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Authors: Peter F. Hamilton
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obscene.’
I stood up and walked over to her window, looking down into the small courtyard at the centre of the hospital. There was an ornate pond in the middle which had a tiny fountain playing in it; big orange fish glided about below the lily pads. ‘If the company did send a covert agent up here to kill Maowkavitz, he or she would have to be very biotechnology literate to circumvent the habitat personality’s observation. I mean, I couldn’t do it. I don’t even understand how it was done, nor do most of my officers.’
‘I see what you mean. It would have to be someone who’s been up here before.’
‘Right. Someone who understands the habitat surveillance parameters perfectly, and who’s one hundred per cent loyal to JSKP.’
‘My God, you’re talking about Zimmels.’
I smiled down at the fish. ‘You have to admit, he’s a perfect suspect.’
‘And would you have him arrested if he is guilty?’
‘Oh, yes. JSKP can have me fired, but they can’t deflect me.’
‘Very commendable.’
I turned back to find her giving me a heartily bemused stare. ‘But it’s a little too early to be making allegations like that; I’ll wait until I have more data.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ she muttered. ‘I suppose you’ve also considered it could have been a mercy killing by some sympathetic bleeding-heart medical practitioner, one who was intimate with Penny’s circumstances.’
I laughed. ‘Top of my list.’
*
Before I went for the implant, they dressed me in a green surgical smock, and shaved off a three-centimetre circle of hair at the base of my skull. The operating theatre resembled a dentist’s surgery. A big hydraulic chair at the centre of a horseshoe of medical consoles and instrument waldos. The major difference was the chair’s headrest, which was a complicated arrangement of metal bands and adjustable pads. The sight triggered a cascade of unpleasant memories, newscable images of the more brutal regimes back on Earth. What one-party states did to their opposition members.
‘Nothing to worry about,’ Corrine said breezily, when the sight of it slowed my walk. ‘I’ve done this operation about five hundred times now.’
The nurse smiled and guided me into the chair. I don’t think she was more than a couple of years older than Nicolette. Should they really be using teenagers to assist with delicate brain surgery on senior staff?
Straps around my arms, straps around my legs; a big strap, like a corset, around my chest, holding me tight. Then they started immobilizing my head.
‘How many survived?’ I asked.
‘All of them. Come on, Harvey, it’s basically just an injection.’
‘I hate needles.’
The nurse giggled.
‘Bloody hell,’ Corrine grunted. ‘Men! Women never make this fuss.’
I swallowed my immediate short-and-to-the-point comment. ‘Will I be able to use the affinity bond straight away?’
‘No. What I’m going to do this afternoon is insert a cluster of neuron symbiont buds into your medulla oblongata. They take a day or so to infiltrate your axons and develop into operational grafts.’
‘Wonderful.’ Sickly grey fungal spores grubbing round my cells, sending out slender yellow roots to penetrate the delicate membrane walls. Feeding off me.
Corrine and the nurse finished fixing my head in place and stood back. The chair slowly tilted forwards until I was inclined at forty-five degrees, staring at the floor. I heard a hissing sound; something cold touched the patch of shaved skin. ‘Ouch.’
‘Harvey, that’s the anaesthetic spray,’ Corrine exclaimed with some asperity.
‘Sorry.’
‘Once the symbionts are functioning you’ll need proper training to use them. It doesn’t take more than a few hours. I’ll book your appointment with one of our tutors.’
‘Thanks. Exactly how many people up here are affinity capable?’
She was busy switching on various equipment modules. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a holographic screen
I stood up and walked over to her window, looking down into the small courtyard at the centre of the hospital. There was an ornate pond in the middle which had a tiny fountain playing in it; big orange fish glided about below the lily pads. ‘If the company did send a covert agent up here to kill Maowkavitz, he or she would have to be very biotechnology literate to circumvent the habitat personality’s observation. I mean, I couldn’t do it. I don’t even understand how it was done, nor do most of my officers.’
‘I see what you mean. It would have to be someone who’s been up here before.’
‘Right. Someone who understands the habitat surveillance parameters perfectly, and who’s one hundred per cent loyal to JSKP.’
‘My God, you’re talking about Zimmels.’
I smiled down at the fish. ‘You have to admit, he’s a perfect suspect.’
‘And would you have him arrested if he is guilty?’
‘Oh, yes. JSKP can have me fired, but they can’t deflect me.’
‘Very commendable.’
I turned back to find her giving me a heartily bemused stare. ‘But it’s a little too early to be making allegations like that; I’ll wait until I have more data.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ she muttered. ‘I suppose you’ve also considered it could have been a mercy killing by some sympathetic bleeding-heart medical practitioner, one who was intimate with Penny’s circumstances.’
I laughed. ‘Top of my list.’
*
Before I went for the implant, they dressed me in a green surgical smock, and shaved off a three-centimetre circle of hair at the base of my skull. The operating theatre resembled a dentist’s surgery. A big hydraulic chair at the centre of a horseshoe of medical consoles and instrument waldos. The major difference was the chair’s headrest, which was a complicated arrangement of metal bands and adjustable pads. The sight triggered a cascade of unpleasant memories, newscable images of the more brutal regimes back on Earth. What one-party states did to their opposition members.
‘Nothing to worry about,’ Corrine said breezily, when the sight of it slowed my walk. ‘I’ve done this operation about five hundred times now.’
The nurse smiled and guided me into the chair. I don’t think she was more than a couple of years older than Nicolette. Should they really be using teenagers to assist with delicate brain surgery on senior staff?
Straps around my arms, straps around my legs; a big strap, like a corset, around my chest, holding me tight. Then they started immobilizing my head.
‘How many survived?’ I asked.
‘All of them. Come on, Harvey, it’s basically just an injection.’
‘I hate needles.’
The nurse giggled.
‘Bloody hell,’ Corrine grunted. ‘Men! Women never make this fuss.’
I swallowed my immediate short-and-to-the-point comment. ‘Will I be able to use the affinity bond straight away?’
‘No. What I’m going to do this afternoon is insert a cluster of neuron symbiont buds into your medulla oblongata. They take a day or so to infiltrate your axons and develop into operational grafts.’
‘Wonderful.’ Sickly grey fungal spores grubbing round my cells, sending out slender yellow roots to penetrate the delicate membrane walls. Feeding off me.
Corrine and the nurse finished fixing my head in place and stood back. The chair slowly tilted forwards until I was inclined at forty-five degrees, staring at the floor. I heard a hissing sound; something cold touched the patch of shaved skin. ‘Ouch.’
‘Harvey, that’s the anaesthetic spray,’ Corrine exclaimed with some asperity.
‘Sorry.’
‘Once the symbionts are functioning you’ll need proper training to use them. It doesn’t take more than a few hours. I’ll book your appointment with one of our tutors.’
‘Thanks. Exactly how many people up here are affinity capable?’
She was busy switching on various equipment modules. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a holographic screen
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