"I'm not prepared to go into that with you now, Ariel," Setaris warned. "Yes, I would. More than you might expect me to acknowledge."

Ariel suppressed a sharp response and forced herself to think it through. "What should I tell them?"

"That you, for one, aren't leaving and that the Calvin Institute intends to work as closely as possible with Terran authorities to find out who is responsible. For all we know, this is just the random act of a bunch of social frustrates."

"Earth has plenty of those. But"

"Whatever the truth may be, Ariel, our present reality is that Humadros's mission cannot fail. Especially not now. If we allow ourselves to be frightened away and give up on any future dealings with Earth, we may very well condemn ourselves to a slow death, assuming we escape a war."

Ariel felt herself flinch. "I always suspected you agreed with me, but I never thought I'd hear you say so."

"We can debate the extent of our mutual perspective at another time. For the moment, can I count on your support?"

"Of course."

"Good."

"Is Humadros dead? Is it confirmed?"

"Yes. And her staff. And Eliton. I don't know which bothers me more, Humadros or Eliton. He was the best ally we had." Setaris frowned thoughtfully. "What about his vice senator, Taprin? You know him, don't you?"

"Yes, I know Jonis."

"How does he stand regarding Eliton's policies?"

"He's never been the firebrand Eliton is-was-but they were in the same file on the subject."

"Talk to him if you can, see what his response is going to be. We need information as much if not more than action, Ariel."

"I'll do what I can, Ambassador. Call me if-well, call me."

Setaris nodded, smiling hollowly. The image winked out.

Ariel glanced back at the subetheric 'cast, then turned it off. They would be replaying that for the next several days at least; she could get a copy of the complete report at any time.

This is impossible, she thought. Union Station was operated by a positronic resident intelligence, the first permitted to operate openly on Earth in decades. It was a showpiece, in fact, set up and licensed as a demonstration of the potential benefits of positronics for Earth. The First Law imperative would have made it impossible for the RI to allow anyone in with a weapon that did not have prior clearance. It would not allow the RI to permit this sort of terrorist act to be carried out -the RI should have used the mobile robots as a means to disarm, block, or otherwise interrupt the attempt.

Everything Ariel knew about positronics and robotics-which was not inconsiderable-told her that what had just happened could never have occurred. Unless the RI had been modified in some way to subvert those safeguards…

"Damn you, Derec," she muttered aloud. "You finally did it."

No Spacer would attempt to tamper with the Three Laws, none that she knew. But Derec Avery was another matter. She had not seen him since their last argument-a bitter, irrational exchange during which both had said hurtful, unretractable things-which had ended years of friendship and occasional passion. Derec had wanted to stretch the Three Laws, see how far they could be pushed, play with the strict, almost sacred parameters of robotic construction, and she had walked away, unable to accept even the most reasonable of his points. It hurt even more to think that she had been right and he had not listened.

She stabbed her com. "Hofton. We have a lot of work to do. See if you can trace Vice Senator Taprin and connect us. I need to talk to him ASAP. Then get me the list of on-planet Auroran businesses, then clear the com."

"Right away. Anything else?"

"Yes. Send a message to Derec A very at the Phylaxis Group. Six words. 'I see you got your wish.' "

"Sign it?"

"No. I think he'll know where it came from."