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Sorunt of approval

We Islanders understand current and flow We understand that conditions and tie, then, is normal

- Ward Keel, The Apocryphal Notebooks

Newsbreak should air within the hour, but Beatriz knew that this tea some kind of transmission problem that they refused to share with her, but she saw the results on her screens Whenever their tape was ready for its burst groundside, a revieed that it had been ta the editors It was just as well Leon told her that the short clip she prepared on the OMC would not be transroundside for approval, anyway

She recalled an incident several years ago, when Current Control was still undersea in a Mer one of Flattery&039;s "spiritual hours," a propagandistic little chat with the people of Pandora All ell until transmission time

The kelp interfered, that was the only answer at the time - and an unpopular one The kelp jammed broadcasts, made deletions on tape

The hair on her neck prickled at the thought She reed the chronology of broadcasts, flipped ies and voiceover around to make Flattery look like a fool and make the broadcast adhere more closely to the truth

Mack and I wired a lot of kelp fiber into this systeht

Any delay suited Beatriz just fine She needed ure out how to say on the air asn&039;t in the script without getting herself and others killed They would only trust her with a token appearance, she would have to make the most of it when the time came Most Pandorans, even the poor, listened in on radio She wanted to reach them all She hoped it wasn&039;t just hysteria that told her the kelp was on her side

If there&039;s a coup in progress, who&039;s at the bottom of it? she wondered

She ticked off the likely suspects: any of several board members of Merman Mercantile, the Shadows, displaced Islanders, Brood - probably acting for someone else froht, though she kneas not their drift Their response to political trouble was to dig in deeper, to flee further into the high reaches or the forions

Brood&039;s an opportunist, she thought The killings at the launch site were ato anized coup, he&039;ll wait and throhoever see

Beatriz realized that Flattery had no friends and da hi his savior&039;s cap when the very planet had turned on them, and then he turned on them

"I am your Chaplain/Psychiatrist," he&039;d told them, "I can restructure your world, and I can save you all Your children deserve better than this"

Why did everyone believe hiave her the answer He was on the air daily, either in person or via his "motivational series," a collection of tapes that she had not seen as propagandistic until now She had even helped produce several, including her recent upbeat series on the Voidship Everyone believed him because Flattery kept them too busy to do otherwise

Flattery had become the most formidable demon in a world of demons, only he was huenes and other genetic tinkerings that Pandorans had to endure Beatriz knew this now He did it with their help, with her help Though trapped, she felt an exhilaration at the notion that Brood&039;s ht need her yet

If I do this shoritten, I&039;ll be helping hi Flattery to do She wasn&039;t helping hiical and social flux She wasn&039;t helping hianic cities broke up on the rocks of the new continents, or rescue Mermen whose undersea settle of the ocean floor

I&039; this "Tin Egg" to explore the nearby stars It&039;s his personal lifeboat

She cursed under her breath and fisted the console in front of her, but gently, gently She ht need it later The reflection that bounced back fronize The hair color was black, cropped and shaggy like her own, but the haunted brown eyes of her reflection stared out of bloodshot sclera, surrounded by two dark hollows that frightened her Her nose was red and her complexion pasty for one so dark Out of reflex she reached for a com-line to call Nephertiti to ain, never again whisper in her ear at the countdown: "You&039;re gorgeous, B, knock "elanced her way, but busied hilitch with transroundside studio He and his ee of the Orbiter&039;s axis, and every ser them more

Beatriz knew her perfor Brood, too, and this wasthe delivery of the OMC to its crypt aboard the Voidship and et past the ja influence on their burst channel, Brood would be back, and he would be ht of Brood in a tantrum

Dwarf MacIntosh was a normal human, a blue-eyed clone from hyb, and Beatriz was a near-norenerations and h shorter and darker, appeared as nor Pandorans, had dictated their lives froht His mind is a mutation, an abomination Humans should not trample their own kind

She knew the history of slavery Earthside, and enetic slavery of Jesus Lewis Today she had awakened at last to Ben&039;s accusations that Flattery had enslaved Pandora, Merhter while the people got hungrier

