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Show out he still had more work to do in order to grant access for ourselves up here in the Tartars. When we get access-seest thou?-we can begin indexing, categorizing, enumerating..." His voice trailed off and he pulled his curling beard with satisfaction. It was with difficulty that he brought himself back to the subject at hand when Belinda broke into his thoughts. "That first document is now coming out in hardcopy," she said, nodding her head toward the muted whirr of the printer across the room. "Well!" said Dr'Anya. The thing appeared to her historic eye to be an exact replica of the early colonists' Constitution-a bit more than two screensfull of cryptic bylaws, a sort of bill-of-rights and responsibilities-drawn up on the FirstSleeper by Isaac Needlesmith for the Two Hundred. "'Twas the very first set of laws keyed into the Governor," said Dr'Igor portentiously. "Thou seest, this Mole, he has dug his way back to the beginning! " "Aye, and s o . . . ? " asked Dr'Anya. Dr'Igor gave her a cunning look. "From the beginning, once we get access, we will work like moles ourselves to the end, whereupon we will have complete control of the Governor! And as soon as we gain control of the Governor..." He looked across the table at Belinda, "...we will dissolve the BauerNetwork." Belinda smiled again. "But how?" asked Dr'Anya and Janni both at once. Dissolve the BauerNetwork? That ball of worms, that Medusa, that indestructible spider's web that had held them all in thralldom from almost the very beginning of their worlde and from whom they hadn't even entertained the notion of ever escaping? 248 |