Up Against It - M. J. Locke [75]
Xuan gave her a loving look. “Thank you, dear.”
She did not condone cronyism. But Xuan’s family had suffered greatly over the years, and she would not cause the little ones more discomfort.
In fact, special arrangements were unavoidable. Administration staff—including Jane’s division—were all working killing hours. If the PM did not make it possible for their families to come in and be safe, the entire administrative arm of the government would shut down as everyone went to help their own families prepare.
Xuan said, “How about you take a break around eight, and we’ll eat dinner together in Kukuyoshi?”
“I’m not sure I’ll have time,” she said. “It depends on how things go.” As she said this, she typed and sent a quick message: “Feral sapnt IDd in systems, caused life support damage. Xtractg v. late tonite.”
“Stroiders” might be able to capture the message over her shoulder before it was sent, but as transmissions Downside were frozen anyway, she wasn’t as concerned as she might ordinarily be.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” he said, looking disappointed. As the message entered his queue, his eyes widened. “Choi oi!” he gasped. But he kept any further reaction off his face. “We’ll hope it works out, then.”
Gratitude filled her. “Oh, and be sure to bring our two-sleeper and our camping gear, would you? We’ll camp out with the clan.” Normally she used a hammock she had set up in her office, when she stayed in town, but with Xuan here, they would need a space somewhere.
He looked surprised. “I thought the PM authorized you to get a suite for the duration?”
“Plans changed.”
He started to protest again, but she gave him a pleading look: don’t push me on this. There were no rooms to be had. They would have had to commandeer them from stranded travelers, or spend precious methane supplies having their assemblers grow new ones. Neither was acceptable.
“OK.” He sighed. “I’ll bring the camping gear.”
She got an update from Sean: formal approvals had come through from the North American Conference and no further obstacles stood in the way of getting a shipment of Europan ice. Repairs were progressing. Disassemblers had reached a barely adequate level. He also fed her a private report on the warehouse disaster, which boiled down to: we know the Ogilvies put Kovak up to it, but we can’t prove it yet.
Aaron gave her a report on the status of the ice shipment in Ilion, making it clear they had them tied down … for the moment. “It is unlikely, though,” he said, “that they will be there for more than another twelve hours.” His regretful expression said that was the best they could do. Jane thanked him and signed off.
If Tania could come through with the sapient, that should be time enough. And if not, they only had one other real alternative, in which case there would not be much point in dragging things out.
Marty’s first report came in at three p.m. sharp, and the next two came in on the hour after that. The next six came on the half-hour: Tania and crew continued to map and isolate the sapient. The sapient had not yet deduced their intent to trap it. Their “wetware backup” system of citizens’ reports had revealed a whole new module of ego-structure and a suite of masking tricks the sapient had evolved that they had not known about—the sapient was closer to replication than they had anticipated. But they still had several hours and were staying on schedule.
Reading this made Jane’s heart pound again, and she sent up another prayer to a god she did not believe in.
* * *
Xuan reached the Aeropark at about dinnertime. The Ngo clan—Xuan’s younger brother and sister and their spouses and children—were among the first arrivals. He spotted his sister Kieu and her husband Emil, as well as his brother Pham and Pham’s wife Huynh, unpacking their tents near the aquarium. Near them, the three older Ngo children were rigging slings among the cherry and walnut trees. He headed over.
This innermost, lowest-gee park was a few hectares in area and five stories