The Devil's Eye

'Call it cautious.' We went into the Caribu. He broke into a big smile when he saw Alex. They sat down together while I stayed near the window. They talked for a few minutes. When I was satisfied nobody was out there, I joined them. 'I want you to meet Ecco Saberna,' said Peifer. 'He thinks he knows what got to Vicki Greene.' 'And what was that?' 'I'll let him tell you. Why are you on the run?' 'The CSS thinks we figured out what happened to Greene.' Alex had suggested we not reveal Wexler's complicity until we had more information. Until we could prove it. 'The CSS? They're the good guys.' 'It's news to me.' Peifer leaned across the table and lowered his voice. 'So did you?' 'Figure it out? 'Yes. What's going on? Why's the CSS involved?' We ordered. When the AI asked what I wanted, I asked for a beef sandwich. 'And a boltslinger.' 'What's a boltslinger?' asked Alex. 'Don't know,' I said. I'd seen it on the menu. Peifer assured me I'd like it. Peifer was about average size, and he needed to get a workout program going. His beard was unkempt. Maybe it was that beards weren't fashionable back home. In any case, he came off like a guy who was pretending to be an intellectual. That characteristic gave him an air of vulnerability, though, and made him easier to trust. 'Rob,' Alex said, 'we still don't know what's happening. 'Give me a few days, and I think I'll be able to tell you.' 'Why would the CSS think you know?' 'We were looking into the Edward Demery business.' He looked surprised. 'That's a coincidence.'

'In what way?' 'You're going to be interested in what Ecco has to say.'

Peifer knew a hotel in Sikora, a town about forty kilometers west of Marinopolis. It was a cheap place with low visibility. For a small additional remuneration, the owner would neglect to enter guest information online for CSS, as hotels on Salud Afar routinely did. (Some absolutist tendencies from the Bandahriate remained in place.) He gave us directions, and an hour later we checked into the Starlight Suites. That evening, Peifer showed up with Ecco Saberna. He was another bearded guy, built low to the ground. Hard dark eyes like marbles. 'The truth of the matter, Alex,' Saberna said in a tone that suggested dark times were coming, 'is that there's a rift out there. It's located somewhere near the Lantner asteroid.' 'A rift?' 'A break in the time-space continuum.' Alex frowned. I looked at Peifer. Was this guy crazy? 'If I'm correct, and I think I am, it's moving at a substantial velocity. In this direction.' He took a deep breath. 'We're lucky it's as far away as it is.' 'A distortion?' Alex asked. He was having trouble grasping the concept. It was my turn: 'They're supposed to be theoretically possible. But nobody's ever seen one.' 'Of course nobody's ever seen one, child,' Saberna said. 'If you get close enough to make the observation, you'll have a great deal of trouble talking about it later.' He seemed to think that was funny, and he chuckled. It was an abrasive sound. Peifer had been standing quietly with his arms folded. 'I know it sounds wild,' he said, 'but Ecco's a prizewinning physicist. He knows what he's talking about. And it would explain a lot.' Alex took a moment to appraise Saberna. 'You think,' he said, 'that the two ships that went out to the Lantner rock got swept up by this thing?' 'Yes. That's exactly what I think happened.' 'And the people who were outside on the surface of the asteroid?' 'They would have been caught as well. In the gravity field created by the passing rift.' 'So they'd have been dragged off?' 'Yes.' 'Why wasn't the asteroid also sucked in?' He shrugged. The answer was obvious. 'It was too massive. And the effect was only momentary.'

We were chewing on pastries that Peifer had brought with him. Alex took a bite out of a cinnamon roll. 'What makes you think it's a rift?' he asked. 'We're in a highly problematic field, Alex. There's no hard data. But let me show you what we do have.' He proceeded to do so. In detail. He put up a display that tracked how a deformity in the continuum might occur, resulting from too much stress, how it might even be caused by the new star drive, the one that had been developed by the Dellacondans during their war with the Mutes and was just now coming into wide use. He apparently had no conception of Alex's role in those events. I understood none of it, and I was pretty sure Alex had gotten lost, too. 'So where is it now?' he asked. 'This deformity?' 'There's no way to know without going out to find it. But the government won't do that. They don't want to admit it's out there. I know. I've talked to them. But it is there, Alex. And I'd be willing to bet it's coming this way. That's why they're keeping it quiet. They want to avoid panic. They keep talking about Mutes to distract people.' 'How fast would it be traveling?' 'Best guess for a fracture of this nature: about ten percent of cee.' 'Then it would be here in about-' He scribbled some numbers on a pad. Made a face. Saberna grinned. It wasn't easy to be in the presence of ordinary people. 'Three hundred years.' 'That doesn't sound like crisis proportions.'

