Up Against It - M. J. Locke [134]
“Anything private,” Jane said. “I’m sick of motes in my soup.” She paused. “I know it’s pricey to keep running your antimote nanoware. Do we have another option? Something that ensures privacy?”
Sarah looked thoughtful. “It’s not far to the Badlands, and I know people there who can hack us a barrier. It’s not as bad as its rep,” she said. “Not if you know people.”
“You have Badlands connections?” Again Jane felt the stirrings of her Voice. The Viridians’ domain was the Badlands.
“From my pro bono work,” Sarah replied, “on behalf of Downsider immigrants…”
“You never told me!”
“The subject just never came up.” Sarah shrugged. “Viridians are weird, I grant you. But they’re not the monsters people make them out to be.”
“I never would have pegged you for this.”
“There’s a moral issue involved. I would never modify my own genome to the extent they do. I wouldn’t go even so far as you have, Jane, with your foot and hip mods. But I can’t countenance what was done to the gene-mutes, Downside. They are consummate artisans, and their own genome is their workbench. However much we may criticize them, by their own lights they are very careful and ethical.
“Are we any more human than our ancestors whose only tools consisted of rocks and skins? Are we less so? I’ve worked closely with the Viridians for years, and they are no better or worse than anyone else I know. Human is as human does.”
“I have to be honest. Their mods make my skin crawl. But I agree with your sentiment, and I laud you for having the courage of your convictions.”
“Thanks. But I benefit, too. They are amazing technologists. It helps, sometimes, to have the right sort of friends.”
“As, for instance, right now.”
Sarah smiled. “Exactly.” She held the door open for Jane, and they entered the “Stroiders” haze.
* * *
As they neared Ouroboros, Amaya broke into Geoff’s thoughts. “I’ve been thinking…”
“What?”
“Well, shouldn’t the university have arranged this visit through you? If it was on the up-and-up, I mean. It’s still your property. You haven’t signed it over.”
Geoff thought about it. “I guess it is a bit odd.”
Kam said, “It is possible the black marketers told someone else about it. Someone not so nice.”
Geoff said, “But Moriarty checked, and everything was on the level. I know Professor Xuan. He wouldn’t collude with bad guys.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know,” Kam replied. “Maybe they tricked him.”
Geoff didn’t say anything. He had a hard time taking the idea seriously. Those black marketers weren’t his definition of competent. And they had been arrested.
“In any case,” Amaya said, “we should be cautious. Let’s not just go barging in. Let’s land over the horizon and observe them.”
“I suspect they have already seen us coming,” Kam pointed out. “Every ship has radar.”
“Perhaps. We should assume they have.”
“I think we’re worrying unnecessarily,” Geoff said. “But it doesn’t hurt to take a few precautions. What’s your air and fuel look like?”
They had about an hour and a half of air left, and one quarter fuel. Meaning they couldn’t get back to town without recharging both. So they had to land. “Look. If they’re legit, we have no problem. If they aren’t, we need an angle.”
Amaya made a sound in her throat. “What; we’re going to knock on their airlock and ask if they’re with the mob?”
“Well, I had something a bit sneakier in mind. We’ll treat them on the level, but we’ll have something in the back pocket. Just in case.” Maybe Dad was right about his sneakiness. Well, it came in handy sometimes. “Remember when we were first came out to Ouroboros last year, and we had problems with the power out to the chemical plant? You two climbed up into the heat discharge piping and ran a conduit out to the plant.” The tunnels had been too small for Geoff or Ian, even back then, but both Amaya and Kam had been able to wiggle through. And, importantly, the heat venting pipe was a good ways away from the mine entrance. Behind a ridge, in fact.
“Yeah,” Kam said, “but I’ve had a growth spurt since