‘I don’t like it,’ Eleanor murmured. It was long past midnight, the time for honest talk. They were lying on top of the big bed, the duvet crumpled up somewhere on the floor. The heat from making love beneath it would have been intolerable. As it was, they’d left the window full open, curtains wide to let the balmy night air flow around their bodies. A quarter-moon was riding high in the sky, bathing the room with a spectral phosphorescence. She stretched out on her side beside him, her hands pillowing her head. ‘Why not?’ There was a certain tenseness in his voice. ‘Just don’t,’ she said. ‘Female intuition?’ ‘Something like that.’ He wet the tip of his forefinger and began to trace a line from her shoulder to the flare of her hips, innocently curious. ‘I’m supposed to be the one with the hyper-senses.’ ‘You want logic? OK. It’s too big. You’re a one-man band, they’re warring armies. They’re out to kill each other, Greg. That security man, Waishaw, said as much. This giga-conductor stuff, it pushes the stakes too high. You don’t know who the other side is, you don’t know who to watch out for. There are an awful lot of ko,nbjnazes who will suffer because of the PETER F. HAMILTON giga-conductor. Any one of them could decide they don’t want you interfering.’ ‘Firstly, I share Julia’s conviction that Kendric di Girolamo is involved somewhere, the mole is his plant. So at least I know one direction of attack which I should be guarding myself from. And secondly, I’m not convinced that it is the giga-conductor which is the root cause of the blitz. Erasing Philip Evans’s memories wouldn’t halt its introduction, not with the Ministry of Defence pushing it. He’s important, but not that important, no matter what he likes to think. I suppose it’s partially conceit. By maintaining that Event Horizon can’t do without him, he’s justifying the expense of the NN core. I’m not so sure. Julia has inherited his drive, more if anything; and she’s bright, she learns fast. She’s just very young, that’s all. No crime. The company won’t fail with her in charge.’ ‘A personal vendetta extended to wiping a Turing personality program? Come on, nobody’s that obsessive.’ ‘Don’t you believe it. Philip Evans trod hard on a lot of toes to build up Event Horizon. In any case…’ ‘What?’ She looked at him intently, seeing the confusion on his moonlit face. ‘Philip Evans’s memories aren’t just a simple Turing program, there’s more to it. He’s not alive, I’ll grant you that. But neither is he wholly dead. I saw something with my espersense.’ Eleanor stroked his abdominal muscles lightly, fingers dancing as she considered what he’d said. She never quite knew how to interpret his psi ability, it all sounded so vague and mystical, like tarot cards and reading tea leaves. Yet he did have the talent, no denying that. Her father’s horror and fright still returned to her occasionally. ‘All right,’ she said, ‘if it is di Girolamo, or someone else, looking for vengeance, they are even less likely to appreciate you coming between them and the Evans family.’ ‘All I shall be doing is interviewing Event Horizon personnel to find their mole, and seeing if my own contacts know anything about the blitz. There’s no danger in that.’ He took her hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing her knuckles. ‘Look, this is what I’ve been wanting to break into for years. It’s a MINDSTAR RISING 163 regular case, just interviews and data correlation, and it pays regular money. I’m not going to touch the hardline side.’ ‘What do you mean, break into? I thought this is what you did.’ ‘part time,’ he said. ‘But this is the second time in a few months that Event Horizon has called me in to sort out their problems. No amount of advertising and PR work can generate that kind of reputation. This could be what I need to make the switch. I could maybe put myself on a business footing, get an office, a secretary, some assistants – hell, pay taxes too. I think I’d like that.’ She moved closer, resting against him, feeling hot sweaty skin pressing into her belly. It was a funny mood he was in; indecisive, which wasn’t like him at all. ‘I don’t want to change you, Greg.’ He grinned and patted her backside lightly. ‘Too late, you already have. Don’t you want me to have a regular job?’ ‘I’d like that, yes. But I don’t want you getting hurt trying to build some kind of impossible reputation.’ ‘Tell you, there’s no worry on that score, I’ll be perfectly safe, Gabriel’s coming with me.’ ‘I see.’ It would have to be Gabriel he took along. Eleanor reckoned her psi ability was completely tabloid. But if she started protesting now he’d think she was just being childishly petulant. And she could hardly see the two of them running off together, Gabriel had to be at least ten years older than Greg. Whatever bond they had between them was locked safely in the past. ‘I’m only being practical,’ he said. ‘Gabriel can spot trouble long before it starts. And whilst we’re on the subject of practical, you might care to look at the chalet walls some time. We’re providing a home for more insects than you’ll find at a natural history museum.’ ‘Money,’ she said in disgust. ‘It always boils down to money.’ ‘The way the world’s built. Nothing to do with me.’ She rested her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. I know. I wasn’t angry at you.’ ‘There’s something else wrong, too,’ he said. ‘I simply 164 PETER F. HAMILTON cannot believe a mole, no matter how highly placed, breach a security cordon which Morgan Walshaw set up tainly not a security cordon around something as ultra-n as the giga-conductor. The stuff is Event Horizon’s cii future. You haven’t met him, but take it from me, he’s as good as they come. Reliable, smart, experienced, he just doesn’t make elementary mistakes. If it had been breached at any time in the last ten years, he’d know.’ Eleanor thought he was saying it mechanically, as mougn he was trying to convince himself with repetition. ‘So the mole isn’t an executive, he’s on the inside of the cordon.’ He shifted his shoulders, restless. ‘Doubtful, Waishaw would arrange to have every one of Ranasfari’s research team vetted and constantly reviewed. And if the mole was on the inside, how come he knew of Philip Evans’s NN core?’ ‘Oh, yes. Hey, what about a psychic? Surely someone with a gland could peer in on both the giga-conductor laboratory and the clinic where they spliced the NN core together?’ ‘Unlikely, although I admit it’s possible. There aren’t many of us, not even worldwide. And the premier-grades, the ones whose esp is powerful enough to reach into Event Horizon’s research facilities from a distance, you can count them on one hand. Not that they’re used for anything so mundane as trawling in any case. It’s like this; to bring in a premier-grade psychic you have to know there’s something worthwhile for them to peek. Almost a catch twenty-two scenario. Normally, premier-grades are brought in to acquire specific items, like a formula or template. And as Event Horizon has already patented the giga-conductor that would seem to preclude their involvement. If a kombinate had acquired the giga-conductor’s molecular structure they would’ve slapped down the patent before Event Horizon. The blitz would never have happened.’ ‘A prescient like Gabriel, then. One of them looked into the future and saw Event Horizon churning out the gigaconductor, and sold the information to a kombinate.’ ‘Gabriel is the best prescient there is, and she didn’t know, not even with her own future interwoven with the gigaconductor.’ MINDSTAR RISING 165 Eleanor nearly said that it could’ve been a prescient who wasn’t so totally neurotic as Gabriel, but held her peace. Greg could get quite unreasonably defensive when it came to the silly woman. It was the military clique thing again. She knew she would never be able to appreciate the kind of combat traumas which they had been through together in Turkey. ‘So what are you trying to say?’ she asked. ‘Just that it doesn’t ring straight. Blitzing the core out of spite isn’t kombinate behaviour.’ ‘It was a vendetta, then.’ He let out a long wistful sigh, frowning. ‘Wish I knew.’ ‘Poor Greg.’ She snuggled closer, brushing her breasts provocatively against his torso as she slid on top of him. Greg had a thing about big breasts, which she exploited ruthlessly when they were having sex. He glanced down owlishly, frown fading. ‘I was thinking,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you come with me when I visit my contacts? There’s one in Peterborough I’ll probably visit.’ She tried not to show any surprise. Nicole had dropped the occasional hint that he’d taken an active part in the events leading up to the Second Restoration, and she’d guessed that was tied up somewhere with his old Army mates in Peter-borough. But he’d never offered to introduce them before. ‘I’d like that.’ Short pause. ‘Will Gabriel be coming?’ ‘Er, no. The contact I’m thinking of doesn’t like too many visitors. We can go the day after tomorrow; I fixed up to take Gabriel to Duxford in the morning, interview Ranasfari’s people. Shouldn’t take long.’ ‘Right.’ She thought it was about time to lighten the atmosphere, take him away from intrigue and human failings. She tapped a hard fingernail on his sternum. ‘Now what about this Julia? She sounds a bit of a handful to me.’ ‘She is. You’ll never guess what she wanted me to do.’ ‘What?’ She couldn’t help the note of bright curiosity which bubbled into her voice. ‘I’ll show you.’ LESS CHOICE LESS PRICE