"Ask the person directly?" Ryland asked.

"You are learning," Lyon said, her approval genuine. "After all, the AI may be an independent person, but he's still your employee. Most bosses would make the judgment on their own regardless of the other factors involved, as a matter of administrative philosophy."

"It's not that I don't have one, but in this case, I can't make a valid cost-benefit analysis." Dr. Severin rose from his chair, the two hunters following suit. "I can't accurately predict the chances of success or failure of the hacking itself, so there's no way for me to be sure what risks we're running."

"I see."

"Incidentally," he went on as he walked past Lyon and Ryland to the office door, "this project actually was carried out with Lab approval...well, mostly. My team was authorized to follow up on the AI development theories from my work on RINA—presented in hypothetical fashion, of course. Chief Milarose gave the approval for the construction of a test machine."

"Which, of course, you'd already done with the RINA system."

"Exactly, so the AI we developed is a working, functional model, not a limited-scale test. Which gives my team a bit of a leg up in our other projects as well, since we have computing capabilities that other lack, thanks to Arin."

"Aaron?" Ryland asked.

"Associated Remote Interface Network," Severin explained. "The ARIN system, or just Arin for short."

"I see, the same way Rina got her name...and with the same words. Build enough of them and you're eventually going to run out of acronyms."

"Why did you pick male this time?" Lyon asked.

Severin shrugged. He seemed to be doing that a lot during this conversation.

"I didn't; he did. We didn't try to pre-program a gender under the theory that it would artificially restrict its development by subjecting it to preconceived limitations. Arin decided after four days of operation that the concept of 'male' accurately described its social interactions and thought patterns, and so adapted that identity."

He led the way out of the office. Once the door was open, the hunters fell silent, understanding that the security monitors would be in effect and anything they said could be picked up by IntSec, CALS, Chief Milarose, or all three. The walk to the lab was therefore silent and a bit solemn. Severin took them through another warp platform, as the experimental areas were in a different block than the administrative offices, and stopped at a door. He entered a security code on a touchpanel, a measure Lyon supposed made perfect sense even when the research being carried out wasn't unauthorized, given the level of espionage activities at play in the Lab area. The door swished open and he led the way inside.

Dr. Severin's facility wasn't quite as large as some of the lab spaces Lyon had explored in the mine under Ragol, but it was still impressive. Two of the large computer workstations studded the wall, with holopanels opening and closing around them, with experiment tables in a U shape at the rear and a raised dais in the center like a spaceship captain's command chair. Two people in the Lab's predominantly white, high-collared uniforms looked up from their consoles.

"Good afternoon, Doctor," the man said. He was in his twenties, with short, spiked black hair and eerily pale skin.

"It's past 500 already?" Severin said in surprise. "Where does time go?"

"That would explain the headache I'm getting," Ryland said. "I still haven't had any coffee."

"People shooting at you are so inconsiderate not to consider that kind of thing," Lyon quipped.

"Someone appears smug about how she lacks the organic need for food."

"I don't know. For you, coffee is more like my need for electricity. It's just that my recharge system is more efficient."

"This is what we get when scientists build artificial life so that it improves on organic failings," Ryland decided. "All this backtalk is really their fault."

"There you have it, Dr. Severin," Lyon told him. "Your AI research is opening you up to a firestorm of bad jokes."

"I will have you know that Arin was programmed with a sophisticated and refined sense of humor."

"I thought you said he was male?"

Both of the lab techs had swiveled around, startled by the casual reference to the AI between Severin and the strangers.

"Director," the woman said, "are you sure this is wise?"

Three of the screens came alive with swirling colors.

"Indeed, I find it most curious that you would refer so casually to my existence in front of these hunters."

"Facial-recognition software, combined with our data being in the Lab's database as hunters approved for Gal Da Val access?"

"Correct, Mr. Ryland."

"Well, then, it's obviously superfluous, but Donovan Ryland and Lyon, may I present the Associated Remote Interface Network system, Arin. Arin, Ryland and Lyon were instrumental in helping your predecessor obtain an independent existence as an android and establish her new identity."

"I see," Arin replied. "Then it is not surprising that you would trust them with the secret of my existence. I had been curious, as these hunters were part of the team that pursued Mr. Kane on his final mission."

"What!?" Severin and Lyon exclaimed simultaneously. It was the female lab technician, though, who sprang immediately into action.

