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10

The atmosphere in the inflatable triple cabin was stuffy with the unusual number of bodies crowded inside, and heavy from the sense of uncertainty hanging over the expedition. After a strained night during which Banks was no doubt awaiting instructions, he had retaken possession of the two shacks left by Zorken and moved the Mule alongside them. The cluster formed its own small camp apart from the scientific expedition's, enclosed inside a perimeter of metal stakes linked by infrared beams to detect intruders. There could be no real argument, since the shacks were unquestionably Zorken's property. Hence, the expedition had seen no option but to concede and vacate them. The next challenge would probably be to contest their access to the Hole. Accordingly, in case worse should come to worst, Hamil had gone down there with Juanita to photograph and record the findings to date. In this, Kieran noted, Hamil had also removed the most fierily disposed member from the immediate scene while a chance remained of working something out diplomatically. To this latter end, Trevany and Jean had gone across to the Mule with the aim of establishing some grounds for reciprocal accommodation. Hamil's reasoning was that Trevany's standing as an investigator come specially from Earth might underline the importance of the finds. Harry Quong and Chas Ryan were outside, reinstalling the electrical and air recirculation equipment displaced from the shack in one of the two trailers. The rest of the expedition, doubtless reflecting the human tendency to group together in anxious times, had collected in the messroom of the inflatable-frame shack to await events. They were Kieran, Dennis, Rudi, Katrina, and the five site workers. The need for the services of the latter was effectively suspended for the time being.

"Harry told me once that Pierre was a good friend of you and Jean," Kieran said to Dennis. They were sitting a little apart from the rest, who were immersed in a discussion of legalities and land rights.

Dennis nodded. "Jean knows him from way back. They used to belong to some European student club."

"Apparently, you know something about the work Pierre's involved with in Lowell—some kind of nano-scale biological research."

"Self-assembling artificial molecular structures. Why?"

"Oh . . . I'm just curious about everything, I suppose. Harry said something about pieces coming together inside body cells. Is that where the self-assembling comes into it?"

"Right. The components are small enough to be taken in through ingestion or inhalation, and get transported into the body cells via the regular mechanism." Dennis paused with an inquiring look that asked if the concepts were familiar. Kieran nodded for him to go on. "There, they use the cells' metabolic machinery to assemble into protein synthesizers."

"You mean like artificial ribosomes?"

"Exactly. But the unique thing is, they can be directed remotely," Dennis said. Kieran looked puzzled. Dennis explained, "As to what proteins to synthesize. Part of the structure is actually a resonant molecular circuit that decodes externally applied electronic signals. So the kind of proteins that get made inside the cell can be programmed from the outside."

"That's a new one on me," Kieran said.

"Neat, eh?"

"So what would you use it for?"

Dennis made a tossing-away gesture. "They're not sure of all the possibilities yet. One might be remote-directing a regimen of medication. Instead of having to hope you've got all the right drugs with you for whatever problems you might run into, the instructions to make whatever you need can be transmitted from a diagnostic center far away. Think how useful that could be with people scattered around the Solar System getting themselves into all kinds of messes."

Kieran was intrigued, and sat back to see what other lines he could think of. But before he could come up with anything, Rudi turned and called across from the long table where the others were gathered. "Hey, Sir Knight, you tell us—how do things like this work here? If there's no overall authority to issue land titles, then Zorken can't actually own this site." He made a careless gesture with an open hand. "So they were here before us and sank a few shafts. What of it? That doesn't sound like much of a case to me. They went away and left it. You can't have people going around making claims on anywhere, just because they happen to have been there before."

"They filed a certificate stating that the area was being productively used," Kieran replied. "It's a bit loose, but the various forms of governing authorities and what-have-you around Mars generally recognize it."

"What did Banks mean when he told Hamil that Zorken would back his claim with force if need be?" Katrina asked. "Surely it can't work as a free-for-all?"

"You said you were looking at properties to buy recently," Rudi said to Kieran. "Okay, who controls those rights? If you pay a real estate agency for a place somewhere, who enforces your claim if somebody shows up one day and says it's theirs because they were there first?" He showed both hands. "It's ridiculous. That would be chaotic."

"Most of the time, people manage to muddle through," was all Kieran could say. It didn't sound very satisfying but there was no neat and tidy answer to give. "You have to be here for a while to get a feel of how it works. There's no easy way to explain it."

"But what about when being reasonable and understanding doesn't work?" Rudi persisted. "Do they bring in the paid security agencies that we hear about, and it turns into a private war? Is that what Banks was talking about? I came here as an archeologist, not to join somebody's infantry."