'We think they're worried about the economics,' said Peifer. 'It would scare the hell out of people. The economy would collapse. It might be hard to hold society together if you have to take a short-range view.' 'Short- range?' I said. 'Three centuries?' 'They're probably right,' said Alex. 'It wouldn't be the short-range view. It would be that there's no future.' I thought about Wexler selling his property. Cashing out while he could. 'What would happen,' Alex asked, 'if it arrived in this area? How big is the damned thing?' 'That's anybody's guess.' 'Why do you think it's coming here?' Saberna crossed his arms. 'I think the government went out and looked. And they didn't like what they found. Vicki Greene found out about it somehow, and they had to keep her quiet. Why else would they have done the lineal block?' Alex was rubbing his eyebrows, staring down at the floor. 'How would they even have known where to look?' Saberna was having trouble keeping the exasperation out of his voice. 'It would be a very easy threat to check. You would only have to be concerned if it were coming in this direction, is that not right? Yes. They could have found out its theoretical velocity. And they knew it was out near the Lantner world thirty-three years ago. After that it would simply have been a matter of doing the math.' Alex shook his head. 'That can't be right,' he said. 'Why not?' 'If you're correct, what's the point of building the shelters?' Saberna held out his hands, palms up. Wasn't it obvious? 'It's a distraction. They know rumors about the distortion have gotten out. They're trying to sell the Mute story.' I hadn't heard any of the rumors. 'The mainline media stay away from them,' said Peifer. 'But we've been hearing them for the last two months. I think this is exactly what's happening. Global has been reporting that some people near the top of the government have been divesting themselves of holdings and converting their wealth into Confederate currencies. The sort of thing you might do if a major catastrophe was on the way. But on the other hand, economists are talking about a downturn, and they say divestment routinely happens at such times.' 'You think it gives credence to Ecco's ideas?' 'I don't know. Maybe it just means stormy weather ahead, and they're putting their holdings in the vault. But hell, if the end of the world is coming, then yes, I'd expect the people who know about it to be trying to get clear. And take their money with them.' His eyes grew hard. 'And they'd have every incentive to keep it quiet.'

Despite their name, the Starlight Suites had no suite. The proprietor seemed to think that a suite was a room with an elegant name. So we had separate quarters. I retired to mine, got ready for bed, killed the lights, and took a minute to look down at the street. We were on the top floor, the fourth. There were shops across the way, a legal office, a landing pad. I half expected to see someone watching us. But it was quiet. Maybe we were safe. Nevertheless, I didn't unpack my bag, other than to hang up the new clothes I'd bought. This was my first experience being on the run, and I can't say I cared for it much. I was still pumping too much adrenaline, I guess, to sleep well. I watched the HV for a while. Finally, toward dawn, I drifted off. We went to breakfast at a place called Bandy's, where we both grumbled about inedible food and avoided talking about interspatial rifts. 'We'll keep the hotel room here,' Alex said. 'But I think it's time to head for the asteroid.' I thought so, too. But on the way back to the Starlight Suites we saw a guy coming out of the building. He paused on the front steps, gazed across the street, and walked away. There was something of Agents

Krestoff and Bong in the way he carried himself. I steered Alex into a turn. 'Stay away from the building,' I said. 'I think so, too.' 'Give me your key.' He produced it. 'What are you going to do?' 'Make sure we don't get picked up again. You go back to Bandy's and have some coffee. I'll come get you when I'm sure it's safe.' The Starlight Suites lacked a rooftop parking area, but there was a connecting walkway with the Weidner Building, which housed several business offices. I left Alex and walked into the Weidner Building. Rode the elevator up to the fourth floor and climbed a set of stairs to the roof. The door was locked. But my room key opened it. I let myself out onto the roof, and crossed to the Suites in the connector. It was cold. I hurried down to ground level, keeping to the staircases. I took a good look around the lobby before I showed myself. When I was satisfied no one was there except the bot at the desk, I walked over to her. 'Hello, Dale,' she said pleasantly, using the alias we'd given the hotel. 'What can I do for you?' 'Has anyone been asking for us? Either me or Henry?' The bot nodded. 'Um, yes. A police officer was in here a few minutes ago. He showed us pictures of you and the gentleman.' 'What did you tell him?' 'That I'd never seen you. But I don't think he believed me.' I gave her some money for the owner. 'Thanks, Hass.'

I went back up to the rooms, grabbed my bags and Alex's, and dragged them up onto the roof, across the walkway, and down through the Weidner Building. I hauled the two bags out onto the sidewalk, flagged down a land