Moving along! Put a patch in.
We did end up finding one person who was maybe both involved in software piracy, and inconveniently still present on-planet. Or at least sort of present, because he was currently approaching the freezing point of oxygen. “Adam Sild?” said Nur. “That’s the guy who went space-happy, right?”
“Ayup,” I said, trying to decide whether or not I was upset about it. I didn’t want to throw anybody to the wolves; but if I had to, then somebody in cryo-freeze would do. Not even Rubicon could order us to thaw the bastard out. I couldn’t imagine Rubicon even wanting to. What were they going to do, wake him up to put him on trial? Besides, by the time they were done curing Adam there wouldn’t be any point to try him for anything he had done before. The personality reconstruction would be rehabilitation (or punishment) enough.
Maki agreed with me, when I called her and The Process in. “I hate saying it, but this solves two problems,” she said. “We give Adam to Rubicon, he brings him back to Earth for treatment, and then both of them are out of our hair.”
“Only theoretically, Miss Maki,” The Process pointed out. “All of you have speculated that Commander Rubicon’s avowed purpose here is a cover for his true mission. He will not welcome someone who accomplishes his public goals, but not his private ones.”
“So what? He’ll just come up with a new lie. Or maybe he’ll come clean?” Nur laughed at my derisive snort. “What? It could happen!”