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In the course of space colonization, there arose a need for humans with enhanced abilities Men and women who could survive harsh conditions, ere superb warriors, gifted hunters, and brilliant scientists

Soical in nature: an array of implants with various functions Their effect ended with the death of the person who carried theical and these enhanced capabilities persisted, lingering in the bloodline, changing and inal carrier It was quickly realized that the advantage of these biological enhanceically enhanced united and shut down all further biological modification

Collectively known as kinsave rise to several dozen families, which now form the financial elite of the colonized planets The kinsmen strictly control their numbers and their loyalty to their families is absolute Like the SicilianCorsican clans of the old planet, the kinsmen exist in tense competition with each other It is that coins and ends wars, and drags huress

"Place your hands on the panel in front of you" The bodyguard, in a sleek grey uniform of Canopus Inc, nodded at the plasti-steel console that sprouted fro like a h-caliber gun turrets swiveled on theirher every ers on the panel, a thin bracelet sliding down on her right wrist She had already passed through a number of metal detectors and submitted to a search and a cheht slid along her fingertips as a complex array of scanners feverishly assessed her temperature, heat, and chemical emissions, saertips, and probed her body for foreign influences A long moment stretched A calm female voice with the crisp unaccented pronunciation of the coative Biological htly The tense line of his shoulders eased A person like her had no chance against a bodyguard equipped with a combat ith

"You may step down," he pere wooden door polished to an auard tapped a code on his wrist The door slid aside, revealing a second, steel partition The steel wall split in half and parted Meli strode into a spacious office The door whispered shut behind her

Three people waited in the office: an older le block of uards, a woman and a man, both lean and sharp, positioned at the walls on opposite sides of her

She smiled at thehtly Agostino Canopus, thirty-eight, a kinsman, fourth son of Vierra Canopus, Arbitrator Second Class Of average height, he sat with the easy authority of a man completely confident in his position His hair, a dark copper, was cut and styled with artful precision His skin was perfect His eyes, two dark chunks of green, fastened on her In a split second she was evaluated, ostino indicated a plain stool bolted to the floor with a casual sweep of his hand

Meli sat

"You came here to become a retainer of Canopus family," he said "Why?"

"Power"

In the financial world, where most disputes were decided by arbitration, the arbitrators wielded unprecedented influence

Agostino nodded The answer seemed to satisfy him "Your test scores are exceptional"

She accepted the compliment with a nod "So is ether "What…"

She whipped off the chair Obeying her reen whipped from the narrow bracelet on her wrist The ene-ribbon slashed the feuard, whipped across the door, and kissed the ostino’s lips shaped the next word, Meli sat back onto the chair Behind her two bodies slid apart, cleaved in two The air smelled of fried electronics She had disabled the control panel on the door

Agostino surveyed the door "You’re a melder"

"Yes"

Melders like her were an extremely rare coy ribbon ca it never discovered their abilities In the world of combat implants and biochemical modifications, ostino leaned back, one leg over the other, pleating his long fingers on his knee "What’s this about?"

"The Galdes fao he had presided over the arbitration between Galdes and Morgans He’d ruled in favor of Morgans, finding no wrongdoing in the hostile takeover of Galdes’s Valeostino said

"You’ve falsified the evidence" She kept her voice cals esti of Morgans assets prior to takeover, creating an appearance of weakness Your actions irreparably dae of Galdes family and cut their income by one twelfth You drove Arani Galdes, former CEO of Valemia, to commit suicide"

He didn’t miss a beat "Nobody can blame me for her death"

"I can," she told him

"Ah" He inclined his head in a shallo "So it’s personal Your retina scans do not trace back to Galdes You aren’t a kinsman Why take a suicide so close to heart? Was she your lover?"