Judgment at Proteus

protested. “How am I supposed to do that while I’m sitting around listening to lawyers?”

[Obviously, he thinks you can,] Minnario said, gesturing toward the display. [The message is very clear. Ten o’clock tomorrow.]

So much for Emikai’s grace period. Depending on how much legalese Chinzro Hchchu decided to pull out of his sleeve, Minnario and I could be stuck there the whole day. “In that case, I’ve got the rest of today to figure out who Blue One is and find a connection with Tech Yleli. Do either of you have a camera I can use to take his picture?”

[I do,] Minnario said, pulling a small, flat disk from his chair pouch. [You call him Blue One?]

“Only until I get his real name,” I said, taking the camera and getting a few shots of Blue One’s face from different angles. “When we first met, he was wearing a blue tech’s outfit.”

“You did not say that you and he had previously met,” Emikai said, eyeing me oddly.

“It just hadn’t come up yet,” I assured him. “I wasn’t hiding it, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“What were the circumstances of this meeting?” Emikai persisted.

“Usantra Wandek wanted to ask me about Asantra Muzzfor’s last hours aboard the super-express,” I said. “Blue One was part of the audience. End of story.” I turned back to Minnario. “Did you and Bayta—?”

“That is not the end of the story,” Emikai interrupted. “You have not even told me all of what happened to Asantra Muzzfor. What did you tell them?”

“I told them the truth, the same as I told you,” I said. “Besides, all of that is irrelevant. You heard Minnario— we’re dealing with the New Tigris incident, and no one has any business looking at anything else.”

Emikai’s blaze darkened. “I am not a member of the court,” he rumbled. “I choose what is relevant to me.”

“Fine,” I said. “You come up with some questions, and I’ll be happy to answer them. But later. Right now, I have to get back to my room and my computer and see what I can dig up on this guy.”

For a moment Emikai glared at me. Then, reluctantly, he nodded. “Very well,” he said. “But this conversation is not yet over.”

“I’ll look forward to finishing it,” I assured him as I turned back to Minnario. “As I was starting to ask, were you and Bayta finished with your witness prep work?”

[Yes,] the Nemut said, looking back and forth uncertainly between Emikai and me. [Before you leave, though, do you have more medication for my guest?]

“Yes, of course—sorry,” I said, digging the bottle and hypo out of my pocket and handing them to him. “Give him—what was it, about two of the little hypo marks?” I asked, looking at Emikai.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Two vikka every six hours.”

[I understand,] Minnario said. [What about food and water?]

I gazed over at our sleeping Shonkla-raa. If Emikai’s six-hour time estimate was accurate, he should be coming to in about three and a half hours. “Tell you what,” I said. “Forget any fresh injections for now—I’ll come by about the time he’s due to wake up and handle it. I think by then I’ll want to talk to him anyway.”

[Are you sure that’ll be all right?] Minnario asked, looking apprehensively at our prisoner. [What if you’re late? He’s considerably bigger than I am.]

“He’s a lot meaner, too,” I said. “But don’t worry, he’s not going to break out of those restraints any time soon.”

“But if we’re not here by the time he starts to wake up, call one of us at once,” Bayta added.

“Right,” I agreed. “We’ll see you in a couple of hours.” I raised my eyebrows at Emikai. “You coming?”

“In a moment,” Emikai said. “I would like a word first with Attorney Minnario.”

I frowned, looking back at Minnario. [It’s all right,] he assured me. [Actually, I’d like a word with Logra Emikai, as well. Until later.]

“Until later,” I said. With a final look at Blue One, I took Bayta’s arm and left the room.

The corridors were crowded as we made our way back toward the medical dome. But that was okay. I didn’t really want to talk right now, and I could sense Bayta was in a deep study of her own. The only ones of our group who said anything for most of the way, in fact, were Doug and Ty, each of whom sent out a yip greeting to another watchdog and his master as they went in the opposite direction on the glideway.

The traffic had mostly cleared out, and I could see the archway into the medical dome ahead, when Bayta finally spoke. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to check on Terese before we go to our room,” she said. “Make sure she’s all right.”

“No problem,” I assured her. “Were you able to find out anything new about the attack?”

“Not really,” Bayta said. “She didn’t seem to want to talk in front of Minnario.”

I grimaced. “Yeah, I was afraid that would cramp your style a little. Did anyone notice the missing hypos?”

“I think Dr. Aronobal might have,” she said. “I saw her looking at the area where they were all laid out, and then she went out in the corridor and had a short conversation with one of the techs. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he left in something of a hurry.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” I said. “They can’t prove anything. At least, not until they talk to Blue One.”

Bayta exhaled loudly. “There’s something wrong here, Frank,” she said pensively. “Everything that’s happened here is just wrong, somehow.”

“For example?” I asked. I already had my own list, but I wanted to hear hers.

“The attack on you, for one thing,” she said. “Why did they send only one person? Were they really that overconfident? Or did they want you to win so that you would do exactly what you did?”

“You mean wrap Blue One in cotton and drop him in a hole?”

“Or they may have hoped for something worse,” she said, a brief shiver running through her. “They might have thought they would lose on the New Tigris killings, and were hoping to get something else to accuse you of. If we hadn’t found that spare tracker, it would have led them right to him. Whether he was alive or … not.”

“True,” I agreed. “Okay, so we’ve got the attack. Anything else bugging you?”

“Yes, several things,” she said. “Why lure you to the scene of Tech Yleli’s murder? Just so they could jump out at the right time and frame you? But that didn’t work. More importantly, they should have known it wouldn’t work.” She gestured down at Doug and Ty. “As Logra Emikai and Chinzro Hchchu quickly realized.”

I looked down at the watchdogs, thinking about Doug’s lack of action when the locals accosted me at Yleli’s funeral. “Actually, that alibi may actually not be as tight as they all think,” I said. “Doug didn’t exactly leap to the defense of all those fine, upstanding citizens who jumped me. I wouldn’t mention that to anyone else, of course.”

“But why try it at all?” Bayta persisted. “In fact, it’s worse than that. Not only did the frame-up not work, but in a way it actually backfired on them.”

“How so?”

“It brought you and your Westali training back to Chinzro Hchchu’s attention,” she said. “I assume that’s why he asked you to investigate the murder.”

“Which led me to Sector 25-C, where no one knew me, and into an ambush,” I reminded her. “Maybe it didn’t backfire as badly as you think.”

“Oh,” she said. “Right.”

“But let’s not be hasty,” I continued. “They may have gotten me hired so as to set me up for the ambush. But on the other hand, it could also be that the ambush was their response to me getting hired. In which case, we could argue that there’s something about Yleli or his murder that they don’t want us to find. Or else they want us to think there’s something about the murder they don’t want us to find.”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Bayta said slowly. “I don’t know, Frank. This whole thing’s starting to sound like a bizarre game.”

“Not if Asantra Muzzfor was a representative member of the group,” I said grimly. “He could get as convoluted as the best of us, but there was always a solid core of intent and motive beneath all the foam. If this is a game, there’s some deadly reason for them to be playing it.”