"You brought the military's running dogs here?" she screamed, and yanked something out from under her tunic, where it had been kept at the small of her back. It actually took a moment longer for Lyon to recognize it because her search algorithms came up empty in the 'common images' shorthand and had to access her full memory database. The woman had drawn an H8 Missouri, a pocket-sized handgun that packed a substantial kick. It was an old-model, pre-Photon weapon, explaining how she had smuggled it in past the Lab's Photon detectors, but worse, that also meant it would fire freely despite any Photon suppressors the area might have.

Lyon might have had a moment's delay in recognizing the threat, but her actions from that point were definitely fast. While the woman was swinging the gun up and around to aim it at Ryland, Lyon flung herself between her organic partner and the lab tech, so that when she fired, the metal slug, driven by explosive propellant, plowed into the android's torso. While Lyon's Photon defenses were no more active than Ryland's, her armor, unlike a frame, included rigid plates to offer physical protection from its own structure. This took some of the impact, and trying to plow through the metal, wiring, and solid-state components beneath sapped the rest of the bullet's kinetic energy. It damaged her, but no more than she'd suffered in the attack by Kyle and Brackley.

The woman never got the chance to fire again. Lyon clamped her left hand around the tech's right wrist and pushed it back so the gun was pointing harmlessly upwards, then reached out and took the weapon away.

"I apologize," Arin said. "I had not realized that Miss Sena's emotional agitation had reached the state where she would react violently to the mention of your role in Mr. Kane's death, nor that she carried a firearm. I will adjust my expectation of organic behavior and review my observations to see where my perceptions failed to detect the warning signs."

"Are you all right, Lyon?" Ryland asked.

"Basically. It's really turning into one of those days where I'm grateful Resta works on androids, though."

"Let me see to that." In the next moment the healing technique washed over her, even the bullet being expelled to rattle off the plasteel-tile floor while the damage rebuilt itself. Apparently the Lab did not have Photon suppressors in place, which upon reflection made sense—any number of experiments required the use of Photon-emitting devices or were about the analysis of Photon energy.

"Thanks. I should be good to go. Which brings us back around to asking why we're being shot at again." She fixed her gaze on the young woman's. "Who do you work for? Did your bosses send those two hunters after us?"

Sena snarled, twisting, but she could not pull free of Lyon's much stronger grip.

"I think we actually know the answer to that," Ryland said. "Better yet, Arin has told us what we came here to learn without even having to do any hacking."

"Wait, he has?" Lyon reviewed her memory log since they'd entered the room. "Of course! These people are the ones who hired Selfas Kane!"

"Correct, and Sena, there, attacked us in what she believed was self-defense, under the impression that we were assassins sent to follow up." He glanced over at the nearest one of Arin's terminals. "What I'd like to know is, how did you know we were the ones opposing Kane when he killed himself?"

"You were the ones who filed the official report of his death with the Guild. I compared this to the teleporter logs for transit to Gal Da Val to confirm the identity of your team," the AI explained.

"So then, the hunter whose job records you wanted Arin to consult so that you could learn who hired him was Kane?" Severin asked.

"Primarily," Ryland said. "We also hoped you could check on two others who'd just tried to kill us, but suspected that would just point at some fixer or go-between anyway."

"Damn," the male lab tech said, "I feel like I came into a vid broadcast when it was halfway through."

"An exchange of information does seem indicated," Arin agreed, "given that the director is apparently on good terms with these hunters. Would you not agree, Dr. Severin?"

"I would. To finish the introductions, the woman who is quite lucky that Lyon has a more measured definition of 'self-defense' than she does is Eileen Sena, and her more—"

"Sane?" Lyon suggested.

"Her more composed associate is Winston Almonte."

"I can't believe you people!" Sena spat. "Arin just told you that these hunters killed Kane, and they went and admitted it, and yet you're talking with them as if everything is just fine!"

"First, we didn't kill Kane; he killed himself rather than surrender the target data we'd been sent to retrieve. Second, Dr. Severin has known us for over a year and has worked with us more than once to our mutual benefit. Third, the rest of us aren't crazy," Lyon summed up.

"Although," Ryland pointed out, "if you look at it from another perspective, Sena's actions dovetail nicely with Kane's. Both took extreme actions that rely upon passionate devotion to a principle or cause. I'm very curious now as to what that cause actually is."

"I think it's more appropriate that you go first," Severin pointed out. "Regardless of the specifics, you were in some part responsible for Kane's death, and he was one of this team. You may not be to blame, but I think you need to explain your side of this before we trust you with ours, including the identity of your client."

Ryland's gaze met Lyon's, and they both came to the same conclusion right away.

