Councilman on Natch"s left. The man gulped audibly as he took in Quel "s bulging chest and untamed ponytail. "We"l take those guns," declared the Islander, his voice gravel.
The Council lackey shot a glance at his compatriot. They exchanged grim frowns of courage. "I"m sorry, Islander," he said. "We"re not al owed to do that."
Quel made no signal to the crowd of security officers gathered behind him; nevertheless, their dartguns al leapt into their hands simultaneously. The Islander slowly unsheathed a metal bar of the darkest obsidian from his belt, a long nightstick sizzling with bottled lightning. "I said we"re taking those guns."
The Council officers winced, and Natch did too. He had heard plenty of stories about Islander shock batons. A crack on the skul with one of those things could splatter the guards" brains al over the travertine, OCHREs or no OCHREs.
The men in white robes handed over their weapons.
"What"s happening?" asked Natch as he trotted across the courtyard, trying to keep up with Quel "s ma.s.sive strides.
"I don"t know," grunted the Islander. "The Council swooped in. Caught us al off guard.
They started herding everyone into the auditorium like f.u.c.king sheep." He glanced behind him at Borda"s lackeys, who were being muscled toward the Center for Historic Appreciation by a subset of the blue-andgreen troops. "Jayze Surina just waved the Council in."
"What about-"
Quel cut him off with a snarl. "I said I don"t know. But we"re going to find out." Natch noticed that he had not sheathed his shock baton, opting to curl it like a barbel instead. That stick had to be pretty heavy to strain Quel "s ma.s.sive biceps.
Surina security officers began to trickle out the side doors of the auditorium and join the smal group marching on the Revelation Spire. So far there was no sign of any Council reinforcements, but Natch knew it was only a matter of time.
He could feel adrenaline spiking his veins and started to reach for a bio/logic tranquilizer, then decided to let his body chemistry handle itself.
The Surina troops flattened themselves against the base of the Spire and hid in shadow.