Genius Squad Read Free Page B

Siggraph, you know? The mathematics of programming? They were talking about diffusion limited aggregations in the digitally simulated growth process.’
    As he rambled on, Sonja watched him, her brown eyes straining to keep him in focus as her neck tried to twist in the opposite direction. Finally her juddering hand found her Dynavox machine, which was propped on a mounting arm in front of her. One rigid finger jabbed at the screen, jerked away again, then returned to the screen once more.
    Slowly, the Dynavox began to talk in a flat, robotic voice.
    ‘ I-saw-Siggraph ,’ it said. ‘ Your-friends-came-too? ’
    ‘Today? Oh, yes.’ Cadel nodded. ‘They’re outside now. Four of them.’
    ‘ Would-they-like-tea ?’
    Cadel grinned. ‘That would be funny,’ he said. ‘Or we could ask them if they want to use the toilet. I’m always wondering what they do about going to the toilet. Maybe that’s why they’re so crabby. Because they’re busting to go.’
    Sonja abruptly changed the subject. It occurred to Cadel that going to the toilet wasn’t easy for her, either; he could have kicked himself.
    ‘ Any-news-from-Mel? ’ she asked, and he sighed. Mel Hofmeier, his lawyer, did unpaid work for the National Children’s Law Centre. News from Mel usually reached Cadel through Fiona Currey.
    ‘Nothing much,’ he replied. ‘I’m still on a Temporary Protection Visa. The Immigration Minister is still my guardian, and the Department of Community Services is still my custodian.’
    ‘ No-orphan-pension-yet? ’
    ‘God, no.’ Fiona had been exploring the possibility of an orphan pension for Cadel, to top up his special benefit. But since his parents were still unidentified, it couldn’t be proven that they were dead. ‘If Phineas Darkkon was my father, then I might have a chance,’ he explained. ‘If Prosper’s my father – well, he’s not dead yet, is he?’ Cadel suddenly remembered something. ‘Oh!’ he added. ‘And it turns out that Darkkon was definitely cremated. So unless they can find some preserved tissue somewhere, they can’t do a paternity test on him .’
    ‘ But if-he-had-cancer- ’
    ‘Yeah, I know. They took out a tumour. And maybe some healthy tissue, as well.’ (This too had been considered.) ‘Why should anyone have kept it, though? Yuk.’
    ‘ What-about – ’ the Dynavox began, then stopped. Sonja’s arm lurched sideways, skittering off the glassy surface of the screen. It wasn’t a voluntary action.
    Cadel’s own fingers closed gently around her claw-like hand. He returned it to the Dynavox and held it there for a moment.
    He knew why she was agitated. Any mention of Prosper tended to trouble them both. And she didn’t want to upset him.
    ‘You mean – what about Prosper?’ he asked. She nodded (a single jerk of the head), and her tongue rolled around behind her teeth.
    ‘No word from Prosper,’ he said. ‘Things are looking pretty good for him, so why should he admit to anything?’ For perhaps the hundredth time, Cadel pondered the State’s case against Prosper English. It still looked shaky. The police were determined to prove that Prosper had been Phineas Darkkon’s right-hand man, largely responsible for running the Darkkon criminal empire. They were searching for proof that the Axis Institute (one of Prosper’s many responsibilities) had been a University of Evil, designed to train criminals rather than help bright young people in need of emotional support – as Prosper claimed.
    But much of the Axis Institute had been blown up. Its records had been hastily destroyed. If its staff hadn’t died or disappeared, they had lost their minds, or escaped from custody. Moreover, hardly any of the students had been identified, since most had been enrolled under assumed names. And the ones who hadn’t been killed were now laying low.
    Except for Cadel, of course.
    ‘I’m still the only student who’s come forward to testify about the Axis Institute,’ Cadel