"YES, sir, um. Where are you, sir? We've been max worried. Um, are you in disguise?" Karel's face warped unnaturally on the flat screen. His nostrils gaped like a pair of dark caves, his pink gums glowed, and his teeth thrust forward wolfishly. As usual, he was leaning too close to the camera lens.
Dominic touched his scarred, bearded face and winked at Qi. "Right, Karel. I'm traveling incognito on a mission for the bank. You're surprised to hear from me, I suppose."
"We thought those terrorists were holding you hostage, sir. I'll call Mr. Lorn and let them know you're safe. Would you like me to send a car?"
"No, Karel. Don't call anyone. This is top secret. Do you understand?"
Karel's eyebrows twitched. He turned his head for a second, and Dominic saw a voluminous red ear, grooved with dark declivities. Then Karel's gaping nostrils reappeared. "Not anyone, sir?"
"I need your absolute promise of secrecy, Karel."
"Yes sir. Nondisclosure. Count me in, sir. What's the deal?"
Dominic relayed the necessary facts. In the sultry sauna, with the Net node balanced on his lap and sweat rolling down his chest, with Qi resting against his knee and munching snack mix, he said he needed to break into the Ark. He wanted to reroute his personal funds into an alias account without anyone knowing. Since the money belonged to him, it wouldn't be illegal, no more illegal than some other transactions they both knew about. As he continued explaining, Karel's buckteeth protruded in a smile.
"You once found a back door in the Ark's firewall," Dominic said. "Did you ever report it?"
"Negative, sir. A secret like that's a negotiable asset. You taught me, sir."
"Right. So this is payday, Karel. I need to use your back door, and you can name the toll fee."
"For you, sir? Gratis."
Karel's stringy hair fell in his eyes. He seemed to be twitching all over with eagerness to please. Dominic couldn't help but smile at his naivete". "Nothing's ever gratis, Karel. Everything comes with a price, so name yours. A raise? Promotion? Lump sum? You've caught me in a generous mood."
Karel rubbed his nose. "I wouldn't mind an upgrade, sir. Now that you're president, maybe you could make me an AVP."
This caught Dominic off guard. Assistant vice president? Karel was only seventeen. He hadn't even completed the bank's basic management course. Only youth and inexperience would make such a request, and Dominic tried to laugh it off.
"In time, Karel. In time. You're on a fast track. I'll skip you up two levels to senior clerk, how about that? With a 25 percent salary increase."
"Plus an extra week of vacation?"
Dominic burst out laughing. "I did teach you, didn't I? Yes, two extra weeks of vacation. Now let's get down to business. Tell me about this back door to the Ark."
"Well, sir, it's hardware. The engineers left an open port in one of the timing servers. If you want to use it, you have to come into the bank and physically plug in."
Dominic spent an hour interrogating Karel. He was hoping for some means to use the open port by remote access. The last thing Dominic wanted was to walk into the bank in person. He had a pretty clear idea what the NP would do if its flesh flunky came within reach, and he had no intention of becoming that bit-brain's personal puppet. He'd already decided he'd rather die.
Vibrating with enthusiasm, Karel offered to handle everything himself. He had clearance into the computer room, and he often worked late. No one would suspect him. But Dominic refused to put the young man in danger. If the guards caught a junior assistant hacking the Ark, Karel's career would be over before it started. They'd probably transfer him to rot away in some obscure post like that factory ship. No, Dominic couldn't let Karel take the risk. He had no choice but to go himself.
He spent the next hour arguing with Qi.
"It won't work. How will you get through the front door? They'll scan your DNA."
"We're running out of time, Qi. I'll sneak in. You'll do your spy stuff and disguise me."
"Sneak in how? If the NP catches you, how will the miners get their money?"
"Their money?"
"You know what I mean. Forget the heroics. We need a plan that might actually succeed."
After exhaustive discussion, Dominic finally convinced her. Only he knew the Ark file structure well enough to counterfeit a cash account, and only he knew how to populate it with money. Ergo, he was the one who had to physically enter ZahlenBank, find the timing server with the open port, plug in a bus then sit there and work through a hardwired connection. It wasn't as if he relished the idea.
