Stations Of The Tide - Michael Swanwick Page 0,2

They'd never recover the added expense with fuel savings; it had all been done to spite the offworld battery manufacturers.

The bureaucrat was sensitive to this kind of friction. It arose wherever the moving edge of technology control touched on local pride.

"Excuse me, sir." A young man entered, carrying a small table. He was wearing an extraordinary gown, all shimmering moons and stars, ogres and ibises, woven into a cloth that dopplered from deepest blue to profoundest red and back again as he moved. He set the table down, drew a cloth away from the top to reveal a fishbowl without any fish, and extended a white-gloved hand. "I'm Lieutenant Chu, your liaison officer."

They shook. "I thought I was to be assigned somebody from internal security," the bureaucrat said.

"We like to keep a low profile when we operate in the Tidewater, you understand." Chu opened the robe. Underneath he was dressed in airship-corps blues. "Currently, I'm posing as an entertainment officer." He spread his arms, tilted his head coquettishly, as if waiting for a compliment. The bureaucrat decided he did not like Chu.

"This is ludicrous. There's no need for all this hugger-mugger. I only want to talk with the man, that's all."

A disbelieving smile. Chu had cheeks like balls and a small star-shaped mark by his left eye that disappeared when his mouth turned up. "What will you do when you catch up with him then, sir?"

"I'll interview him to determine whether he's in possession of contraband technology. Then, if it develops that he is, it's my job to educate him as to his responsibilities and convince him to return it.

That's all I'm authorized to do."

"Suppose he says no. What will you do then?"

"Well, I'm certainly not going to beat him up and drag him off to prison, if that's what you mean." The bureaucrat patted his stomach.

"Just look at this paunch."

"Perhaps," Chu said judiciously, "you have some of the offplanet science powers one sees on television. Muscle implants and the like."

"Proscribed technology is proscribed technology. If we employed it, we'd be no better than criminals ourselves." The bureaucrat coughed, and with sudden energy said, "Where shall we start?"

The liaison officer straightened with a jerk, like a puppet seized by its strings, immediately all business. "If it's all the same to you, sir, I'd like to learn first how much you know about Gregorian, what leads you have, and so on. Then I can make my own report."

"He's a very charming man, to begin with," the bureaucrat said.

"Everyone I've spoken with agrees on that. A native Mi-randan, born somewhere in the Tidewater. His background is a bit murky. He worked for some years in the bioscience labs in the Outer Circle.

Good work, as I understand it, but nothing exceptional. Then, about a month ago, he quit, and returned to Miranda. He's set himself up as some kind of bush wizard, I understand. A witch doctor or something, you doubtless have more information on that than I do. But shortly after he left, it was discovered that he may have misappropriated a substantial item of proscribed technology. That's when Technology Transfer got involved."

"That's not supposed to be possible." Chu smiled mockingly. Tech Transfer's embargo is supposed to be absolute."

"It happens."

"What was stolen?"

"Sorry."

"That important, eh?" Chu made a thoughtful, clicking noise with his tongue. "Well, what do we know about the man himself?"

"Surprisingly little. His likeness, of course, geneprint, a scattering of standard clearance profiles. Interviews with a few acquaintances. He seems to have had no real friends, and he never discussed his past.

In retrospect it seems clear he'd been keeping his record as uncluttered as possible. He must have been planning the theft for years."

"Do you have a dossier on him?"

"A copy of Gregorian's dossier," the bureaucrat said. He opened the briefcase, removed the item, gave it a little shake.

Chu craned curiously. "What else have you got in there?"

"Nothing," the bureaucrat said. He swiveled the briefcase to show it was empty, then handed over the dossier. It had been printed in the white lotus format currently popular in the high worlds, and folded into a handkerchief-sized square.

"Thank you." Chu held the dossier over his head and twisted his hand. The square of paper disappeared. He turned his hand back and forth to demonstrate that it was empty.

The bureaucrat smiled. "Do that again."

"Oh, the first rule of magic is never do the same trick twice in a row.

The audience knows what to expect." His eyes glittered insolently.

"But if I might show you one