'What?" the bird screeched again, head jerking up and back.
"If you want to remove it," Amorphia continued smoothly, "you may, of course. You'll find it in your heart; primary aortic valve."
The bird made a screaming noise and thrashed vertically into the air. Dajeil flinched, covering her face with her hands. Gravious wheeled in the air and beat hard for the nearest corridor. Amorphia watched it go from beneath cold, lid-hooded eyes. Dajeil put both her hands on her abdomen. She swallowed. Something black drifted down past her face and she picked it out of the air. A feather.
"Sorry about that," Amorphia said.
"What… what was all that about?" Gelian asked.
Amorphia shrugged. "The bird is a spy," it said flatly. "Has been from the first. It got its reports to the outside by encoding them on a bacterium and depositing them on the bodies of people about to be returned for re-awakening. I knew about it twenty years ago but let it pass after checking each signal; it was never allowed to know anything the disclosure of which could pose a threat. Its last message was the only one I ever altered. It helped facilitate our escape from the attentions of the Yawning Angel. Amorphia grinned, almost childishly. "There's nothing further it can do; I set the scout missile on it to punish it, really. If it distresses you, I'll call it off."
Dajeil Gelian looked up into the steady grey eyes of the cadaverous, dark-clad creature for some time, quite as if she hadn't even heard the question.
"Amorphia," she said. "Please; what is going on? What is really going on?"
The ship's avatar looked pained for a moment. It looked away, towards the plant the scout missile had been hiding underneath. "Whatever else," it said awkwardly, formally, "always remember that you are free to leave me at any time; this GCU is entirely at your disposal and no order or request of mine will affect its actions." It looked back at her. It shook its head, but its voice sounded kinder when it spoke again; "I'm sorry, Gelian; I still can't tell you very much. We are going to a place near a star called Esperi." The creature hesitated, as though unsure, gaze roaming the floor and the nearby seats. "Because I want to," it said eventually, as though only realising this itself for the first time. "Because there may be something I can do there." It raised its arms out from its body, let them fall again. "And in the meantime, we await a guest. Or at any rate, I await a guest. You may not care to."
"Who?" the woman asked.
"Haven't you guessed?" the avatar said softly. "Byr Genar-Hofoen."
The woman looked down then, and her brows slowly creased, and the dark feather she had caught fell from her fingers.
III
[stuttered tight point, M32, tra. @n4.28. 867.4406]
xLSV Serious Callers Only
oEccentric Shoot Them Later
Have you heard? Was I not right about Genar-Hofoen? Do the times not now start to tally?
oo
[stuttered tight point, M32, tra. @n4.28.868.4886]
xEccentric Shoot Them Later
oLSV Serious Callers Only
Yes. Two three three. What's it doing — going for some kind of record? Yes yes yes all right you were correct about the human. But why didn't you have any warning of this?
oo
I don't know. Two decades of reliable but totally boring reports and then just when it might have been handy to know what the big bugger was really up to, the intelligence conduit caves in. All I can think of is that our mutual friend… oh, hell, might as well call it by its real name now I suppose… is that the Sleeper Service discovered the link — we don't know when — and waited until it had something to hide before it started messing with our intelligence.
oo
Yes, but what's it doing? We thought it was Just being invited to join the Group out of politeness, didn't we? Suddenly it's acting like a fucking missile. What is it up to?
oo
This may seem rather obvious, but we could always just ask it.
oo
Tried that. Still waiting.
Well you could have said…
oo
I beg your pardon. So now what?
oo
Now I get a load of bullshit from the Steely Glint. Excuse me.
oo
[tight beam, M32, tra. @n4.28. 868.8243]
xLSV Serious Callers Only
oGCV Steely Glint
Our mutual friend with the velocity obsession. This wouldn't be what we really expected, would it? Some private deal, by any chance?
oo
[tight beam, M32, tra. @n4.28. 868. 8499]
xGCV Steely Glint
oLSV Serious Callers Only
No it isn't! I'm getting fed up repeating this; I should have posted a general notice. No; we wanted the damn thing's views, some sort of entirely outside viewpoint, not it tearing off to anywhere near the Excession itself.
It was part of the Gang before, you know. We owed it that, no matter that it is now Eccentric. Would that we had known how much…
Now we've got another horrendous variable screwing up our plans.
If you have any helpful suggestions I'd be pleased to hear them. If all you can do is make snide insinuations then it would probably benefit all concerned if you bestowed the fruits of your prodigious wit on someone with the spare time to give them the consideration they doubtless deserve.
oo
[stuttered tight point, M32, tra. @n4.28.868.8978]
xLSV Serious Callers Only
oEccentric Shoot Them Later
(signal file attached) What did I tell you? I don't know about this. Looks suspicious to me.
oo
Hmm. And I don't know, either. I hate to say it, but it sounds genuine. Of course, if I prove to be wrong you will never confront me with this, ever, all right?
oo
If, after all this is over, we are both still in a position for me to confer and you to benefit from such leniency, I shall be infinitely glad to extend such forbearance.
oo
Well, it could have been expressed more graciously, but I accept this moral blank cheque with all the deference it merits.
oo
I'm going to call the Sleeper Service. It won't take any notice of me but I'm going to call the mealworm anyway.
IV
Genar-Hofoen didn't take his pen terminal with him when he went out that evening, and the first place he visited in Night City was a Tier-Sintricate/Ishlorsinami Tech. store.
The woman was small for an Ishy, thought Genar-Hofoen. Still, she towered over him. She wore the usual long black robes and she smelled… musty. They sat on plain, narrow seats in a bubble of blackness. The woman was bent over a tiny fold-away screen balanced on her knees. She nodded and craned her body over towards him. Her hand extended, close to his left ear. A sequence of shining, telescoping rods extended from her fingers. She closed her eyes. In the dimness, Genar-Hofoen could see tiny lights flickering on the inside of her eyelids.
Her hand touched his ear, tickling slightly. He felt his face twitch. "Don't move," she said.
He tried to stay still. The woman withdrew her hand. She opened her eyes and peered at the point where the tips of three of the delicate rods met. She nodded and said, "Hmm."
Genar-Hofoen bent forward and looked too. He couldn't see anything. The woman closed her eyes again; her lid screens glowed again.
"Very sophisticated," she said. "Could have missed it."
Genar-Hofoen looked at his right palm. "Sure there's nothing on this hand?" he asked, recalling Verlioef Schung's firm handshake.
"As sure as I can be," the woman said, withdrawing a small transparent container from her robe and dropping whatever she had taken out of his ear into it. He still couldn't see anything there.