In light of recent revelations," the newscaster declared from the subetheric, "the death of Special Service Agent Mia Daventri and the destruction of the experimental robot assigned to guard Senator Clar Eliton have taken on new significance. The entire team of agents charged with the security of Eliton and his staff during the Union Station meeting with Spacer legations has now been killed. Special Service is conducting an internal investigation on which they refuse to comment, except to suggest that certain irregularities are at the heart of the tragedy. The utter failure of a trained team of agents to protect one of Earth's most prominent politicians cannot be explained unless that failure was part of a larger movement. Sources inside the Terran Bureau of Investigation have let it be known that flies have been opened on the agents involved, and their affiliations with various organizations-ostensibly in the line of duty-are being questioned. Nevertheless, the question no one seems willing to either answer or deny is the Spacer connection."

Mia pressed the contact on the remote, shutting off the subetheric. After going from one newsnet to another in between other tasks she felt nervous and edgy. None of the news reassured her, almost all of it had raised more questions, and she should have stopped listening. She especially should not have watched this 'cast.

Dal Kammer, one of the top-rated newscasters on subetheric, implying that Mia and her teammates had been involved in the conspiracy to kill Eliton and Humadros, made her cringe. If it had been any of a dozen other newsnet people she might have shrugged it off-there was more detritus on the subetheric than legitimate data-but Kammer was prominent, reputable. That did not mean he would not twist, color, alter, or fabricate his facts. But it meant that to get him to do so was expensive.

Or he was being led to believe the reports…

Mia lay her head back against the pillow. The medical robot had left over six hours ago, giving her a pain blocker along with a tissue accelerant and instructions to move around as little as possible until its next visit. She wondered if squirming counted.

Her datum lay on the table beside her. She had spent most of the day sending queries through Ariel's com system, using a pair of alternate electronic personas working in tandem, so if any back traces were attempted they would lead into blind alleys, to see if any of her passwords worked anywhere. Nothing. The Service had shut her out of everything, which puzzled her. If they thought she was dead, why be so thorough so fast in blocking her access? Unless they really did think she had been part of a conspiracy. Then it made sense-they would suspect someone else possessed her codes.

A few names appeared on the small screen, possible contacts she might yet be able to trust: a newsnet reporter named Holis, her old instructor at the academy, and Coren Lanra, the ex-Service agent she had seen at the gallery, now working for DyNan Manual Industries. Holis would help her in return for an exclusive, which meant that she needed something with which to bargain. So far, except for the fact that she was alive, she had nothing solid. She was uncertain how much trouble she might cause for her old instructor. As for Lanra, she did not know where he stood, except that he had no loyalty anymore to the Service. She had contacted none of them.

What had gone wrong?

Mia glanced over at Bogard, standing against the wall between where she lay and the door, still and solemn. Two hours ago, after its own datum search, it had reported on the type of weapon used at Union Station. No direct match, but it bore similarity to a twenty-first century Staros, nine-millimeter automatic. Modifications had been made, altering them enough to call a direct match into question. But that meant they had probably been manufactured exclusively for this strike, which reinforced Mia's opinion that Kynig Parapoyos had provided them.

The other name on her screen tended to confirm that. Bok Vin Golner. It was the likeliest match she had come up with from the name Bok, given the other parameters she had attached to the search. Retired Terran military, Captain, a veteran of two campaigns, including the Ganymede Suppression, and, since leaving the army, an irregularly employed security specialist. He had been arrested once for civic disturbance during a Terran First rally and another time for trafficking in unlicensed merchandise, black market. In both instances he had been represented by a lawyer he could not reasonably afford and the charges had been dropped. He was listed as an affiliate to a couple of anti-Spacer groups.

If you want to set up a military assault, Mia thought, use someone who knows how and can follow through…

Bogard shifted the three meters to the door. Mia blinked. A few seconds later, R. Jennie trundled into the room, but stopped upon seeing Bogard blocking the entrance.

"Avernus in Perihelion," came Ariel's voice over the intercom.

"Accepted," Bogard announced and opened the door.

Ariel stepped past the robot with a wary look, followed by a man Mia did not know. Only slightly taller than Ariel, he wore his pale hair short, and a black jacket over a dark blue one-piece.

"Hello, Bogard," he said, his expression openly surprised.

"Hello, Derec," the robot replied. "It is good to see you, again."