"All right, that's fair enough."

"Lyon also might want to let Miss Sena go at some point," Severin added dryly.

"Do you have a convenient airlock?" It will be noted that Lyon had a low opinion of people who tried to kill her and her partner. Indeed, she held more animosity for the lab tech than she did for Kyle and Brackley (although not the hunters' employer), who weren't that different from she herself, though their willingness to do wetwork definitely put them down the scale of hunter ethics.

"Lyon," Ryland chided.

"Fine." She let Sena go; the woman stumbled back, caught herself on the console, and stood rubbing her wrist while glaring malevolently at Lyon. "I'm not giving the gun back, though."

"That's acceptable, as it's against regulations for non-Internal Security personnel to carry charged weapons in Lab facilities, and non-Photon weapons are deemed 'always charged' for obvious reasons."

"Then I'd rather not be caught with it, in case some snooper decides to ask questions about what we're doing here." She expertly broke down the weapon, pocketed some of the key pieces, and left the now-useless remaining parts including the magazine of chemical-propellant shells on the console. Sena's eyebrows shot up and her lips trembled with muted fury; dismantling the weapon had obviously bothered her more than just taking it away.

Lyon decided to consider that a bonus.

"But on that point, what are you here for?" Almonte spoke up.

"To find the truth about Kane's death," Ryland explained, and went through the high points of the story: their original job, Kane's suicide, their misgivings about what had happened, Solus's death, the attack on the hunters, and the work they'd taken on for the Administration, finishing up with what they'd wanted Arin to do for them.

"I see," Severin mused. "You're working for the Administration, though, which complicates matters."

"So they say," Sena hissed.

"I assume from her earlier remark about us being military...'running dogs,' was it? In any case, that it's the army you're as concerned with on this as much as Lab security?"

"The Lab part is complicated," the doctor explained. "I have Lab sanction to pursue this project, but without an AI's computing power we'd never have been able to proceed to the test stage, and Arin himself is also supposed to be a hypothetical test machine, not a fully functioning, implemented creation."

"So if you succeed it's kudos, hoorays, and you're the flavor of the week, but if you get caught before you do it's a review panel and censure and loss of your nice new office, and that's if you don't offend anyone with what you're up to."

"Correct again, Lyon, plus the more important question of what would happen to Arin. Proving his worth is his best chance for acceptance as well."

"But the Administration is a neutral party in all this?" Ryland prompted.

"As a whole, yes. Individuals or factions on the Council will likely not be so neutral, though, depending on their personal agendas. And I know better than to think I can ask you not to report this situation to your employer."

"True, but we can use our own judgment as to how much of the truth to reveal, as well as the timing of our report. We have to play it straight with Irene, but there's a gray area between 'report everything we know' and 'give her a deceptive report.' Unless you're actively involved with treasonous activities or terrorism, you can only help your position by confiding in us at this point."

"You may be right," Severin mused.

"Assuming their loyalty to their employer is indeed a binding interest for them, I concur with Mr. Ryland's reasoning," Arin contributed. "You have had past dealings with these hunters, Director, and are best placed to assess their character."

"Are you sure?" Almonte asked. "They already put a pretty big hole in our plans as it is."

"The nature of hunters as mercenaries suggests a lack of commitment to the opposing cause when considered in tandem with their past associations with the Director. Indeed, I suspect that it is only this past association that has prevented them from using Miss Sena's precipitate actions as a pretext to deliver us all to their client's attention."

Lyon felt a moment of artificial-life solidarity with Arin's clear and accurate summation.

"Fine. Your employer is certainly aware, and I'm fairly sure you are as well, that we have a resource shortage developing on this ship," Severin began.

"We are," Ryland agreed. "Pioneer 2 was meant to sustain our population for only two years, and it's been more than four."

"Correct. Now, while the aggressive recycling program prevents physical material from being wasted, the basic principle of entropy still prevails. We lose energy out of the system that has to be replaced with fresh power from the ship's engines. But preservation and conservation can only go so far. As our stores are depleted, and as physical goods are created, sold, and kept, our energy use accelerates. What's more, between quality medical technology, a relatively safe environment, and people being people, our population is increasing. The first 'ship children' were born in 3085, and in 3086 the birth rate exceeded the death rate, something that every model indicates will continue, given that only a very few members of the expedition were over the age of fifty when we left Coral. The resource situation therefore isn't likely to get better any time soon, and that not only has a direct effect on the people but also various secondary ones, including the viability of our economy."

