hell of a high-powered thinker when she’s trying.”
“But she knew the schedule,” Simon pointed out, stepping inside the elevator with the others. Ariane and Wu Kung turned their heads, listening to the conversation. “She’d know she had at least a few days.”
“She’d know the schedule gave her at least a few days,” DuQuesne corrected him. “But if you could detect her jumping out, she’d assume I’d break every speed limit there was to catch up with her.”
“But Simon just invented the detection device,” Ariane protested. “Why would she assume anything like that?”
“You tell me, Simon; if you were in her position, just as smart as you, knowing what she’d know about the Drive—would she be able to reasonably guess that it was practically possible to detect?”
Simon frowned. The doors opened and they walked out into the main floor of Nexus Arena, on which were located all of the Embassies, the Powerbrokers, and the entrances to the actual Arena Challenge levels. After another few moments, he grimaced. “Yes, I’m afraid she would. The capability is implicit in the way the system works, if you understand it sufficiently. The light-signature from the drive is very distinctive, even leaving aside the spacetime effects.”
Gabrielle shrugged. “All right. So she’ll only be there if she’s planned on meeting us, then.”
“That’s the way I’d bet.”
Ariane waved over one of the “taxis,” the automated public transports that looked like open-roofed and flexibly configured maglev transit cars. Wu Kung stepped smoothly between Ariane and the vehicle, leaped into it and ran from one end to the other, eyes covering every square centimeter of the taxi in seconds. “Okay,” he said, and stood watchfully as the others boarded.
“Is that really necessary?” Ariane asked.
“Yes,” Wu said without hesitation. “Sure, there’s only a very small chance someone might be trying to kill you in any given place, but if I ignore all the small chances they add up to a big chance. There’s some I have to ignore, because we just don’t have time. There’s others I don’t know about yet. And there’s some I’ll miss because you’re in private, or because I get sent somewhere else. But the ones I can, I’ll watch for. Okay?”
She smiled and DuQuesne couldn’t help but grin with her. “Yes, okay. If I have to have a bodyguard, I suppose I have to let him do his job.”
The taxi, having been instructed by Ariane, quickly pulled up to the broad, simply-ornamented front of the Embassy of Humanity. DuQuesne noted a bystander—a Milluk, a gray-black spherical body on jointed spidery legs—turn as they approached, and a small green-glowing sphere appeared nearby. An observer, roving reporter, something like that, now letting someone know that there’s activity at the Embassy. If he’s got good data or observing skills, he also knows that the captain’s back, which will kick everything into high gear.
The door opened as they approached—DuQuesne in front this time as Wu Kung covered the rear—and they entered the foyer.
DuQuesne felt his eyebrows climb. The entranceway had been transformed in their absence. A series of well-spaced statues—of people, animals, symbols—circled the entire room, while artworks ranging from what appeared to be duplicates of Old Masters to the recent Inversion-Projection period concept light-sculptures hung from or were projected near the walls. The walls and floor themselves had changed from the default concrete and metal appearance; there was carefully selected panelling that looked like natural wood and the floor was a polished marble-like substance. “That’s…quite a change.”
“DuQuesne? ARIANE? Holy crap, you’re back!” Carl Edlund’s voice echoed around the room from the door that had suddenly opened at the far end of the foyer. He ran forward; DuQuesne could see Wu tense momentarily, but he’d apparently decided not to do any more
“But she knew the schedule,” Simon pointed out, stepping inside the elevator with the others. Ariane and Wu Kung turned their heads, listening to the conversation. “She’d know she had at least a few days.”
“She’d know the schedule gave her at least a few days,” DuQuesne corrected him. “But if you could detect her jumping out, she’d assume I’d break every speed limit there was to catch up with her.”
“But Simon just invented the detection device,” Ariane protested. “Why would she assume anything like that?”
“You tell me, Simon; if you were in her position, just as smart as you, knowing what she’d know about the Drive—would she be able to reasonably guess that it was practically possible to detect?”
Simon frowned. The doors opened and they walked out into the main floor of Nexus Arena, on which were located all of the Embassies, the Powerbrokers, and the entrances to the actual Arena Challenge levels. After another few moments, he grimaced. “Yes, I’m afraid she would. The capability is implicit in the way the system works, if you understand it sufficiently. The light-signature from the drive is very distinctive, even leaving aside the spacetime effects.”
Gabrielle shrugged. “All right. So she’ll only be there if she’s planned on meeting us, then.”
“That’s the way I’d bet.”
Ariane waved over one of the “taxis,” the automated public transports that looked like open-roofed and flexibly configured maglev transit cars. Wu Kung stepped smoothly between Ariane and the vehicle, leaped into it and ran from one end to the other, eyes covering every square centimeter of the taxi in seconds. “Okay,” he said, and stood watchfully as the others boarded.
“Is that really necessary?” Ariane asked.
“Yes,” Wu said without hesitation. “Sure, there’s only a very small chance someone might be trying to kill you in any given place, but if I ignore all the small chances they add up to a big chance. There’s some I have to ignore, because we just don’t have time. There’s others I don’t know about yet. And there’s some I’ll miss because you’re in private, or because I get sent somewhere else. But the ones I can, I’ll watch for. Okay?”
She smiled and DuQuesne couldn’t help but grin with her. “Yes, okay. If I have to have a bodyguard, I suppose I have to let him do his job.”
The taxi, having been instructed by Ariane, quickly pulled up to the broad, simply-ornamented front of the Embassy of Humanity. DuQuesne noted a bystander—a Milluk, a gray-black spherical body on jointed spidery legs—turn as they approached, and a small green-glowing sphere appeared nearby. An observer, roving reporter, something like that, now letting someone know that there’s activity at the Embassy. If he’s got good data or observing skills, he also knows that the captain’s back, which will kick everything into high gear.
The door opened as they approached—DuQuesne in front this time as Wu Kung covered the rear—and they entered the foyer.
DuQuesne felt his eyebrows climb. The entranceway had been transformed in their absence. A series of well-spaced statues—of people, animals, symbols—circled the entire room, while artworks ranging from what appeared to be duplicates of Old Masters to the recent Inversion-Projection period concept light-sculptures hung from or were projected near the walls. The walls and floor themselves had changed from the default concrete and metal appearance; there was carefully selected panelling that looked like natural wood and the floor was a polished marble-like substance. “That’s…quite a change.”
“DuQuesne? ARIANE? Holy crap, you’re back!” Carl Edlund’s voice echoed around the room from the door that had suddenly opened at the far end of the foyer. He ran forward; DuQuesne could see Wu tense momentarily, but he’d apparently decided not to do any more
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