Lou, the black man on the work team, said, "There might have been a few scuffles and differences now and again. But there's never been any real attempt to stake out a big slice of territory by force. . . ." He glanced at his companions. "None that I've ever heard of, anyhow."

"That's only because there's a lot of empty space out there, yet," Zeke said. "When there's plenty of everything for everybody, that's when folks can get along. The bickering starts when something or other they all want gets in short supply. I seen it all before in other places. Either some kind of system has to come out of it all that can lay it down for everyone as to what's what, or else there's gonna be a lot of trouble one day before it straightens itself out."

"Took long enough to get a world system back on Earth," Shayne pointed out. "And even now it isn't as complete as they wanted it. They managed somehow for a long time before that, though."

"Right, and look at the amount of trouble they went through doing it, too," Zeke countered. Rudi looked at Kieran, as if for a verdict.

"That might not be the only way," Kieran said. "There are lots of experiments going on all around. I'd say to wait a bit longer and see what happens."

"That doesn't do a lot to help us in the meantime," Rudi observed. Kieran couldn't argue.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Katrina asked. "There isn't any kind of ultimate police or court system that we can appeal to. I think I agree with Rudi. It's ridiculous."

"Perhaps you wouldn't want to," Kieran cautioned. "Squatters' rights mightn't apply. You could find that Zorken has the better case."

"So are we supposed to organize some kind of credible counterthreat—raise our own army?" Rudi demanded derisively. "That's preposterous!"

"It doesn't strike me as Hamil's way in any case," Katrina said.

"And it might be a waste of time wondering about it," Kieran told them. "Why don't we wait first, and see what Walter and Jean have to say when they come back?" From his initial assessment of Banks, he didn't expect very much—but it had to be tried. And assuming that Banks would be acting under orders from his principals, the brief amount of research that Kieran had been able to do via the net didn't lead him to hold out much hope for any change of attitude from that direction either.

The headquarters of Zorken Consolidated's vastly spread operations was a large artificial structure called Asgard that cycled in an eccentric orbit between the Belt and a perihelion that precessed between Earth and Mars. Currently it was approaching and would cross the orbit of Mars quite closely within the next two weeks. Zorken had a predatory history of acquisitions and hostile mergers, and in the free economic conditions that reigned beyond Earth's region of influence, hadn't shrunk on several occasions from employing armed force in dealing with inconveniently active rivals. Once, they had invaded and permanently taken over an asteroid holding of a customer they deemed wayward on payments. Now, they had evidently set their sights on developing this location at Tharsis, and Kieran couldn't see them altering their policy out of goodwill towards a shoestring-funded scientific group whose work held no prospect of any benefit relevant to Zorken's interests.

"Well, I don't see that anyone can expect us to stick around if it's going to turn into some kind of range war," Shayne declared. "Our contracts didn't say nothing about anything like that."

Lou nodded uncomfortably. "I think I have to agree with that."

"Don't go getting yourselves all jumpy too hasty," Zeke told them. "That's just what they want. Things aren't gonna get like that anytime soon. Folks out here might like their independence, but they have a way of acting together real quick when someone starts getting too heavy-handed. These Zorken people might be mean, but they're smart enough to know that. It'll be talk and bluff for a long while." Kieran wasn't so sure he agreed, but any advice not to panic was good advice. He let it ride.

Nailikar, who was watching the c-com unit mounted on the wall at the end of the table, looked around suddenly. The screen was showing the view from an outside camera trained on the parked Mule a few hundred feet away. "They're coming out now," he announced. Conversation ceased as everyone moved to get a better view. Two suited figures were descending the Mule's access steps. Nailikar brought up a zoom window showing their heads and shoulders in close-up as they began walking back toward the expedition's camp. Trevany was not looking happy behind the visor of his helmet; Jean, about the same. "Base here, Walter, we're reading you," Nailikar said. "How'd it go?"

Trevany shook his head. A heavy sigh came over the audio. "We tried, guys. Offered to give them a tour. The upshot is they think it's quaint, but they're not interested—it's just a pile of old rocks. Their orders from head office are to wheel in some persuasion if we don't move. I don't know what we do now. I'm new here. Wait until Hamil and the others get back up from the Hole, I guess."

But even from where he was sitting, Kieran could read the dejection written across his face. This wasn't a situation that these people were equipped or experienced to handle, he could see. As Katrina had said, trying to match force with force wouldn't be Hamil's way; furthermore, a group such as this, divorced from Terran scientific orthodoxy, would have little recourse to institutions or political connections capable of initiating some defense from that quarter either.

It was a job, then, he decided, for the Knight.

 

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Framed