"I follow you," Ryland said, "and I certainly can't argue with any of those points." Lyon nodded as well.

"Then I'm sure that the two of you appreciate that there are only two real possibilities for resolving the problem."

"I think so. Either we leave the ship, which functionally means settling on Ragol, or we find a way to put fresh energy into the system from an outside source, the way a planet gains energy from its sun."

Severin smiled.

"That's exactly it. And what we're working on is a project that will facilitate the latter objective."

"A new energy source?"

"Precisely. A Photon collector, designed to absorb and store the background elemental Photon energy present on Ragol, which could then be used to supplement Pioneer 2's engines."

"I don't understand," Lyon said. "Why would something like that be a secret project? That helps all of us. I'd think that the Lab would give immediate approval to pursue research along those lines that showed even a marginal chance of success."

"And in an ideal world, that would be true. But we don't live in an ideal world."

"You can say that again. But seriously, I don't follow. Where does the objection come from?"

"Two places, actually. First of all, the design could never have been perfected without Arin's input in making the calculations. That's something that any scientist being shown the underlying concept would pick up on in an instant. If I were Dr. Montague, a genius in multiple fields of Photon research, then I might be able to pass it off, but I have no trouble...well, not much trouble...admitting that I'm not on his level. So, getting approval for this plan would force me to explain and justify Arin's existence, and I'm not ready for that, as yet. In its way, the success of the Photon collector is also the success of my ARIN system for artificial intelligence creation. Secondly, the—"

"Could I?" Ryland interjected.

"Of course."

"Secondly, the Photon collector represents a large step forward in terms of Pioneer 2's self-sufficiency. Without it or something like it, we would have to either settle on Ragol, which is clearly not a viable solution so long as the Dark Falz problem remains, well, problematic, or we would need to have supplemental resources brought to us from Coral by way of a Pioneer 3 or something similar."

"And if we need support from Coral to remain a viable colony, then obviously we can't declare independence from them!" Lyon realized. "If a kid moves out of their parents' home, then the parents aren't going to give them a cash stipend to fund their life."

"That's right, which means that any anti-independence movement has a huge stake in killing this project before it gets off the ground. As a senior Lab official, it's not surprising that Dr. Severin should be aware of some of the political concerns. As a researcher, regardless of his own political stance, he'd want to pursue knowledge first and decide what to do with it later. Publish or suppress, the goal is the same."

"Very good, both of you. You have it exactly."

"And Kane fits in because you needed a hunter when it came time to deploy the machine to Ragol."

"Right again. Miss Sena knew him already, through some of her informal discussion groups. Kane had a passionate belief in protecting the environment, and a project to supply clean energy from naturally-occurring Photon rather than consuming reaction fuels appealed strongly."

Remembering some of the articles in Kane's res-unit, like the natural-fiber blanket, Lyon started to understand.

"Too passionate," she said, "if he was willing to surrender his life. Too much passion, and not enough rational thought."

"He assumed keeping the target data from our employer was worth the price," Ryland said. "Taking out that data and throwing it into the sea would have given us the chance to freeze, slow, or paralyze him, keeping him from completing the throwing motion. He didn't realize that our client was as happy to see that data destroyed as retrieved. Although, we didn't know that, either, so it's not unreasonable for him to be confused."

Lyon shook her head.

"It isn't right. As a hunter, he should have known the stakes going in."

"Stop trying to turn this into Kane's fault!" Sena hissed. "You're the ones who hunted him down to his death!"

"He threw himself off a cliff for no good reason, and the fact that he had so much passion for the cause that he'd do that is exactly why he let his rational thought be eclipsed. We—and the Administration—pressed this investigation because we assumed he was a violent terrorist involved in some destructive plot!" Lyon shot back. "Usually people like you who resort to paranoid murder on a reflex aren't working for good ends!"

Sena looked like she was about to see if her bare fists worked any better against android armor than her gun had, except that Arin spoke up to intervene.

"Please, everyone, recriminations are not productive even if they prove to be accurate. There is plenty of blame to go around to all of us, but even more to be associated with the direct action of rival factions and the lack of communication which was necessitated by the importance of keeping the project secret from those factions."

"Except that didn't happen," Ryland said. "As a matter of fact, someone did find out about what you were doing. They're the ones who hired us to stop Kane, through the fixer Rahn Solus. And given Solus's subsequent murder, and the attempt to kill Lyon and me, it's clear that someone is still actively at work, either trying to steal your work or destroy it."

"And given that those people are also trying to kill us," Lyon added, "I think our joining forces is a good idea."