«Three months at the most,» I said numbly.

«Yes.»

«And knowing that, somebody still went ahead and murdered her. It makes no sense at all.»

«It made a lot of sense to somebody.» The voice was challenging.

I fixed Corrine with a level gaze. «I didn't think you'd give me a hard time over being a company man.»

«I won't. But I know people who will.»

«Who?»

Her grin had returned. «Don't tell me Zimmels didn't leave you a bubble cube full of names.»

My turn to grin. «He did. What nobody has told me is how widespread Boston's support is.»

«Not as much as they'd like. Not as little as JSKP would like.»

«Very neat, Doctor. You should go into politics.»

«There's no need to be obscene.»

I stood up and walked over to her window, looking down into the small courtyard at the centre of the hospital. There was an ornate pond in the middle which had a tiny fountain playing in it; big orange fish glided about below the lily pads. «If the company did send a covert agent up here to kill Maowkavitz, he or she would have to be very biotechnology literate to circumvent the habitat personality's observation. I mean, I couldn't do it. I don't even understand how it was done, nor do most of my officers.»

«I see what you mean. It would have to be someone who's been up here before.»

«Right. Someone who understands the habitat surveillance parameters perfectly, and who's one hundred per cent loyal to JSKP.»

«My God, you're talking about Zimmels.»

I smiled down at the fish. «You have to admit, he's a perfect suspect.»

«And would you have him arrested if he is guilty?»

«Oh, yes. JSKP can have me fired, but they can't deflect me.»

«Very commendable.»

I turned back to find her giving me a heartily bemused stare. «But it's a little too early to be making allegations like that; I'll wait until I have more data.»

«Glad to hear it,» she muttered. «I suppose you've also considered it could have been a mercy killing by some sympathetic bleeding-heart medical practitioner, one who was intimate with Penny's circumstances.»

I laughed. «Top of my list.»

• • •

Before I went for the implant, they dressed me in a green surgical smock, and shaved off a three-centimetre circle of hair at the base of my skull. The operating theatre resembled a dentist's surgery. A big hydraulic chair at the centre of a horseshoe of medical consoles and instrument waldos. The major difference was the chair's headrest, which was a complicated arrangement of metal bands and adjustable pads. The sight triggered a cascade of unpleasant memories, newscable images of the more brutal regimes back on Earth. What one-party states did to their opposition members.

«Nothing to worry about,» Corrine said breezily, when the sight of it slowed my walk. «I've done this operation about five hundred times now.»

The nurse smiled and guided me into the chair. I don't think she was more than a couple of years older than Nicolette. Should they really be using teenagers to assist with delicate brain surgery on senior staff?