Archiwum
- Index
- Angela Verdenius [Heart & Soul 16] Soul of a Guardian (pdf)
- Carolyn Rosewood Haunted Heart [Etopia] (pdf)
- Ann Rule A Fever In The Heart
- Janrae Frank Journey of Sacred King 01 My Sister's Keeper
- Howard Robert E. Bogowie Bal Sagoth
- Diana Palmer W sercu gór
- Benford, Gregory Galactic Center 3 Great Sky River
- Kleypas Lisa Vallerand 2 Only With Your Love
- Joel Rosenberg KOTHW 02 The Silver Stone
- Diana Palmer Tajny agent
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- docucrime.xlx.pl
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"I'm not destroying it. I'm fixing it. He reached out and caressed her cheek. I'd like to convince you
and Cristof not to tell anyone I was here. With your cooperation, nobody will hear about this, and the
city will be better off. I'm not going to cause any harm. I'm just going to update a few programs to make
everyone's life a little safer and a little more predictable."
She turned her face away. Clockwork Heart was meant to circumvent security, wasn't it? It was never
a marriage program at all."
"Actually, it can do both. All I need to do is switch out a few sets of cards."
"Some marriage program. It matched up Lars and Kyle."
Alister laughed, sounding delighted.
"They ran it on themselves? That's wonderful. I would have loved to have seen Lars face when he saw
the results. I'd guessed about Kyle, but...."
Taya shoved him in the chest, forcing him to take a step backward.
"They ran it in your memory! she snapped, her eyes flashing. They held a wake for you!"
"That was thoughtful of them. He seemed unperturbed by her violence. Listen, my swan. We can all be
friends again. I'll be found, thrown clear of the wreckage, tonight. You and Cristof will find me. I'll be
shaken up, feverish.... he touched his face ruefully. Scratched and bruised. You'll be heroes, and
everyone will be happy to have me back. Is Cristof in trouble over the bomb?"
"Yes! How did you "
"I'll clear his name. One of the lictors you've just killed must have tampered with the clock while it was
sitting in my office overnight. They were saboteurs, stopped just in time."
"Cristof will never lie for you."
Alister started to speak, then paused.
"Well. Maybe not. I hadn't realized he was working for the lictors until you told me about Pins. That was
a real surprise, although it explained a lot. Still, we're family. He looked wistful. Cris and I have gone
through a lot together."
"You just threw him over the railing!"
"Oh, for the Lady's sake, I wouldn't have done it if I'd thought he'd get hurt. I'm sure he'll understand.
He loves Ondinium as much as I do, although he shows it differently. He caught her eyes again. It's
convincing you that worries me, my swan. What do I have to do to prove I'm not your enemy?"
Despite the heat, Taya felt ice crawl down her spine. Her calf was starting to throb in time to the
Engine's pounding.
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Behind Alister, a lone bead of blood dripped down from the rifleman's needle-punctured neck, falling
through the crosswalk's grille floor and into the depths. She shuddered.
"I'm not going to lie for you, either."
"I could guarantee you a position in the diplomatic corps."
"I don't want it badly enough to protect a murderer."
"You don't even know what I'm doing. I did you hear something?"
Taya listened, but all she could hear was the Engine's roar, its vibrations making her wingfeathers jingle.
"No."
"This place. A man can't hear himself think. Alister reached down and picked up a tin punch card that
had fallen to the crosswalk floor. Taya tensed to kick him while he was looking down, then flinched as a
jolt of pain ran through her calf. The exalted straightened, oblivious to her aborted action. All I'm doing
is setting up a few new permanent subroutines. I'm not stealing any data, and I'm not sabotaging the
Engine."
"What kind of subroutines?"
"Iterative simulations. They'll need regular checking and adjustment, which is why I need Heart in place.
I can't afford to waste my time guessing the Labyrinth Code every time I need to run some cards."
"You stole the Code."
"I was just borrowing it, Alister corrected her. I was planning to return it. Unfortunately, losing the last
few cards to Cris rendered months of effort completely worthless. That's why I had to do it this way,
instead. He sounded proud of himself. But I replaced all the cards I bought from Pins. Nobody will
ever know they'd been stolen. Well, of course they'll know about the twenty-five Cristof got, but we can
say the lictor who set the bomb was the same one who was smuggling out the cards. This could be
flawless, if you'd just cooperate with me."
Taya looked down at the wire-mesh platform beneath her feet, wondering if she should lie and agree to
work with him so she could fly down to find Cristof. She couldn't see any sign of him.
He'll be all right. I counterweighted him well. He might be terrified, but he's safe.
She looked up and took a deep breath.
"What kind of simulations do you want the Engine to run for you?"
"Immigration, crime, breeding ... I want to make sure Ondinium stays healthy over the long term. That
means making careful choices about whom we allow to become citizens and how the composition of
future generations should fall out. The ideal population ratio is ten to five to two to one, plebeian to
cardinal to icarus to exalted. But Ondinium's always been open to immigration, and my research indicates
that we're starting to accumulate too many plebeians. That's what's causing our higher rates of poverty,
violence, and crime."
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Taya nodded, reserving judgment. So far he hadn't said anything she hadn't heard before from self-styled
social critics.
Alister smiled as if her nod had been an endorsement.
"I plan to run the simulations on a regular schedule to calculate the city's ideal immigration and childbirth
rates each year."
"And you couldn't have done that legally?"
"The Council has a strong conservative element when it comes to relying on simulations to inform public
policy. Look at the fuss they kicked up over Clockwork Heart, and all it does is ensure stable marriages
and healthy, caste-appropriate children. Who could argue with that?"
"I can. A program can't tell you how well a marriage will work or whether a child will be
caste-appropriate. What does that mean, anyway? I'm completely different from my sister, and you're
completely different from Cristof."
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