pointed out. There were the rest of her clothes from the Diplo trip and all the other personal gear she’d taken along. Everything seemed to be freshly cleaned, but otherwise untouched.

FedCentral. The man had said she was on FedCentral. She’d never been there and knew nothing of it except for the standard media shots of the Council sessions. Who had secure medical facilities on FedCentral? Fleet? But if she was in Fleet’s hands, surely Sassinak could identify her and get her out of here? Unless something had happened to Sassinak . . . and she didn’t even want to think about that possibility.

Instead she tried to add up the elapsed time since she’d left the Zaid-Dayan. It must be very close to Tanegti’s trial date when she would be called to give evidence. Unless, of course, she was still cooped up here. Was that what someone wanted? Had that been Zebara’s plan all along? She rooted through her personal gear, looking for anything that might be the proof Zebara had promised her of the Diplo end of die conspiracy, but found nothing. Her clothes were all there and the one or two pieces of jewelry she had taken to Diplo.

Her little computer held only its software. Nothing stored in files with mysterious names and nothing new in the files she’d initiated. No mysterious lumps in her clothing, nothing tucked into a pocket of her dufiel. Even the clutter was still there. She wondered why no one had tossed out the copy of the program from Bitter Destinies or the baggage claim receipt from Diplo or the ragged scrap on which she’d jotted the room number on Liaka where the medical team would assemble. An advertising card from a dress shop she’d never had time to visit. She couldn’t even remember if that was from before Ireta or after. Another torn scrap of paper with the numbers of the cases that needed to be re-entered on cubes, the ones Bias had thrown that fit about. But nothing resembling Zebara’s promised evidence. Finally, frustrated, she threw herself into the softly padded chair and glared at the door. With suspicious quickness, it opened.