To himself, he wondered for the hundredth time about Suzi’s circuits. If the Hungarian had not assured him time and time again Suzi had no emotional capacity, he would have sworn she was going soft, overreacting to give James confidence.

He let James complete half a dozen repetitions before commenting again.

“Much better,” he called out at last. “Okay, let’s call it a day.”

The quick sag in the boy’s body betrayed his carefully concealed fatigue. Hosato pretended not to notice.

“Tell you what, James,” he said. “When you get home, find a full-length mirror and practice your lunge in front of it, lunging dead ahead at your own reflection. Then alternate the lunges with feints. When you can’t see the difference between your lunges and your feints, you’ll be ready to fool an opponent.”

The boy nodded weakly.

“Okay,” Hosato concluded, turning quickly away to store his gear in Suzi. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Urn… Hayama. Could… can we talk?”

Hosato shot a glance at the boy. He was still drooping with fatigue, but there was something intense about his eyes.

“Sure, James.” He smiled, wandering over to a folding chair. “What’s on your mind?”

The boy hesitated, then followed him. “I’ve been taking lessons for two weeks now…” he began, “… and you say I’ve been learning fast…”

“You have.” Hosato wondered what this conversation was leading to.

“You meant it, didn’t you. You weren’t just saying that?”

“Seriously, James, you’re one of the best students I…” He broke off his comments as a thought occurred to him. “You haven’t gotten into a duel, have you?”

Hosato was suddenly towering over the boy.

“What. No. Nothing like that.”

“Good.” Hosato sighed, sinking back into his chair. “What is it, then?”

“I… I was wondering. Do I show enough promise for you to take me with you… as sort of an apprentice?”

Hosato was surprised by the sudden wave of affection he felt for the boy.

“James,” he said, shaking his head slowly, “being a duelist is a lousy way to earn a living. That’s why I’m trying to give it up. You wouldn’t—”

“I’m not talking about being a duelist or a fencing master.”

The sharpness in James’s tone brought Hosato’s head up with a snap. Their eyes met.

“That isn’t what you’re doing here, Hayama.” The boy’s voice was as steady as his gaze. “You know it, and I know it, so let’s not kid each other. Okay?”

Hosato’s protest died in his throat before that gaze. Instead, he studied the boy coolly for several moments.

“All right, James,” he said at last. “What is it exactly that you think I’m doing?”

“I… I don’t know,” the boy admitted, his certainty faltering at last. “Theft maybe industrial espionage maybe you’re just hiding from the authorities. Whatever it is, you’re no fencing coach.”

“Really?” Hosato forced a mocking smile.

“Oh, you can coach fencing, all right, but that’s not all you can do. Maybe you can fool my father, or Sasha, or even the computers, but remember, I’m the one you kicked your first day here. I have that as proof that you and Suzi there are more than you pretend to be.”

“If you’re so sure of yourself, James, why haven’t you reported your suspicions to someone?”

James made a face. “First of all, they’d probably just laugh it off as some kid whining about losing a fight. But more important, because I’m hoping you’ll take me with you when you finally leave this rock-pile.”

Hosato shook his head. “I don’t understand you, James. You want to take off with someone you don’t know, someone you think is a criminal. What kind of future is that. What are you expecting?”

“What kind of future do I have here?” the boy countered. “Whatever or whoever you are, you’re living outside the structure outside the accepted rules. That’s what I want, but I can’t do it by myself. I don’t have the money or the knowledge to try it on my own, and when you’re playing for keeps, you can’t afford to learn by trial and error. I need a teacher or a protector and so far, you’re the best candidate I’ve found.”

“What’s so bad about life here?” Hosato pressed. “Your father—”

“My father!” The boy sneered. “My father can’t comprehend that anyone might not want to work for the corporations, the same corporations that have shelved him. They’ve decided he’s too volatile and outspoken to be promoted, but too talented to let go. So they’ve set him up as a big man in a little slot, given him a staff to order around and a product family so stable even an idiot couldn’t mess it up, and then they forget him.”

“Maybe your father doesn’t see it that way.”

“Sure he does. He’s a lot of things, but he isn’t stupid. He knows he’s been shelved, but instead of walking out and trying it on his own, he’s fighting it. Security robots. A revolutionary new product. Did you know he’s been ordered to drop the project. And he’s still spending fourteen hours a day working on it. For what. So he can get slapped down again when he finally makes his proposal?”

“Why is everyone against the project?”

“They say it can’t be done. Robots can’t handle Security, and it’s a waste of company time pursuing it.”

“Surely he has something that makes him believe it’s possible.”

“All I know is he keeps saying…”

James suddenly broke off his oration in mid-sentence. His eyes searched Hosato’s with a new intensity.

“Is that it?” he asked.

“Is what what?”

“The security robots. Is that what you’re doing here. Is that why you’re pumping me for information?”

Hosato heaved a great sigh and stood up. “James, I think this has gone far enough. I don’t know what problems there are between you and your father, and I don’t want to know. What I do know is that it’s highly improbable you’ll convince me to be an accomplice if you want to run away from here.”

“But—”

Hosato halted the interruption with an upraised hand.

“I’ve listened to you, now it’s my turn. Yes. You’re right. I know karate. I usually don’t admit it because I’m sick of everybody assuming anyone with yellow skin is a karate expert. I used it on you that first day for the same reason Suzi gimmicked the tapes. I needed the job. I was hungry, and the only other way I could get money was killing people, and I’m sick of it.”

He fixed James with a hard stare.

“Now, if you want to report that to Sasha and get me tossed out of a job, go ahead. I don’t want it bad enough to put up with being called a thief and a liar.”

He started for the door, with Suzi floating at his heels. At the last moment, another thought occurred to him.

“Remember this conversation, James. Remember what I have to do, what I have to put up with just to eat. Then think long and hard before you make any serious moves toward an independent life.”

“But what if one of the units breaks down?”

Hosato interjected the question casually as he ordered another round of drinks through the keyboard mounted on the table. At this time of day the bar was empty and they could talk uninterrupted.

“Not much chance of that.” His companion grimaced. “And even if it did, nothing much would happen.”

There was a soft warning gong, and the square in the center of the table sank slowly from sight. A few moments later, it sighed back into position, the empty glasses gone and fresh drinks standing in their place.

“Nothing much?” Hosato prompted. “With no one monitoring the manufacturing area, I should think it would have major problems, if not a permanent work stoppage.”

The little bearded maintenance man shook his head slightly, but not enough to interrupt his drinking.

“That’s what I’m telling you, Hayama,” he said, putting down his glass at last. “The new system’s modularized with parallel units and flow monitors. If anything goes wrong, anything at all, the damn machines pull the entire unit and slap another one in place. Down time would only be about fifteen minutes thirty at the max.”