“It is,” I told hir. “It always has been. The percentage is slightly down from twenty-first-century levels because our economy is so much better now, which reduces the level of disaffection in society. But the numbers are still staggering. Worse, they are too great even for our networks and G7Turings to cope with. People are always claiming we live in overpoliced states where authoritarian governments oversee every aspect of life. In truth, governments—Universal ones, anyway—really don’t care about individuals.”

“Until you don’t pay your taxes,” Callum muttered.

“Touché,” I conceded.

“The Utopial governments take more care about citizen welfare,” Jessika said. “It’s fundamental to our constitution.”

“Bravo you,” Kandara said. “But you still have your dropouts.”

“The percentage is minimal.”

“We’re here to assess an alien spaceship,” I reminded them. “Not have a political pissing contest.”

Alik snorted. “So whomever Baptiste was snatching people for hired Cancer to destroy all the evidence?” he asked.

“That’s the conclusion we came to,” Jessika said. “A medical research company, with money, zero ethics, and underground contacts.”

Down the other end of the cabin, Eldlund put down hir cup. “This Cancer assassin, or dark mercenary, whatever she is—did you ever find her? Are you still looking?”

“We’re always looking for her,” Yuri said. “Just like everyone else.”

“The bitch is good,” Alik grunted. “Even the Bureau can’t find her.”

“You know her, then,” Callum said shrewdly to Alik.

“She cropped up in one of my cases, yeah.”

“Did you catch her?”

I watched Alik’s rigid muscles creak into a scowl. “No. But it was an odd case.”

“Odd how?” Callum asked.

“It wasn’t strictly a Bureau matter. I was called in as a favor—friend of a friend kind of deal, someone who knows people connected to a globalPAC.”

The Case of Alik’s Favor

THE CASE OF ALIK’S FAVOR

AMERICA, AD 2172

January fourteenth, quarter to midnight, and the snow was blasting across New York City like the devil had left his gates open when he hit the town to party. And, Alik decided, the dark prince had partied hard indeed. He was staring down at the corpse when one of the crime scene cops pulled the coroner’s sheet back. That spoiled his interrupted dinner and didn’t leave him too keen on breakfast now, either.