Wiggin families. There weren't many-the more common spelling had an s at the end. "But I don't think this will help us," said Carlotta. "We don't want to meet him at home."
"Why not?"
"Because we don't know whether his parents are aware of what he's doing or not. Graff was pretty sure they don't know. If two foreigners come calling, they're going to start to wonder what their son is doing on the nets."
"Where, then?"
"He could be in secondary school. But given his intelligence, I'd bet on his being in college." She was accessing more information as she spoke. "Colleges colleges colleges. Lots of them in town. The biggest first, the better for him to disappear in..."
"Why would he need to disappear? Nobody knows who he is."
"But he doesn't want anyone to realize that he spends no time on his schoolwork. He has to look like an ordinary kid his age. He should be spending all his free time with friends. Or with girls. Or with friends looking for girls. Or with friends trying to distract themselves from the fact that they can't find any girls."
"For a nun, you seem to know a lot about this."
"I wasn't born a nun."
"But you were born a girl."
"And no one is a better observer of the folkways of the adolescent male than the adolescent female."
"What makes you think he doesn't do all those things?"
"Being Locke and Demosthenes is a fulltime job.
"So why do you think he's in college at all?"
"Because his parents would be upset if he stayed home all day, reading and writing email."
Bean wouldn't know about what might make parents upset. He'd only known his parents since the end of the war, and they'd never found anything serious to criticize about him. Or maybe they never felt like he was really theirs. They didn't criticize Nikolai much, either. But ... more than they did Bean. There simply hadn't been enough time together for them to feel as comfortable, as parental, with their new son Julian.
"I wonder how my parents are doing."
"If anything was wrong, we would have heard," said Carlotta.
"I know," said Bean. "That doesn't mean I can't wonder."
She didn't answer, just kept working her desk, bringing new pages into the display. "Here he is," she said. "A nonresident student. No address. Just email and a campus box."
"What about his class schedule?" asked Bean.
"They don't post that."
Bean laughed. "And that's supposed to be a problem?"
"No, Bean, you aren't going to crack their system. I can't think of a better way for you to attract attention than to trip some trap and get a mole to follow you home."
"I don't get followed by moles."
"You never see the ones that follow you."
"It's just a college, not some intelligence service."
"Sometimes people with the least that is worth stealing are the most concerned with giving the appearance of having great treasures hidden away."
"Is that from the Bible?"
"No, it's from observation."
"So what do we do?"
"Your voice is too young," said Sister Carlotta. "I'll work the phone."
She talked her way to the head registrar of the university. "He was a very nice boy to carry all my things after the wheel broke on my cart, and if these keys are his I want to get them back to him right away, before he worries.... No I will not drop them in the mail, how would that be 'right away'? Nor will I leave them with you, they might not be his, and then what would I do? If they are his keys, he will be very glad you told me where his classes are, and if they aren't his keys, then what harm will it cause? ... All right, I'll wait."
Sister Carlotta lay back on the bed. Bean laughed at her. "How did a nun get so good at lying?"
She held down the MUTE button. "It isn't lying to tell a bureaucrat whatever story it takes to get him to do his job properly."
"But if he does his job properly, he won't give you any information about Peter."
"If he does his job properly, he'll understand the purpose of the rules and therefore know when it is appropriate to make exceptions."
"People who understand the purpose of the rules don't become bureaucrats," said Bean. "That's something we learned really fast in Battle School."
"Exactly," said Carlotta. "So I have to tell him the story that will help him overcome his handicap." Abruptly she refocused her attention on the phone. "Oh, how very nice. Well, that's fine. I'll see him there."