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won’t be over until the last of the dupes is dealt with and all their patterns are erased.”
    â€œHow do we do that?”
    â€œWe have to find the source. We know it wasn’t Wallace’s secret station. That was destroyed, but the dupes kept coming. There’s somewhere else, a cache we haven’t found yet. The Improved don’t know where it is and our dupe friend here says she doesn’t know either.”
    â€œAs if,” said Jesse.
    â€œIt’s possible—who can say where the patterns fabbers use are stored in the Air? Not me: you just ask and out they pop, although I’m sure someone knows, somewhere. Maybe it’s the same with the dupes.”
    â€œIf they hack into the network and get d-mat working again, we’ll really be in trouble. . . .”
    â€œOh yeah. We’ll be swamped. But while they keep coming we’ll know that cache exists, and there’s hope for everyone they killed, directly or indirectly.”
    While Jesse and Sargent talked, Clair concentrated on breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. She thought about Libby and Zep. Chances were their patterns were stored in the same place as the dupes. There was hope.
    Finally her hands steadied.
    â€œDo you think the PKs staged that little pantomime to see what you would do? Or what the dupe might say?”
    She ignored Devin’s bump and concentrated on breathing.
    â€œOkay, we are ready,” said PK Forest, shutting the door.
    Clair’s lenses went blank. She looked around, startled. She had thought they were waiting for a train or a truck or something, but Forest had said nothing about moving. Ready for what?
    Suddenly—
    chug
    â€”the room shook as though gripped by a powerful fist, there was a double thump like a massive mechanical heartbeat, and a wave of yellow light swept from one end of the room to the other—
    chug
    â€”and then everything was exactly as it had been, except somehow, even though her lenses were still dark, Clair knew that they had moved.
    The whole room must be a booth like Wallace’s office.
    D-mat wasn’t supposed to be working. But this hadn’t felt like d-mat. There had been no thinning of the air, no flash of white light or popping ears.
    There was another way of getting around that wasn’t d-mat .

[6]
----
    A RISING CLAMOR from everyone in the room indicated that she wasn’t the only one startled by this development.
    â€œAh,” said a high-pitched voice that wasn’t surprised at all. “The shadow road. I wondered.”
    She looked around. It was Devin who had spoken, aloud for the first time.
    â€œOneEarth has its own network,” PK Forest explained. “We call it Net One, but it is referred to as ‘the shadow road’ by conspiracy theorists.” Flick . The merest glance, acknowledging Devin. “For emergencies only, completely isolated from the main trunks and with its own independently serviced control software.”
    â€œSo you can be reasonably sure Wallace never touched it.” Devin nodded knowingly.
    â€œExactly,” said Sargent. “It’s not as extensive or as fast as anything VIA had, or as reliable, and it’s already running well above its usual carrying capacity, so don’t expect any miracles.”
    â€œâ€˜Needs must when the devil drives,’” Forest said. “This is the first stop of two, intended to throw off anyone who might be watching. We will be here for a minute or so until the next transit window opens. You will be reconnected to the Air at the other end, but all geographical data will be scrambled. The safe operation of Net One is something we are keeping secret for now. The barracks is in Crystal City, not far from the center of Washington, and sudden jumps in location would be a giveaway.”
    In Washington, Clair promised herself, she would renew her efforts to find Q. If she could help bring d-mat