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with three others. One muscular woman I didn't know stayed by the door.
His red hair highlighted Crucelle all the way down the maintenance ramp, with
Gerag and Indire behind him. They carried equipment satchels and a rolled
package that would turn into three opaque and grim-looking bags long enough
for the bodies.
"There's a maintenance truck by the loading dock," Crucelle explained, a hint
of pain in the deep green eyes. I worried that he was too sensitive, that his
formality would not insulate him enough from what would ensue.
Gerag and Indire slipped past us and headed toward the mainboards.
"When you get an I.D. check, let Keiko know, and she'll notify the families or
mates."
"What about you?" asked Crucelle.
"I have to see a majer about the conduct of his marcybs."
"Lucky you. How's the satellite system?" He gestured skyward.
"Delta's still out, and Rhetoral's fuming."
"How long? Can we afford to wait?" asked Arielle over the net like the
gathering storm she could be.
"They still haven't done anything, not to justify that. Do you want to destroy
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every demi on Old Earth?" I asked softly.
"Why are we so vulnerable that way?" mused Crucelle. "Sometimes it doesn't
seem so pro-survival."
"It's been that way from The Flight. You know that as well as I do, and it's
not individually pro-survival."
"Damned genes."
"We are what we are." What that was happened to be another question, and now
wasn't the time to ask or try to answer it. The only problem was that there
wasn't any incentive to answer it except in times of crisis.
I walked up the ramp.
The muscular demi nodded. 'You want this sealed until they're done,
Coordinator?"
"Yes. Until Crucelle's happy with how things look."
She nodded, and I stepped out into the main floor corridor.
Thirty draffs waited. I thought I saw Miris in the back.
"We've had a power interruption," I began, stating the obvious. "For some
reason, there were some explosions, and we have a team investigating. Leader
Crucelle or I will let you know when we have a better idea of exactly what
happened." I hated the lie, but waited.
"How about the . . . technicians?"
"We should know shortly," I temporized. "There's at least one fatality, but I
won't speculate further right now because we don't know how far the damage
went."
"When was the last time this sort of incident occurred?" asked Miris from the
back of the group. Trust him to ask something like that.
"At least several decades," I answered, except it was more like several dozen
decades. "We'll let you know."
"Majer Henslom?" I asked Keiko on the net, glad that I didn't have to push the
transmission, because I was exhausted, and my legs felt like lead as I climbed
the stairs back to the office.
"He sent a messenger to indicate that he could be found at the residence
bloc." Her response was acid-tinged.
"Insolence to provoke a response which they can then use as a self-justifying
pretext to apply massive force to us." I paused. "Pass all of this on to the
Committee, and make sure Elanstan and Rhetoral know, and K'gaio,
Locatio they'll try something there and Crucelle and Arielle. Don't hit
Cru-celle until he finishes down below."
Keiko had some cheese and crackers laid out on a platter in the middle of the
big desk when I reached the third floor. Beside the platter was a mug of high
energy concentrate.
"Eat something before you go. You haven't eaten since before dawn."
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"How do you know?" I snapped.
She just looked at me black on gray and I had to grin. Then I ate some
crackers, and took a slow swallow from the mug. The concentrate tasted like
acidified mud, except mud tasted better because it was buffered. I didn't
quite gulp my way through it all, but there wasn't anything left before long.
"Thank you," I admitted. "You're welcome, Coordinator."
I glanced out the windows. High hazy clouds were beginning to form, a sign
that the weather would change again, probably with snow in a day or two.
"Now to see Majer Henslom." Not that I wanted to, but, if I saw him, I could
restrict the insolence to a present issue and make myself the focus, rather
than requiring him to assault someone else.
I decided to dramatize the issue more and pulled off my plain leather working
jacket and replaced it with Arielle's black cloak.
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