The past twenty-five years had been a cu of disasters planetwide: The sea botto a kelp root line to form the first strip of land More such fractures followed, always along the gigantic roots of kelp beds The consequent upheavals destroyed dozens of Mer or deliberate grounding of anic cities of the Islanders, her own aees swarmed to the primitive coastal settleain on land after nearly three centuries on or under the sea Flattery had not eased their burden, only added to it

"This whole planet&039;s trying to kill us," Mack had told her the first tiive it a hand"

But Mack took no action against Flattery He put all of his waking hours and a good nu the Orbiter station as a ju Current Control and beco the world&039;s expert on its most mysterious resident, the kelp He worked backward to define his priorities

"We need Current Control," he said "The kelp is fascinating, but reality dictates that we get supplies through it or people die Controlling the kelp makes this project easier, it uarantees results"

That hen he invented the Grid complex of the Merrid system to be operated froe, but it still carried the hardware and installed new grids With the Gridmaster in operation, one person could handle all of the kelpways in the richest of Pandora&039;s hemispheres

Beatriz had stood at Mack&039;s side two years ago as his special guest the day the Gridh officially a Holovision correspondent for the event, Beatriz liked to believe that there had been more to Mack&039;s invitation than the business at hand The spark of his blue eyes lit un talks floating through the axis of Orbiter nights and reclining in the orks What had begun as the opportunistic brush of hands against hands becaet another chance, she thought, and sighed to head off tears

A red flash above the hatchway startled her, then flashed again It was the studio equivalent of a doorbell that alerted each console throughout the roo a show

Someone wants in

Whoever was out there was not one of Brood&039;s men She knew this because of the fear that bloomed in pale petals across Leon&039;s face

It&039;s Mack, she thought It&039;s got to be!

"Don&039;t move!" Leon ordered He unsnapped his harness and pointed a coer at her "I&039;ll handle this Your text will be onscreen in a few blinks Standard cues I&039;m remote director and you will follow my lead ed in his headset and pressed the interco," he announced "No admittance except for studio personnel"

Beatriz held her breath Though they did seal off for tapings and live broadcast, Holovision had always encouraged an audience Many workers aboard the Orbiter enjoyed spending their free ti her creork, and they had never been prohibited before

"It&039;s Spud Soleus" The high voice crackled her own headset in its characteristic way, forcing a sency situation over there Dr MacIntosh needs to talk with Beatriz Tatoosh right away"

She felt a rush in her chest and color rising in her cheeks Her pal on the air live Tell Dr MacIntosh it&039;ll have to wait"

"It can&039;t wait Our burst line has failed and a chunk of grid&039;s down"

"We have orders," Leon said His voice sounded hesitant "Maybe after the sho"

"Dr MacIntosh is Orbiter Command," Soleus said "He has direct orders frorid now We need your burst line for a transmission We need Beatriz Tatoosh for advice I&039;h Current Control and we can shut you down"

"Wait a blink," Leon said, his voice cal, "I&039;ll see e can do"

He switched off the intercoainst the bulkhead

"Shit!" he said, and buainst the plasteel His headset kept hi backward across the studio "Shit!"

Good for Spud! Beatriz thought He&039;d lied to Leon about the circuitry Soh Current Control She and MacIntosh had set up the studio, and no one knew it better But Leon didn&039;t know that Besides, he had enough problems And Leon didn&039;t dare move without orders fro the entire Orbiter

Beatriz&039;s heart tripped hard against her ribs and she blotted her dahs of her juer, she enjoyed Leon&039;s dileht

Leon tripped the interco in here until after -"

"We can transmit on your burst line with our own carrier frequency," Spud said "We don&039;t even need to get in your way Dr MacIntosh is in charge here and he said -"

Leon slapped the switch off, unplugged his headset and thrust hi cubby He crashed, out of control, into the other two techs They disentangled limbs and cables, then hovered over each of his shoulders and whispered together heatedly

Beatriz slipped the two ed in her headset She switched the intercom back on and left the set to float beside the hatch only a couple of meters away They didn&039;t see her, and thechronometer

Back at her console, Beatriz opened her coht would flash on consoles in each of the editing cubbies, this she knew As she expected, it brought Leon to her nose to nose in a red-faced fury

"I told you not to try anything!" Leon snapped He was no longer theofficer of a security assault squad that was in a tight spot