This Day All Gods Die by Stephen R. Donaldson

brilliance in code design and programming. And UMCP training is apt for security. In that sense he was well qualified for his work.
    "Lest you think that we have committed some monumen-tal blunder in regard to his involvement, let me stress that he had no power to select or alter the specific code engines employed by Anodyne Systems. Those decisions were made by Anodyne Systems Security under our explicit supervision.
    From our perspective Captain Alt was merely a resource which the UMC had made available to Anodyne Systems Security.
    Therefore we had no reason to protest—
    or even to remark
    upon—
    his participation,
    "Yet the fact remains that he supplied a substantial portion of the source-code and design for the engines currently in use. His proposals were tested and validated, and ultimately accepted, by our own Security techs. They were, in Chief Mandich's terms, 'legit.' Thus he has proved his value as a resource.
    "Of course," Hashi remarked casually, "in order to make such a sensitive contribution to our own Security, as well as to the Council's, Captain Alt required a complete knowledge of every facet of those code engines, including those portions which he did not supply."
    Obliquely Hashi wondered whether Koina and Mandich caught the implications. Warden assuredly did.
    "What is the result?" the DA director asked rhetorically.
    "Through the intervention—
    direct or indirect—
    of the Dragon,
    a man whom we have court-martialed for 'dereliction of duty'
    has attained an intimate grasp on the most secret, as well as the most specialized, aspect of our procedures for self-protec-tion."
    Now that man was dead.
    His death in a state of drug-induced hypnosis suggested that he had not chosen his own end. Holt Fasner rarely inspired the loyalty for self-sacrifice.
    Before Warden could insist again that he "get to the point," Hashi pronounced, "Under the circumstances, we can be certain that Nathan Alt possessed both the skill and the knowledge to substitute his own physical id for Clay Imposs'
    credentials."
    The UMCP director appeared to study this assertion as if he had no essential interest in it; as if it changed nothing. But Chief Mandich reacted like a man who had been provoked beyond endurance.
    "How?" he demanded fiercely. "Tell me how. God damn it, Lebwohl, if you knew about this, why didn't you say something? We could have stopped him."
    Without glancing away from Hashi, Warden lifted a hand to warn the Security Chief that he went too far.
    Mandich bit down his protest.
    Into the space left by the Chief's silence, Koina placed a challenge of another kind.
    "This doesn't make any sense, Hashi. If he could do all that, why did he choose himself to be the kaze? Don't you think that's a rather bizarre way to commit suicide?"

    Warden continued watching the DA director stonily; remorselessly.
    Now Hashi deigned to answer the Chief. "There is no mystery here. If you were adept at the programming of SOD-CMOS chips, and if you held possession of both your id and mine, you would have no difficulty preparing a composite which blended my records with your physical data. In effect, the new id tag would identify you as me."
    He wished to show Warden that he could transcend Mandich's personal animosity. More than that, he wished to show that he was equal to Warden's game.
    Koina's questions would answer themselves.
    Warden planted his palms on the desktop in front of him
    --a gesture which usually indicated that he was out of patience.
    "Director Lebwohl, I'm sure everything you're telling us is true." His voice sounded guttural; angry and tense. "And it's all important. But I don't have time for a seminar. None of us do. I need a connection—
    a real one, not some tenuous,
    circumstantial theory based on the fact that Fane hired a man who doesn't like us to help design SOD-CMOS code engines."
    Hashi nodded to show that he understood. "May I again suggest," he countered, "that you allow the First Executive Assistant to