"You want to hack into the Hunter's Guild?" Ryland's brother Kendric looked even more incredulous than Lyon had at the suggestion. Of course, he had an edge over her in building up emotion: where she'd only been flabbergasted at the concept, Kendric was the one Ryland was actually expecting to do the job.

"Yes, I do."

"Are you completely insane?"

"That's what I said!" Lyon pointed out. Ryland sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, I know it's a little bit outside the box—"

"Big bro, on a scale of one to don't-make-me-hurt-you, this is only slightly less crazy than asking me to hack the Lab."

"You can't hack the Lab," Lyon said. "No organic hacker, or team of hackers, can match a full-scale AI like CALS." She felt obscurely proud about that, some kind of sympathy with her fellow artificial life, perhaps.

"Exactly!"

"But the Guild doesn't have an AI. Logically, that means that they are subject to being hacked."

Lyon looked at Kendric.

"He says it so blithely," she observed.

The three of them were sitting in Kendric's residence unit. Generally one didn't make contact with an underground computer specialist in their own home instead of street corners or seedy bars like the Nebula. At least the décor fit with the theme: Kendric lived like a bachelor pig—although, ironically, he had a live-in girlfriend who defied stereotypes by being an equally awful housekeeper. The arrangement of dirty laundry piles, the empty take-out foodpaks, and the intriguing stains were slightly different than the last time Lyon had visited, for whatever that was worth. Still and all, she was happy that as an android she wasn't vulnerable to any of the microorganisms present.

Ryland probably sanitized his robes after every visit.

"Look, Donnie, I'll try to say this in small words. Yes, the Guild's computer doesn't have an AI. And yes, they're open for public access so people can submit quests, review them, and sign up, so the portal has more openings than a closed system would. But those machines are powerful, they've got top-level security installed, and if a hacker makes any slip the Guild's membership is the single most powerful combat force on the ship, which you ought to know since you're part of it. There's at least a chance of getting away from criminals, corporate goons, or InsSec, but the Guild? No way.

"The bottom line is, the Guild isn't a one-man job. You want a team, with a network of linked or slaved machines for the processing power you'll need. Top talent, top hardware, top software, and then, maybe, you might pull it off. I'm good—I'm damned good—but I know my limits, and this is on the other side of them."

"I'm not expecting you to do this for free," Ryland said. "I'll pay the going wage."

Lyon knew the moment the words came out of his mouth that it was exactly the wrong thing to say. The brothers hadn't gotten along well for a long time, something that only had started to change the previous year when they'd worked together on a job. That closeness had been tested over Christmas, when Kendric's girlfriend had been attacked and hospitalized as bait for Ryland. They'd worked together with Lyon and had caught the one responsible, but there was still a little tension between them.

It was probably because of that tension that a fraudulent Ryland had implied that Kendric was just haggling for more money, but it was also because of that that he should never have said it.

"You think this is some kind of sales pitch?" Kendric roared, half-rising from his chair. "That I'm trying to upsell you on how hard the job is to wrangle a bonus?"

To his credit, Ryland realized his mistake almost at once, but it was too late to easily take his words back.

"That isn't what I—"

"You come waltzing in here, asking me to do a job that you can't handle, and when I give you an expert's opinion, you start babbling like I'm some hack pushing used aerocars or insurance, like all you need to do is to wave enough money at the problem and it'll magically go away. That's not how it works."

Ryland held up his hands.

"Kendric, I'm sorry. It's just that this is important, and I didn't want to believe that we were stuck cold, without any recourse or workaround. The Guild records we're after are exactly the information we need to take the next step in our investigation."

Kendric leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"How important?"

"What?"

"How important is it? As important as Christmas? The ship blows up in a week important? What? Because if it is, I could call in a few favors from some other E-runners, send out a virus to hijack some random people's home units for extra processing power, and maybe, maybe have like a ten-percent chance of pulling this off. More than that if we're just talking about getting the data and not factoring in being caught."

"No," Ryland said. "No, it's not that important."

"We're actually still trying to determine what 'it' is," Lyon put in, deciding that honesty was probably the best policy. "We want to track the activities of a dead hunter and see if he was involved with any kind of suspicious business."

"I get it; you want to hack the Guild to see who's been hiring him."

"Exactly. Maybe the name of his clients or the job descriptions tell us something. And even if his real client was using some kind of cover job, the middleman or fixer gives us somebody new to question, a lead to follow."

"Makes sense to me," Kendric nodded. "But you need to think of another way to get that data. I'm not going to do something with a suicide-mission chance of success just on a maybe."

"It's not a rational risk/reward analysis," Lyon agreed.

Ryland sighed.

"And it was such a good idea, too. There's no political way to access those records, either; details of clients and quest listings are the core element of Guild extraterritoriality. They'll refuse any request to disclose because to do otherwise is a fundamental attack on the entire purpose of having a Hunter's Guild. Without that protection, hunters are better off acting as independent mercenaries, or signing on with one faction or another permanently."

