EdgeOfHuman by Unknown Read Free Book Online

was so he could purge one of the sets. That was where he screwed up; he left a hole. The scans are in numerical order, as they were logged into the file. The one that got fried was never entered, since he wasn't a problem anymore. But the Kowalski replicant was number one in the file, then Batty was number two; the females Zhora and Iris were logged as numbers four and five. That leaves the gap in the middle, where the other replicant's ID scan and info used to be. Bryant wasn't smart enough to clean up the hole in the file, or he just didn't care."
    Sarah folded her arms across her breasts. "Do the count, Deckard. You take them all together, add them up, and the total comes out six. That means there's a sixth escaped replicant still on the loose. It's out there in the city. We just don't know where."
    "What if there is?" Deckard grimaced in annoyed distaste. "Why should I even care?"
    "Because that's what I'm going to make it worth your while to care about." The section of wall paneling slid closed again, concealing the video screen. She dropped the remote back into the bureau plat 's drawer. "That's the whole point of your being here. That's why you were brought back to Los Angeles."
    "You know, you could be wasting your time completely. With me or anybody else." He regarded her with eyelids half lowered. "Bryant was a drunk and a screwup. He could've said six when he meant to say five. That's probably why I didn't make any big fuss about it, back then. I knew the way his sloppy brain worked. You could be getting all torqued about this sixth replicant when there was never one to begin with."
    "Except that the other information I have checks out. The report from the off-world authorities concerning the replicants' escape -- the report that Bryant had, but that you never saw -- it confirms that there were six total, who managed to reach Earth."
    "There's a report?" Deckard emitted a short, harsh laugh. "Then you don't have a problem. Access it and see who your sixth escaped replicant is. You don't need me to track it down."
    "Can't do that." She had anticipated every argument that he'd make. "I told you Bryant himself purged the data out of the police department files, even before he called you in and gave you the assignment. The ID info on the sixth replicant is gone."
    "Big deal. The LAPD can ask the off-world authorities to retransmit the escape report."
    "You don't seem to be getting it, Deckard." She leaned forward, across the bureau plat . "The LAPD doesn't know that there's a problem. The file on this incident was closed, the whole thing written off, finito , when the Roy Batty replicant was found dead. And I don't want the police to reopen the case. The Tyrell Corporation doesn't want them to."
    "Why not? You've supposedly got another Nexus-6 model running around the city. That can get very messy -- believe me, I know. I would've thought you'd want this loose end tied up as quickly as possible."
    "I do. The Tyrell Corporation does. But not by the police. I want all of the authorities completely out of the loop on this. The U.N. has already been giving us grief -- sub rosa , it of any media coverage -- about the wisdom of continuing to use the Tyrell Corporation's products, our replicants, in the off-world colonization' program. There have been problems . . . to say the least. Not just with the ones that've escaped and gotten back here to Earth. But out there as well."
    Deckard raised an eyebrow. "In my line of work -- what I used to do -- I got to the point that when people said problems , I heard death ."
    "You don't need to hear the details." Voice level, cold. "If there's problems -- deaths -- then the U.N. and the off-world colonists brought it all upon themselves. They demanded a higher quality of slave labor. They want replicants that are closer and closer to actually being human, to having that level of intelligence. And emotion." Colder, and with contempt. "And not because it's any more efficient or productive