Part 3 (1/2)

Wil didn't let the s.p.a.cer reply. ”No. Where I come from, concealment of evidence was usually a crime, Yelen. That's meaningless here, but if you don't give me the diary-all of it, and everything a.s.sociated with it-I'll drop the case, and I'll ask Lu to drop the case.”

Yelen's fists were clenched. She started to speak, stopped. A faint tremor shook her face. Finally: ”Okay. You'll have it. have it. Now get out of my sight Now get out of my sight,”

FOUR.

Tammy Robinson was a very frightened young woman; Wil didn't need police experience to see that. She paced back and forth across the room, hysteria sparking from the high edge in her voice. ”How can you keep me in this cell? It's a dungeon!”

The walls were unadorned, off-white. But Wil could see doors opening onto a bedroom, a kitchen. There were stairs, perhaps to a study. Her quarters covered about 150 square meters-a little cramped by Wil's standards, but scarcely a punis.h.i.+ng confinement. He stepped away from Della Lu and put his hand on Tammy's shoulder. ”These are s.h.i.+p's quarters, Tam. Della Lu never expected to have pa.s.sengers.” That was only a guess, but it felt right. Lu's holdings were compact, built both vertically and horizontally. All the advanced travelers could take their households into s.p.a.ce-but Lu's was designed to stay there, to be a home even in solar systems without planets. ”You are in custody, but once we get to Town Korolev, you'll get better housing.”

Della Lu tilted her head to one side. ”Yes. Yelen Korolev is going to take care of you then. She has much better-”

”No!” It was almost a scream. Tammy's eyes showed white all around the irises. ”I surrendered to you you, Della Lu. And in good faith. I won't tell you anything if you... Korolev will-” She put her hand over her mouth and collapsed on a nearby sofa.

Wil sat down beside her as Della Lu pulled up a chair to sit facing them. Lu's black pants and high-collared jacket looked military, but she sat on the edge of her chair and watched Tammy's consternation with childlike curiosity. Wil cast a meaningful look in her direction (as if that would do any good) before continuing. ”Tammy, there's no way we'll let Yelen get at you.”

Tammy was upset, but no fool. She looked past Wil at the s.p.a.cer. ”Is that a promise, Della Lu?”

Lu gave an odd chuckle, but this time she didn't blow it ”Yes. And it's a promise I can keep.”

They stared at each other a silent moment. Then the girl shuddered, her whole body relaxing. ”Okay. I'll talk. Of course I'll talk. That's the whole reason I stayed behind: to clear my family's name.”

”You know what's happened to Marta?”

”I've heard Yelen's accusations. When we came out of that strange, overlong bobblement, she was all over the comm links. She said poor Marta got marooned in the present... that she died died there.” Frank horror showed on Tammy's face. there.” Frank horror showed on Tammy's face.

”That's right. Someone sabotaged the Korolev jump program. It lasted a century instead of three months, and left Marta outside of stasis.”

”And my dad's the chief suspect?” Incredulously.

Wil nodded. ”I saw your father arguing with Marta, Tam. And later she told me how your family wants the people of Town Korolev to join you... Your plans would benefit if the settlement failed.”

”Sure. But we're not some gang of twentieth-century thugs, Wil. We know know we have something more attractive than the Korolev's' rehash of civilization. It'll take the average person a while to see this, but given a fair chance they'll come with us. Instead, Yelen's forced us to run for our lives.” we have something more attractive than the Korolev's' rehash of civilization. It'll take the average person a while to see this, but given a fair chance they'll come with us. Instead, Yelen's forced us to run for our lives.”

”You don't think Marta's been killed?” said Lu.

Tammy shrugged. ”No. That would be hard to fake, especially if you”-she was looking at Della-”insist on studying the remains. I think Marta was murdered-and I think Yelen is the murderer. All the talk about outside sabotage is just short of ridiculous.”

This was certainly Wil's biggest worry. In his time, domestic violence was a leading cause of death. Yelen seemed the most powerful of the high-techs. If she were the villain, life might be short for successful investigators. But aloud: ”She's truly broken up over losing Marta. If she's faking, she's very good at it.”

Tammy's response was quick. ”I don't think she's faking it. I think she killed Marta for some crazy personal reason, and terribly regrets the necessity. But now that it's done, she's going to use it to destroy all opposition to the great Korolev plan.”

”Um.” He, W. W. Brierson, might be the cause of Marta's death. Suppose Yelen conceived that she was losing her love to another. For some disturbed souls, such a loss was logically equivalent to the death of the beloved. They could murder and then honestly blame the loss on others... Wil remembered the irrational hatred in Yelen's eyes when he walked into her library.

