<OK, what have we got?>

<Monsieur Claude Gilbert, from Special Archives at Cybertronics.  These pictures were lifted off internal security at the Lille medical facility.>

<Ah!  The Gallic Gulag!  "The iron fist of treatment in the velvet glove of care."  I love that!  Sorry—you were saying?  Oh, right—Gilbert.  He's N’gawa's cleaner, right?>

<Yes.  The footage was taken for a photo op.  Apparently he had adopted a free range human girl with some kind of neurologic illness and had her admitted into la Clinique.>

<Very humane of him.  Are you sure he's a cleaner?>

<"Humane."  Interesting choice of words.  Analysis of records indicates that her initial condition was cleared up shortly after admittance, but that though well she was kept in cryostasis anyway for several weeks.>

<Ah.>

<Humane indeed.>

<Do we know why?>

<David related, but Gilbert's activities are outscope for us.>

<Peter and Paul.  Again.  As always.>

<Just as well for your continued health.>

<True.  Gilbert's a cowboy, right?>

<Somewhat.>

<Doesn't N’gawa have a history of recruiting…>

<I think you are under the impression that nobody is listening to us.>

.<N’gawa-wannabees.  Oh.  Yeah, I suppose.  I mean, I think N’gawa himself is extraordinary.  But his lieutenants, well, I mean, I guess it's a lot to live up to.  I mean he's been behind the sheet for years, for, for…>

<You don't know how long.>

<Of course not.>

<You aren't interested in knowing.>

<Quite true.>

<In fact, even the idea he might be torch side is just a guess.  He could easily be screen side.  The Cybertronics dalang might be someone completely different.>

< Not that I would care.>

<I realize that.>

<…>

<…>

<So:  they begin the revival process.>

<So who's the kid?  "Beverly Gilbert"  Is that her real name?  Wrong side of Claude's blanket?>

<…Clarify?>

<This kid was his?  Hence him keeping an eye out?>

<…checking…>

<Blood thicker than water and all that.>

<No.  Blood samples suggest no direct link.  Medical records consistent with Free Range lifestyle.>

<Ah.  Cleaning equipment, then?>

<Seems probable.>

<But if they let us see this at all, it must have some bearing on our Task 1, right?>

<You'll be told what you need to know, presumably.  Enough to manage me effectively, I'm sure.>

<Do I detect a note of sarcasm?>

<What's with the monkey?>

<Supertoy.  Came in with the girl.  Listed as her only personal effect beyond clothes on admittance.>

<Kind of beat-up.>

<Close-grain analysis.   …   '31 model.  They were still built to size then, without super-redundancy.  Auto-repair limited.  Had a sphere-upgradable personality, once, but no longer supported.  First rate toy, eleven years ago.  Junk shop now, of course.>

<Intimations of mortality getting to you again?>

<Just stating facts.>

 <Yes!  Thank you!  I am a charming, rich, AND a philanthropist of the first water!>

<Publicity photos?>

<Ladies and gentlemen of the press, surely I did no more than any rich businessman with a heart of gold would have done?>

<I would be interested in an audio file, should they get us one.  I would like to know who made the initial suggestion for the staged photos.  The child?  A doctor?>

<Or maybe it's like a buy-back program for cleaners:  for every 10 people you kill or hospitalize, you get one back ABSOLUTELY FREE!>

<You are suggesting that Gilbert is morally inferior to yourself?>

<I'm not a cleaner.>

<You would be if they asked you to.>

<I'm not really cut out for…>

<If word came down, you would pick up the gun.>

<You think so?>

<That's what I put in my report.>

<A report!  Why would you say that!>

<They asked me for an evaluation.  I gave it to them.>

<They asked you to….   Jesus.>

<You know, I haven't seen this file before this very instant, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this Photo Op was a Very Bad Idea.>

<That would be the trained human intuition of a master field agent?>

<Geez.  Keep up that snotty thing and you're going to lose a vote on Mann Act day, buddy.>

<I'll be liquidated if the Act passes, and you know it.>

<… Jesus.  You don't have to….  I mean, you must have thought about what you might…>

<Are you going to try and save me?  Knowing what the dalangs would do?>

<…>

<Then spare me your sympathy.>

<induced the cryochamber lid to slam shut and bolt in place with emergency over-rides.>

<Couldn't they just cut power with a voice command?>

<It was attempted at once.  However, in the interests of patient safety, each cryochamber has an emergency power supply that can cut in immediately, to make sure no patient thaws during an unexpected power outage.  These back-up systems kicked in and over-rode the voice off commands.>

<Nice.  And Monsieur Gilbert?>

<Cryostasis is of necessity a stepped procedure, which requires careful bloodwork and a very precisely monitored timecourse.  Unfortunately, the system jumped immediately to the final stage, in which forced active cooling drops the temperature approximately 175º C in a matter of minutes.  The phonon condensate process is usually used for the final plunge to 90K — >

<So Gilbert…?>

<He looks perfectly fine.  But without the prep, by the time they got the chamber open, some five minutes later, he was nothing more than a carefully formed pile of frozen mush.>

<Ick.  So what are we supposed to do about this mess?>

<Same as always.  Watch.  And wait.>