He rose and paced. His hands wrestled one another. “Yes,” he said in a monotone. “Do you see, Aleka? It’s almost got to be Edmond Beynac’s giant iron asteroid, orbiting out where only dust and gravel and cometary iceballs large and small are supposed to be. His children kept the discovery to themselves, thinking it might prove valuable. The secret was passed down the generations, doubtless to just one or two each time, else it couldn’t have been kept so long. Finally Rinndalir and Niolente decided to try making use of it.”
“A long shot, a whatVto-lose move,” the woman breathed. “Otherwise somebody would have tried earlier. After Fireball made war on the Avantists, it was doomed, however slowly its dying went. The Selenarchs were threatened too. Without Fireball, they had no realistic hope of maintaining their independence against a determined Federation. Unless— Beynac’s world—but how? What help was there?”
“Something the government doesn’t want known^”
“Not the whole government. How could it, century after century, and nobody blab?”
“The cybercosm. The—“ Kenmuir decided not to say, “Teramind.” Instead: “It could rather easily keep the knowledge to itself, except for a few totally trustworthy human agents. When Lilisaire grew curious, that synnoiont Venator took charge of investigating how much she might have learned and what her Lunarians might be thinking of.”
She nodded. His last sentence had been automatic, unnecessary.
He halted. “Well, I believe we’ve gotten everything we can out of the open files,” he said. “In remarkably short time, thanks to these facilities.” Indeed, so thorough a probe into a quasi-infinity of bytes wouldhardly have been possible to a less-equipped station. “Still, several hours. Do you want to take a break, br shall we plunge ahead?”
“I couldn’t relax, waiting. Could you?”
“Frankly, no.” He rejoined her. They exchanged a cold grin.
Hers faded. As if reaching out for comfort, she murmured, “I wonder if Dagny Beynac knew.”
“You’ve heard of her?”
“She was quite a power on the Moon, wasn’t she?”
“Yes, I rather imagine she did know. The siblings would have needed her help in covering the trail. But she took the secret with her to the tomb.”
Aleka shook herself. “C’mon. Anchors aweigh.”
They spent minutes formulating their question. It was simple enough, but it must look like one onto which she had stumbled, a bit of aroused curiosity. Kenmuir put in what specifics he had been able to guess at, such as the broad arc of heaven in which the object most likely was wandering, but in its final form the query amounted to: Does a very large ferrous asteroid, perturbed out of the inner Solar System, orbit through the Kuiper Belt?
Aleka straightened, moistened her lips, and entered it.
A sharp note sounded. A red point of light blinked in the screen. Below it, words leaped out:
FILE 737. ACCESS IS RESTRICTED TO AUTHORIZED PERSONS. DNA IDENTIFICATION IS REQUIRED.
The Anglo changed to a series of other languages. Aleka shut the display off.
She and Kenmuir sat for a span in silence. Again he felt a steely steadiness. “Hardly a surprise, eh?” he said at length. “Shows we’re on the scent.” He gestured at the little bag Aleka had carried along. “Shall we?”
“One minute,” she answered. Her voice was as level as his, but he saw sweat on her forehead. He thought it would smell sweet, of woman, were the reek of his not smothering that. “An ordinary scholar would wonder why.”
“Good girl!” His laugh rattled. “You’ve a gift for intrigue, evidently.”
Her mouth quirked. May I ask for the reason the file is classified? she tapped. Throughout, they had left vocal connections dead, so they could talk freely, and likewise the visual pickup. Besides, a real researcher would avoid distractions like that.
CONSIDERATIONS OF GENERAL SAFETY NECESSITATE THAT CERTAIN ACTIVITIES AND CERTAIN REGIONS OF DISTANT SPACE BE INTERDICTED TO ALL BUT PROPER CYBERNETIC ASSEMBLIES. OTHERWISE THE DANGER WOULD EXIST OF STARTING SOME OBJECTS, WHICH HAVE UNSTABLE ORBITS, INWARD. THAT COULD EVENTUALLY HAVE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. IT IS A CYBERNETIC RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE AGAINST FORESEEABLE MISFORTUNES, NO MATTER HOW FAR AHEAD IN TIME. DETAILS ARE WITHHELD TO AVOID TEMPTATION.
HOWEVER, IT IS PERMISSIBLE TO STATE THAT NO BODY RESEMBLING YOUR DESCRIPTION IS KNOWN, AND ON COSMOLOGICAL GROUNDS IS IMPLAUSIBLE. SEE—The screen proffered a list of references. Kenmuir knew by the titles and dates that they were papers published in Edmond Beynac’s lifetime, arguing against his theory.