Alex swore and glanced back to the media corner. They were handling the return of the Seine as the event of the century, bigger even than the war that had disrupted and dispersed the original Seine. Maybe they were right. The original pre-war version of the Seine had linked the System, but it was primitive compared with its quantum logic successor. And Alex needed every bit of computing power he could lay his hands on.

The media corner switched without warning from a shot of the worried computer engineer. Kate Lonaker’s face appeared, and the sound level changed. “Sorry to pull an override on you.” She grimaced out at Alex. “But Mrs. Ligon is on the line.”

“Shit. Will you tell her that I’m not—”

“No, I won’t. She knows that you’re here.”

“Tell her I’m working.”

“You’re always working. Come on, sweetheart, you can’t refuse to talk to your dear old mother.”

“But I’m right in the middle of running the model—”

“Right. And from the look on your face it’s going nowhere, so you can afford to take a break. Here she comes. Be nice to her.”

Kate vanished. In her place appeared a woman whose vitality and beauty seemed to burst out of the display. She smiled at Alex. “There you are.”

“Hello, Mother.”

“The young woman who put me through to you seems like a sweet little thing. Is she your assistant?”

“No, Mother.” Alex checked that they were on Record. He wanted to watch Kate’s expression when she learned that she was a sweet little thing. She would hate it. “Ms. Lonaker is my boss.”

“Boss?” Lena Ligon’s perfect face took on a startled look.

“Boss. I report to her.”

“But that’s ridiculous. No one in our family needs to report to anybody. Who is she?”