“Well, no.” Ellie stiffens and the words rush out of her. “But I, I’m not a—”
“Relax. Practically no one, not even verifiers, noticed. Or, honestly, could notice. Daniel is just being Daniel.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Daniel jumps up in protest, forgetting about the ceiling, flinching only at the very last moment.
The Chief Architect pays no attention to him, pushing on with her speech. Daniel sits back down.
“The maintainers who designed, verified, and built it did very careful, subtle work. Everyone who knew was involved and hiding it from me, excepting the tiny handful who weren’t involved and didn’t bother to tell me.” The Chief Architect gives Daniel a pointed glare before shifting her attention to Ellie. “I’m amazed they strung your mother along like that. It seems cruel.”
Ellie struggles to find anything to say. Declaring that even the slightest chance of saving Mom was worth the very real chance of wrecking this universe is awful. Declaring that Mom’s life was not worth the work to save is just as awful. How Ellie feels, though, lies somewhere in between and would take hours to explain. To her relief, the Chief Architect forges ahead without waiting for an answer.
“The point is, out of all the maintainers in the world, you are the one who has clearly put your money where your mouth is.”
“I don’t understand.” Ellie shakes her head.
“Maybe there is no cabal and what I demonstrated is simply abug, a disastrous one but unintentional. The idea of some cabal out to pervert physics for their own personal gain, however, is now absolutely plausible. We all say we’d never do anything of the sort, but some of us did and you put a stop to it. You dismantled the mechanism installed into the universe intended to heal your mother.”
“All I did is what any builder who knew about it would have.”
“If that were true, you’d still be on speaking terms with them.” The Chief Architect’s voice is warm and kind. “There may not be a plot to subvert the integrity of the universe. If there is, though, one person who I know can’t be involved in it is you.”
“Then why am I here?” Daniel looks vaguely offended either by the implication that he can’t be trusted or that he can. “Maybe I’m a deep mole trying to gull you into thinking the covert channel is really a side channel.”
“No, you are not a deep mole.” The Chief Architect’s eyes cannot roll back far enough. “You are the smart fool who thought it was a good idea to make Ellie confront the monstrosity forcing her mother into some state where she’s neither truly dead nor alive.”
“But it worked out.” Daniel spreads out his palms. “Ellie stabilized the universe.”
“Exactly.” The Chief Architect smiles. “Vera took you in when your parents kicked you out. Ellie might as well be your sister. What you did to her was unconscionable, as cruel as what they did to her mother. You care more about the stability of the universe than about your favorite relative. You are constitutionally incapable of working for that sort of cabal.”
Daniel pouts. Being petulant because someone has told him that he is incapable of something he doesn’t even want to do is so very on-brand for him.
“Fine, I’m not.” He folds his arms across his chest, which expands his upper torso into an overfilled parade balloon. “But, remember, I am capable of unconscionable things when necessary.”
“How are you older than me?” Ellie shoots a look at Daniel, wholets his arms fall but only under protest, before turning back to the Chief Architect. “Can’t Daniel do this by himself?”
The whiplash between those two questions catches Ellie right in the throat. The second question barely makes it out of her mouth before what a bad idea it is chokes her voice off. The Chief Architect snorts.
“Your cousin is known for many things, but a kind bedside manner is not one of them. And, as he says, he is capable of unconscionable things. I’d like for there to be some maintainers still alive after the investigation.”
She smirks long enough for Ellie to think she might be joking. Daniel opens his mouth then shuts it with a resigned sigh. The Chief Architect’s expression grows serious as she continues.
“Ellie, I noticed the empty ring of seats around you at the funeral. Not even your cousin here wanted to be seen with you.”
“Hey!” Daniel leans toward her. “I got caught in traffic, and I didn’t think Aunt Vera’s mourners wanted me to plow through them.”
“Fair enough. I apologize.” The Chief Architect holds up a hand to ward him off. “My point is, the maintainers angry at you might come around if you look into this. Certainly, you would havemygratitude.”
Daniel rumbles. It is low and soft, even by Daniel standards. Ellie doesn’t hear his voice as much as she feels it shiver through her body. If Ellie wasn’t sure that the Chief Architect’s gratitude meant something before, she is now. It means freezing Ellie out would have consequences. Ellie can’t hate that. Navigating Chris is hard enough. No one has the energy to navigate an entire community of Chrises.
“Has anyone actually used this exploit?” Ellie asks. “Besides us, I mean.”
“I don’t know.” The Chief Architect spreads her palms. “We found it by inspection.”
“This was found by inspection?” The words explode out of Daniel. “Really?”
Ellie jabs him in the ribs. Daniel gives her his patented “What?” face.
“After your mother’s death, I asked Jerry for an in-depth audit of the skunkworks. It would have been surprising if they didn’t find something.”
