Com went off. A worried look crossed her face.

“Not supposed to–” she began, which meant it was her Urgent list, the handful of people who could call her at any hour, and about that time there was a knock at the office door.

Grant started to get up. But Florian came on through.

“Sera,” Florian said, and the buzz from Ari’s com continued. “Sera.”

“Report,” she said, and Florian said,

“Spurlin is dead.”

Ari froze just a heartbeat, then located the phone, thumbed it on and said, “Ari.”

“Sera.” It was Catlin’s voice.

“Florian told me. Details?”

“Found by the maid this morning”Catlin’s voice came through. “Cause of death uncertain. Last contact yesterday night by the night staff at his residence. That’s all that’s known currently. Possible natural causes.”

“Possibly not,” Ari said. Her face was just a little pale. “I’m coming home,” she said.

Spurlin. Candidate in Defense. Khalid’s opposition. The one the polls said was in the lead by a wide margin. It wasn’t good news.

“Justin, I’m sorry,” Ari said, and set down a mostly full cup of coffee and snatched up her jacket.

She left with Florian, leaving Jordan’s file up on the computer. Justin shut it down, and looked at Grant.

“This is bad,” he said, and tried to think what the constitution said about a candidate dying after the vote was taken. “If he wins–does it go to his Proxy‑designate? Or what?”

“Don’t ask me, born‑man. It’s your system. I certainly hope it has an answer.”

“I don’t even know if he’s got a Proxy‑designate. God, I don’t want that bastard in. This is one time I wish the Nine were elected by general ballot.” He turned to the console, keyed Voice, said, “Search: Constitutional law: elections: Council of the Nine: candidate death.”

The computer didn’t take long. It flashed up a lengthy piece of legal language.

“Search in document: if an elected candidate dies; second condition: before official announcement of results of election: question: who succeeds?”

The computer took about a heartbeat. The answer flashed up:

1. ) Current office‑holder may hold office for entirety of vacated term.

2. ) Current office‑holder [a] may appoint Proxy Councillor [b]. service of [b] to run concurrent with [a]’s term of office.

3) Current office‑holder [a] may leave office at end of [a]’s previously elected term, in which case the runner‑up [b] in the election may succeed to office and serve for the two‑year term.

4) In the case of death of all candidates and the incumbent, the office settles on the Secretary of the Bureau, to run for the elected term.

5) Announcement of results irrelevant. Delivery of all precinct results to Cyteen Station data storage constitutes valid election. Exception: conditions of war or natural disaster preventing the transmission of or timely arrival of precinct results to Cyteen Station will, after one month, disallow those precincts from the result tally. The tally of results at Cyteen Station will proceed on that date and results will he official as of 0001h on the expiration of the deadline for receipt of ballots. Exception: a quorum of precincts [66%] must arrive by one month after the expected date. Failure of a quorum of precincts to report by one month after the expected date will invalidate the election, in which case current officeholders will continue in office as if re‑elected.

Precedents: no dates, no instances available.

“It says,” Justin began.

“I have it,” Grant said grimly. “A first in Union history, it seems.”

“Jacques is all prepared to resign,” Justin said. “But the proxy can only be valid if he stays in office.”

“Is that actually a problem?” Grant asked.

“I don’t know,” Justin said. “It’s certainly better than the alternative.”

A light flashed on the screen. Ari. He keyed it. It wasn’t a message. It was the arrival of the manual he’d requested. The universe was tottering, peace and war possibly at issue, and she remembered his document. He understood that mind. She probably didn’t even strongly register doing it–it was just on her agenda and it went, probably with three and four other things and the staff requests, because that mind was clearing chaff, fast, not for an emergency response, but for a policy consideration.

Call to Yanni was next. He’d bet on it.

BOOK THREE Section 4 Chapter vi

JULY 22, 2424

0911H

“Yanni?” Ari said.

“I have the report.” Yanni’s answer came back to her. Yanni was already in his office, ordinary day begun. It wasn’t an ordinary day.

“Natural causes?”

“Still in question.”

“I’m questioning it. This isn’t good.”

“Understatement,” Yanni said. “Listen, I’ve got a call in to Jacques. Hicks has people on the way to Jacques, who’s still at home.”

“Have we had contact with him?”

“He knows.”

“Thank God he’s alive. Keep him that way.”

“We’re working on that. I’m ordering up Reseune One.”

She drew a deep breath. “Yanni, what you need to do you can do from here.”

“Impossible.”

“Not impossible.”

“Appearances, Ari. I have to get to the capital. There’s no question of it.”

“I want agents with Lynch. Fast.”

“I’m ahead of you on that one. Hicks has got a team headed for his office, too. They’ll do all driving, all transport, all meals.”

“ Hicks. Yanni, I’m not that confident in Hicks. He makes mistakes.”

“It happens to all of us.”

“I’m saying I don’t trust him, Yanni! If we lose Lynch, you lose the proxy, and we revert, God, where dowe revert? The Secretary for Science?”

“That would be it,” Yanni said, “who would immediately reappoint me Proxy Councillor and I’d be back in. I’m damned hard to get rid of, so don’t worry too much.”

“Not if you’re not in Novgorod, I don’t need to worry too much, and I don’t want you to go.”

“The man could have had a heart attack.”

“And you know he didn’t. Yanni, I can’t lose you. I can’t. You want me trying to figure things out day to day and running everything into the ground. You’re risking too much. Easier to send me, for God’s sake. I’m duplicatable. Your knowledge isn’t in databanks.”

“Bad joke, young lady, and you’re not going. I need to talk directly to Jacques and to Corain andto Lynch: there’s no substitute in virtuality for a face‑to‑face. You know thator you don’t know anything.”

“Don’t read me lessons, Yanni Schwartz. And don’t be a damned fool. You know what I cando if you push me, and I’ll do it!”

“Don’t be a child. And that is being a child, Ari.”

“Fine. You’re not going.”

“Ari, do I have to come there and have this out?”

“Don’t bother. Reseune One isn’t going to budge off the strip, so you might as well release your call on it. How is it going to look if you go flying in there to consult with the election results not even read yet? We may have to deal with Khalid. Let’s not start it off with a media show and get caught in statements before we even know what the man died of. And let’s notbe caught negotiating with Corain before the man is buried. Or shot into the sun. Or whatever he wants done with him.”

“Fine. And when they read the results, and it’s Spurlin, then what do you think we’re going to do? I’ve got to talk to Jacques, and I can’t call him here to do it, because we can’t have him step down. The man has a lucrative job lined up, he wants it, we bent his arm and gothim that job to get him out of the post, and now he’s got the offer, he wants it. He wants to be rich and comfortable and safe, and the man who’s supposed to replace him just fucking died, pardon my language, but he died, he may have been murdered, and that’s not going to dispose an old man ready to retire to stand his ground.”