Modesitt, L.E. - Time God's World 03 - The Time God by Modesitt L.E

Author:Modesitt, L.E.
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

"Yes. Otherwise, you wouldn't have wanted an extra Guard. Were the Guards you usually use watching her?"

He actually grinned, but only for a moment. "You're not as dense as old Ragnorak, are you?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

He took a slow breath. "We don't know who she is."

I thought I understood. Locator tags don't work unless you know the tag number. You have to match the person and the name, and you can't sort the now by every Queryan—

even with computers and data lattices.

"Should I have stopped her?"

Gilmesh shook his head. "Contrary to what that fool said, the Guard doesn't operate like that. We don't have any proof she's done anything." He sat up straighten "So . . . go enjoy yourself, or whatever."

There wasn't much else I could do, except wonder, and that I could do on my own time. I wandered back to the West Barracks for something to eat.

XI

AFTER MY MYSTERIOUS assignment supporting Domestic Affairs, I thought my probationary work there would be interesting, certainly more interesting than tracking down strayed four-year-olds.

Things didn't turn out that way. My first assignment was inventorying, because I was a strong diver.

Marsten was a plain Guard, gold four-pointed star, who had completed the minimum fifteen-year term necessary for personal privileges. You could leave the Guard anytime after your service time exceeded your training time, but you didn't get privileges until after fifteen years. Anyway, Marsten was sticking around for a while, even though he didn't have to, maybe just until some more trainees graduated.

He plunked down a list on the table in front of me. "This is what each regional office is supposed to have in equipment. Your job is to make sure it's all there and operating. If it isn't, you come back to Stores or our main duplicator downstairs, and draw it or duplicate it, and charge it to that office on the main records, and then cart it out there."

He plunked down another list, a shorter one, but still several pages long. "Here are the regional offices. Just start at the beginning, and work your way through. You should average a couple of offices a day, maybe more when you get to the smaller ones."

I picked up the list of offices. There must have been close to a hundred. I hesitated, then asked, "Why do we have so many offices? Most people can get anywhere on Query."

Marsten just sighed.

I waited for an answer, and finally he did.

"Sure, hotshot, they can. Do you want two hundred or four hundred citizens milling around in one place all the time? Can't you see what a mess that would be?"

I felt stupid, but I just hadn't seen it. Just because you can do something doesn't mean it's a good idea.

"Sorry."

So I took the lists and studied them. The inventory lists separated items by big stuff and little stuff. The big stuff was obvious—things like fusion power system, small duplicator, data lattice system (fourteen lattices). Some of the small items were clear enough, things like stunners and batteries, but others seemed odd.

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