[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
The first interrupted. "It makes it a bit harder, but you're within your
authority, Director Wallis."
Director Wallis? Was he the head of the Dakota subdistrict Guide-way Patrol?
"Thank you, Sam," Wallis replied.
From there on, it was routine. Very routine and very boring. After another
fifteen minutes of questioning, verification of who I was, and an
authenticated agreement to answer any and all questions, they let me go and
got on with questioning the others at the meeting. By then, four more safos
had arrived, and I was glad to slip away.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
On my way out, I stopped by the desk and asked the virty for information on
the Spiritwood Inn. I
needed to track down who owned the place, because it was unlikely any cydroid
could have gotten through the screens at the doors, old as they were, without
either cooperation from someone in the organization or a great deal of
credits. Usually, the cheaper possibility is right. I also wanted to check out
Wallis.
I took the Altus to the Jameston flitterport and actually managed to catch the
early flitter to Minpolis.
That didn't help much, because I'd just shifted waiting at Jameston to more
waiting at the Minpolis maglev station. Waiting and thinking, wondering why
anyone would want to take out Damon Erle, who was going to lose the election
by a significant margin.
Or had someone tried once more to get me involved? I'd seen more violence in
two weeks than I'd ever seen outside the Marines.
Yet Hank Wallis had been more thanhelpful, unlike Menendez in Epaso. I noted
everything I could think of, from the way Erle had handled the meeting and his
use of rez and songs, to the cydroid attack. When
I couldn't think of anything else, with an hour yet to go before my maglev to
Page 83
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Denv left, I took one of the pubcom terminals and keyed in a local news
search.
... Nothing new from Mars ... martial law remains in force ... but largely
ignored by Mars-born and longer-term immigrants ... Two more CorPak safos
wounded by snipers...
... A cydroid took a shot at Damon Erle this afternoon. Erle may be trailing
Helen Kagnar in the race for the subdistrict House seat, but you wouldn't have
known that today. Safos are not commenting on the rumor that the cydroid is
registered to a known LR business here in the High Plains ... Nor have they
released the identity of the bystander who disarmed and subdued the cydroid,
except to say that the man was, and we quote, "covering the campaign." Damon
Erle should be glad someone was...
I winced at the last line. Erle had enough problems without that kind of net
attention.
I wouldn't get back to Denv until after midnight, and I just hoped that I
didn't have to make any more trips. I'd traveled enough over the years in the
Marines, and I had the feeling that traveling wasn't doing much for me,
either.
Chapter 33
Sunday morning, I slept in. I'd gotten back to the house late on Saturday, and
I hadn't slept that well, anyway, not with dreams of cydroids and snipers.
When I finally did struggle into an upright position on
Sunday, it was close to eleven, incredibly late for me. I just sat in the
kitchen for a time, going through three mugs of Grey tea and some dried fruit
and toast. The larder was more than empty.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
I was in over my head, and I didn't even have any idea what game was being
played or by whom.
Someone, or several someones, wanted Carlisimo shut down. Someone else wanted
his campaign tactics shut down. They might be the same people; they might not.
Someone else was unhappy with me. It might be Abe Vorhees, or one of the
unknown parties against Carlisimo. Someone else, long before the events of the
past month had happened, had stolen my DNA, blatantly, and no one yet had been
able to track down who it might be.
The question that I couldn't answer, the one that I didn't even have a clue
to, was simple. Why me? I
had a pretty good idea why the Centre wanted me to do their study, because I
could provide the best evidence against the use of modified campaign rez. And
it was possible that someone didn't want me to finish the study. It was also
possible that a dead consultant who was studying the use of rez-based
techniques in campaigning would be equally effective as an exhibit before the
Legislature as that consultant's study. But, except in general terms of
contributors and board directors, I had no idea who was backing the Centre,
and no way to find out.