Lyon wondered if an independent Pioneer 2 government would attempt to revoke the Guild's extraterritoriality. It made sense for the many competing governments of Coral to allow it, but very little in a closed circle with only one government. Then again, the Guild was the largest armed force on the ship, and a direct attack on what it meant to be a hunter was the kind of thing that could genuinely unite them.

"Do we absolutely have to give up on the idea, though?" she asked.

"Short of big bro seducing it out of that cute blonde who works the desk."

Ryland rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Probably, he figured that Kendric had earned the right to take a shot or two at him for his dumb remark earlier.

"Ryland is kind of pretty, as organics judge things," Lyon contributed.

"But otherwise, if they won't give you the info, and you can't take it from them, that doesn't leave a lot of options."

"Actually, Kendric's joke raises a point: we still haven't found Kane's girlfriend or even learned her name. If she's in a steady relationship with him, then she probably knows something about his life and the kind of people he was involved with," Ryland pointed out. "But that isn't what you meant, is it, Lyon?"

"No, it wasn't. My thought was, it really isn't that it's impossible for the Guild data to be stolen, but that it's impossible for Kendric to do it with the resources presently available to him. What we need to ask is, who do we know that can do it, and how can we get them to help?"

"That actually makes sense," Ryland mused.

"Except, as I've pointed out, there's not a lot of people out there who could help."

"Private E-runners like you, no, I agree. If you can't do it, I'm sure there's no one else doing shadow-side work that can. But there are people who have access to the kind of power and talent you talked about."

"Okay, I'll bite. Who?"

"The military, for one. They have the equipment and the personnel to do that, to set up a powerful enough network. In fact, I'm surprised they haven't done it already." He shook his head, then contradicted himself. "No, I'm wrong. They wouldn't try it as a matter of course; they'd save it until they thought it was critical, because if they got caught it might provoke a full-blown war with the hunters."

"We couldn't go to them, though," Lyon pointed out. "They're neck-deep in this already. They wouldn't help up, just use our idea for themselves if it was any use to them—and they might be the bad guys we're trying to stop. If there are any bad guys."

"You're right about that," Ryland sighed.

"The Administration is more like the Guild," Lyon continued. "They don't maintain an electronic warfare section, though their computers are probably even more secure."

"Some of the corporations, maybe? Weinstine or P2E?"

"Jason Weinstine likes you," Lyon pointed out.

"Not that much. I'd bet he has the resources to do the job, but he'd need a reason to put his company and his neck on the line, and we haven't got one. Put Weinstine Co. down as possible, though. We might want to come back to them later if the circumstances change."

"All right." Lyon did exactly that, transferring the knowledge from her short-term memory buffer to her long-term and flagging the idea to trigger in the event they learned more about what was actually at stake. "Done."

"You know, you two are kind of missing the elephant in the room, electronically speaking," Kendric put in, leaning back in his chair with his folded hands cupping the back of his head.

"You mean the Lab," Ryland said. "Specifically, CALS, who could blow through their security faster and better than any team of organic or android hackers, no matter how good their hardware."

"Okay, I stand corrected. But if you're not ignoring it, then why not mention it?"

"I was saving it for last."

Lyon sighed, a sound she was able to make purely for the sake of expressing relief or, in this case, exasperation.

"Really, Ryland, that hardly qualifies as a dramatic reveal. Personality quirks are one thing, but you don't want it to rise to the level of obsession."

He blinked.

"Is it just me, or have you been bantering more on this visit than usual?"

"It's not just you. In response to my overall feelings of concern and uncertainty over Selfas Kane and his objective, plus the things Irene told me about the political situation on the ship and the military cover-up of Rahn Solus's death, followed by the two of you snapping at each other, my inclination to select a humorous response, with a focus on teasing or sardonic remarks, has shifted up by thirty-eight percent."

Ryland thought that over.

"Does that really work? We organics use humor to defuse tension, but it actually enables us to relax and adjust our emotional state. You're fully aware of the source of tension, and can't distract your mind in the same way because you don't have a subconscious to manipulate."

"Yes and no. My personality matrix is designed to emulate organic social conventions, so there's that aspect, but humor also causes it to downgrade any levels of tension and nervousness. Which is really no different than how it works for you, only I adjust behavior-chain algorithms while your brain adjusts the proportion of neurotransmitters and other aspects of brain chemistry, dopamine levels, seratonin, and whatnot. The mechanisms are different, and I know what's going on, but the effect is the same."

"Does that creep you out as much as it does me, big bro?"

"Yeah. I've thought for a couple of years now that I'd rather have her kind of mind."

"That's only logical," Lyon said. "Wouldn't everybody?"

"...Not what I meant," Kendric said.

"We know," the hunters said together, smirking at him.

"Back on topic, though," Lyon continued, "the question is, could we get CALS to assist us? I don't see how."

"Lab Chief Milarose would have to authorize it," Ryland said, "and I doubt that she would...or if she did, I'm not at all sure that we would want her anywhere near this business."

"As if she isn't already?"

