Read Online Vigilantes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Ads: Link
else.
“How many?” Nyquist asked.
“Twenty-five,” Uzvaan said.
“And how many survived?” Nyquist asked.
“Survived what?” Uzvaan asked, clearly reverting to lawyer-speak.
“Your childhood,” Nyquist said, if what Uzvaan had gone through as a young clone could be called a childhood.
Uzvaan took a deep breath. He shifted for a third time. Finally, he said, “Me.”
“Out of twenty-five?” Nyquist asked.
“There were two hundred of us in the compound who received our assignments,” Uzvaan said.
Which meant that two hundred of them made it to the age of 10.
“How many of those two hundred went on to school?” Nyquist asked.
“Fifty,” Uzvaan said.
Nyquist felt the chill get worse. He couldn’t remember exactly how many Peyti clone lawyers had tried to destroy the Moon. That number never stuck in his head. But it wouldn’t be hard to find out.
He forced himself to focus.
“Did they all get mask upgrades like you did?” Nyquist asked.
“I do not know,” Uzvaan said. “I was not allowed to communicate with them.”
And he wasn’t going to assume. But Nyquist would.
“Who sent you the upgrade packets?” Nyquist asked.
“They came from Legal Fiction ,” Uzvaan said. “A different branch of it. I had contact information in case the masks were late.”
“Do you know what that information is?” Nyquist asked.
“I never had to use it, so I do not have it memorized,” Uzvaan said. “I can no longer access my chips or any of my links. If those contacts have not been destroyed, then the information is there.”
Nyquist had a hunch the information had been destroyed. It was short-sighted for an investigation, but not as a response to an on-going threat.
“How did the mask upgrade packets reach you?” he asked.
“Through one of the Moon’s delivery services. It varied as to which one,” Uzvaan said.
“Where did the packet arrive?” Nyquist asked.
Uzvaan nodded. He understood why Nyquist was asking this. “My office,” Uzvaan said. “When I was hired, I gave that as my permanent address. If I lost that job, I would have failed.”
“And if you joined a different law firm?” Nyquist asked. “Was that a failure?”
“It was not,” Uzvaan said. “I would have had to change my delivery information at the address I had. But I never had to do that.”
Still, it was a lead. And like the one from Legal Fiction , it was a good lead. It also probably applied to all of the Peyti lawyer clones.
Nyquist finally felt like he had gotten important information, things that would move the investigation forward. Things that would have died with Uzvaan if Uzvaan had succeeded.
Nyquist allowed himself a few seconds of triumph. Then he continued the interrogation, hoping he could stay at least one day ahead of S 3 .
He was going to find that mastermind, if it was the last thing he ever did.
EIGHT
THE MESSAGE THAT came through Melcia Seng’s links was garbled. Something about S 3 and a conflict of interest. She thought maybe the message came from Zhu.
Seng stood in the center of the Armstrong Offices of Schnable, Shishani & Salehi, one of the most respected law firms in the known universe. They were opening a branch on the Moon, right after the Peyti Crisis, and, as one of their first cases, they were representing the Peyti government in regard to the Peyti clones who had tried to destroy the Moon.
Yesterday, when she had learned that, her breath had caught, but it hadn’t stopped her from taking the job. She wanted work—prestigious work, work that would take her to the upper levels of her profession—and she wasn’t finding that kind of work anywhere on Earth.
There were millions of human lawyers on Earth, and outside of the major cultural centers, very few of them were working in human-alien relations. She had majored in human-alien relations in college, then had gone to law school with an eye to interspecies law. She had served at the
“How many?” Nyquist asked.
“Twenty-five,” Uzvaan said.
“And how many survived?” Nyquist asked.
“Survived what?” Uzvaan asked, clearly reverting to lawyer-speak.
“Your childhood,” Nyquist said, if what Uzvaan had gone through as a young clone could be called a childhood.
Uzvaan took a deep breath. He shifted for a third time. Finally, he said, “Me.”
“Out of twenty-five?” Nyquist asked.
“There were two hundred of us in the compound who received our assignments,” Uzvaan said.
Which meant that two hundred of them made it to the age of 10.
“How many of those two hundred went on to school?” Nyquist asked.
“Fifty,” Uzvaan said.
Nyquist felt the chill get worse. He couldn’t remember exactly how many Peyti clone lawyers had tried to destroy the Moon. That number never stuck in his head. But it wouldn’t be hard to find out.
He forced himself to focus.
“Did they all get mask upgrades like you did?” Nyquist asked.
“I do not know,” Uzvaan said. “I was not allowed to communicate with them.”
And he wasn’t going to assume. But Nyquist would.
“Who sent you the upgrade packets?” Nyquist asked.
“They came from Legal Fiction ,” Uzvaan said. “A different branch of it. I had contact information in case the masks were late.”
“Do you know what that information is?” Nyquist asked.
“I never had to use it, so I do not have it memorized,” Uzvaan said. “I can no longer access my chips or any of my links. If those contacts have not been destroyed, then the information is there.”
Nyquist had a hunch the information had been destroyed. It was short-sighted for an investigation, but not as a response to an on-going threat.
“How did the mask upgrade packets reach you?” he asked.
“Through one of the Moon’s delivery services. It varied as to which one,” Uzvaan said.
“Where did the packet arrive?” Nyquist asked.
Uzvaan nodded. He understood why Nyquist was asking this. “My office,” Uzvaan said. “When I was hired, I gave that as my permanent address. If I lost that job, I would have failed.”
“And if you joined a different law firm?” Nyquist asked. “Was that a failure?”
“It was not,” Uzvaan said. “I would have had to change my delivery information at the address I had. But I never had to do that.”
Still, it was a lead. And like the one from Legal Fiction , it was a good lead. It also probably applied to all of the Peyti lawyer clones.
Nyquist finally felt like he had gotten important information, things that would move the investigation forward. Things that would have died with Uzvaan if Uzvaan had succeeded.
Nyquist allowed himself a few seconds of triumph. Then he continued the interrogation, hoping he could stay at least one day ahead of S 3 .
He was going to find that mastermind, if it was the last thing he ever did.
EIGHT
THE MESSAGE THAT came through Melcia Seng’s links was garbled. Something about S 3 and a conflict of interest. She thought maybe the message came from Zhu.
Seng stood in the center of the Armstrong Offices of Schnable, Shishani & Salehi, one of the most respected law firms in the known universe. They were opening a branch on the Moon, right after the Peyti Crisis, and, as one of their first cases, they were representing the Peyti government in regard to the Peyti clones who had tried to destroy the Moon.
Yesterday, when she had learned that, her breath had caught, but it hadn’t stopped her from taking the job. She wanted work—prestigious work, work that would take her to the upper levels of her profession—and she wasn’t finding that kind of work anywhere on Earth.
There were millions of human lawyers on Earth, and outside of the major cultural centers, very few of them were working in human-alien relations. She had majored in human-alien relations in college, then had gone to law school with an eye to interspecies law. She had served at the
Similar Books
