The Infinity Link by Jeffrey A. Carver Page A

Hoshi glared defensively at the systems manager, his lips drawn taut with anger. Fogelbee straightened up, apparently realizing that he had pushed too hard.
    Jonders tried a more conciliatory tone. "Hoshi—can't you tell us what Mozy had in mind? It could be important for us to know—for her sake."
    Hoshi closed his eyes, lifted his hands toward his face. There was an instant in which Jonders thought he was going to burst into tears. Suddenly he laughed—and dropped his hands. A ghost of pain flickered across his face. "She was in love with him," he whispered.
    Jonders felt a band tighten around his chest. "In love with whom?"
    Hoshi chuckled bitterly. "You never noticed, did you?" Hoshi looked up and stared briefly into Jonders's eyes, then Fogelbee's. "No, you wouldn't understand. None of you would."
    "Who was she in love with?" Jonders demanded.
    "Kadin!" Hoshi hissed. "Who do you think?" He leaned back to gaze up at the ceiling. "She was head over heels, she just had to be with him. So I gave her what she wanted."
    "Dear God," whispered Fogelbee, his face in shadow.
    Jonders took three long, deep breaths. Kelly was utterly still.
    "I thought you might be surprised. It's been staring you in the face for weeks, you know."
    "Didn't you tell her—?" Jonders said—and a hundred thoughts fled from his mind. "Then she didn't know about Kadin," he finished softly.
    "Did you discuss classified information with her?" Kelly asked quietly.
    The programmer turned cool eyes upon the security chief. "Nothing much. I told her Kadin was going to be sent somewhere—I didn't say where. She was quite distraught when she found out that she'd never see him again." He shrugged. "So I brought her here." He arched his eyebrows. "That's all."
    Jonders scribbled on a note pad: Check for new personality data. Mozelle?
    "I didn't tell her about Kadin, if that's what you're worried about," Hoshi added.
    "Just what did you tell her?" Fogelbee said harshly.
    Hoshi looked away. Quickly Jonders said, "Hoshi. Whether you intended to or not, you may have caused serious harm to the project. If there's anything we should know to minimize the damage, please tell us!"
    "I did no damage to the project," Hoshi muttered. "What about her? Doesn't anyone care about Mozy?" His face twisted with pain, and he turned to avoid all of their eyes.
    It became clear that he would answer no further questions. Kelly ordered him escorted to a detention room for the night. Jonders hoped to persuade him to voluntarily undergo psychiatric examination. Kelly agreed that the incident should be kept an internal matter, as long as possible. Meanwhile, the most urgent task was to assess the damage to the project.
    "How the hell," Fogelbee asked afterward, "did this man get hired to such a sensitive position? What were you people thinking?"
    Jonders answered, barely containing his own anger. "He passed all the screenings—and he's a brilliant programmer. Obviously, if we had known—" He shrugged in disgust, not bothering to finish the sentence.
    Fogelbee snorted. "Have something for me to tell Marshall in the morning. It had better be convincing." He turned to leave before Jonders could think of a reply.
     
    * * *
     
    Jonders parted the slat blinds and squinted out across the grounds, his eyes dazzled by the morning sun. The sheltered little valley glowed with the rosy light of morning. It reminded him that he had scarcely slept. He let the blinds snap together again and turned back to the psychiatrist. "I think we ought to treat her here for the time being, if possible," he said. "Would you consider trying a direct contact, with the computer-link setup?"
    Diana Thrudore glanced up from her notes with raised eyebrows. She was a slender, black-haired woman of about forty-five, soft-spoken and quietly competent. She had arrived at six-thirty this morning, and had just finished a brief visit with Mozelle. "We can discuss that after I've examined her more thoroughly. Since there's