Mars Prime Read Free Page B

electronic hierarchy. This was a newer model than the one that Dietrich had destroyed during the Matrix Man fiasco, but she liked it less. "Val," as her previous computer had been known, had been a personality, a co-worker, and a friend.
    This computer, unnamed as yet, was too new to have an identity of its own. Still ... it was cooperative enough, and when Kim asked for a video analysis, the displays appeared a fraction of a second later.
    The displays were rectangular in shape and consisted of a light green grid, with a series of darker green lines zig-zagging across their surfaces. A single thought was sufficient to superimpose the two displays. They were almost identical. The audience would be unable to see a difference in quality as she cut back and forth between them.
    She gave her husband a once-over, searching for the messy hair, unzipped pocket, or other flaw that might detract from his appearance.
    Corvan was a big man, with brown hair, and a camera where his right eye should be. A camera that was wired directly to his brain and controlled by thought.
    Kim knew that superconducting wires acted as transducers between the chemical and electronic actions of Corvan's brain, sending signals to the tiny bio-chip video recorder implanted at the base of his skull, where they were stored or transmitted live to her receiver.
    His left eye was blue and, more than that, filled with intelligence. The kind of intelligence that likes to look under rocks, find the wriggly things that live there, and drag them kicking and screaming into the light. A characteristic that made her proud at times and angry at others. Kim felt there were enough problems in the world without uncovering more. Besides, there were other reporters out there. They could and should do their share.
    A metal guard rested on Corvan's left shoulder. It mounted a six-inch antenna, a flat place for the robo cam to land, and battery packs front and back to hold the guard in place and balance each other out.
    He wore a blue ship-suit with his name imprinted over the right-hand breast pocket, a utility belt, and a pair of the black high-top sneakers issued for shipboard use. He looked handsome in a rakish sort of way, and she liked that.
    Kim smiled, thankful that her thoughts had been directed inwards and were inaccessible to her husband. His ego was sufficiently large already.
    "Is everything okay?"
    Corvan's question brought her back to the situation at hand. The displays vanished as the wide shot zoomed forward to fill her inner vision. "That's a roger. Stand by while I check the bird."
    Thoughts flickered, electrons responded, and the Ultima delivered its response. "Comsat NN 2068 is in geosynchronous orbit over the United States. We have full redundancy via Comsat NN 2067. Both satellites report all systems green.''
    Kim didn't bother with the networks. Each and every one of them were taking the feed and waiting for the President to appear. All of them had requested permission to send their own man cams and all had been refused.
    Neither Fornos nor Jopp wanted a bunch of reporter-operators running all over the place interviewing sick colonists. The funding for subsequent missions would depend on the success of this one, and the brass wanted everything to look perfect. Never mind the air leaks, the hydroponics problems, or the mysterious booming noise that no one could figure out. Those were minor problems that would be handled soon. Or so they said. No, the mission must be flawless, or at least seem that way.
    And that's where Corvan came in. Due to the fact that Corvan had broken what came to be known as the Computer Coup story, and survived the resulting investigations, his credibility was legendary. If he said something viewers believed it, and the networks had no choice but to go along.
    It was of course why Jopp and Fornos had hired him, why Kim was on a space ship bound for Mars, and why the two of them had this story entirely to themselves.
    Kim sighed. It