Break-and-entry tactics he delegated to Qi. While she and Karel linked online and pored over schematics of the bank building, Dominic slipped down the hall to use the shower. His gym catered to the upper ranks, and the furnishings were opulent. After so many days in primitive surroundings, this simple gym seemed like paradise. He marveled at the sparkling tiles. He admired the way the incandescent light spilled in artful pools across the floor. Orderlies paced the shower room in white jackets, sedately making themselves available for personal service. He motioned one of them to take his wrinkled uniform for cleaning.
"I need it back in five minutes, understand?"
"Yes, sir."
The orderly didn't recognize him. Good. He glanced around at the other four men in the shower room. He'd seen them before, they were all regulars at the gym, but they didn't seem to know him either.
The instant he stepped into the wide white shower stall, the light softened and music began to play. The polished brass nozzle fountained hot water in twenty different programmable patterns. He chose "deep massage" and let the it splash over him till his skin puckered. Then he soaped up with a foam that smelled of jasmine and scrubbed himself all over with a rough sponge. It was almost better than sex.
From a wicker basket, he took three thick green towels, and when he was dry, he pumped a double handful of moisturizing lotion from the dispenser and rubbed it everywhere. Complimentary combs and brushes, shaving equipment, deodorant, tooth cleaner and facial cosmetics gleamed in a tray by the sink. Usually, he ignored them, but today, he fingered each bottle and tube with relish. Then he met his reflection in the mirror and flinched.
His first impulse was to hide his face. Now he understood why no one recognized him. It wasn't easy to confront that feral apparition staring at him from the glass. His short hair had grown ragged, and a coarse stubble covered most of his cheeks. Above the beard, livid burn scars laced across the left side of his face. One eyebrow was missing, and a purplish lid covered his sunken socket. No wonder Qi wanted him to wear an eye patch. He was hideous.
Why hadn't she said anything? All this time, she treated him just the same as usual. Teasing him. Making jokes. How could she bear to look at his mutilated face? He lifted a razor to shave, then thought better of it. Might as well take advantage of the disguise.
Slowly, he examined his full-length reflection. What he saw was a lean dark stranger, bruised and hardened—and tanned. Except for the parts of his body that his silk underwear covered, the sun had burnished his skin an even copper brown. He let out a wry chuckle. He was exactly the color of a ZahlenBank copper coin. Then he noticed the skin rash. It had spread above his right elbow.
The orderly approached with his clean, pressed uniform, and after slipping it on, he wiggled his bare toes and frowned. He still had no decent shoes. Major Qi expected him to wear those ancient house slippers. She had a wicked streak, that girl.
He eyed the orderly's shoes. Polished black loafers with thick soles. They were about the right size. He could simply take them, and the orderly wouldn't dare object. Then he glanced up into the man's mild blue eyes, saw the sheepish nod and the one missing tooth, and he knew he couldn't take this man's shoes. He asked for a pair of scissors.
He snipped a long section of lining from the sleeve of his blue uniform and fashioned himself and eye patch. With some pride, he remarked on his growing ability to improvise. He was just finishing When Major Qi stuck her head through the door.
"Freaker, Nick. I've been looking everywhere. We've got places to go." She slung the pillowcase over her shoulder like a vagabond sack and threw him the house slippers.
"Do you want to clean up?" he asked.
"No time. C'mon."
He knotted his eye patch like a scarf at the back of his head and checked the mirror. The filmy blue fabric covered the worst of his scars, and with the beard and untidy hair, he looked like a pirate from a B-movie. He tilted his head rakishly till his good eye caught the light.
"C'mon. You look lovely. Karel's meeting us with a car."
Karel had found a way into the bank that Dominic and Qi never would have thought of. All they had to do was scale the outside of the Trondheim city dome, climb up ZahlenBank's executive spire and enter through the aircar pad at the summit. That was Richter's private entrance. No surveillance cameras monitored that entrance because Richter never wanted anyone to see his comings and goings. It went without saying that the best security money could buy guarded that entrance. And only one key opened it—Richter Jedes' palm print.
Or a perfect replica.
Dominic didn't think scaling the dome would be as simple as Qi advertised. He would have preferred to fly up in Karel's car, but Air Traffic Control had standing orders to arrest any aircraft approaching Richter's landing pad without authorization. Qi sat in the back of Karel's car making a list of gear for the young man to buy at a sporting goods store. She chewed the tip of the stylus and frowned, then counted silently on her fingers and wrote something.