I also couldn't figure out the use of the cydroid against Damon Erle. That
made absolutely no sense at all, not that I could figure out. Most crazies
wouldn't have the resources to get control of a cydroid, and anyone with
resources would have known that Erle didn't have a chance to win in that
subdistrict even if he'd spent ten times what Kagnar did, and that wasn't
allowed under the campaign acts. It could have been someone in the
entertainment business, with a grudge, but that seemed like an awfully strange
coincidence, and I never had been a big believer in coincidences.
Because I was tired of the Centre's study, I took a look at the material
Page 84
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Chelsa Glynn had sent in response to my inquiry. The technical paper was to be
no less than two thousand words and no more than six thousand and was to deal
with any aspect of the general topic of the seminar. The topic was,
interestingly enough, subperceptual influence and learning, and that explained
in part why they wanted me. Someone hoped I'd explain my methodology for
determining carry-through of prodplacing. That was something I wasn't about to
touch.
I smiled. What I could address, legitimately and fairly, were the difficulties
in recognizing and assessing the impact of subperceptual influences. Since I'd
never seen anything on that, and since I had file upon file of material that
could be adapted, that would be useful both in educating people at the seminar
and establishing my credentials without giving away my methodology.
The first thing I did was to run a search on the worldlink to see what, if
anything, anyone else had written. As I'd suspected, there was very little, no
more than a handful of articles, and none really on the topic. What did
surprise me was that I discovered three commentaries on an article I'd written
three years before on the history of prodplacing.
I started by pulling sections from various studies and notes, and assembled
them into a single file, but was careful to avoid anything with
proprietaryinformation. Then I began the business of editing and eliminating.
After almost two hours, as I was drafting or redrafting my technical paper for
the AKRA seminar, a thought occurred to me, and I pulsed in an inquiry on the
media and news stories on the Erle campaign.
As they queued up, I scanned through them.
Erle Stunned by Attack...
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Attack by MultiCor Cydroid?...
I read that story in more depth even if it had appeared in
Daily-Dem.
The writer began by asking what the major multis had against Damon Erle. The
story stated that, according to an unnamed source in safety enforcement, the
cydroid was one of a standard pattern used by a number of multis in the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
The first interrupted. "It makes it a bit harder, but you're within your
authority, Director Wallis."
Director Wallis? Was he the head of the Dakota subdistrict Guide-way Patrol?
"Thank you, Sam," Wallis replied.
From there on, it was routine. Very routine and very boring. After another
fifteen minutes of questioning, verification of who I was, and an
authenticated agreement to answer any and all questions, they let me go and
got on with questioning the others at the meeting. By then, four more safos
had arrived, and I was glad to slip away.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
On my way out, I stopped by the desk and asked the virty for information on
the Spiritwood Inn. I
needed to track down who owned the place, because it was unlikely any cydroid
could have gotten through the screens at the doors, old as they were, without
either cooperation from someone in the organization or a great deal of
credits. Usually, the cheaper possibility is right. I also wanted to check out
Wallis.
I took the Altus to the Jameston flitterport and actually managed to catch the
early flitter to Minpolis.
That didn't help much, because I'd just shifted waiting at Jameston to more
waiting at the Minpolis maglev station. Waiting and thinking, wondering why
anyone would want to take out Damon Erle, who was going to lose the election
by a significant margin.
Or had someone tried once more to get me involved? I'd seen more violence in
two weeks than I'd ever seen outside the Marines.
Yet Hank Wallis had been more thanhelpful, unlike Menendez in Epaso. I noted
everything I could think of, from the way Erle had handled the meeting and his
use of rez and songs, to the cydroid attack. When
I couldn't think of anything else, with an hour yet to go before my maglev to
Page 83
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Denv left, I took one of the pubcom terminals and keyed in a local news
search.
... Nothing new from Mars ... martial law remains in force ... but largely
ignored by Mars-born and longer-term immigrants ... Two more CorPak safos
wounded by snipers...
... A cydroid took a shot at Damon Erle this afternoon. Erle may be trailing
Helen Kagnar in the race for the subdistrict House seat, but you wouldn't have
known that today. Safos are not commenting on the rumor that the cydroid is
registered to a known LR business here in the High Plains ... Nor have they
released the identity of the bystander who disarmed and subdued the cydroid,
except to say that the man was, and we quote, "covering the campaign." Damon
Erle should be glad someone was...