Derec gave Ariel a skeptical look. "Avernus in Perihelion?"

"Would anyone you know guess that as a password?" Ariel asked.

Derec shook his head. "No, I suppose not." He looked at Bogard again. "Don't take this wrong, Bogard, but I thought you were dead."

"No, sir," Bogard said. "Although your misapprehension is understandable."

"Welcome home, Ariel," R. Jennie said, accepting Ariel's jacket. "Welcome, sir."

Derec shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to R. Jennie. "Thank you." He stepped into the living room and looked at Mia with the same expression of amazement. "And you. You're-"

"Dead, yes," Mia said. "Officially, at least. Do I know you?"

"No. The last time I saw you was in the hospital. You were quite unconscious. The next time I saw that room, though…"

"Bogard performed its function admirably," Mia said.

Derec gave the robot another look, this time with an unmistakable expression of pride.

"Apparently," he said.

"Mia Daventri," Ariel said then, "this is Derec Avery, of the Phylaxis Group. Derec-my friend, Mia Daventri."

Derec came up to her and extended his hand. "I'm not sure I even want to know how you ended up here. But I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance."

Mia took his hand. Dry, warm. "I've heard interesting things about you, Mr. Avery."

"Derec, please." He glanced at Ariel. "From Ariel?"

"No."

"How do you feel?" Ariel asked.

"Better. A little pain block does wonders for my disposition."

"Good. We have work to do."

"'We'?" Mia asked.

Ariel smiled. "You wanted me to trust you, you have to trust me. I wouldn't bring just anyone in here now. Derec is the other positronic expert on Earth."

Derec grinned. "The other best one, that is." He looked at Ariel. "Who's the first one?"

Ariel aimed a finger at him. "Don't start."

Derec raised his hands in mock surrender. "Somebody should start, though. Why not Ms. Daventri?"

"Mia. Unless I'm mad at you, then it's Special Agent Daventri." She liked his smile, she decided. But it was obvious Ariel did not. "Start where? With what?"

"First, I suppose, how did you get out of that hospital alive?"

Mia sighed and started talking. "You saw two people?" Derec asked again.

"There might easily have been more. Bogard, how many intruders entered the hospital?"

"I registered five presences in the building," Bogard said. "One was the agent left as guard. One was the physician on duty sleeping in the doctor's lounge. Three intruders entered. Two conducted the assault on your room while the third remained at the entrance."

"How many were involved in the assault at Union Station?" Ariel asked. "Several got away."

"Bogard," Derec asked, "how many assailants did you count at Union Station?"

"A visual count of twenty-one."

"That seems right," Mia said.

Derec was frowning at the robot. "Why the qualification, Bogard?"

"I am not sure, Derec, but I have a firm count of the visual only. Infrared suggests eighteen, radar only nine. I cannot explain the discrepancy."

"We need recordings from the assault," Derec said.

Ariel crossed the room to her com. "We have two newsnet downloads."

"Only two?"

Ariel gave Derec a mock scowl. "To start." She worked at the com for a minute, then gestured to the subetheric. The broad space filled with the image of Union Station's gallery, filled with spectators awaiting the arrival.

"This is Seath Callon for GVS-"

"We don't need sound," Derec said. "I think(we've all heard enough. Just visual."

The voice-over died and they watched in silence the events unfold. The entrance of the Eliton party, the gathering on the platform, the arrival of the Spacer legations, the explosions. The recorder shifted abruptly, then, the operator apparently unsure where to concentrate attention. Finally, the image closed on the platform and the area immediately surrounding it as the black-clad figures crowded against the base, firing into the panicked delegates. Mia noticed that Derec A very watched Bogard as much as the vid.

"Looks like twenty-one to me," Ariel said.

"Back it up slowly," Mia said. "Bogard, track the assailants."

The robot moved closer to the screen.

The camera withdrew, the action flowing languidly in reverse until a point just before the explosions.

"Stop," Mia said. "Bogard?"

"There is a discrepancy," the robot said. "I counted twenty-one assailants at the edge of the platform. Twelve of them are absent from the crowd at this point."

"What-?" Ariel started. She glared at the robot.

"Wait," Derec said. "The vid I saw at the station from the RI surveillance, just prior to it going off-line, showed people in the crowd vanishing. Now you're telling us that several of these figures appeared during the initial attack? They weren't already present?"