Deadman Switch by Timothy Zahn Read Free Book Online

think she could misdirect me that completely, but I suppose it’s theoretically possible. Let me turn it around, then. If she is lying about it, what can she hope to gain?”
    â€œA stay of execution?” Schock suggested. Clearing the display of financial data, he busied himself with the keys.
    Randon shook his head. “Hardly seems worth the effort. The best she could hope to get would be a few more weeks.”
    Schock was peering at his computer screen. “Here’s the record,” he said. “Uh … she was convicted of throwing a bomb into a street crowd from a window in the Outbound HQ of Melgaard Industries. Seen by witnesses … caught when she tried to leave the building.”
    I chewed the back of my lip. “Any extenuating circumstances?”
    He looked at me in astonishment, “For a bombing?”
    I couldn’t think of one, either. “How about possible mistaken identity, then?” I asked. “How would she have gotten into the Melgaard building, for starters?”
    â€œShe was employed there,” Schock said, scanning the display again. “She’d been working as a reception converser for the previous two months.”
    â€œNice cushy job for a Watcher,” Randon grunted. He considered for a moment. “What was the track record on the trial itself?”
    â€œUh …” Schock flipped through a few pages. “From what we’ve got here it looks pretty standard.”
    â€œNo extraordinary measures? No indications they did any psychological reconstructions or anything else of that sort?”
    â€œNo, sir. Just a standard trial and the requisite double appeal. It’s not even clear anyone asked for pravdrug questioning.”
    Randon looked up at me, shook his head. “Sorry, Benedar, but if Melgaard wasn’t willing to put any money or influence into her trial, they must have been convinced she was guilty.”
    â€œOr at least convinced she was someone they didn’t want around?” I asked pointedly.
    Randon gave me a hard look. “I’ll admit to the existence of prejudice in the Patri and the colonies,” he said steadily. “I won’t listen to specific accusations without proof.”
    A reasonable enough caution under most circumstances. Here, in the privacy of his own ship and stateroom, it made for a weak argument, and he knew it. “All right, then,” I said. “Let’s just talk theoretical. Assume for a moment that Calandra was, in fact, framed; and further assume it wasn’t an isolated incident.”
    â€œGrand conspiracy?” Randon said with an amused half smile. “Oh, come on. What would anyone have to gain by dropping Watchers one by one down the chute?”
    â€œWho says we’re just talking Watchers?” I countered. “There are any number of minorities out there, religious and otherwise, that could be targeted.”
    â€œTo what end?” Schock asked.
    I gestured to his computer. “Check and see if Melgaard Industries has a transport license for Solitaire, will you?”
    He turned to the instrument; but Randon spoke up first. “No, they haven’t,” he said. “They’ve been trying to get one at least as long as Carillon has.” His eyes were on me, no longer amused. “What’s your point?”
    â€œThat they may have abandoned Calandra for reasons other than guilt.”
    â€œSuch as internal pressure?” Schock hazarded. “Melgaard’s home office hoping to get in good with the Patri by not putting up a fuss over the creation of new zombis?”
    The creation of new zombis. Somewhere in the back of my mind I marveled at how neat and sanitized euphemisms could make death sound. “Yes, except that the pressure may not have all been internal. Some could have come from outside Melgaard.”
    Schock cocked a thoughtful eyebrow. “As in from the Patri themselves?”
    â€œWhy