Free Blue Shifting by Eric Brown Page B

the danger of whatever it was she wanted him to do. Then, when he returned, I could tell him that I was leaving, and that this time there was nothing he could say to make me return.
    "Tell me about when you worked for the Javelin Line," the woman said. "Is it true that in flux you experience Nirvana?"
    "Some Enginemen claim that."
    "Did you?"
    "Do we have to talk about this?" he said, and I knew that his hands would be trembling.
    In my mind's eye I could see the woman giving an unconcerned shrug. "Very well, but I hope you don't mind discussing your occipital implant-"
    Dan: "Why?" suspicious.
    "Because I'm interested." Her tone was hard. "What kind is it, Leferve?"
    "Standard Sony neo-cortical implant-"
    "With a dozen chips in the pre-frontal lobe, sub-cortex, cerebellum, etc...?"
    "You've done your homework," Dan said. "Why the interest?"
    "When was the last time you fluxed?"
    I cried out.
    It took Dan aback, too. The silence stretched. Then: "Almost two years ago..."
    "Would you consider doing it just one more time," she asked, "for twenty-five thousand dollars?"
    I could sense Dan's indecision.
    I balled my fists and willed him to say no...
    "I have a smallship I need taking on a short haul," she said.
    There was a brief moment of silence, then Dan spoke.
    "Insystem or interstellar?"
    And I yelled: "Dan..."
    "Neither," the woman said. "I want you to 'push the ship through the nada -continuum from here to Frankfurt."
    Dan laughed. "You're mad..."
    "I'm quite sane, I assure you. From A to B and back again. You'll be in the sen-dep tank for less than one hour."
    "And the ship?"
    "An ex-Indian Navy Hindustan-Tata with Rolls-Royce ion drive-"
    "Crew?"
    "None. Just you and me. The ship is pre-programmed with the co-ordinates. All it needs is someone to 'push it."
    "And I'd be wasting my time asking what all this is about?"
    The woman assented. "You'd be wasting your time. Can I take it that you want the job?"
    Dan murmured something.
    "Good," she said. "Here's my card. If you arrive at five, we'll phase out at six."
    They left the restaurant and took the downchute to the landing stage. I sat in the darkness and stared at the wall, wishing that Dan had had the strength of will to turn his back on that which had almost killed him.
    I switched off the tape, then switched it on again. I couldn't face Dan and tell him that I was leaving – that way I'd end up screaming and shouting how much I hated him, which wasn't true. I'd leave a taped message to the effect that I needed a long break, and quit before he got back. I picked up the microphone.
    Then the Batan chimed and Claude's big monkey face filled the screen. "Phuong, I got the information on that flier."
    "Yeah?" My thoughts were elsewhere.
    "Belongs to a guy called Lassolini – Sam Lassolini-"
    I just shrugged.
    Claude went on: "He's a surgeon, a big noise in European bio-engineering."
    I remembered the documentary, and Etteridge's last marriage. "Hey, wasn't he married to-"
    Claude nodded. "That's the guy. He hit the headlines ten years ago when the film star Stephanie Etteridge left him-"
    "You got his address, Claude?"
    "Sure."
    "Then pick me up tout-de-suite ."
    I thought about it.
    Now why would Sam Lassolini follow the Stephanie Etteridge look-alike to her mansion in Passy...?
    There was only one way to find out.
    ~
    The de Gaulle building was the old city morgue, deserted and derelict but for the converted top floor, now a penthouse suite. Claude dropped me on the landing stage and I told him to wait. I took the downchute one floor and hiked along a corridor. I came to a pair of double doors and hit the chime. I felt suddenly conspicuous. I hadn't washed for two days, and I'd hardly had time to learn my lines.
    A small Japanese butler opened the door.
    "Lassolini residence?" I asked.
    "The doctor sees no-one without an appointment."
    "Then I'll make an appointment – for now ."
    I tried to push past him. When he barred my way I showed him my pistol and said that if