Free Deadman Switch by Timothy Zahn Page B

way in what they could need with even that much room. The autopark guided the car to a VIP spot by one of the Elegy-style columns flanking the main entrance, and as we stepped out a man in a middle-level business capelet emerged from the wrought-styraline doors. A memory clicked as we approached him: HTI’s president, O’Rielly, had been wearing an identical capelet clasp when Lord Kelsey-Ramos called to announce Carillon’s acquisition of his company. Apparently HTI was one of those corporations which went in for the trappings of team spirit; whether those trappings actually accomplished what they were intended to was something we would soon find out.
    â€œGood day to you, Mr. Kelsey-Ramos; welcome,” the man greeted us, nodding with the appropriate deference. His sense belied his words: we were considerably less than welcome here. “I’m Brandeis Pyatt of HTI Transport, Station Chief Chun Li’s chief assistant.”
    â€œGood day to you as well,” Randon nodded back. “I trust Mr. Chun Li is still expecting us.”
    â€œYes, sir, he’s waiting inside in the board room.” Pyatt’s eyes flicked once to me, recognition clearly there, as he turned to lead us inside. “If you’ll follow me … ?”
    We walked in silence down a corridor lined with attractive stonework. A few employees and guards watched with varying degrees of interest—and varying degrees of distrust—as we made our way. Once, I remembered, I’d likened this trip to an ambassadorial visit to a conquered country; now, it was beginning to feel more like an espionage penetration.
    Eventually, we reached an inner door. Two guards with duplicates of Pyatt’s capelet clasp as collar insignia stood flanking it; at Pyatt’s nod, one reached over and pulled the heavy wooden panel open.
    It was as if we’d suddenly been transported from Solitaire to a major corporation headquarters on one of the Patri worlds. Nothing in the hallway had prepared me for the vast expanse of space or the lavish display of furnishings, all of them that I could identify having been imported from off-world. A carefully orchestrated sensory bombardment, probably designed to both intimidate the visitor and heighten his subconscious estimation of HTI in the bargain. A thought occurred to me, and a quick check confirmed that the room could indeed be converted with only minimal effort from its current business setup to one more suitable for entertainment.
    Seated around the massive formite-topped gemrock table filling out the room’s center were two men and a woman I recognized from Schock’s data cyl: Station Chief Wilmin Chun Li, First Assistant Manager Tomus Blake, and Second Assistant Manager Angli Karash. Between and around them at the table itself were scattered another half dozen aides and assistants; behind them, against the walls, other aides and guards stood or sat at auxiliary work stations.
    â€œGood day to you,” Chun Li nodded gravely, rising to his feet as the others at the table followed suit. “I’m Station Chief Wilmin Chun Li; on behalf of HTI’s Solitaire operation, I welcome you.”
    A proud man, I saw, though not necessarily in the bad sense of that word. Proud of his accomplishments, proud of his organization and of the job he had done here … and more than a little nervous. Worried that Carillon would summarily dismiss him? It was a reasonable possibility, and a sadly not unreasonable fear: in corporate acquisitions like this a long and loyal work record often became a liability. Over it all, covering the other emotions like a translucent glaze, was a general sense of tension. The same tension, perhaps, that Calandra and I had sensed in Solitaire as a whole …
    â€œGood day to you as well, sir,” Randon returned the nod. “I’m honored to be here.” He gestured to Schock and me. “May I present my aides: Dapper Schock and