“Oh, I’ll be around and about, Mohinder. I won’t forget tonight.” They hugged, friends, maybe even equals.

“Hey,” he said, in a parting shot, “wasn’t that as much fun as you can have with your clothes on?” Rani giggled; she’d seen that trid show, too. Mohinder closed the door behind him carefully.

The telecom beeped at a quarter to six. It was Geraint’s contact in the genetics lab at Imperial College.

“Morning, Geraint. Thanks for the charitable donation. We’ll put that toward the metagene research project. You’re most generous.”

“You’re welcome, Richard. Now, tell me what you got.”

“Well, a courier is on the way with formal confirmation of the data and samples, but in summary, here’s how it goes. The metahuman was a magician, licensed to a corporation. But first, is this line safe?”

“You can speak freely. I’ve got more precautions against bugging than you can imagine. Retroactive phasing scramblers. And more,” Geraint breezed.

“Good. His name is Pieren Featherbrook, age thirty. lives in-”

“Yes, yes.” Geraint was impatient, “That’lI be in the data you’ve sent over. Who did he work for?”

“Transys Neuronet.” It was a moment of absolute, exquisite beauty.

Geraint was delighted. “Thanks, Richard. That just about ties it up.” He paused for a small gloat of pleasure. Oh boy, have we got them now.

“The other one, well, that was a problem. And very strange. Tissue was almost completely degraded by a fungal mycotoxic agent, but we had just enough. Can’t make any ID from the link we have with officialdom, for which help many thanks, but there’s something very weird indeed.”

“Like what?”

“Like there’s a ninety-nine point nine hundred ninety-seven percent chance this guy is a member of the Royal Family.”

“What?” Geraint spluttered. He couldn’t believe his ears. This was completely beyond belief.

“Yes, really. I know it sounds bizarre, but it all checks out. He has the 0A2 gene, which is a real marker, has been for generations, and the F52-A3-gamma linkages on chromosome 16 are a cert too. There’s other stuff, but it’s all in the specs. No doubt about it in my mind. He’s a Royal” The academic paused, wondering. “How did you get this? I know you’re titled and all, but I didn’t realize you had friends in such high places.”

“Well, you know how it is,” Geraint said modestly. trying to accommodate this new revelation. “Richard, I think we should have lunch somewhere disgustingly expensive fairly soon. My treat.”

Francesca was already at work on the console. She’d done some checking on the original Ripper stories, and she knew where the archive was. On the left-hand screen was the image of the Ripper’s face from 2054, scanned in from Mohinder’s vid record. Hacking through the photo archive in the optical storage systems, she used the matching program to lift out the Ripper, 1888 version. The image lit up on the right screen. A perfect match.

The template matching program was registering a probability as close to one hundred percent that no differences existed between the two. They all stared at the evidence flickering electronically before their eyes.

Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward Windsor, Duke of Clarence. By God.” Geraint could hardly speak. In the background came the sound of the doorbell ringing. No wonder my scanner couldn’t find a chip. It was a rakking clone!

OzNet had checked the core facts, then cleared the first bulletin for transmission at seven-thirty. By nine o’clock, they’d even found a witness to the dumping of Catherine Eddowes’ remains, and had people starling to dredge the river. Every media station in the country was going bananas for a piece of story.

The series of Ripper slayings we have documented were carried out by a clone of the original Ripper, the Duke of Clarence. Investigations by the Metropolitan Police are said to be focused on the theft of bone samples from his grave. and we anticipate a bulletin on that shortly. When we hear it, you’ll hear it, here on OzNet, the station that brings you all the big stories first.” The news blond couldn’t hide her delight in getting something meaty to read for a change.

“The evidence incriminating the British corporation of Transys Neuronet is now overwhelming. The body of a licensed Transys mage was found at the site of today’s fifth slaying.” Mohinder’s grainy cybereye recording showed the room with the elf, the samurai, and the Ripper, and then the backscreen cut to a profile of just the elf. “Pieren Featherbrook has been a registered employee of the Transys hermetic security division since March 2046. Identification of weapons carried by security personnel at the site of the slaying shows they were licensed to Transys Neuronet, and OzNet researchers have found still further links.”

In Geraint’s apartment they all edged forward on their seats. They’d had no advance warning of this. Photographs of two dead samurai came up next to grainy, older pictures of the same men.

“How did they get those shots of the guys we killed?” Francesca whispered. Serrin hushed her as the newsreader continued.

“… identified as Transys employees currently engaged in corporate security, as these Transys archive photographs show. Confession statements made by the owners of the house where Catherine Eddowes was slain reveal that they received retainers from current Transys employees, although these witnesses are still under police interrogation.”

My word, Geraint thought, they’ve dug up all this in three hours. This is really impressive. I'll have to make sure these guys get special attention the next time a broadcasting bill comes to Parliament. We’d never have been able to come up with all this dirt.

But there were more hammer blows to come.

“The human cloning technology in these gruesome murder re-enactments is believed linked to research experiments in progress at Transys Neuronet’s laboratory at Longstanton, near Cambridge. Officials from the Lord Protector’s Office raided the installation just under an hour ago based on information supplied by OzNet, the station for news and views. Applications for a number of patents connected to biotech research may be evidence of increasing emphasis on cloning studies at Longstanton.” Some archive footage of grumpy-looking security personnel filmed within the complex from long range helped the message along a little.

“Thats what the druid meant,” Serrin put in. “She said they were blaspheming creation.’

The report ended with the promise of a re-run of an historical documentary on the Victorian Ripper, together with a series of “No comments” from spokesmen for the Royals and for Transys. Serrin flicked the tube dead.

“Oh.” It was a long, long sigh from all of them. They hadn’t slept all night, and their bodies were as stiff as iron rods.

“We got them, Serrin,” Francesca said. The guys who tried to use you got a lot more than they bargained for. You also just wiped out the Corp that killed your parents. They’ll sink without a trace after this.”

“Didn’t get Kuranita, though.”

“Well, I guess you can’t have everything. But revenge is sweet. Rani, you just paid off the people that baited three of your own family into a death trap. You got what you wanted, too.” The Indian girl nodded silently, keeping her own counsel. She still had Smith and Jones to box.

“And me, well, I got who killed Annie and damn near killed me. That Ripper construct in the Matrix must have been part of their experiments in personality encoding. Doesn’t matter. Stuff the details. We got the bastards. Maybe I’ll even be done with those nightmares now. All I have to worry about is my leg.”

Geraint smiled again. “No problem. We’ll get you up to Oxford this afternoon after you get some sleep. You saw how good my doc was.”