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Authors: Kristine Kathryn Rusch
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slowly fail. Armstrong would have a plague but not necessarily know what caused it.
He double-checked his gloves, worried that he’d touched her at all. Then he let out a breath. Yes, he knew he was being paranoid. But he thought about these things a lot—the kinds of death that could happen with just a bit of carelessness, like sickness in a dome, poison through the food supply, the wrong mix in the air supply.
He had moved from working with living humans to working with the dead primarily because his imagination was so vivid. Usually working with the dead calmed him. The regular march of unremarkable deaths reminded him that most people would die of natural causes after 150 or more years, maybe longer if they took good care of themselves.
Working with the dead usually gave him hope.
But Sonja Mycenae was making him nervous.
And he didn’t like that at all.
TWELVE
DESHIN HAD JUST finished talking with Gerda when Koos sent him an encoded message:
Need to talk as soon as you can .
Now’s fine , Deshin sent.
He moved away from the windows, where he’d been standing as he made sure Gerda was okay. The Dome Daylight seemed to reveal everything and nothing. He looked at the light on the buildings, wondering what was actually going on in the city.
At least Gerda had sounded happy, which she hadn’t since Paavo moved in.
She said she no longer felt like her every move was being judged.
She said that Paavo seemed happier too. He wasn’t crying as much, and he didn’t cling as hard to Gerda. Instead, he played with a mobile from his bouncy chair and watched her cook, cooing most of the time.
Just that one report made Deshin feel like he had made the right choice with Sonja.
Not that he had had a doubt—at least about her—after her reaction that morning. But apparently a tiny doubt had lingered about whether or not he and Gerda needed the help of a nanny.
Gerda’s report on Paavo’s calmness eased that. Deshin knew they would have hard times ahead—he wasn’t deluding himself—but he also knew that they had made the right choice to go nanny-free.
He hadn’t told Gerda what happened to Sonja, and he wouldn’t until he knew more. He didn’t want to spoil Gerda’s day.
The door to Deshin’s office opened, and Koos entered, looking upset. “Upset” was actually the wrong word. Something about Koos made Deshin think the man was afraid.
Then Deshin shook that thought off; he’d seen Koos in extremely dangerous circumstances and the man had never seemed afraid.
“I did what you asked,” Koos said without preamble. “I started vetting her all over again.”
Deshin leaned against the desk, just like he had done when he spoke to Sonja. “And?”
“Her employers on Earth are still filing updates about her exemplary work for them.”
Deshin felt a chill. “Tell me that they were just behind in their reports.”
Koos shook his head. “She’s still working for them.”
“How is that possible?” Deshin asked. “We vetted her. We even used a DNA sample to make sure her DNA was the same as the DNA on file with the service. And we collected it ourselves.”
Koos swallowed. “We used the service’s matching program.”
“Of course we did,” Deshin said. “They were the ones with the DNA on file.”
“We could have requested their file sample, and then run it ourselves.”
That chill Deshin had felt became a full-fledged shiver. “What’s the difference?”
“Depth,” Koos said. “They don’t go into the same kind of depth we would go into in our search. They just look at standard markers, which is really all most people would need to confirm identity.”
His phrasing made Deshin uncomfortable. “She’s not who she said she was?”
Koos let out a small sigh. “It’s more complicated than that.”
More complicated. Deshin shifted. He could only think of one thing that would be more complicated.
Sonja was a clone.
And that created all kinds of other
He double-checked his gloves, worried that he’d touched her at all. Then he let out a breath. Yes, he knew he was being paranoid. But he thought about these things a lot—the kinds of death that could happen with just a bit of carelessness, like sickness in a dome, poison through the food supply, the wrong mix in the air supply.
He had moved from working with living humans to working with the dead primarily because his imagination was so vivid. Usually working with the dead calmed him. The regular march of unremarkable deaths reminded him that most people would die of natural causes after 150 or more years, maybe longer if they took good care of themselves.
Working with the dead usually gave him hope.
But Sonja Mycenae was making him nervous.
And he didn’t like that at all.
TWELVE
DESHIN HAD JUST finished talking with Gerda when Koos sent him an encoded message:
Need to talk as soon as you can .
Now’s fine , Deshin sent.
He moved away from the windows, where he’d been standing as he made sure Gerda was okay. The Dome Daylight seemed to reveal everything and nothing. He looked at the light on the buildings, wondering what was actually going on in the city.
At least Gerda had sounded happy, which she hadn’t since Paavo moved in.
She said she no longer felt like her every move was being judged.
She said that Paavo seemed happier too. He wasn’t crying as much, and he didn’t cling as hard to Gerda. Instead, he played with a mobile from his bouncy chair and watched her cook, cooing most of the time.
Just that one report made Deshin feel like he had made the right choice with Sonja.
Not that he had had a doubt—at least about her—after her reaction that morning. But apparently a tiny doubt had lingered about whether or not he and Gerda needed the help of a nanny.
Gerda’s report on Paavo’s calmness eased that. Deshin knew they would have hard times ahead—he wasn’t deluding himself—but he also knew that they had made the right choice to go nanny-free.
He hadn’t told Gerda what happened to Sonja, and he wouldn’t until he knew more. He didn’t want to spoil Gerda’s day.
The door to Deshin’s office opened, and Koos entered, looking upset. “Upset” was actually the wrong word. Something about Koos made Deshin think the man was afraid.
Then Deshin shook that thought off; he’d seen Koos in extremely dangerous circumstances and the man had never seemed afraid.
“I did what you asked,” Koos said without preamble. “I started vetting her all over again.”
Deshin leaned against the desk, just like he had done when he spoke to Sonja. “And?”
“Her employers on Earth are still filing updates about her exemplary work for them.”
Deshin felt a chill. “Tell me that they were just behind in their reports.”
Koos shook his head. “She’s still working for them.”
“How is that possible?” Deshin asked. “We vetted her. We even used a DNA sample to make sure her DNA was the same as the DNA on file with the service. And we collected it ourselves.”
Koos swallowed. “We used the service’s matching program.”
“Of course we did,” Deshin said. “They were the ones with the DNA on file.”
“We could have requested their file sample, and then run it ourselves.”
That chill Deshin had felt became a full-fledged shiver. “What’s the difference?”
“Depth,” Koos said. “They don’t go into the same kind of depth we would go into in our search. They just look at standard markers, which is really all most people would need to confirm identity.”
His phrasing made Deshin uncomfortable. “She’s not who she said she was?”
Koos let out a small sigh. “It’s more complicated than that.”
More complicated. Deshin shifted. He could only think of one thing that would be more complicated.
Sonja was a clone.
And that created all kinds of other
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