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DOC :ch13.txt

part four
 the straylight run

your name is henry dorsett case she recited the year
and place of his birth his bama single identification number
and a string of names he gradually recognized as aliases from
his past
 you been here awhile he saw the contents of his bag
spread out across the bed unwashed clothing sorted by type 
the shuriken lay by itself between jeans and underwear on
the sandtinted temperfoam
 where is kolodny the two men sat side by side on the
couch their arms crossed over tanned chests identical gold
chains slung around their necks case peered at them and saw
that their youth was counterfeit marked by a certain telltale
corrugation at the knuckles something the surgeons were un
able to erase
 whos kolodny
 that was the name in the register where is she
 i dunno he said crossing to the bar and pouring himself
a glass of mineral water she took off
 where did you go tonight case the girl picked up the
pistol and rested it on her thigh without actually pointing it at
him
 jules verne couple of bars got high how about you 
his knees felt brittle the mineral water was warm and flat
 i dont think you grasp your situation said the man on
the left taking a pack of gitanes from the breast pocket of his
white mesh blouse you are busted mr case the charges
have to do with conspiracy to augment an artificial intelli
gence he took a gold dunhill from the same pocket and
cradled it in his palm the man you call armitage is already
in custody
 corto
 the mans eyes widened yes how do you know that that
is his name a millimeter of flame clicked from the lighter
 i forget case said
 youll remember the girl said

