第20节

e and blue

star and bar Amtrak logo disappeared from the screen and was replaced

by the top half of a young, dark-haired woman sitting behind a metallic

silver desk with a mirror-like finish.

Chisum rose respectfully.

The woman leant towards him, put her forearms on the desk and laid her

hands one on top of the other.

'Good evening, John." Her low-pitched voice was firm and well

modulated.

'Good evening, Fran."

'Take a seat."

Chisum sat down and assumed the same position as his interlocutor,

hands crossed on the table in front of him.

Fran had a pale, oval face, a wide, firm-lipped mouth, and greyish

brown eyes. Her short straight hair, parted on the right, was brushed

in a sloping line across her forehead and swept back behind the ears.

She was dressed in a silver jump-suit - the official work uniform of

members of the First Family - with dark blue and white inserts that

denoted her rank. Chisum, who had been in contact with Fran for some

six months judged her to be about twenty-seven years old - it was hard

to tell with the Family. Even though her location could not be far

from where he now sat they had never met face to face, and since taking

up his present assignment he had only learned two things about his

Operational Director; her full name was Franklin Delano Jefferson, and

she was Steve Brickman's controller.

'How is 89027' 'Chipped, but not about to crack apart,' replied

Chisum.

'Has he communicated anything of interest regarding the period he spent

in captivity?"

'Nothing at all. There exists the possibility of a potential

relationship but, being a wingman, he is extremely self-reliant. I've

tried to get him to open up but he exhibits absolutely no need for any

significant degree of social interaction."

'It's true he does have an exceptionally well-integrated sense of

identity,' admitted Fran.

'I also have a strong impression the subject suspects I'm there to do

more than clean out test tubes."

'It would be surprising if he didn't,' replied Fran. 'He's sensitive,

like his kin-sister. He's also a little paranoid.

He suspects everybody. Did he ask about the result of the tests?"

'Yes. I replied as instructed. His reaction was very much as you

predicted. For a moment or two I thought he was going to come apart at

the seams. It was, uh - an interesting experience."

Fran nodded thoughtfully. 'After the exposure he's had it's not

surprising that some of the mind-blocks have worked loose. What do you

think, John - will the conditioning hold?"

Chisum chewed over his reply. 'I'm no expert but if you're prepared to

gamble on my intuition, I think the answer is "yes". On the other

hand, if it turns out I'm wrong, could he be reprogrammed?"

'Good question, John. It's something that's never been tried

before.

This segment of OVERLORD has been running for over fifty years but

we're still very much in uncharted waters. Any attempt to reprogramme

one of the current subjects may cause more problems than it will

solve." Fran ran her fingers through the hair on her forehead and

favoured Chisum with a warm smile. 'Anything else?"

'Yes,' said Chisum. 'Despite his very high degree of self-control, I

loosened some of the cement when I mentioned the name of his

kin-sister. This was definitely a genuine emotional response. It's

possible that the hard-soft-hard approach we decided to adopt is

beginning to pay off. On the other hand he may be harbouring some

feelings of guilt towards Roz - uh, I mean, 3801. I think we should

seriously consider putting the two of them nose to nose. In view of

the psychosomatic wounding she suffered when he crashed, I would expect

her to know that he is still alive anyway."

'And here at Grand Central..." added Fran.