"Until the other day."

"Yes."

Derec sighed. "Thank you, Mr. Kedder. If you think of anything else, let me know, would you?"

"Sure."

"How are things going?"

"Well, we've had Imbitek people in here all morning."

Derec raised an eyebrow. "Imbitek."

"Yes. The decision was made to convert over to nonpositronic systems. We already had some of Imbitek's imbedded systems in place, so… sorry."

"Hm. That was fast."

"Not fast enough for management." Kedder smiled wryly. "A lot of pilots won't use us till the changeover is made-they just don't trust positronics anymore. Not the Spacers, of course-they're complaining for just the opposite reason, threatening not to come through here if we do switch to a nonpositronic system. It's turned into as big a problem as it would be if we didn't have a system at all. Do you have any idea how much traffic goes through here in a day?"

"Of course," Derec replied. "I just meant the selection of a new vendor. Bureaucracy doesn't usually move that quickly."

"Fortunately, this time was an exception."

"Well, I'm glad something's going right for you."

"How about you? How's your investigation coming?"

"Did you forget? Phylaxis was taken off that."

Kedder looked confused for a moment. "Oh. Yes, I-"

"This was purely personal. Thanks, Mr. Kedder. Oh, by the way, could I speak with your associate, Mr. Hammis?"

"He hasn't come in yet. Normally we aren't on shift together, just yesterday was…"

"Ah. I see."

"I can tell him you called."

"Would you? Just some routine stuff."

"Sure."

"Thank you." Derec closed the connection.

"Don't feel too bad," Rana said. "Imbitek has something like sixty percent of Earth's robotics market."

"Only don't ever call it that to their face. It's 'imbedded service technologies'." Derec steepled his fingers below his chin, staring unseeing at the blank com screen. "Who at the Calvin Institute would issue instructions for them to bypass the contract service…?"

The company that had installed the RI had been Solarian, not Auroran, but there had had to be a Calvin representative to oversee it. Who had that been? Derec tapped the request in the datum.

Bys Randic. He remembered her, but she had rotated back to Aurora several months ago. The company itself had been a midsized firm, not a bad choice, but certainly not the first that would have recommended itself to Derec. The byzantine complications of the Terran bidding process still baffled him-certainly there had been better firms, but the traditions of Earther government procurement could not be circumvented by straightforward Spacer logic. But he had been there during the entire operation as well and audited the process. Eliton had seen to that, since it came under his committee's oversight. Other companies-mostly Terran-had installed the satellite systems, but the Calvin Institute rep had vetted the interfaces and pronounced them acceptable. Who, along that striated line of involved parties, could have overridden such a vital part of the process?

He punched another code into the terminal. "Imbitek Corporation, how may I direct your call?" said a synthetic voice, ungendered and inoffensive.

"I'd like to speak to the manager in charge of the refit at Union Station."

Derec waited while the AI system rolled the request around for a few seconds and decided what to do with it. Finally, it said, "One moment, please, while I connect you."

The moment became nearly a minute before a human voice, male, answered.

"This Iva Kusk. How can I help you?"

"This is Derec Avery of the Phylaxis Group, Mr. Kusk. I understand that Imbitek is installing new systems into Union Station."

"Phylaxis… ah, the robot people. Yes, we are. It's my understanding that you've been removed from the project."

"That remains to be seen, sir. We have a contract to service the RI-"

"Which is no longer functioning, am I correct?" Kusk interjected.

"Well-"

"Imbitek received an exclusive contract pursuant to the failure of the current system. It's my understanding that the RI suffered total collapse. Under those circumstances, you have nothing to service."

"The positronics still need to be removed. I ought to oversee that, at least," Derec countered.

"We're not removing it, the Solarians are. Take it up with them. As far as Imbitek is concerned, you have nothing to concern yourself with."

"Nevertheless-"

"Nevertheless, Mr. Avery," Kusk said sharply, "I think you know that we shouldn't even be discussing this matter. Sorry I can't be of more help, but when Special Service lays down the law, we're not inclined to go around them. So, if there's nothing else…"

"Should you find yourself running into difficulties with some of those systems, Mr. Kusk, consider giving us a call before you destroy something you can't replace."

