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to know and to reveal at the proper time. TTiat would explain Polyon's near-furtive way of approaching the cabin. It would also explain his crude behavior last night; naturally, as an undercover agent, he'd have to be sure to blend in with his fellow passengers.

    Or ... there might be no such explanation forthcoming. Now that he had master file access, Polyon was typing, moving the touchscreen icons, and issuing verbal commands in a rapid low stream that rivaled even a shellperson's multi-channel capacity.
    And he still hadn't acknowledged her as anything more than a droneship. What was going on? Nancia waited and watched, following Polyon's maneuverings through her computer system while her external sensors kept track of his bodily movements.

    Piece of cake, Polyon thought as his fingers darted from keyboard to touch-screen, setting up his user account with system privileges that would allow him access to any data in the ship's computer. Easy as debug-ging a kid's first program. Now for the tricky stuff—
    persuading the security system to treat him as a privileged user on the Net. Once linked to that sub-26

    Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball

    PARTNERSHIP

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    space-wide communications system, he would be abi< to find out anything he wanted to know abou anybody who'd ever linked into the Net

    Voice commands wouldn't work here; just as wejj he didn't want to be overheard by any of those snui]; time snoops he was stuck with on this voyage. H;; fingers flashed over the keys, rattling out commands a: fast as his excellent brain could analyze the result, Hmm, security block here . . . but having alrea^
    granted himself user privileges on the ship's system he could take a look at the object code in the blockin; program itself. He could even "fix" it. "Here a patdi there a patch," Polyon hummed as he entered a sligl i ly revised version of the object code, "everywhen -.
    trapdoor, dum-de-dum-de-dum." As the system ;> cepted and ran the revised program, Polyo; humming switched to a triumphant version of, "1; the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo!"

    Not quite accurate, of course; he intended to win fo far more than the proceeds of a single night's ol=
    Earth-style gambling. He would show them — all them. Starting with — but definitely not finishing wi >

    — the lamebrains who'd shipped out with him. Polyo knew why he was being posted to a second-rate assigi ment in a third-rate solar system — his memori skittered like frightened mice over the surface of th ugly scene with the Dean — but there must be sorr reasons why all these other pampered darlings oft) High Families were going into semi-exile. He woui start by finding those little secrets, and then... wc:l then maybe even these rich brats could be useful in t>; Grand Plan.

    And after them.., the Nyota system. All of Ves.
    subspace. Central. Why not? Polyon thought, dazzk by the grandeur of his own desires. If there was on thing he'd learned while he was growing up, it ws that you could get away with nearly anything if you dt most of it while people weren't watching and used your charm when they did watch.

    And where charm didn't work... there were other means of persuasion. Polyon smiled grimly and tapped into Alpha bint Hezra-Fong's med school files.

    \Vhat cfftM Polyon be doing? Nantia watched and waited as he redefined the ship's security system, reached out to the Net, scanned his fellow-passengers' files.
    Ought she to stop him? Discretion was the first thing a Courier Service brainship learned, the first and last component of duty. She hadn't been briefed on what to do with a passenger who started manipulating the Net as if it were part of his personal comsystem. He was redefining the security parameters now... no matter, she could change those back whenever she chose. So for he hadn't touched her personal data areas, didn't show any signs of knowing that her synaptic connections to the ship's computer allowed her to follow everything he was