Free Palace by Katharine Kerr, Mark Kreighbaum Page A

the tip come from?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘You don’t know? How can you not know? There had to be a route mark.’
    ‘There was, yeah, but from a place that doesn’t exist, at least not any more. When I went to look for it, the routing led me up against the Caliostro firewall. Right at the bombed-out area. That AI’s been a mess for how long?’
    ‘A thousand years,’ Hi answered. ‘At least. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any daemons and rogue agents still operating in there.’
    ‘You’re the only person I know who could get any use out of wrecked circuits like those.’
    ‘Yeah? Sounds like there are two of us.’
    Hi paused, thinking. He’d been meaning to squeeze some time out of his impossible schedule to look over poor old Caliostro and see if anything could be salvaged from those particular ruins. Maybe he’d better find the time right away. He looked at Aleen and found her reading something off the cybereye he’d given her.
    ‘I’ll need details,’ he said to Arno.
    ‘Sure. You can see why I wanted to tell you in person, though. Can’t leave this kind of data lying around the Map uncoded. Rico has a meta, by the way, that’ll get you to the dump.’
    ‘Rico? By the bloody damn weeping Eye! Why did you -’
    ‘One, because no-one would figure I’d give it to him. Two, because I didn’t know if I’d live to reach The Close, and if I didn’t, this way you would have data to start hunting with. And three, because he’s a good Mapwalker, Dad, real good. Look.’ Arno leaned forward earnestly.
    ‘Rico’s going to be better than me some day, he really is. I could see it from the first time I helped him jack into the Map. Everyone’s always underestimated him.’ He paused for a twisted grin. ‘Because of me.’
    ‘Well, I can see that. You threw a lot of shade around for other people to stand in. Okay. I’ll take your word for it. He’s just so damn young.’
    ‘And naive,’ Aleen muttered.
    ‘I should have known you’d be listening,’ Hi said, grinning. ‘Arno, who’s the other contract on? Anyone we know?’
    ‘No, that’s the weirdest part of the whole thing. Kata was hired to kill me and an unMarked girl named Vida.’
    ‘What?’ Hi said.
    Aleen had gone very still, leaning forward on her chair.
    ‘Yeah. Just some unMarked girl.’ Arno spread his hands. ‘Can’t figure it. But if Riva went to the trouble to hire the Outcast to kill her, she must be one hell of an important clue. That’s why I took the risk of leaving my hole. I was trying to get to The Close to see Aleen, so she could get you over here, so I could check with you about this. Didn’t know you’d be here already, so I -’
    ‘Shut up a minute, kid.’ Hi had never seen Aleen pale before. ‘What’s going on? You know this girl?’
    ‘Oh yes.’ Aleen’s voice was perfectly steady. ‘She’s my ward.’
    Hi frankly stared, his mouth half-open.
    ‘Well, hey,’ Arno said. ‘Then you’d know if there was some reason she’s important.’
    ‘Oh yes. There’s a very good reason.’ Aleen rose smoothly, calmly, smiled at them both.
    ‘Excuse me. I’ll just get her up here.’
    ‘Wait a minute,’ Hi snapped. ‘I don’t want her seeing Arno.’
    ‘I can hide in the washroom, Dad. I want to hear this.’
    Hi considered – safe enough, really.
    ‘Just keep the door shut.’
    ‘Dad, I could have figured that out, okay?’
    Aleen walked over and reached into the Belie jungle to pull out a comm unit. She punched a code, waited, then nodded at its tiny screen, that vague gesture of a person whose call has been answered.
    ‘Tia? Where’s Vida?’ A pause. ‘Well, tell her to wash her hands and come up here. No, not my office. My public room.’ Another pause. ‘She what? Why didn’t you tell me - well, of course
    - yeah, that’s true - fine, fine, just get her up here now.’ She powered out and stood for a moment, cradling the unit in both hands, before she spoke. ‘Someone tried