Part 46 (2/2)

Do you know, maman had asked her, the day she saw the babies, maman had asked her, the day she saw the babies, the difference between a CIT and an azi? the difference between a CIT and an azi?

I only thought I did.

Denys left that page open a long time. ”Ari,” he said. ”Do you understand me?”

She said nothing. When you were confused, it was better to let somebody else be a fool, unless you were the only one who knew the question.

And uncle Denys knew. Uncle Denys was trying to tell her what he knew, in this book, in these pictures that weren't her.

''Your maman taught you,” uncle Denys said, ”and now I do. You're definitely a CIT. Don't mistake that. You're you, you, Ari, you're very exactly Ari, you're very exactly you, you, exactly the way Florian is Florian and Catlin is Catlin, and that's hard to do. It was ever so hard to get this far. Ari was a very, very special little girl, and you're taking up everything she had, everything she could do, everything she held and owned, which is a very great deal, Ari. That you hold Florian and Catlin's contracts is all part of that, because you all belong together, you always have, and it wouldn't be right to leave them out. You own a major share of Reseune itself, you own property enough to make you very, very rich, and you've already proved to us who you are, we haven't any doubt at all. But remember that I told you Reseune has enemies. Now some of those enemies want to come in here and take things that belong to you-they don't even know there is an Ari, you understand. They think she died, and that was all of her, and they can just move in and take everything that belonged to her-that belongs to exactly the way Florian is Florian and Catlin is Catlin, and that's hard to do. It was ever so hard to get this far. Ari was a very, very special little girl, and you're taking up everything she had, everything she could do, everything she held and owned, which is a very great deal, Ari. That you hold Florian and Catlin's contracts is all part of that, because you all belong together, you always have, and it wouldn't be right to leave them out. You own a major share of Reseune itself, you own property enough to make you very, very rich, and you've already proved to us who you are, we haven't any doubt at all. But remember that I told you Reseune has enemies. Now some of those enemies want to come in here and take things that belong to you-they don't even know there is an Ari, you understand. They think she died, and that was all of her, and they can just move in and take everything that belonged to her-that belongs to you, you, Ari. Do you know what a lawsuit is? Do you know what it means to sue somebody in court?” Ari. Do you know what a lawsuit is? Do you know what it means to sue somebody in court?”

She shook her head, muddled and scared by what uncle Denys said, getting too much, far too much from every direction.

”You know what judges are?”

”Like in a court. They get all the records and stuff. They can send you to hospital.” , ”A civil suit, Ari: that's different than a criminal case. They don't send you to hospital, but they can say what's so and who owns what. We've lodged a suit in the Supreme Court, in Novgorod, to keep these people from taking everything you own. They can't, you understand, if somebody suit in the Supreme Court, in Novgorod, to keep these people from taking everything you own. They can't, you understand, if somebody owns owns it, really owns it. The only thing is, people don't know you exist. You have to show up in that court and it, really owns it. The only thing is, people don't know you exist. You have to show up in that court and prove prove you're really Ari and that you have a right to Ari's CIT-number.” you're really Ari and that you have a right to Ari's CIT-number.”

”That's stupid!”

”How do they know you're not just some little girl all made up and telling a lie?”

”I know who I am!”

”How do you prove it to people who've never seen you?”

She sat there trying to think. She had the s.h.i.+vers. ”You tell them.”

”Then they'll say we're lying. We can send the genetic records, that can prove it, beyond any doubt. But they could say we just got that out of the lab, because of course the Ari geneset is there, isn't it, because you were born out of the lab. They could say there isn't any little girl alive, and she hasn't got any right to anything. That's what could happen. That's why you have to go, and stand in that court, and tell the judges that's your genetic record, and you're you, Ariane Emory, and you own all that stuff these people in the Council want to take.”

She looked at her right, at Florian and Catlin, at two pale, very azi faces. And back at uncle Denys. ”Could they take Florian and Catlin?”

”If you don't exist, you can't hold a contract, can you?”

”That's stupid, stupid, uncle Denys! They're stupid!” uncle Denys! They're stupid!”

”You just have to prove that, don't you? Dear, I wish to h.e.l.l I could have saved this till you felt better. But there isn't any time. These people are moving fast, and there's going to be a law pa.s.sed in Council to take everything, everything everything that belongs to you, because they don't know about you. You've got to go to Novgorod and tell the judges it does belong to you and they can't do that.” that belongs to you, because they don't know about you. You've got to go to Novgorod and tell the judges it does belong to you and they can't do that.”

”When?”

”In a few days. A very few days. There's more to it, Ari. Because Because you've been a secret, your enemies haven't known about you either. If you go to Novgorod they will know. And you'll be in very real danger from then on. Most of them would sue you in court and try to take what you've got, you've been a secret, your enemies haven't known about you either. If you go to Novgorod they will know. And you'll be in very real danger from then on. Most of them would sue you in court and try to take what you've got, that that kind of enemy; but some of them would kill you if they could. Even if you're a little girl. They're that kind.” kind of enemy; but some of them would kill you if they could. Even if you're a little girl. They're that kind.”

