F-254-Lia: Secretariat Building, Private Dining Room
“Local Overcrat Zang is a competent bureaucrat, but she lacks both the emotional stability and the ambition to rise any higher than she already has.
“I dare say, were it not for the informal support she has within the Bureaucracy, she would have dropped back to her substantive position in Resources some time ago.
“As to whether I think there is a link? I don’t discount the possibility, but equally it could be a coincidence; you were there with Aston, Aston has links to all three.”
She nods and settles back in her chair, swirling her drink slightly in one hand.
“So. Markov-Wrikster then. In which case I should tell you that my interaction with him began when we were first introduced. He received a birth-cycle gift that I had…”
She pauses. She seems to be choosing her words.
“…an unguardedly positive reaction to. That reaction was noted.”
Another pause but this time she looks at him pointedly.
“I will leave you to draw your own conclusion from that.”