their names or worknames were michle roland and
pierre pierre case decided would play the bad cop roland
would take cases side provide small kindnesses he found
an unopened pack of yeheyuans when case refused a gitane 
and generally play counterpoint to pierres cold hostility 
michle would be the recording angel making occasional
adjustments in the direction of the interrogation one or all of
them he was certain would be kinked for audio very likely
for simstim and anything he said or did now was admissible
evidence evidence he asked himself through the grinding
comedown of what
 knowing that he couldnt follow their french they spoke
freely among themselves or seemed to he caught enough as
it was names like pauley armitage sensenet panther mod
erns protruding like icebergs from an animated sea of parisian
french but it was entirely possible that the names were there
for his benefit they always referred to molly as kolodny
 you say you were hired to make a run case roland
said his slow speech intended to convey reasonableness and
that you are unaware of the nature of the target is this not
unusual in your trade having penetrated the defenses would
you not be unable then to perform the required operation and
surely an operation of some kind is required yes he leaned
forward elbows on his stenciled brown knees palms out to
receive cases explanation pierre paced the room now he was
by the window now by the door michle was the kink case
decided her eyes never left him
 can i put some clothes on he asked pierre had insisted
on stripping him searching the seams of his jeans now he sat
naked on a wicker footstool with one foot obscenely white
 roland asked pierre something in french pierre at the
window again was peering through a flat little pair of binoc
ulars non he said absently and roland shrugged raising
his eyebrows at case case decided it was a good time to smile 
roland returned the smile
 oldest cop bullshit in the book case thought look he
said im sick had this godawful drug in a bar you know 
i wanna lie down you got me already you say you got
armitage you got him go ask him im just hired help
 roland nodded and kolodny
 she was with armitage when he hired me just muscle a
razorgirl far as i know which isnt too far
 you know that armitages real name is corto pierre said
his eyes still hidden by the soft plastic flanges of the binoculars 
how do you know that my friend
 i guess he mentioned it sometime case said regretting
the slip everybodys got a couple names your name pierre
 we know how you were repaired in chiba michle said
and that may have been wintermutes first mistake case
stared at her as blankly as he could the name hadnt been
mentioned before the process employed on you resulted in
the clinics owner applying for seven basic patents do you
know what that means
 no
 it means that the operator of a black clinic in chiba city
now owns a controlling interest in three major medical research
consortiums this reverses the usual order of things you see 
it attracted attention she crossed her brown arms across her
small high breasts and settled back against the print cushion 
case wondered how old she might be people said that age
always showed in the eyes but hed never been able to see it 
julie deane had had the eyes of a disinterested tenyearold
behind the rose quartz of his glasses nothing old about michle
but her knuckles traced you to the sprawl lost you again
then caught up with you as you were leaving for istanbul we
backtracked traced you through the grid determined that youd
instigated a riot at sensenet sensenet was eager to cooperate 
they ran an inventory for us they discovered that mccoy
pauleys rom personality construct was missing
 in istanbul roland said almost apologetically it was
very easy the woman had alienated armitages contact with
the secret police
 and then you came here pierre said slipping the bin
oculars into his shorts pocket we were delighted
 chance to work on your tan
 you know what we mean michle said if you wish to
pretend that you do not you only make things more difficult
for yourself there is still the matter of extradition you will
return with us case as will armitage but where exactly
will we all be going to switzerland where you will be merely
a pawn in the trial of an artificial intelligence or to le bama
where you can be proven to have participated not only in data
invasion and larceny but in an act of public mischief which
cost fourteen innocent lives the choice is yours
 case took a yeheyuan from his pack pierre lit it for him
with the gold dunhill would armitage protect you the
question was punctuated by the lighters bright jaws snapping
shut
 case looked up at him through the ache and bitterness of
betaphenethylamine how old are you boss
 old enough to know that you are fucked burnt that this
is over and you are in the way
 one thing case said and drew on his cigarette he blew
the smoke up at the turing registry agent do you guys have
any real jurisdiction out here i mean shouldnt you have the
freeside security team in on this party its their turf isnt it 
he saw the dark eyes harden in the lean boy face and tensed
for the blow but pierre only shrugged
 it doesnt matter roland said you will come with us 
we are at home with situations of legal ambiguity the treaties
under which our arm of the registry operates grant us a great
deal of flexibility and we create flexibility in situations where
it is required the mask of amiability was down suddenly
rolands eyes as hard as pierres
 you are worse than a fool michle said getting to her
feet the pistol in her hand you have no care for your species 
for thousands of years men dreamed of pacts with demons 
only now are such things possible and what would you be
paid with what would your price be for aiding this thing to
free itself and grow there was a knowing weariness in her
young voice that no nineteenyearold could have mustered 
you will dress now you will come with us along with the
one you call armitage you will return with us to geneva and
give testimony in the trial of this intelligence otherwise we
kill you now she raised the pistol a smooth black walther
with an integral silencer
 im dressing already he said stumbling toward the bed 
his legs were still numb clumsy he fumbled with a clean
tshirt
 we have a ship standing by we will erase pauleys con
struct with a pulse weapon
 sensenetll be pissed case said thinking and all the
evidence in the hosaka
 they are in some difficulty already for having owned such
a thing
 case pulled the shirt over his head he saw the shuriken on
the bed lifeless metal his star he felt for the anger it was
gone time to give in to roll with it he thought of the
toxin sacs here comes the meat he muttered
 in the elevator to the meadow he thought of molly she
might already be in straylight hunting riviera hunted prob
ably by hideo who was almost certainly the ninja clone of
the finns story the one whod come to retrieve the talking
head
 he rested his forehead against the matte black plastic of a
wall panel and closed his eyes his limbs were wood old
warped and heavy with rain
 lunch was being served beneath the trees under the bright
umbrellas roland and michle fell into character chattering
brightly in french pierre came behind michle kept the muz
zle of her pistol close to his ribs concealing the gun with a
white duck jacket she draped over her arm
 crossing the meadow weaving between the tables and the
trees he wondered if she would shoot him if he collapsed now 
black fur boiled at the borders of his vision he glanced up at
the hot white band of the ladoacheson armature and saw a
giant butterfly banking gracefully against recorded sky
 at the edge of the meadow they came to railinged cliffside
wild flowers dancing in the updraft from the canyon that was
desiderata michle tossed her short dark hair and pointed
saying something in french to roland she sounded genuinely
happy case followed the direction of her gesture and saw the
curve of planing lakes the white glint of casinos turquoise
rectangles of a thousand pools the bodies of bathers tiny bronze
hieroglyphs all held in serene approximation of gravity against
the endless curve of freesides hull
 they followed the railing to an ornate iron bridge that arched
over desiderata michle prodded him with the muzzle of the
walther
 take it easy i cant hardly walk today
 they were a little over a quarter of the way across when
the microlight struck its electric engine silent until the carbon
fiber prop chopped away the top of pierres skull
 they were in the things shadow for an instant case felt
the hot blood spray across the back of his neck and then
someone tripped him he rolled seeing michle on her back
knees up aiming the walther with both hands thats a waste
of effort he thought with the strange lucidity of shock she
was trying to shoot down the microlight
 and then he was running he looked back as he passed the
first of the trees roland was running after him he saw the
fragile biplane strike the iron railing of the bridge crumple
cartwheel sweeping the girl with it down into desiderata
 roland hadnt looked back his face was fixed white his
teeth bared he had something in his hand
 the gardening robot took roland as he passed that same
tree it fell straight out of the groomed branches a thing like
a crab diagonally striped with black and yellow
 you killed em case panted running crazy mother
fucker you killed em all

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	(19%)	roland pierre michle kolodny names evidence wanna hired pierres walther ...
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