Part 24 (1/2)

Frederic grabbed the ChaiQuoke bottle and choked it until it popped into a liquid boomerang. ”This better be good,” he grumbled.

”You remember the Equitable Choice Cycle Model we announced for the MultiReal exposition? Limited choice cycles for everyone?”

”Yesss,” said Petrucio hesitantly.

”We'l put it into effect the day we release the product, for a trial period of six months.

Everyone gets the same limited number of choice cycles per month. That way, whenever one of our customers gets into a MultiReal-versus-MultiReal conflict with one of your customers ... ours won't be able to shel out an infinite number of choice cycles to win.”

The mustached brothers blanched, their mouths agape. ”How many choice cycles are we talking about here?” asked Petrucio.

”I have no idea. What number makes sense?”

Jara, Frederic, and Petrucio al stared at the wal for several seconds.

”Wel , I guess we'l have to pick one,” said Jara. ”It has to be a fairly big number-enough that you could use it al day doing any number of things without noticing the limitation. It would only come into play when you're involved in a MultiReal conflict.”

Frederic leaned back and grabbed a number out of the air. ”A hundred thousand?”

”A hundred thousand choice cycles per day?”

”Yeah.”

”Too many. How about fifty thousand?” put in Petrucio.

Jara extended her hands out to her sides. ”Sounds good to me. Except ...” She paused and tapped her foot in thought. ”If I'm going to put your products on a parity with mine, I'm going to need your ful cooperation in getting the whole fiefcorp's business licenses back. That means testifying in front of the Meme Cooperative, Creed Objectivv, the Engineering Board, L-PRACG courts-whatever it takes.”

Another urgent ConfidentialWhisper conversation between the Patel brothers ensued.

Fifteen seconds later, Petrucio gave a strenuous nod. ”You've got a deal,” he said, his voice hoa.r.s.e with repressed excitement.

”Good, it's settled,” said Jara. She smiled and stood up from her seat. ”I'l draw up a quick contract and have Horvil put it into effect as soon as it's signed.”

Jara almost broke out into a cheer herself. No reason to tel the Patels that she had already made this decision days ago. She would have set Possibilities to limited choice cycles for al no matter how the negotiations went today.

Jara felt properly devious and Natchlike. She had convinced the Patel Brothers to help her bring the fiefcorp back to ful legality, and she had given up nothing for it. Moreover, the Patels seemed pleased too. Win-win.

The a.n.a.lyst brushed off her robe and prepared to cut her multi connection. Her next stop: an independent a.s.sembly-line programming shop that had given her every indication that they were wil ing to take on the fiefcorp's business.

”One more thing,” said Jara to the Patels as an afterthought. ”You don't mind keeping that information about Natch under your hat for a few more days, do you?”

Horvil and Serr Vigal were both enthusiastic about the deal.

”n.o.body should have that kind of power,” said the engineer, lounging on the couch in what Jara had come to cal her study. ”Now everybody'l be on an equal footing.”

”I agree,” nodded Vigal. ”And-cal me crazy-but I think Natch would agree too. Eventual y.”

Jara stood at the window and watched the dwindling group of drudges keeping vigil at the gates. Al but a few had given up on catching a glimpse of Natch emerging from the front doors. Everyone else had left to prepare for Margaret Surina's funeral in Andra Pradesh tomorrow morning. Jara had given the fiefcorp notice that they were al expected to attend as wel .

And where was Natch? Would he show up at the funeral? And if so, what was he planning? Now she knew what the Defense and Wel ness Council must have been feeling for the past several weeks. Natch was out there, he was relentless, and he was beyond anyone's control. Who's to say that he couldn't use that back door of his to sabotage her agreement with the Patel Brothers?

The a.n.a.lyst felt a sudden s.h.i.+ver take over her spine. It seemed to originate from some primordial portion of her brain, some center of animal instinct locked off from higher reasoning. ”Horv,” she said, ”you remember that trick you did with DockManage 35? Tying up the system so Natch couldn't launch Possibilities onto the Data Sea at a moment's notice?”

”Yep,” said the engineer.

”Can you do the same thing to the mechanism that controls the choice cycles?”

Horvil gazed at the floor for a moment as his mind receded into the alternate dimension of mathematics. ”Wel , not exactly ... but there are other ways to accomplish the same thing. I think I could keep Natch from disabling the daily choice cycle limit in a hurry. It wouldn't be a permanent fix, but it should slow him down.”

Jara nodded. ”Then do it,” she said. ”And do it quickly.”

27.

”There's something I need to discuss with you, Jara,” said Serr Vigal.

The a.n.a.lyst gave him a curious look. She had booked the whole fiefcorp on a hoverbird leaving for Andra Pradesh in less than an hour. They needed to get moving if they intended to make it to Margaret's funeral. But Vigal had prepped for more than a day trip. He had put on a semiformal robe and groomed his spa.r.s.e hair and speckled goatee into respectability. Jara would have suspected he was heading off to a fund-raising pitch if his memecorp hadn't effectively been put in suspended animation by the Council's legal onslaught.

”Can we-can we talk about this in your office?” Vigal mumbled.

Jara winced. Just yesterday it was my study, and already it's become my office? They needed to get out of this miserable mansion before they started planting roots here. Thank goodness everyone would be going home shortly after the funeral. She led the neural programmer down the hal way to the study. Jara refused to sit down until Vigal had done so.

”What's up?” said the a.n.a.lyst in a halfhearted attempt at being chipper.

The neural programmer frowned, opened his mouth several times to start a sentence, then stopped. ”I can't just abandon him, Jara,” he said final y.

”I've got to go to him.”

Jara didn't need to ask who Serr Vigal was referring to. ”Okay ...”

”He needs my help. He can't do this alone.” The neural programmer wiggled his fingers in the air, as if shaking off a particularly nasty spiderweb.

”Everyone's working against him. The Council. The drudges. The Patels. Even ... you. He needs someone on his side.”

”I'm not against Natch. I've-”

Vigal waved Jara's objections aside. ”Wel , if you're not working against him, you're certainly not working for him either.” He waited for a reb.u.t.tal, but she had none to give. The neural programmer didn't appear to be upset or even surprised.

”I owe it to his mother, Jara. I promised him I would always be there. And so I need to go.”

Jara scooted her chair closer and put one hand on his quivering shoulder. ”Vigal, of course you need to go. I understand. Did you think I'd try to stop you?”

”Wel , after you tried cutting off his access to MultiReal ... I wasn't so sure. I hate to just abandon the company like this ... but I can't very wel help the fiefcorp and Natch at the same time. If there's a conflict of interest, my loyalties lie with-wel , they lie with Natch.” He exhaled a long, ragged breath. ”I'm on your side, Jara. I'm on the fiefcorp's side. You just need to know that I'm on Natch's side first.”

She couldn't imagine why the neural programmer was making such a big production of this declaration of loyalty. To be honest, Jara wasn't quite sure how Serr Vigal fit in to a post-Natch fiefcorp anyway. No doubt his intel ect was prodigious, but it was of the unpredictable, scattershot variety, and Horvil more than fil ed that niche. Perhaps a sabbatical for Vigal from the fiefcorp would prove to be the best thing for everyone. In fact, it would probably make explaining Natch's departure to the public a little easier.

They both nodded and stared at the floor for a minute, then rose from their seats as a unit.