[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.“I really don’t like having to tell you this,” he said, looking across his desk at the young woman.He took a deep breath, because he had grown to care for Jade, more than most of the women he had known in his life.She looked frightened now.“Here it is,” he said.“Your family has been arrested for a serious eco-crime, and placed on a relocation train.”Tears came instantly to her dark green eyes.“Where have they been sent?”“I can’t answer that, but because of your family’s disgrace you can no longer work here.” He almost choked on the words.“Jade, we can’t spend time together anymore.”“My Chairman!”“I’m sending you back to the Missoula Reservation to report to the Job Assignment Office, with orders that you are not to be penalized in any way for the actions of your family.I’m giving you a break.”She didn’t look grateful.Darkness spread over her face, and she fought off tears.“You won’t tell me where my parents are, or my little sister?”“They’re being processed by the system.We must have faith in the system.” He waved a hand dismissively.She shot him a hard glare, but turned and left without another word.Afterward, in the silence of his office, Rahma thought of her, and wished it might have been otherwise between them.But he could never spend time with a daughter of eco-criminals.It would undermine his stature and authority.* * *THAT EVENING A uniformed, jackbooted Andruw Twitty stepped from the VTOL plane, where he was greeted by an aide who identified himself as Artie.This was undeniably the most famous hubot of all, from what Twitty had heard, with the human eyes of a dead war hero.Unseen by the visitor, the large glidewolf soared overhead, circling the yurt compound and gazing down, watching every move he made.Though Twitty didn’t know this, the creature had reached its full adult size now and was a common sight in the sky over the game reserve, so that few people or hubots on the ground took notice of her anymore.Several times, Twitty looked upward nervously, remembering what had happened before, but in the waning light and mottled cloud cover he did not see the animal at all.But it was there nonetheless, and as Twitty and Artie entered the administration building the glidewolf settled quietly onto the rooftop.Twitty followed the hubot to a third-floor office in one of the yurts, where Chairman Rahma sat at a large bamboo desk, studded with commemorative plaques that bore the faces of revolutionary heroes.“You asked to see me,” the Chairman said.“This had better not be a waste of my time.”“Oh, it won’t be, sir.” Twitty removed his helmet, looked back nervously as the door shut behind him.The hubot remained in the room and stood by a balcony door, staring at him.“Well?” Chairman Rahma said, glaring.“There is more to Joss Stuart than the government realizes, sir.I’m very concerned that he’s being permitted to go back to work on a Janus Machine crew.That’s sensitive, important work, and he should not be trusted with it.”He paused, waiting for a response—but the Chairman didn’t say anything.Letting his visitor remain uncomfortable, Rahma Popal flipped off the screen of a report he had been reading, the latest on the tensions with the Panasian government and their intractable premier, Woo Hashimoto.The fool was issuing a personal challenge to Rahma, suggesting that they meet in hand-to-hand combat and fight to the death, with the victor vanquishing the other nation.He offered an odd choice of weapons: knives or swords.What an idiot he is, Rahma thought.Knives or swords? I am a man of peace, not of violence!He had to admit, though, that the thought of sticking a blade into Hashimoto’s gut appealed to him.Yes, it would be nice to do it personally, and watch him bleed to death, then hack him to pieces the way Hashimoto had done to the polar bear.It occurred to him now, as it had before, that he could present himself to Hashimoto in the form of an avatar—in enhanced virtual reality form.That way he could at least frighten the man, and perhaps cause him to hurt himself.Rahma envisioned his own bearded avatar chasing Hashimoto through his palace near Shanghai, wielding a virtual reality sword—perhaps one that was emerald in color, or some other impressive variation of green
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]