"Good point." She was fairly sure that they were both thinking of what Irene had told her last night.

"It's too bad we don't know Elly very well. That hunter who partnered with her on that one Lab test, they're close enough that she might put in a word with CALS, and to heck with Milarose. Too bad that's not us."

"True. It would be nice to have a pipeline directly to the AI without having to actually go through the Lab."

It struck them both at the same time, and they just stared at each other for a couple of seconds, Ryland's eyes widening in realization.

"You don't think...?"

"It wouldn't hurt to ask," Ryland decided.

They both got to their feet.

"Thanks for letting us brainstorm about it in your living room, Kendric," Lyon offered.

"Not a problem. Sorry I couldn't do the job for you; I'd have liked the chance to show off." Lyon suspected that the desire to not have to admit to his brother that he couldn't do something in his own field also played a part in his regret. It would have been impolitic to mention that, though. "Maybe one day you can tell me what these cryptic hints you keep dropping actually add up to."

"Maybe one day we'll actually know."

~X X X~

The Principal's office was designed for show as much as work. Set at the top of the city's highest tower, its walls were transparent plasteel like the shell of the city dome, looking out at the stars like a dome-within-a-dome. The only furniture was three desks, one for the Principal, one at his left for Irene, and one at his right for scientific advisors, the Administration's liaison to the Lab. It was more of an audience chamber than a real office, an impression only emphasized by the way one had to walk up to the desks from the warp platform that was the room's sole access point, like advancing through a medieval grand hall to a royal throne.

Lab Chief Natasha Milarose, though, did not succumb to the impression. Or rather, perhaps she did, but she made it her own, advancing down the length of the walkway like an ascending queen rising to take what was rightfully hers.

Colin Tyrell often believed that Chief Milarose thought that way about the circumstances. At the very least, he knew that she was not driven by scientific passion, as she was not in any field a scientist at all. Rather, her career on Coral had been as an intelligence officer, in which capacity she had clashed with Tyrell more than once. Even so, he had never truly gotten a read on her. Was her motivation truly selfish, a pure matter of gathering authority to herself and ascending the heights? Or was there more to it than that, something she strove to accomplish?

Having seen the reports coming back from the Hunter's Guild surveys of Ragol and the follow-up on Gal Da Val as sponsored by the Lab, Tyrell was not entirely unhappy to deal with Milarose. From what he'd seen, Dr. Osto Hyle's scientific passion on Pioneer 1 had led squarely to Dark Falz's awakening, the initial colony's annihilation, and virtually all of the problems Pioneer 2 now faced. And if Milarose was playing politics, then at least Tyrell could comfort himself with the fact that she was doing so intelligently, unlike so many of the shortsighted and petty bureaucrats on the Council.

"You're smiling, Colin."

"I was just imagining you dealing with some of the department heads here in the Administration."

The red-haired woman pouted playfully, causing the chain of her monocle to jingle.

"Colin, what a cruel thought." She tapped one long, pointed nail against her bottom lip. "Though I'm not certain for whom that cruelty is intended."

"Neither am I."

She laughed lightly.

"Be careful, Colin; you don't want for you to become too cynical."

He let out a heavy sigh.

"If only there was a reason not to. But let's not worry about that right now. Politics as usual didn't prompt your visit—I hope."

"Well, there's two schools of thought about that."

"Of course there are, when it's you."

"Oh, I'm quite serious. I'm talking about the independence movement."

"I see. Serious change in the fundamental nature of our government, or another hypothetical issue which our factions will use as a gage to measure our day-to-day rivalries?"

"Precisely."

"Then why are you here, Natasha? I can't imagine it's because you want the two of us to present a united front."

"That would require two things: trust and agreement. I have doubts as to whether we have either one."

"I don't know. I think that I can trust you to do whatever it is you think will best increase your power base. I just haven't figured out what that is yet."

Milarose chuckled, by all appearances amused or flattered by the slur on her character.

Maybe she just appreciates the honesty.

"You amuse me, you really do. By that measure, though, you can have even more trust in the military, because you can tell which way their best interests lie."

"Fair enough," he said cautiously. Her statement was no more than the plain truth, which just made Tyrell all the more curious about her intentions.

"Without support from Coral, the military is a spent force. They lack resources here on Pioneer 2 and contribute very little to the governance of the ship or the development of the colony. The Hunter's Guild confronts the external threats that we face, while a police and security force is more than adequate to the task at hand. They are, in essence, both weak and redundant without support from Coral."

She let it hand just long enough for Tyrell to think that she'd finished.

"...Or so one would think."

"You see things differently?"

"I do, and if you look at it for a minute, you'll see why."

Tyrell scowled; he could feel the lines forming across his broad forehead.

"Why these games, Natasha? Why not just tell me what it is you're driving at?"

The corner of her mouth quirked up in a smile.

"Now, what fun would that be?"

"Natasha..."

"A hint for old times' sake is one thing, Colin, but somehow, I don't think an alliance is in the cards just yet. Besides, I'm still waiting to see what I have for a hand, before I start placing my bets."