Infinity Beach - Jack McDevitt [62]
“What’s the title going to be?” Sara asked.
“Of what?”
“Of your book?”
“Oh.” She thought it over. “Aftermath.”
“You will be sure to send me a copy, won’t you?”
“Yes,” said Kim. “I’ll be pleased to do that.”
The National Archives was located at Kaydon Center in Salonika, the capital of the Republic, in the lake country 120 kilometers west of Seabright. Salonika was a trophy city, a showplace of skywalks and fountains and marble monuments commemorating the history of Greenway. Here was George Patkin proclaiming the birth of the Republic. And there was Millicent Hodge turning the first batch of salmon loose into what would later be known as Lake Makor. And in Liberty Green, the onetime astronomer Shepard Pappadopoulo, for whom Kim’s household intelligence was named, launches a missile against Henry Hox, the dictator’s son, at the battle of the Twin Rivers.
The Archives was a long, two-story utilitarian structure, fronted by a mall and a reflecting pool. The pool was surrounded by spruce trees. Walkways curved through the manicured grounds, and broad marble steps led up to the main entrance, which was guarded by a statue of Erik Kaydon, the first premier.
Kim sighed and looked once again at the picture of her target. Manville Plymouth, Assistant Commissioner for Transportation Records. Since Plymouth knew Solly, it was up to her to do the dirty work.
She was wearing a silver wig and contact lenses to change her eye color.
At the end of the day, he always comes out through Freedom Hall, Solly had told her. Solly had looked uncomfortable during the preparations, had used the term obsessed several times. Had urged her to think about what she was doing. Had suggested she think of their careers, both of which were being put at risk. Had even threatened to walk away from it all. That would have left her without much chance of success, and he knew that. In the end, when he was convinced that she’d try no matter what, he’d stuck with her.
Freedom Hall was actually the structure’s central rotunda. Here were the great documents of the Republic: the Instrument of Individual Rights, which denied the absolute power of Gregory Hox, the fourth and last in the line of dictators; the Articles of Governance, which established the mechanisms of government and defined the rights and duties of citizens; Joseph Albright’s Statement at Canbury, which, in the darkest days of the revolution, gave new fire to the rebels.
There were numerous other journals, letters, diaries, and artifacts from the 327 year history of the Republic: Stanfield welcoming Brodeur when Earth lifted its century-long embargo; Amahl’s handwritten notes detailing the sacrifices of the doctors at Dubois; the captain’s logs from the Regal, the Republic’s first interstellar vessel.
Kim casually circled the gallery, pretending to study the objects in the illuminated cases.
The Hall, Solly had said, was the only place in the building where they have serious security. Surveillance here was round-the-clock. But the routine nongovernment records were kept in the east wing. They’d never had any kind of problem, so they didn’t worry much about thieves. But you have to get into it. And to do that, a scanner has to identify your DNA and then approve admission.
That was where Manville Plymouth came in.
She waited only a few minutes before the man himself appeared from the east wing and entered the Hall. He closed the door behind him and walked briskly across the rotunda, glancing neither right nor left. She checked her picture again to be sure, and fell in behind him, following him out onto Republic Avenue.
Plymouth was a fitness nut. He went every day, seven days a week, to an athletic center called the Blockhouse.
She followed him through the fading sunlight. The area was filled with public buildings, city hall, the courthouse, the licensing commission, the board of trade,