When Jackie came over and heard of the offer, she gave Art a hug. “Oh, it’s going to happen! And it’s just what John Boone would have done. It’s like the meeting he called on Olympus Mons.”

6

They left Dorsa Brevia and headed north again, on the east side of the Hellas Basin. During the nights of this drive Jackie often brought out John Boone’s AI, Pauline, which she had studied and cataloged. She played back selections from his thoughts about an independent state, thoughts disorganized and rambling, the reflections of a man with more enthusiasm (and omegendorph) than analytic ability; but sometimes he would get on a roll, and ad-lib in the manner of the famous speeches, and that could be fascinating. He had had a knack for free association which made his ideas sound like logical progression even when they weren’t.

“See how often he talks about the Swiss,” Jackie said. She sounded like John, Nirgal noticed suddenly. She had been working with Pauline extensively for a long time, and her manner had been affected by it. John’s voice, Maya’s manner; in such ways they carried the past with them. “We have to make sure some Swiss are at the congress.”

“We’ve got Jurgen and the group at Overhangs,” Nadia said.

“But they’re not really so Swiss, are they?”

“You’ll have to ask them,” Nadia said. “But if you mean Swiss officials, there are a lot of them in Burroughs, and they’ve been helping us there, without ever even talking to us about it. About fifty of us have Swiss passports now. They’re a big part of the demimonde.”

“As is Praxis,” Art put in.

“Yes yes. Anyway, we’ll talk to the group at Overhangs. They’ll have contacts with the surface Swiss, I’m sure.”