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.He had a slight excuse.A sudden loud chainsaw shriek at your back will do that to you.The judge shoved him away, into the wall.Chief Director Asmal suddenly found himself facing a veryangry young woman with a chainsaw."You'll tell me, right now, where Chip is." She twitched the trigger.It chewed a piece of his expensive suit.All the bombast evaporated."He.he's not here.Talbot said he had to be taken straight to the ship.""What ship?" she snapped."The Korozhet ship.They wanted him.We.we've got the extradition papers.It's duly authorized byCouncil."Van Klomp pulled her back.Or Asmal would have been half the man he'd been.Even the huge Van Klomp couldn't hold her for long, though, Ginny was so utterly furious.The mob ofnews reporters outside were thus treated to the spectacle faithfully captured on many cameras andcamcorders of Special Branch's Chief Director racing out of his own headquarters with a youngwoman in hot pursuit with a chainsaw.Unfortunately, the chainsaw finally spluttered and ran out of fuelbefore she caught up with him, or the news ratings that night would have been even more spectacularthan they were.As it was, in Vat households, viewership was estimated at ninety-seven percent.Even out of fuel, andwielded by a slender woman, a chainsaw makes an amazingly effective bludgeon and Chief DirectorAsmal may well have been the single most hated man on Harmony and Reason.It was also noted by statisticians, a year or so later, that an astonishing number of girls were coming intothe universe with the name of "Virginia." Odd really, since that had never been a popular name on theplanet before.Certainly not among Vats.Back | NextContentsChapter 41"That's it, then," Devi said softly.Her eyes moved to the door opening onto the balcony.Through theglass, she could see the city and the two great ships that loomed over the skyline."It's over.""I'd hardly say it's 'over,' Sanjay," came Liepsich's voice over the telephone.Devi shook her head, even though the physicist couldn't see the gesture."To be sure.But our part in it isover.We were never the solution, you know.Only the ones who could create a soluble problem.Whichwe did.Isolated the poison into an organ that could be surgically removed, if you will.The surgery itselfwill be done by others."There was a barking laugh in the receiver."Van Klomp bears a lot more resemblance to a battle axe thana scalpel.""All the better.""Don't forget that Talbot's still on the loose.""I'll handle Talbot."As much as she'd tried, she hadn't been able to keep the steely purpose out of her voice.She could hearLiepsich's sudden intake of breath on the other end."What difference does it make, Len?" she asked gently."I feel quite well, I assure you.""If you'd stayed back on Earth.""I wouldn't have been able to help create a new world.Three of them, in fact don't forget my otherchildren." The last clause was a command, not a reminder."You can't live forever, anyway."Silence, for a moment.Then, even more gently than she'd spoken: "I care for you deeply, Sanjay.""I know.Give my love to John, would you? Add an insult if you can think of a suitable one.And now,good-bye.Killing swine requires a sharp blade."She hung up the phone, slowly but firmly.Back | NextContentsChapter 42An office at HARIT animal-holding facility.In the hours that followed the raid on the Special Branch, Mike Capra learned just what commandcompetency meant.It meant someone like Van Klomp.Van Klomp arranged to send a detachment ofsoldiers and police to Shaw House.The result of that was the capture of Dr.Thom and a large amount ofincriminating evidence not to mention jackhammer damage to some of the tiles of Shaw House.VanKlomp also got his factotum-and-woman-of-all-trades Meilin in to comfort Virginia.And, by the looks of it, to plot with her.A snatch of conversation which Mike overheard and ratherwished he hadn't mentioned the Vat Liberation Organization.The VLO was a banned group.It had beendescribed some months back on television by Talbot Cartup, wearing his Security portfolio hat on behalfof the Shareholders Council, as a dangerous and subversive organization.Van Klomp had also gotten Ginny Shaw to lean on her father's family connection with General Blutin,getting him to authorize a paratrooper guard for Virginia.Then Van Klomp had organized a meeting of all those involved.or as he'd said, all those that he couldget to admit to it.* * *Mike cleared his throat and began to address what he was privately calling the convocation ofconspirators."Right.To bring you all up to speed: As far as we have been able to work out, the fat was never really inthe fire until Virginia got loose.We've checked on his call record, and Tesco did phone Talbot Cartup totell him that Virginia Shaw had showed up at the court and blown the case out of the water.He also toldCartup that she had repudiated the engagement and announced her intent to marry Connolly.Up to thatpoint, we think, sending Connolly to the Korozhet was something Cartup had intended to do whenconvenient.By using Ginny's proxies the matter had been voted on some two days ago, but Cartupwanted to do it quietly, with minimum publicity.But at the point that Ginny acquired bodyguards he didn'tcontrol and was talking loudly to all and sundry as well as the media.well, the only coin around wasConnolly."Capra cleared his throat."Connolly was supposed to have escaped from custody, murdering people inthe process."There was a little uproar in the room."Yes, that's right," said Mike harshly."The killing of the guards wasplanned and premeditated, not just something that happened because Special Branch screwed up theoperation."Van Klomp murmured something to one of his paratrooper sub-officers.Capra decided to ignore thepart of it he overheard.If he wasn't mistaken, the colonel in command of HAR's elite paratrooper unithad just planned and premeditated the destruction of Special Branch.If true, that was in shockingviolation of a multitude of laws, but.Good riddance, thought Mike to himself, and plowed on."It all makes sense, if you look at it from Cartup's point of view.Virginia had just painted Connolly as ahero.Having him 'escape' and commit murder in the process would make a lot of the rest of her storyless believable.They'd also have a valuable hostage to ensure your good behavior, Ms.Shaw.Accordingto Asmal, who has been singing like a bird, Tesco was supposed to take you aside and tell you to shut upor get Connolly back in pieces.Unfortunately for them, the snatch didn't go according to plan.WhenTesco saw that one of the MPs was still alive and that the document that the Special Branch police hadused to talk their way in had been found, he did a runner.""There is a warrant out for his arrest," said the Judge Advocate General, grimly."And for the arrest ofLieutenant Depardue.I take exception to this kind of corruption in our ranks.I'm going to stamp it out [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]