Free This Day All Gods Die by Stephen R. Donaldson Page A

those of the Dragon's Home Office.
    "Yet I am also certain that the First Executive Assistant is lying to us.
    "Clay Imposs was a sergeant for GCES Security. To attain his rank, he had served that organization for several years." Hashi wished to appear calm; as stolid as his director.
    Nevertheless he couldn't stifle the throb of his excitement.
    "Therefore his id tag and clearance badge would naturally have been patched six weeks ago. And yet the source-code in his credentials is both correct and current."
    Lane and her assistants could not be mistaken on such a point.
    Koina caught her breath sharply. Mandich murmured an obscenity between his teeth like a man who was beginning to understand.
    Warden waited without expression for Hashi to go.
    "As I have explained," Hashi stated, "those credentials are a composite of his id and Nathan Alt's. But such a confla-tion could only have been performed by someone with perfect access to the code engines themselves. It is a complete fabrication, which only an intimate knowledge of the code engines could have made possible.
    "And yet the designers of those engines are ours," he concluded in triumph. "No one whom we did not assign has had access to the source-code—
    except Nathan Alt."
    The UMCP director nodded to himself. Despite the best Hashi could do, Warden still showed no surprise. Yet the easing of tension in the muscles around his eye suggested emotions which pleased Hashi more than any amount of surprise: relief; gratification.
    "Well done, Hashi," he murmured as if no one were listening. "I wouldn't have thought of that."
    An elation like pride strained Hashi's chest until he wondered whether his old heart could bear it.
    "Wait a minute," Koina put in quickly. "You think Alt went on working for Cleatus Fane after Fane says he was fired.
    How can he lie about something like that? Even if the records were changed, wouldn't our people—
    the designers who
    worked with Alt—
    wouldn't they be able to testify that the records are wrong, that Alt wasn't fired six weeks ago?"
    Hashi offered no reply. Instead he waited for Chief Mandich to speak.
    The chief chewed bitterness for a moment. Then he said gruffly, "No. I'm afraid not."
    Warden knew this as well as Hashi did. Like Hashi, however, he left the explanation to Mandich.
    "We take every precaution we can think of to protect that work," the Chief growled. "It's all done from remote terminals by secure link to dedicated computers at Anodyne. First the link has to be established. Those are Administration codes.
    Then the remote terminal has to match the system protocols.
    DA supplies the codes for that. Then the terminal operator has to gain access. We"—
    ED Security—
    "control those codes.
    "It's not just that the code designers never even see each other. They don't have any way of knowing who else has access—
    who they're working with. Alt could have been fired years ago. He could have been working there yesterday. The design teams wouldn't know the difference."
    In disgust he added, "It's supposed to be safer that way."
    Koina wasn't satisfied, however. "But for Fane to tell a lie like that—
    " she protested. "It's still too dangerous. He must have known he would be caught."
    "On the contrary"—
    at last Hashi turned away from War-
    den to face the PR director—
    "from his perspective it must be
    inconceivable that he would be caught.
    "Where could he have imagined that the evidence against him might be obtained? By their very nature, kazes destroy evidence. He could hardly have predicted that even a tiny fragment of Godsen's killer's id would survive for Lane's detection. Surely he must have assumed—
    anyone would have
    assumed—
    that Nathan Alt's remains, so thoroughly smashed in such a public place, would leave nothing to be discovered.
    "With Captain Alt himself dead, what remains to expose Cleatus Fane's falsehood?
    "He did not see me acquire Captain Alt's credentials."
    Hashi suppressed an inclination to congratulate