I winced at the last line. Erle had enough problems without that kind of net
attention.
I wouldn't get back to Denv until after midnight, and I just hoped that I
didn't have to make any more trips. I'd traveled enough over the years in the
Marines, and I had the feeling that traveling wasn't doing much for me,
either.
Chapter 33
Sunday morning, I slept in. I'd gotten back to the house late on Saturday, and
I hadn't slept that well, anyway, not with dreams of cydroids and snipers.
When I finally did struggle into an upright position on
Sunday, it was close to eleven, incredibly late for me. I just sat in the
kitchen for a time, going through three mugs of Grey tea and some dried fruit
and toast. The larder was more than empty.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
I was in over my head, and I didn't even have any idea what game was being
played or by whom.
Someone, or several someones, wanted Carlisimo shut down. Someone else wanted
his campaign tactics shut down. They might be the same people; they might not.
Someone else was unhappy with me. It might be Abe Vorhees, or one of the
unknown parties against Carlisimo. Someone else, long before the events of the
past month had happened, had stolen my DNA, blatantly, and no one yet had been
able to track down who it might be.
The question that I couldn't answer, the one that I didn't even have a clue
to, was simple. Why me? I
had a pretty good idea why the Centre wanted me to do their study, because I
could provide the best evidence against the use of modified campaign rez. And
it was possible that someone didn't want me to finish the study. It was also
possible that a dead consultant who was studying the use of rez-based
techniques in campaigning would be equally effective as an exhibit before the
Legislature as that consultant's study. But, except in general terms of
contributors and board directors, I had no idea who was backing the Centre,
and no way to find out.
I also couldn't figure out the use of the cydroid against Damon Erle. That
made absolutely no sense at all, not that I could figure out. Most crazies
wouldn't have the resources to get control of a cydroid, and anyone with
resources would have known that Erle didn't have a chance to win in that
subdistrict even if he'd spent ten times what Kagnar did, and that wasn't
allowed under the campaign acts. It could have been someone in the
entertainment business, with a grudge, but that seemed like an awfully strange
coincidence, and I never had been a big believer in coincidences.
Because I was tired of the Centre's study, I took a look at the material
Page 84
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Chelsa Glynn had sent in response to my inquiry. The technical paper was to be
no less than two thousand words and no more than six thousand and was to deal
with any aspect of the general topic of the seminar. The topic was,
interestingly enough, subperceptual influence and learning, and that explained
in part why they wanted me. Someone hoped I'd explain my methodology for
determining carry-through of prodplacing. That was something I wasn't about to
touch.
I smiled. What I could address, legitimately and fairly, were the difficulties
in recognizing and assessing the impact of subperceptual influences. Since I'd
never seen anything on that, and since I had file upon file of material that
could be adapted, that would be useful both in educating people at the seminar
and establishing my credentials without giving away my methodology.
The first thing I did was to run a search on the worldlink to see what, if
anything, anyone else had written. As I'd suspected, there was very little, no
more than a handful of articles, and none really on the topic. What did
surprise me was that I discovered three commentaries on an article I'd written
three years before on the history of prodplacing.
I started by pulling sections from various studies and notes, and assembled
them into a single file, but was careful to avoid anything with
proprietaryinformation. Then I began the business of editing and eliminating.
After almost two hours, as I was drafting or redrafting my technical paper for
the AKRA seminar, a thought occurred to me, and I pulsed in an inquiry on the
media and news stories on the Erle campaign.
As they queued up, I scanned through them.
Erle Stunned by Attack...
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Attack by MultiCor Cydroid?...
I read that story in more depth even if it had appeared in
Daily-Dem.
The writer began by asking what the major multis had against Damon Erle. The
story stated that, according to an unnamed source in safety enforcement, the
cydroid was one of a standard pattern used by a number of multis in the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]