want to.”
“Of course.”
“What if they don’t notice it?”
“I told you, the signal won’t be affected by radio wave disturbances...”
“No, I mean what if they don’t realize what it is? You said the short-range comm system is used for service bots. Maybe the opsys will just filter your message before an Invidi sees it.” He grimaced. “Or put it in their In file. Knowing Confederacy bureaucracy, they’ll get back to you in a century or so.”
“There is no Confederacy yet,” I snapped.
“Anyway, even if they do respond, how are we going to go and see them if we haven’t got IDs?” He ran a finger along the barrel of the scope.
“I don’t know. Not having an ID has been my main problem since I arrived here.”
“Black market?”
“Too expensive. IDs and addictive drugs are the main revenue of the gangs. They keep the price of both high. It would take me two years at this rate to earn enough.”
“This money thing’s a bugger.”
I nodded and tweaked a connecting cable absently.
“Right.” He stood and stretched. “I’m off to the school. Might have a bit of a look around, too.”
“What, out there?”
“I’m a native, remember?”
A thought struck me. “What if you meet your great-grandparents?”
He waved the possibility away. “They’re still up on the coast, both sides of the family.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It was my grandmother who moved. We’ve all been here ever since. Will be here,” he corrected. “Jeez, plays hell with your tenses, doesn’t it? Anyway, what does it matter how many of my family we meet? We can’t change what’s already happened.”
He reached the door, but then turned back toward me.
“How about Griffis and the others?” he said curiously. “They must have electronic profiles somewhere on infonet.” The three survivors of
Calypso
’s journey should have been well into their preparations by now. They had planned the journey for years; An Serat’s help was merely a bonus.
“I thought about it.” I had looked them up. Hannibal Griffis, the leader of the
Calypso
crew, was listed under several organizations dealing with human rights and environmental issues, position “retired.” Not true, of course. By now he’d be working with the secret space exploration group that coordinated the
Calypso
expedition. Rachel Dourif, the youngest member, was a student in Paris. And I’d found Ariel Kloos, one of their systems engineers, in a list of contributors to conference papers on AI systems.
“But the Sleepers never met us before,” I reminded Murdoch. “They’d have remembered us when they arrived on Jocasta if they had.”
“Shouldn’t we try to warn them? Break this causal loop, or whatever you call it?”
“It’s already happened.”
He dragged his hand down his cheeks in frustration. “No, they won’t leave for another three years...” He considered. “D’you reckon something would happen to stop you if you tried to meet them?”
“I don’t want to tempt Fate, or whatever gods of time-space work the Invidi magic.”
He grinned. “That’s the scientific attitude, all right.”
“It’s a principle of engineering,” I said coldly. “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”
“Anyway, can’t you work your way around their computer systems? You’re supposed to be the engineering genius. You could give yourself a huge bank account.”
I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. “Other way around. Sophisticated equipment is expensive. To buy it you need cash or a bank account. To get a bank account you need an ID. But you can’t make the ID without the equipment or pay someone else to do it without money.”
“I get the point.”
I stood up, knee joints stiff, and went over to one of the desks. “Hacking into their systems is not that difficult in itself, if you can adapt to how primitive the interface is.” And, I reminded myself as my hand searched for the wall switch, if you remember to turn it
“Of course.”
“What if they don’t notice it?”
“I told you, the signal won’t be affected by radio wave disturbances...”
“No, I mean what if they don’t realize what it is? You said the short-range comm system is used for service bots. Maybe the opsys will just filter your message before an Invidi sees it.” He grimaced. “Or put it in their In file. Knowing Confederacy bureaucracy, they’ll get back to you in a century or so.”
“There is no Confederacy yet,” I snapped.
“Anyway, even if they do respond, how are we going to go and see them if we haven’t got IDs?” He ran a finger along the barrel of the scope.
“I don’t know. Not having an ID has been my main problem since I arrived here.”
“Black market?”
“Too expensive. IDs and addictive drugs are the main revenue of the gangs. They keep the price of both high. It would take me two years at this rate to earn enough.”
“This money thing’s a bugger.”
I nodded and tweaked a connecting cable absently.
“Right.” He stood and stretched. “I’m off to the school. Might have a bit of a look around, too.”
“What, out there?”
“I’m a native, remember?”
A thought struck me. “What if you meet your great-grandparents?”
He waved the possibility away. “They’re still up on the coast, both sides of the family.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It was my grandmother who moved. We’ve all been here ever since. Will be here,” he corrected. “Jeez, plays hell with your tenses, doesn’t it? Anyway, what does it matter how many of my family we meet? We can’t change what’s already happened.”
He reached the door, but then turned back toward me.
“How about Griffis and the others?” he said curiously. “They must have electronic profiles somewhere on infonet.” The three survivors of
Calypso
’s journey should have been well into their preparations by now. They had planned the journey for years; An Serat’s help was merely a bonus.
“I thought about it.” I had looked them up. Hannibal Griffis, the leader of the
Calypso
crew, was listed under several organizations dealing with human rights and environmental issues, position “retired.” Not true, of course. By now he’d be working with the secret space exploration group that coordinated the
Calypso
expedition. Rachel Dourif, the youngest member, was a student in Paris. And I’d found Ariel Kloos, one of their systems engineers, in a list of contributors to conference papers on AI systems.
“But the Sleepers never met us before,” I reminded Murdoch. “They’d have remembered us when they arrived on Jocasta if they had.”
“Shouldn’t we try to warn them? Break this causal loop, or whatever you call it?”
“It’s already happened.”
He dragged his hand down his cheeks in frustration. “No, they won’t leave for another three years...” He considered. “D’you reckon something would happen to stop you if you tried to meet them?”
“I don’t want to tempt Fate, or whatever gods of time-space work the Invidi magic.”
He grinned. “That’s the scientific attitude, all right.”
“It’s a principle of engineering,” I said coldly. “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”
“Anyway, can’t you work your way around their computer systems? You’re supposed to be the engineering genius. You could give yourself a huge bank account.”
I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. “Other way around. Sophisticated equipment is expensive. To buy it you need cash or a bank account. To get a bank account you need an ID. But you can’t make the ID without the equipment or pay someone else to do it without money.”
“I get the point.”
I stood up, knee joints stiff, and went over to one of the desks. “Hacking into their systems is not that difficult in itself, if you can adapt to how primitive the interface is.” And, I reminded myself as my hand searched for the wall switch, if you remember to turn it
Similar Books
