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merge NEN and UniComm. From what you ve said, she was capable enough.
Majora s frown gave her a foreboding expression, and I instantly decided I
never wanted to be on her bad side. Was that why she was killed?
It could be, but that sort of thing s usually handled in a bloodless way. I
shook my head. There s something else going on. Except I still didn t know
what.
There usually is. Let me put on some tea. She stepped back up to the
up-to-date, yet functionally old-fashioned kitchen, with its modified gas-jet
burners and the overlarge oven beneath.
I stood behind her as she put on an old-fashioned kettle for the tea.
I hope you don t mind. I use the replicator just for emergencies, or when I
don t plan well and run out of time.
Sometimes, I brew my tea. It always tastes exactly the same from the
replicator, even with different scans.
Failsafe units & idiot units & you have to program it to disable the
failsafe.
I could feel myself flushing. I hadn t even considered that. But then,
cooking, even with the help of a replicator, wasn t my greatest talent.
It will be a minute. She guided me toward the lower level, where we looked
out on the garden. She linked with the lights, and the room went dark. Just
wait a moment.
I did, and my eyes adjusted, and the spring moonlight poured over the garden.
I hadn t thought of moonlight in a long time.
You can sit down, you know, Daryn.
You aren t.
I will be, as soon as I get your tea, and I will have to use the replicator
for something for you to eat.
Anything will be fine. I eased into the same chair where she had fed me
breakfast I hadn t eaten since then, and it felt far longer than ten hours.
Before I knew it, she was easing a mug of Grey tea and a plate in front of
me a moderate omelet with cheese and the hint of chives and mushrooms of a
type I didn t recognize. She had the same thing, except for a tall crystal
glass of water.
Just eat, she suggested.
I did, and I was mostly through the omelet, which tasted as good as it
smelled, before I spoke. Thank you. This is good. It must be something you
scanned into the replicator.
It is. Whenever I finish something good, I scan it. Some don t scan, and I
just erase them, but after a while you do build up a personalized bank of
things. She took a long drink of water. I ve seen more of you today than in
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the last three years.
I was glad the lights were dim, because I could feel the embarrassment.
Finally, I just offered a helpless shrug. What can I say? I need help.
She laughed, gently.
First, I need you to make a call to an old friend with your codes. Elora left
a request for me to do so. My codes are blocked.
Blocked?
All I get is a phony sim. If I were a net engineer, I could engineer another
set of codes to get through. I m not, but it means that someone doesn t want
me to reach him.
At least this old friend is a man. Majora s tone was warmly humorous.
We went to Blue Oak Academy together. It s Eldyn Nyhal.
The scientist? The one whose wife died under mysterious circumstances? Maybe
he doesn t want any calls.
He was more than a little strange then, but & well & if he doesn t take your
calls in the same way he doesn t take mine & I let the words drop away.
What do you want me to say?
Just ask him to give you a call. Say you re calling on behalf of an old
friend of his from Blue Oak Academy, and that the friend would have called,
but that circumstances surrounding his sister s death apparently make it
impossible. Don t give my name.
She raised her thick eyebrows. Rather mysterious, aren t you?
No. If his system is altered the way I think it is, any reference to my name
will block the message or shunt it somewhere. There s no one else who meets
that description but me; it won t be mysterious to him.
Nodding, Majora keyed in the codes, and I stepped back so that I wouldn t fall
into the scanning focus.
A sim appeared immediately on the holo screen before us, that of a stocky man,
the thinning but wavy light brown hair just one sign of a norm. The sim wore a
green singlesuit, and a dark gray vest trimmed in black, and it wasn t either
of the same sim images I d seen before, not exactly. As you can see, I m not
available. If you would leave a message, I would appreciate it.
This is Majora Hyriss. I m calling on behalf of an old friend When she was
done, she waited until the connection was broken before she turned to me. Was
that what you wanted?
Absolutely.
We both knew that it could be minutes or days before he returned the call.
Finally, after a long silence, I turned to her. You do a lot of PR work these
days, don t you? Think up publicity approaches and the like?
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