town, we don't have unemployment or a criminal underclass. Making sure the end-of-shift drunks get home OK is this department's prime activity.»
«Wonderful,» I grunted. «Can I talk to this personality?»
Zimmels gave his desktop terminal a code. «It's fully interfaced with the datanet, but you can communicate via affinity. In fact, given your status, you'll have to use affinity. That way you don't just talk, you can hook into its sensorium as well, the greatest virtual-reality trip you'll ever experience. And of course, all the other senior executives have affinity symbiont implants—hell, ninety per cent of the population is affinity capable. We use it to confer the whole time, it's a heck of a lot simpler than teleconferencing. And it's the main reason the habitat administration operates so smoothly. I'm surprised the company didn't give you a neuron symbiont implant before you left Earth, you just can't function effectively without one up here.»
«I told them I'd wait until I got here,» I said, which was almost the truth.
The terminal chimed melodically, then spoke in a rich male euphonic. «Good afternoon, Chief Parfitt, welcome to Jupiter. I am looking forward to working with you, and hope our relationship will be a rewarding one.»
«You're the habitat personality?» I asked.
«I am Eden, yes.»
«Chief Zimmels tells me you can perceive the entire interior.»
«That is correct. Both interior and exterior environments are accessible to me on a permanent basis.»
«What are my family doing?»
«Your children are examining a tortoise they have found in the garden of your new house. Your wife is talking to Mrs Zimmels, they are in the kitchen.»
Michael Zimmels raised his eyebrows in amusement. «Sally Ann's cutting her in on the local gossip.»
«You can see them, too?»
«Hear and see. Hell, it's boring; Sally Ann's a sponge for that kind of thing. She thinks I don't look after my advancement prospects, so she plays the corporate social ladder game on my behalf.»
«Do you show anybody anything they ask for?» I asked.
«No,» Eden replied. «The population are entitled to their privacy. However, legitimate Police Department observation requests override individual rights.»
«It sounds infallible,» I said. «I can't go wrong.»
«Don't you believe it,» Zimmels retorted knowingly. «I've just given you the good news so far. You're not just responsible for Eden, the entire JSKP operation in Jupiter orbit comes under your jurisdiction. That means a lot of external work for your squads; the industrial stations, the refineries, inter-orbit ships; we even have a large survey team on Callisto right now.»
«I see.»
«But your biggest headache is going to be Boston.»
«I don't remember that name in any of my preliminary briefings.»
«You wouldn't.» He produced a bubble cube, and handed it over to me. «This contains my report, and most of it's unofficial. Supposition, plus what I've managed to pick up from various sources. Boston is a group of enthusiasts—radicals, revolutionaries, whatever you want to call them—who want Eden to declare independence, hence the name. They're quite well organized, too; several of their leading lights are JSKP executives, mostly those on the technical and scientific side.»
«Independence from the UN?»
«The UN and the JSKP, they want to take over the whole Jupiter enterprise; they think they can create some kind of technological paradise out here, free of interference from Earth's grubby politicians and conservative companies. The old High Frontier dream. Your problem is that engaging in free political debate isn't a crime. Technically, as a UN policeman, you have to uphold their right to do so. But as a JSKP employee, just imagine how the board back on Earth will feel if Eden, Pallas, and Ararat make that declaration of independence, and the new citizens assume control of the He
• • •
The PNC wafer's bleeping woke me. I struggled to orientate myself. Strange bedroom. Grey geometric shadows at all angles. A motion which nagged away just below conscious awareness.
Jocelyn shifted around beside me, twisting the duvet. Also unusual, but the Zimmels had used a double bed. Apparently it would take a couple of days to requisition two singles.
My questing hand found the PNC wafer on the bedside dresser. I prayed I'd programmed it for no visual pick-up before I went to bed. «Call acknowledged. Chief Parfitt here,» I said blearily.
The wafer hazed over with a moirй rainbow which shivered until a face came into focus. «Rolf Kьmmel, sir. Sorry to wake you so early.»
Detective Lieutenant Kьmmel was my deputy, we'd been introduced briefly yesterday. Thirty-two and already well up the seniority ladder. A conscientious careerist, was my first impression. «What is it, Rolf?»
«We have a major crime incident inside the habitat, sir.»
«What incident?»
«Somebody's been killed. Penny Maowkavitz, the JSKP Genetics Division director.»
«Killed by what?»
«A bullet, sir. She was shot through the head.»
«Fuck. Where?»
«The north end of the Lincoln lake.»
«Doesn't mean anything. Send a driver to pick me up, I'll be there as soon as I can.»
«Driver's on her way, sir.»
«Good man. Wafer off.»
• • •
It was Shannon Kershaw who drove the jeep which picked me up, one of the station staff I'd met the previous afternoon on my lightning familiarization tour, a programming expert. A twenty-eight-year-old with flaming red hair pleated in elaborate spirals; grinning challengingly as Zimmels introduced us. Someone who knew her speciality made her invaluable, giving her a degree of immunity from the usual sharpshooting of office politics. This morning she was subdued, uniform tunic undone, hair wound into a simple tight bun.
The axial light-tube was a silver strand glimpsed through frail cloud braids high above, slightly brighter than a full Earth moon. Its light was sufficient for her to steer the jeep down a track through a small forest without using the headlights. «Not good,» she muttered. «This is really going to stir people up. We all sort of regarded Eden as . . . I don't know. Pure.»
I was studying the display my PNC wafer was running, a program correlating previous crime incident files with Penny Maowkavitz, looking for any connection. So far a complete blank. «There's never been a murder up here before, has there?»
«No. There couldn't be, really; not with the habitat personality watching us the whole time. You know, it's pretty shaken up by this.»
«The personality is upset?» I enquired sceptically.
She shot me a glance. «Of course it is. It's sentient, and Penny Maowkavitz was about the closest thing to a parent it could ever have.»
«Feelings,» I said wonderingly. «That must be one very sophisticated Turing AI program.»
«The habitat isn't an AI. It's alive, it's conscious. A living entity. You'll understand once you receive your neuron symbiont implant.»
Great, now I was driving round inside a piece of neurotic coral. «I'm sure I will.»
The trees gave way to a swath of meadowland surrounding a small lake. A rank of jeeps were drawn up near the shoreline; several had red and blue strobes flashing on top, casting transient stipples across the black water. Shannon parked next to an ambulance, and we walked over to the group of people clustered round the