"You're sure we won't be arrested for climbing the spire?" he said.
Karel piped up. "Positively, sir. Juves climb the spire for fun. It's kind of a rite. Cops always look the other way because they know the kids can't get inside." Karel swerved his car through the Trondheim shopping district with a slightly maniacal grin. He skidded into a parking space and slung Dominic against the passenger window. "We're here, sir."
Qi handed over her shopping list, and Dominic scanned it briefly in passing. He didn't recognize half the items, but then he'd never climbed a city dome before. "Charge everything, Karel. I'll pay you back before your statement arrives, I promise."
"With interest, sir?" Karel laughed and slammed the car door. Dominic couldn't remember the young man ever looking happier.
When Karel disappeared into the sporting goods mall, Qi asked, "You really think you can trust him?"
Dominic arched his back to pop his vertebrae. Karel's economy car was putting a crimp in his spine. "I told you before, Karel wants to be a big man at ZahlenBank, and I can do that for him." The bright windows of the gear shop displayed sleek climbing boots on sale at a bargain price. Dominic massaged his neck. "Besides, he's enjoying this."
A short while later, they parked in front of a maintenance airlock that would take them outside the dome, and for the second time in less than two weeks, Dominic struggled into a silky Kevlax surface suit. This time, the price tag still dangled from the sleeve. He let his blue eye patch hang around his throat like a neckerchief when he pulled on the helmet. Funny, the suit seemed superfluous now. Hadn't he traipsed through the Norwegian countryside in his bare feet? But Karel insisted on full protection, so he resigned himself to the clumsy helmet and gloves. He didn't mind the thick-soled boots at all. Qi tugged her suit on with ease, while Karel behaved as if he were dressing for a party. Right, wear the surfsuit, Dominic reflected. No sense courting death. Then he threw his head back and hooted, just like Major Qi.
Airlocks were old news to him now. He'd squeezed through so many underwater ones that this surface model didn't even faze him. When the outer door whooshed open, he watched Karel's excited expression through the helmet faceplate.
Outside, Qi slapped the hardened ceramic dome. "Didn't I tell you this would be a stroll in the mall?"
Like a glowing moon half buried in the Earth, Trondheim's dome swelled above them and vanished in the smoggy morning sky. Behind its opalescent panes, vague shadows moved, as pedestrians milled near the wall. The milk white glass was less than a meter thick but strong as titanium. When Dominic stepped backward to see the top, his boots made crunching noses in the gravel.
In the heavy smog, they could see little of the bleak exterior landscape. They had to stay close just to see each other. Touching the opalescent glass with their gloves, they circled around the dome till they reached a point where two enormous panes met in a reinforced steel seam, and Karel pointed out the small steel rings sunk every couple of meters up the seam.
"This is where the juves climb up," Karel said. "I've done it myself. Please don't tell."
Dominic chuckled. "That isn't the worst thing you've done, Folger. We all have secrets now. Maybe we should form a co-op."
"A mutual secret association." Karel guffawed and slapped his glove against his helmet.
Qi looped climbing rope over her shoulder. "Nick, have you ever worn a climbing harness? No? Oh you'll love this."
The first lesson in climbing a dome, Dominic discovered, was overcoming tedium. It just went on and on. He'd toughened up during his trek through the miners' colony. He'd climbed so many ladders that scaling this gentle arch barely winded him, but it seemed like they'd never reach the top. Qi had rigged him in a climbing harness, a figure eight of bright orange strapping looped around his legs and waist and pinned together in front like a diaper with a big titanium carabiner. They traveled on what she called "belay," linked to each other in some complicated tangle of ropes and carabiners that only she understood. The rings they used as steps were barely large enough for toeholds, but Dominic's spanking new surface boots offered stiff protection for his feet, somewhat better than rags, he thought with a wry smile.
Light from the dome illuminated the smog and made it seem denser. All he could see now were the glowing white glass and the trail of metal rings. Ghostly colored shapes moved beneath the glass. Aha, they were laser advertisements projected from inside. He could read their backward text—popular brands of beer, condoms, movies. They put him in mind of bright red and blue fish gliding in a pool of milk.