”Ser,” Catlin said, ”who?”

”A man named Rocher, for one. And a few random crazy people we don't know the names of. We wish we did. If Ari goes to Novgorod she'll have a lot of Security with her. Armed Security. They can stop that kind of thing. But you have to watch out for it, you have to watch very closely, and for G.o.d's sake, leave any maneuvering to the senior Security people, you two. Just cover Ari.”

”Do we have weapons, ser?”

”I don't think Novgorod would understand that. No. Just cover Ari. Watch around you. Keep her safe. That's all.”

Ari drew a deep breath. ”What am I supposed to do?”

”You talk to the judges. You go in front of the court, you answer their questions about when you were born, and where, and what your name and number are. Uncle Giraud will be there. Giraud knows how to argue with them.”

She went cold and clammy all over. ”I don't want Giraud! I want you you to come.” to come.”

”Dear, uncle Giraud is especially good at this. He'll show them all the records, and they won't have any trouble believing you. They may take a little cell sample. That'll sting a little if they do that, but you're a brave girl, you won't mind that. You know what that's for. It proves you're not lying. Everyone in the world has seen pictures of Ari Emory-you won't have any trouble with that. But there will will be other people to deal with. People not in the court. Newspeople. Reporters. There'll be a lot of that. But you're a little girl, and they can't be nasty, they'd better not be, or your uncle Giraud will know exactly what to do with them.” be other people to deal with. People not in the court. Newspeople. Reporters. There'll be a lot of that. But you're a little girl, and they can't be nasty, they'd better not be, or your uncle Giraud will know exactly what to do with them.”

She had never thought it could be a good thing to have uncle Giraud. But uncle Denys was right, uncle Giraud would be a lot better at that.

If he wasn't with with the Enemy in the first place. Things were getting more and more complicated. the Enemy in the first place. Things were getting more and more complicated.

”Florian and Catlin are going for sure?”

”Yes.”

”The judges can't just take them, can they?”

”Dear, the law can do anything; but the law won't won't take what belongs to you. You have to prove you're take what belongs to you. You have to prove you're you, you, that's the whole problem. That's what you're going there for, and if you don't, nothing is safe here either.” that's the whole problem. That's what you're going there for, and if you don't, nothing is safe here either.”

So Ari sat in a leather seat in RESEUNE ONE, RESEUNE ONE, a seat so big her feet hardly reached the floor; and Florian and Catlin sat in the two seats opposite her, taking turns looking out the windows, only she had one right beside her, with the real outback under them for as far as you could see. a seat so big her feet hardly reached the floor; and Florian and Catlin sat in the two seats opposite her, taking turns looking out the windows, only she had one right beside her, with the real outback under them for as far as you could see.

They would land at Novgorod, they would land at the airport there, but before they landed they were going to see the city from the air; they would see the s.p.a.ceport, and the Hall of State and the docks where all the barges went, that chugged past Reseune on the Novaya Volga. They were going to see Swigert Bay and the Ocean. The pilot kept telling them where they were and what they were looking at, which right now was the Great West Sink, which was a brown spot on the maps and a brown place from the air with a lake in the middle. She could talk back to the pilot if she pushed a b.u.t.ton by her seat.

”We're coming up on the Kaukash Range on the right side,” the pilot said.

They had let her go up front for a little while. She got to see out past the pilot and the co-pilot, when they were following the Novaya Volga.

The pilot asked if she liked flying. She said yes, and the pilot told her what a lot of the controls were, and showed her how the plane steered, and what the computers did.

That was the best thing in days. She had him show Florian and Catlin, until uncle Giraud said she had better sit down and study her papers and let the pilot fly the plane. The pilot had winked at her and said she ought to, they were spilling uncle Giraud's drinks.

She wished she had her arm out of the cast, because that was a nuisance; and gave uncle Giraud an excuse to tell her she ought to stay belted-in in her seat. .

Most of all she wished they were all through the court business and the reporters, and they could get to the things uncle Denys told her they were going to get to see while they were in Novgorod. That would be fun. She was going to have her birthday in Novgorod. She wanted to prove everything and then get to that part of it.

Most of all she was worried what would happen if uncle Denys was wrong.

Or if uncle Giraud couldn't couldn't prove who she was. prove who she was.

The court couldn't make a mistake, uncle Denys said, over and over. Not with the tests they had, and the law was the law: they couldn't take what belonged to somebody without suing, and then it was going to be real hard for them to sue a little girl. Especially because Giraud had a lot of friends in the Defense Bureau, who would cla.s.sify everything.

That meant Secret.

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