He looked at Tammy with new respect. She'd never seemed this bright before. In fact... he felt just a little bit manipulated. For all her terror, the girl was a very cool character. ”Tammy,” he said quietly, ”just how old are you, really?”

”I-” The tear-streaked adolescent face froze for a second. Then: ”I've lived ninety years, Wil.”

Forty years longer than I. Some daughter figure.

”B-but that's not a secret.” New tears filled her eyes. ”I'd've told anyone who asked. A-and I'm not faking my personality. I try to keep a fresh, open mind. We're going to live a long time, and Daddy says it helps if we grow up slowly, if we don't freeze into adult mind-sets like they did in the old days.”

The Lu creature gave one of her strange little laughs. ”That depends on how long you plan to live,” she said to no one in particular.

Brierson suddenly realized that it was wishful thinking to regard himself an expert on human nature. Once Once he had been: now that expertise might be as obsolete as the rest of his knowledge. When he left civilization, life-prolonging medicine had been just a few decades old. At that time, Tammy's deception would have been almost impossible. Yelen Korolev had had about two hundred years to teach herself to lie. Della Lu was so disconnected from humanity, it was hard to make sense of her at all. How could he judge what such people said? he had been: now that expertise might be as obsolete as the rest of his knowledge. When he left civilization, life-prolonging medicine had been just a few decades old. At that time, Tammy's deception would have been almost impossible. Yelen Korolev had had about two hundred years to teach herself to lie. Della Lu was so disconnected from humanity, it was hard to make sense of her at all. How could he judge what such people said?

Might as well continue the sympathetic role. He patted Tammy's hand. ”Okay, Tam. I'm glad you told us.”

She smiled halfheartedly. ”Don't you see, Wil? My dad's a suspect because we disagreed with Marta. We left to protect the family; my staying behind shows we're not running from an investigation... But Yelen is. On the way down, Della Lu told me how Yelen wants you back in stasis right away. She'll be left all alone at the scene of the crime. By the time you two come out, the evidence will be tens of thousands years stale-heck, what evidence there is will've been manufactured by her.

”Now, I brought the family records for the weeks before our party. You and Della Lu should study them. They may be dull, but at least they're the truth.”

Wil nodded. It was obvious the Robinsons had their story together. He let the interview go on another fifteen minutes, until Tammy seemed calm and almost relaxed. Lu spoke occasionally, her interjections sometimes perceptive, more often obscure. It was evident that-in itself-clearing the family name was of little importance to the Robinsons. When they were headed, present opinion would be less than dust. But the family still wanted recruits. Tammy's parents were convinced that the people of Town Korolev would eventually realize that settling in the present was a dead end, and that time itself was the proper place for humanity. It might take a few decades, but if Tammy could survive the murder investigation, she would be free to wait and persuade. And eventually she would catch up with her family. Her parents had set a number of rendezvous in the megayears to come. Their exact locations were something she refused to reveal.

”You want to pace your lives, and live as long as the universe?” asked Lu.

”At least.”

The s.p.a.cer giggled. ”And what will you do at the end?”

”That depends on how it ends.” Tammy's eyes lit. ”Daddy thinks that all the mysteries people have ever wondered on-even the Extinction-may be revealed there. It's the ultimate rendezvous for all thinking beings. If time is cyclic, we'll bobble through to the beginning and Man will be universal.”

”And if the universe is open and dies forever?”

”Then perhaps we and the others can change that.” Tammy shrugged. ”But if we can't-well, we'll still be there. We will have seen it all. Daddy says we'll raise a gla.s.s and toast the memory of all of you that went before.” She was still smiling.

And Brierson wondered if this might be the craziest of all his new acquaintances.

Afterwards, Wil tried to plan out the investigation with Della Lu. It was not easy.

”Was Ms. Robinson distressed at the beginning of the interview?” asked Lu.

Wil rolled his eyes heavenward. ”Yes, I believe she was.”

”Ah. I thought so, too.”

”Look, uh, Della. What Tammy says about Yelen makes sense. It's absurd for the cops-us-to leave the murder scene like this. Back in Michigan, we would have dropped any customer who demanded such a thing. Now, Yelen is right that ink, hanging around to investigate the physical evidence would be amateurish. But your equipment is as good as hers-”

”Better.”

”-and she should be willing to let you postpone bobbling long enough to gather evidence.”