regain his composure and unsure what to say. Some instinct prevented him from mentioning
anything about the book.
jeered Borges.
‘Did you note anything of interest?’ Cheng pressed.
Yes. ‘If I may speak candidly once more . . . ?’
‘You may,’ Cheng rumbled, regarding him curiously.
‘Forensic investigation isn’t exactly my forte,’ he explained. ‘I’m not sure just how much good I can do you here without the help of someone who might be better
qualified.’
Cheng regarded him with mild amusement. ‘Zelia showed me the details of your record of service for Security and Intelligence’s Archives Division, Mr Gabion. It was all very
impressive. As Zelia already pointed out, you managed to track Winchell down essentially single-handed, not even counting several other lesser but nonetheless equally impressive triumphs earlier in
your career. Under the circumstances, I think she’s entirely right to think you’re more than sufficiently qualified to give us an objective opinion regarding what took place
here.’
It further occurred to Luc that if Vasili’s killer really was a member of the Temur Council, he could well be amongst those standing arrayed behind Father Cheng. And given the power of
life or death any one of them had over him – or, indeed, over almost anyone throughout the worlds of the Tian Di – there was a real chance he’d be putting his own life in serious
danger if he did mention the book. Nor had he missed Ruy Borges’s comment about Zelia’s need to be exonerated – but exonerated from what? From suspicion of murdering Vasili, or
something completely unrelated?
Whoever turned out to have killed Vasili, the last thing he wanted to do, should the killer prove to be present, was blurt out that he’d found a piece of evidence. For the moment it
was best to leave the book where he had found it, tucked out of sight beneath Vasili’s corpse. Fortunately, none of those present appeared to have the least interest in getting close enough
to the body to see the book wedged beneath it.
‘Those mechants,’ said Luc, nodding up at the machines floating just overhead. ‘Did they belong to Vasili?’
‘They did,’ said de Almeida, stepping up beside Cheng, one hand covering her mouth and nose. ‘They’re linked into the security network for the whole island.’
‘Any sign of them having been compromised?’
Zelia nodded. ‘Someone figured out how to erase the house records going back for some days. The mechants’ memories are linked into those records, so any data that might have told us
who’s responsible for this was also wiped.’
‘Why haven’t you just gone ahead and re-instantiated Vasili from his backups?’ asked Luc. ‘Surely you could just ask him who did this?’
Zelia’s lips tightened. ‘All his backups were erased remotely, presumably by whoever was responsible for his murder.’
Luc stared back at her, shocked. ‘Would that have been easy to do?’ he asked carefully.
‘No,’ she replied, shaking her head. ‘Not easy at all.’
Luc glanced at the Councillors clustered by the entrance. All of them, except for Cheng and Cripps, the latter regarding him with an openly malevolent expression, looked scared. Instantiation
technology had kept them all alive for centuries, but when Vasili had died, he had died forever, and none of them wanted to share in his fate.
‘Are the backups centrally located?’ he asked.
‘No, they’re widely distributed,’ Zelia replied. ‘Their locations are a carefully kept secret, for obvious reasons.’
‘But somebody must know where they’re all located.’
Zelia sighed and shook her head again. ‘No, I’m afraid not. We programmed AIs to take care of placing them in secure but unknown locations. Nobody has the right to know where anyone
else’s instantiation backups are located. The only thing I can tell you is that as far as I know,
anything about the book.
‘Did you note anything of interest?’ Cheng pressed.
Yes. ‘If I may speak candidly once more . . . ?’
‘You may,’ Cheng rumbled, regarding him curiously.
‘Forensic investigation isn’t exactly my forte,’ he explained. ‘I’m not sure just how much good I can do you here without the help of someone who might be better
qualified.’
Cheng regarded him with mild amusement. ‘Zelia showed me the details of your record of service for Security and Intelligence’s Archives Division, Mr Gabion. It was all very
impressive. As Zelia already pointed out, you managed to track Winchell down essentially single-handed, not even counting several other lesser but nonetheless equally impressive triumphs earlier in
your career. Under the circumstances, I think she’s entirely right to think you’re more than sufficiently qualified to give us an objective opinion regarding what took place
here.’
It further occurred to Luc that if Vasili’s killer really was a member of the Temur Council, he could well be amongst those standing arrayed behind Father Cheng. And given the power of
life or death any one of them had over him – or, indeed, over almost anyone throughout the worlds of the Tian Di – there was a real chance he’d be putting his own life in serious
danger if he did mention the book. Nor had he missed Ruy Borges’s comment about Zelia’s need to be exonerated – but exonerated from what? From suspicion of murdering Vasili, or
something completely unrelated?
Whoever turned out to have killed Vasili, the last thing he wanted to do, should the killer prove to be present, was blurt out that he’d found a piece of evidence. For the moment it
was best to leave the book where he had found it, tucked out of sight beneath Vasili’s corpse. Fortunately, none of those present appeared to have the least interest in getting close enough
to the body to see the book wedged beneath it.
‘Those mechants,’ said Luc, nodding up at the machines floating just overhead. ‘Did they belong to Vasili?’
‘They did,’ said de Almeida, stepping up beside Cheng, one hand covering her mouth and nose. ‘They’re linked into the security network for the whole island.’
‘Any sign of them having been compromised?’
Zelia nodded. ‘Someone figured out how to erase the house records going back for some days. The mechants’ memories are linked into those records, so any data that might have told us
who’s responsible for this was also wiped.’
‘Why haven’t you just gone ahead and re-instantiated Vasili from his backups?’ asked Luc. ‘Surely you could just ask him who did this?’
Zelia’s lips tightened. ‘All his backups were erased remotely, presumably by whoever was responsible for his murder.’
Luc stared back at her, shocked. ‘Would that have been easy to do?’ he asked carefully.
‘No,’ she replied, shaking her head. ‘Not easy at all.’
Luc glanced at the Councillors clustered by the entrance. All of them, except for Cheng and Cripps, the latter regarding him with an openly malevolent expression, looked scared. Instantiation
technology had kept them all alive for centuries, but when Vasili had died, he had died forever, and none of them wanted to share in his fate.
‘Are the backups centrally located?’ he asked.
‘No, they’re widely distributed,’ Zelia replied. ‘Their locations are a carefully kept secret, for obvious reasons.’
‘But somebody must know where they’re all located.’
Zelia sighed and shook her head again. ‘No, I’m afraid not. We programmed AIs to take care of placing them in secure but unknown locations. Nobody has the right to know where anyone
else’s instantiation backups are located. The only thing I can tell you is that as far as I know,
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