A random gust momentarily lifted the smog, and he glimpsed the ZahlenBank spire towering above the dome in the distance. He didn't often see it from outside. Like a lacy gothic fortress drawn thin and sharp as a needle, it pierced the sky. Its faceted windows glittered, and its framework of heat-annealed alloy seemed to drip down the sides like iridescent amber. He couldn't see the summit, nearly a hundred meters above the dome, but that alloy looked slick as ice. No ready-made ladder of steel rings would simplify this climb.
When they reached its base, Qi frowned at the glossy annealed metal. She activated a cybernail in her glove and tried to scratch it, but her claw didn't leave a mark. Next, she checked it with a magnet.
Karel giggled. "Didn't I tell you?"
Qi nodded and dropped her heavy gear bag between her feet. "Okay, guys. Time for the crampon mags."
Crampon mags turned out to be battery-powered electromagnetic boot attachments—standard gear for edifice climbers, a sport Dominic had never heard of until today. The magnets attached not to the soles but to the sides and toes of the boot, so that theoretically, the climber could position an ankle or toe against an edifice, and by leaning into the wall and clinging to small flanges and irregularities, he could stand upright and shin his way up. Dominic was greatly relieved to learn his gloves would have magnets, too.
Karel and Qi both demonstrated how to twist the boot quickly up and out to break the magnetic lock and take a step higher. Dominic never got the hang of it. For two hours, he slithered up the spire, sliding his appendages along like some incompetent reptile, still diapered in his bright orange climbing harness. Twice the air cops circled in and spotlighted them, and twice, Karel waved them off with a big toothy grin. The young man was right. Cops didn't seem concerned about juvenile thrill seekers penetrating the ZahlenBank spire.
As Dominic approached the summit, the winds picked up, and when the tower swayed, he told himself it had to be an optical illusion. Smog closed in, but he could see a bright spot glowing directly overhead in the sky, and that meant it was already noon. They'd left the colony two days ago, and Millard said they only had two days! Or maybe less. Clots of smog whipped past and slammed into Dominic like pillows, beading his faceplate with oily moisture. His breath rasped.
"You okay?" Qi's voice buzzed through the helmet radio, reminding him of another voice that once buzzed through his head.
He didn't answer. With every magnetic lurch up the spire, with every step closer to his father's private entrance, Dominic's uneasiness increased. He could feel the NP's will to ensnare him like the heat of an approaching fire. What preposterous egotism made him think he could elude a supercomputer! But no, the NP was more than a computer. It had a complete record of Richter Jedes' life experience, with all the cunning that implied. Dominic shuddered when he recalled how the genie tried to possess him. It craved some twisted merger. Dual minds sharing a body. 'Two heads are better than one," he whispered unconsciously.
"And three are meta-stellar," Karel chirped. "We can't lose."
Dominic hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud. He rested his helmeted head against the building, and muscles all over his body twitched with tiny electric bursts.
"There's a tube in your helmet beside your right ear if you need water," said Qi, ever practical.
Dominic sucked a long drink, but his mouth was still dry as sand. He peered up the gleaming amber wall to where it terminated at a vanishing point. Far overhead, a white strobe light blinked like a ticking clock, radiating the smog around the summit He started creeping upward again.
When they reached the top, he couldn't disconnect his magnetic boots and throw his leg up over the rim. Karel had to push from below while Qi hauled him up. Wind whipped him sideways when he tried to stand, so he followed Qi's example and crouched low.
He remembered this landing pad, square and smooth, with its slender beacon tower at one corner and Richter's private residence at the other, a glass-roofed turret jutting up two stories above the pad. Each time the beacon strobed, the turret's hexagonal roof sparkled like a diamond. Cop cars growled in a slow circle over their heads, and in the turret's entryway, the airlock light was on.
That's a good sign, Dominic assured himself. Richter always left it on. He realized he was shivering with nervousness and took a slow, calming breath. "This is where we part company."
"But we're a team," Karel said.
"We stick together," Qi said. "You're gonna need us."
"This is my deal. You wait here."