"Thank you, Mr. Avery," Kusk said smugly. "We'll take that under advisement."

The connection died.

"High marks for sincerity," Rana said. "Demerits for tact."

Derec ignored her and called Imbitek back. He got the directory and asked to speak to Hob Larkin.

"Hob Larkin no longer works for our firm," the AI informed him. "Due to privacy restrictions we may not provide any other information."

Derec broke the connection and tapped yet another code. The emblem of the Terran Senate appeared on the screen. A moment later, a secretary took its place.

"Senator Clar Eliton's office. May I help you?"

Derec noticed that her voice was strained, as if under firm control. "I'd like to speak to Jonis Taprin, please. This is Derec Avery of the Phylaxis Group."

"I'll see if Vice Senator-Senator Taprin is available. Please hold."

Derec watched the time chop above the screen. The secretary reappeared after nearly a full minute.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Avery, but Senator Taprin is in a meeting. May I direct you to one of his aides?"

"No, thank you. Please have him call me at his earliest convenience. It's important. It concerns Union Station."

"I'll let him know."

The screen blanked.

"He's going to be tied up in meetings from now till the election," Rana said.

Derec nodded. "He's got a big vacuum to fill."

"Why don't you just call the Calvin Institute?"

"Not yet." He returned to her console.

"Do I detect a hint of personal aversion?"

"Not a bit. What are you doing?"

Rana gave him a skeptical look, then pointed at her screen. "An excavation. I'm matching layers to see if anything turns up."

Derec shuddered at the idea. The RI was scrambled from the collapse. Whole segments of it no longer "lined up" to form a functional matrix. What Rana was attempting to do made random chance seem predictable by comparison.

"That could take days. "

"Thales is doing the gross sorting for me. "

"Still…"

"Uh-huh. Do you have a better idea?"

Derec slid his chair to his own console and began entering commands. "As a matter of fact, no. But maybe one just as good. We can narrow it down by isolating out all other possible intrusive presences. A lot of com traffic goes through this thing"

"But most of it is buffered to avoid direct contamination of the positronic matrix," Rana concluded.

"Of course it is. So anything that got past that-"

"Would be worth a look. Of course. What about the RI performance record?"

"Save it. I'll look it over later."

Derec set up parameters for each type of communications link that the RI dealt with: regular com, systems interfaces with incoming shuttles, dialogues with maintenance drones, hotels, requisitions vendors, banks, security protocols with the various police services, subetheric links, interstellar traffic, interfaces with nonpositronic systems, and its own relays with its various service components. After establishing a firewall between the subject RI and Thales, he let the Group RI do the actual sorting, which took much less time than any other method. While the lists compiled, he wrote an instruction to search for mirror sites once everything was in a manageable state, looking for match points with the unexplained pathways Rana had found.

They worked in silence for nearly three hours. The amount of data to go through remained immense and intimidating, but Derec sensed progress.

The com chimed behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Vice Senator-now Senator-Taprin was returning his call.

He punched ACCEPT.

"Mr. Avery, how are you? How can I help?"

"I'm fine, sir, if a little confused. There are a couple of matters I hope you can help me clear up. Phylaxis was taken off the investigation. I don't know if you were aware of that."

Taprin frowned. "No, but I don't keep that close tabs on what you do. Frankly, Clar tended to be very proprietary about the entire positronic issue."

Issue…? Derec thought. "Special Service assumed jurisdiction over the entire investigation, which is certainly their prerogative. But it 'is unorthodox. I'm not aware that they have any positronic specialists on staff."

"I didn't think they did, which was one reason to use you," Taprin said. "I'll look into it."

"Thank you, sir. The other matter has to do with protocol regarding the Union Station RI. I've learned that someone gave directions shortly after it was installed that certain problems with the RI were to be referred directly to the Calvin Institute rather than us. I wondered if you could find out who issued that directive."

"I can look into it, but my authority stops at the Auroran Embassy door. You could ask them yourself."

"I'd rather it came from a more official source."

"I see."

"Besides, the staff at Union Station wouldn't be under Auroran authority. Whoever issued that directive had to have Terran authority."

"True. Now that I think about it, it is odd. I'll see what I can find out for you. It might take some time. I'm swamped."