''Obviously’ being the key word, of course,' Isobel said as she pieced together more metal parts.
'There's something very skewed here,' Victor muttered, flipping back a few cards. 'What in the Lady's name was he doing with this? Some kind of look-up…?'
'By the way,' Taya said, 'did you take that program from Alister's house? His copy is missing.'
'This is his copy, but we found it here. He must have been working on it the night before he died,' Emelie replied. Taya winced at her matter-of-fact tone.
'He was at a party that night.'
'He might have come here afterward. He did things like that. Sometimes the best time to work is after midnight, when nobody else is around.' Victor scrutinized a card. 'Emelie, can you figure this out?'
She leaned over his shoulder, then picked up the cards that preceded it.
'Looks like it should loop. Where's the end?'
Kyle set down the schematic.
'If a loop set the program buzzing, it could keep the engine's gears spinning all night,' he observed. 'But an error that obvious should have come up during testing.'
'This card is pretty new. Maybe he was experimenting,' Victor suggested. He held up two cards. Even Taya could see the smudges of oil and wear around the perforations on the older card.
'Could a loop bypass the security on this engine?' Cristof joined them, studying the cards as if the punches might render up their meaning to him.
'No, but take a look at this.' The other programmers huddled around Victor as he pulled out cards and spread them on the table, over Kyle's schematic.
Taya and Cristof backed away, giving each other blank looks.
'How soon can we get up to the tower?' Cristof asked, his voice low.
'Not until there's light. We can leave as soon as we can make out shapes, but you wouldn't want to fly into a tree or a cliff on your first time out.'
'Or ever.' He jammed his hands into his pockets, frowning at the motionless analytical engine.
'What are you thinking?'
'You don't want to know.'
'How'd you like me to drop you while we're flying?'
He glanced at her.
'I'm thinking about what happened to Decatur Neuillan.'
'Why?' Taya swallowed. 'You don't think Alister had anything to do with that, do you?'
'What if Emelie was right?' His voice had dropped to an uncertain murmur. 'What if Alister had given Neuillan too much information? Enough for Neuillan to circumvent the loyalty test?'
'If he did, it was just an accident.'
'Let's say it wasn't.' Cristof sounded defeated. 'Neuillan was a family friend, and Alister's judgment wasn't always the best when it came to keeping secrets. What if Neuillan convinced Alister to tell him how to get around Refinery? And what if somebody found out what Alister had done, blackmailed him into writing a program that would harm the Great Engine, and then killed him to keep him quiet?'
'The Clockwork Heart program?'
'It's just coincidence that the team ran it last night. Otherwise, if it had gotten Council approval, it would have been run on the Engine.'
'That's pretty far-fetched,' Taya objected. 'And Alister really believed in this program, I could tell.'
'He fooled you before. He could be very convincing, when he wanted to be.'
'Clockwork Heart wasn't about impressing me. It was personal.'
Cristof looked troubled. 'Maybe. But he also cared what people thought about him. If someone threatened to tell the world that Alister had a hand in Neuillan's treason….'
'But if Clockwork Heart didn't work right, that would make him look bad too, wouldn't it?'
'Making a programming error is one thing. Aiding and abetting a traitor is another.' Cristof rubbed his eyes, knocking his glasses askew. 'I don't want to believe that Alister would sabotage the Engine, but think about it. If he'd written a program that would break into the Engine's security, someone would have a very good reason to kill him and Caster. Killing Alister would keep the program's secret safe, and killing Caster would make sure Clockwork Heart got accepted in the Council's vote.'
'But that doesn't explain the stolen Labyrinth program cards. Alister thought you did that.'
'Hey, exalted.' Lars looked over, his round face troubled.
'What?'
'No offense, but I think your brother was writing more just than a matchmaking program.'
Cristof gave Taya a heavy look, then stepped up to the table.
'What is it?'
'Well, we haven't gone through the whole thing, but he's got routines here that look more like decryption functions than compatibility match-ups.'
'This is the last program we ran last night,' Kyle added. 'It has to be the one that affected the engine, unless Lars finds a mechanical problem.'
'I haven't found anything yet, and I've been over about two-thirds of the metal. It's still a possibility, but after seeing these cards…. 'Lars shook his head.
'It's all Alister's work?' Taya asked, casting about for a better explanation. 'Could someone else have inserted those cards into his program?'
'No, it's his,' Victor assured her. 'I've seen him use some of these functions before.'
'Was the program sitting here when you came in yesterday?' Cristof asked.
'It was in his storage area.'
'Locked?'
'Yes, but we all have each other's keys. When we heard he was dead, we decided to pull it out and run it.'
'It doesn't make sense,' Cristof muttered. 'Why would he leave it here, where anyone could see what he was doing?'
'You wouldn't want to carry a program all day,' Victor said, nudging the boxes at his feet. 'A box of punch cards is heavy.'
'Besides, this room's secure,' Lars said. 'And nobody would have any reason to think Clockwork Heart was anything other than a matchmaking program.'
'Hey, wait a minute,' Isobel protested. 'You don't think Heart was specifically written to get access to an engine, do you? Alister wouldn't do that.'
'I don't know,' Cristof said, pulling his coat around him. 'But if it was, somebody might be coming after this copy.'
Taya and Kyle both spoke at once.
'Not necessarily.' 'If he is—'
They looked at each other. Kyle gestured for her to go first.
'If we're assuming this was written to run on the Great Engine, these are the wrong kind of cards. He would have had a second copy to run on the Engine, and that copy's probably still up in Oporphyr Tower,' Taya said. 'So if someone wants to get access to the Engine, they'll have to go up there to get it.'
'And only icarii can get there right now,' Cristof mused.
'The only other engine worth accessing would be the one in the Bank of Ondinium,' Kyle added.
Taya felt a surge of excitement.
'A bank robbery! Maybe that's what this is all about!'
'But the Labyrinth Code…' Cristof objected.
'Does the bank use it?'
'Not that I know of,' Lars said, looking thoughtful. 'But you could be right, Kyle. Messing with the Bank of Ondinium would cause a lot more trouble than tampering with the Great Engine, and the bank uses paper cards.'