"Dominic—"
"No." He cut her off. "Think it through. Karel could lose his career. And you—what would your Org bosses do if they caught you here? Besides, there's the colony to think of. If I don't make it, you have to try something else. This is not a sure bet."
She clutched his shoulders with her gloved hands and shook him. "You couldn't even climb up here without our help."
"I'm not afraid, sir. I know you'll succeed." Karel was visibly shaking, either with enthusiasm or fear, possibly both.
They crouched close together on the bare pad, and wind sliced between them, whistling around the turret. Above, the cop cars circled, and the beacon flashed as steadily as a metronome. Dominic puffed his cheeks and blew. "This is one case where I will not bargain. I go this alone. You agree, or we shut down the project Which is it?"
Qi punched him hard in the shoulder. "You are so freakin' stubborn!" Then she unhooked her gear bag and shoved it at him. "You don't even know how to use this stuff."
"Right. You keep it. Once I'm inside, I know my way around. This is my turf, Qi."
"At least, take a pistol." She pulled a dark heavy handgun partway out of the bag.
He shook his head. "That's not the weapon I use."
Then in a rapid move that surprised him, she circled her arm around his waist and hugged him. Just as rapidly, she pushed him away. "Go on, then."
"Wait one hour. If I'm not back—"
"We'll wait two. You always piddle around."
"Sir, they've changed some of the pass codes. You need me." Karel fidgeted beside the airlock, too excited to keep still.
"I'm the bank president, Folger. I can override the codes. But thanks. Thanks for all you've done. You're a good friend,"
"Yes, sir." The young assistant stood at attention, and Dominic half expected a salute.
Once that was settled, he turned his attention the ID pad. It was an unfamiliar type, and Karel showed him how it worked. It used magnetic imaging to scan his palm right through the glove. Dominic was fairly sure his father had never wired this entrance into the bank's central network. Richter liked his privacy too well. So, theoretically, this palm scan would not light up any security screen. The signal would travel no farther than the door mechanism. With a hammering heart, he placed his right hand in the slot. A small green light flashed, and the airlock's outer door slid open.
Dominic let out his bream and checked the watch Qi had strapped to his wrist. "Twelve hundred thirty-two hours."
"Yeah, close enough." Qi adjusted her own watch.
He rolled his shoulders and felt bones pop. Then he stepped inside and pulled the ring to start the airlock cycle. Just as the outer door was sliding closed, Karel dashed in beside him.
"Sir, I can't let you go alone. They've changed the codes. I really can be of help, sir."
"Folger, we had a verbal agreement! A banker never goes back on an agreement!" Dominic was furious with the young man and relieved at the same time. He had half a mind to open the airlock and push Karel outside.
When the all clear signal chimed, Karel popped off his helmet at once. He was grinning like a fool, showing off his healthy pink gums and raking his stringy hair back with his glove. He was so eager. Dominic had felt that way once upon a time. He remembered standing with his father outside the door of some important meeting, anticipating the clash of wills and thirsting for blood. Yes, he understood Karel's exhilaration. And with a little jolt, he realized he was feeling that way himself. After so many tedious years, the old predatory thrill had returned.
All at once, he felt a renewal of Confidence. ZahlenBank was his home turf, his stomping ground. He knew this place inside out. Yes, he could do this. He could be master again. He tugged off his helmet and pulled his rakish blue eye patch into place.
Karel pointed to a second ID pad, a standard interior one this time, and Dominic wavered only a second, trying to decide what to do about Karel. He could pull the ring, reverse the airlock cycle, and send the junior clerk outside to wait with Major Qi. Or he could let the young pup come along and learn something. He slipped off his glove and flattened his palm against the inner pad.
Another green flash. A silent sliding door. He stepped into the quiet semidarkness and smelled his father's cologne. How well he remembered this private apartment, with its elegant decor and its glass roof faceted like a diamond. Richter used to bring women here. He didn't often admit his son, but Dominic had seen it enough times to remember. There was the huge round bed, and there the holographic stage that could imitate a crackling fire, and—
Bright lights flooded the room. Dominic saw bank guards, and other men in black uniforms prowled near the door. There was a face he knew. Klas Lorn. The man squinted at him with an ugly smug smile. A second later, Dominic noticed who was leaning beside him, wearing the same ugly grin. It was Karel Folger.