'Well… it does analyze behavioral patterns. I suppose I can tell you, Taya. You are an icarus and accustomed to dealing with secrets… but this is confidential. The Council doesn't want any information getting out until we are certain the program will work. Although if the Torn Cards already know about it….'
'You can trust me,' she asserted. 'I'm an icarus.'
'I asked you not to get involved with Pins, but you went down to meet her, anyway.'
'That wasn't a secret. And besides, you didn't ask me,' she objected. 'You warned me.'
His lips quirked up in a shadow of his usual smile.
'I should have known a hunting hawk would pay no attention to my warnings.'
'So,' Taya said, 'what's this vote about?'
The smile faded again as Alister leaned back in his chair. 'I've written a program called Clockwork Heart. It's meant to help people determine whether or not someone's going to be a good match for them. Romantically, at first, although I think it has applications in business and politics, as well.'
'Romantically?' Taya wrinkled her nose. 'You mean, it's going to tell us who we can marry?'
'No! No, I have no intention of taking away anybody's freedom of choice,' Alister said hastily. 'But let's assume you've fallen in love with someone. You'll both take a survey and we'll run your response cards through Clockwork Heart. The program compares your responses to one hundred key variables I've isolated from a multivariate analysis of a thousand successful marriages and a thousand unsuccessful ones. It then builds a series of statistical models according to the predictive parameters we've developed and calculates the likelihood of a stable marriage between the two of you under various hypothetical socioeconomic conditions. The greater the number of conditions under which your marriage is predicted to remain intact, the higher the confidence level that you're making the right choice.'
Taya blinked, a little overwhelmed by his explanation.
'Well, I can see why the Torn Cards might object, since they hate machines, but why does the Council care about marriages?'
'Because stable marriages are integral to a stable society.' Alister stood and began to pace. 'The Great Engine has made Ondinium the most civilized nation in the world. Every citizen is matched to a job well-suited to his personality and skills, and our factories are fast, safe, and efficient. We can calculate resource supply and demand and make reasonable predictions to avoid shortages and avoid excesses. Now, why shouldn't we apply the same successful formulae to personal relationships? I don't want to take the excitement out of romance, but I do want to prevent truly disastrous marriages, the marriages in which wives and babies are abandoned, or beaten… or killed. If Clockwork Heart can prevent even one abusive marriage, then all the time I've put into it will be worthwhile.'
Taya stared. She'd never seen Alister so worked up before. Maybe he wasn't all good looks and flirtation, after all.
'How will you know if it works?'
He took a deep breath.
'It won't be easy. So far we've only run simulations based on past cases. What we intend to do next, if the Council approves the experiment, is start a volunteer program. We'll run the couples’ cards and monitor their relationships for a year or two. Then we will compare the experiment's successes or failures to those of a control group; couples that don't get any advice from the Engine. If we find a statistically significant difference between the two groups that proves the program's advice is having a positive effect on marriage outcomes, then we can begin to fine-tune the models. Clockwork Heart runs very slowly right now, but eventually, especially if the new prototype engine works out, we may be able to process a couple's data in just a few hours.'
Taya shook her head.
'What if the Engine tells you a marriage won't work out, but that's really the person the Lady meant you to be with?'
Alister laughed, relaxing.
'Mere mortals can't defy the Lady of the Forge. If a marriage is meant to be, it'll come about, regardless of Clockwork Heart's computational robustness. People can always choose to ignore the program's findings, if they prefer.'
'Do you really think it'll work?'
'Yes.' He met her eyes, his chin jutting forward with determination. 'I do. I've written the best program I can, I've tested it every way I can think of, and I believe it will make a difference. It still needs development, but if the Council gives me a chance, in our own lifetime we could see broken hearts and bad marriages become all but nonexistent.'
Taya nodded, although she couldn't help harboring reservations. How could a machine possibly predict the vagaries of the human heart?
'Anyway,' Alister said, leaning against the table, 'you understand why it's causing so much debate. Clockwork Heart is a complicated, time-consuming program to run, and it's going to take a long time before the city sees any benefits from it. A number of decaturs aren't convinced it's important enough to pursue. Caster felt that way at first, but I showed him the data I've collected on the long-term economic impact of broken marriages and abandoned children, and he finally changed his mind. The simple fact is, strong marriages lead to strong societies. Caster agreed to approve the experiment and review our data after a year.'
'So you think the Torn Cards found out he'd changed his mind?'
'It's possible. They wouldn't like this program. They don't like anything the Great Engine does.' Alister sounded scornful. 'If they thought Caster was slipping away from their agenda, they might have tried to kill him to keep the other decaturs from following his lead.'
'But how would they know that Exalted Octavus decided to change his vote?'
'That's a good question.' Alister shook his head. 'I don't know how many people he has talked to about this.'
'He'd only tell another decatur, right?'
'Any of his clerks might know, or a guard may have overheard him talking about the vote. If he has discussed it with Viera, his house servants might know. I'm not trying to blame terrorism on the lower castes, but it doesn't make any sense for an exalted to work with the Torn Cards. We were born into this caste to protect Ondinium, not destroy it. And destroying the Great Engine is tantamount to destroying the city.'
'But what if…' Taya faltered.
'What if?' he urged, after a moment.
'Last night, at the party, I heard some men talking, and they mentioned Pins. They were talking to an exalted.'
Alister fixed his gaze on her.
'Who?'
'I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't know if something bad was going on.' She felt miserable. 'But now that Pins is dead… maybe one of the men I saw killed her. I don't know. I could be wrong. But I have to report my suspicions, don't I?'
'Yes. I think you do. Tell me, Taya, and I promise I will conduct a quiet investigation and keep your name out of it. Nothing will come back to haunt you if you've made a mistake.'
'I hope I'm wrong. Really, I do.' She took a deep breath and steeled herself. 'Because they were talking to your brother.'
'Cris?'
'He sounded like he was in charge.' She didn't want to mention the night the refinery had blown up or the wireferry map she'd found in Cristof's shop. She'd had her suspicions then, but Cristof had explained everything. But this… Pins was dead. She'd witnessed Cristof receiving the package and heard him mention Pins’ name. This was something she couldn't keep to herself.
She described exactly what she'd seen and heard at the dance.
'I'm sorry,' she finished, feeling terrible. 'Maybe it's just coincidence.'
Alister stood still, his handsome face as blank as the mask on the floor.
