Part 40 (2/2)

'The three million of your countrymen who are involved in the military.'

'Hey, they're just following orders!'

'So am I.'

'But the armed forces are legal.'

'Yesterday's Homer II missile attacks did not seem ”legal” to the Pan African States.'

'They were training death squads! Those camel-jockeys were illegal first.'

'Graduates from the School of the Americas in the state of Georgia have trained death squads responsible for thousands of casualties in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Pan Africa, and the overthrow of elected governments in Guatemala, Brazil, Chile and Nicaragua. Your logic dictates that these nations may legally target that inst.i.tute.'

'I got your number, now, friend. You're a Fundamentalist Muslim, right? A sand-shoveller.'

'I am not any kind of Muslim, Bat.'

'Don't hold me responsible for what the government does. I keep my nose clean.'

'Your ex-wife's lawyer maintains otherwise in regard to alimony, Bat.'

'I don't have to listen to this c.r.a.p!'

'The FBI have directed you to keep me talking. I didn't wish to anger you, Bat. I meant only to demonstrate the subjective nature of laws.'

'I've got a new guess. You're a gossip columnist trying to p.i.s.s on my suedes?'

'I'm a zookeeper.'

'A friend of my wife? You boil rabbits in the same pressure-cooker?'

'I have no friends, Bat.'

'Wonders never cease... So, you're involved with Intelligence?'

'Only my own.'

'Uh-huh... So, what have you got for us today?'

'Zookeeper? You there?'

'Sorry, Bat. I crossloaded. The tracer had almost reached me over Spitsbergen.'

'So where are you now?'

'Rome. A television satellite.'

'You just teleported to Rome?'

'Italian ComSats are notoriously scramble-p.r.o.ne, so it takes longer than usual.'

'And what's the time in Rome?'

'Six hours ahead of New York time. The sun rises in eighteen minutes.'

'And how is Rome this morning? The Pope putting his teeth in?'

'The Papal apartment is on the third storey of the Vatican palace, Bat, so I can't get the sufficiently sharp resolution to see orthodontic details. Over the city visibility is good. I see pigeons huddling on ledges and statues. Cafe proprietors rolling up the shutters. Newspapers being delivered. Market stallholders breathe into their fists to warm them up: there was a deep frost last night. The back streets are still fairly empty, but the main thoroughfares are already congested. The Tiber is a thick band of black. Roofs, terraces, domes, water-towers, bridges, rotaries, ruins, statues with baleful eyes ruling seldom-visited squares. You should go to Rome one day, Bat.'

'Uh-huh, and how do you know I've never been?'

'Your virtual pa.s.sport records show you've never been to Europe.'

'So you are are a hacker. Along with half the kindergarten kids in New York State. You work for a detective agency?' a hacker. Along with half the kindergarten kids in New York State. You work for a detective agency?'

'I am a freelance zookeeper, Bat. You asked me about Rome. Do you wish me to continue, or shall we change the subject?'

'By all means, carry on.'

'By EyeSat the Piazza di San Pietro looks like a spider's web from way up here. Along the sides of the square is a line of wors.h.i.+ppers and tourists. Their breath mingles. I often watch the dawn over the Vatican, but this morning the gatherers are restless, pointing at the s.p.a.ce in the oval square. Some are crossing themselves, some outraged, some smoking with narrowed eyes. A convoy of police cars arrives on cue, with more on the way. Last week's EU naval cordon from Gibraltar to Cyprus has made the police jumpy.'

'What are they jumpy about in Rome? Apart from the obvious?'

'White scratchings on the cobblestones, from the steps of the Basilica to the far side of the piazza.'

'Scratchings?'

'From ground level, a set of symbols.'

'Right, yeah. Hieroglyphics in Martian?'

'The characters are standard Italian. But the letters are slapdash, as though drawn by a drunk. They are further blurred by the frost.'

'But from above?'

'A local TV station has already had the same idea and dispatched a helicopter you might catch it on the news later.'

'What does it say?'

'O Dio, cosa tu attendi?'

'No doubt you speak Italian?'

'Languages are a necessary part of my work.'

'Sure they are, Doctor Doolittle. What does it mean?'

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