by Toker, Dor
Moments later, the agents were all lying on the floor, tiny holes punctured in their foreheads. Adam had no time to waste on thoughts and fantasies. He turned around and began to climb the stairs leading to the CEO’s private room. Sato, like a loyal guard, followed him.
When they reached the door that led to the great CEO’s wing, Adam was surprised to see it was just a standard government office door. One wouldn’t expect the richest, most powerful man in the world to sit behind such a plain, undecorated door. Adam signaled to Sato, and the assassin placed his hand on the small wall-screen attached to the doorpost. The door slid open. He managed to take a small step forward when something hit him and pushed him back until he bumped against Sato. The sound of gunshots immediately followed.
Chapter 37
Adam fell back. He immediately rolled forward and stood up in a defensive position, placing Sato in front of him, between himself and the shooter. Luckily, the bullet hadn’t punctured his protective suit, but the thrust and force of the blow he had taken when he’d fallen squeezed the air out of his lungs and made it difficult for him to breathe. His chest was hurting, and his body sensors alerted him that he had two broken ribs. The nanoparticles in his body had already begun to heal the injury, and he focused on the immediate threat to his life. He examined the room, hiding behind Sato’s exposed back. Surprisingly enough, the office was smaller than you would expect the strongest man in the world to be. A single window decorated the wide wall of the oblong room, allowing little sunlight to penetrate. The electric lights were turned off, making it difficult to trace the source of the fire. Adam used his sensors and discovered that by the side of the window, in the dark and shadow-filled part of the room, there was a woman holding an old fashioned gun of the type that was popular four hundred years earlier, before laser firearms were developed. ‘Is this the woman at the head of the organization that has pursued me from the very beginning?’ he thought. The gun’s technical details appeared on his eye-screens: Smith & Wesson, capable of firing 9mm bullets at a low speed. He drew his laser gun, ordered Sato to advance toward the woman and walked behind him, careful not to get in the shooter’s line of fire. “Move,” the woman ordered Sato, and when he continued to approach her, she screamed, “Don’t come any closer!” Adam held onto Sato’s mind with his own, and the assassin did not stop. The woman fired at Sato without hesitation, and he collapsed at once. A red hole was opened in the bare and exposed part of his protective suit. Adam felt a strong pain in his head, as the nanoparticle sphere in Sato’s brain dissipated upon the enslaved warrior’s death. The remaining nanoparticles found their way back to Adam’s body. He shook his head, jumped aside and fired at the woman. She was almost able to evade the shot, but her gun hand was hit. The gun fell from her hand, and she groaned with pain. At the corner of his eye, Adam located movement at the back of the room. He instinctively rolled aside and fired a shot toward the source of the movement. A muffled shout of pain was heard, and Adam saw a figure dropping to the floor. Without losing a second, Adam jumped back again and fired at the woman who had killed Sato. The woman groaned as her leg was slashed by the thrust of the laser beam and then was silent. From where he was standing, Adam scanned the room once more with the aid of his eye-sensors. Other than the man he had shot, the room was devoid of any signs of life. ‘There were only two of them,’ he thought and got closer to the injured man to check his condition. The man, who was lying still in a pool of his own blood, was short and balding. He appeared to be in his sixties, but Adam knew he was probably much older. When the means to rejuvenate the body were first developed, the man was probably in the same chronological age of his current appearance. Adam assumed he was about twice that age. He sent a one of the balls of light the creator had given him toward the unconscious man. The ball disintegrated in the air into a fog of nanoparticles and covered the head of the injured man. The particles broadcast data into Adam’s brain about the condition of the man. It also provided identification information about the man who was closest to the title ‘ruler of the world’. His name, Ramon Ramirez, was not familiar to Adam and did not appear on the world-information-web. Furthermore, from the data he’d received about the man, a different image than the one Adam had expected to find began to form.
*
Somewhere in the beginning of the century, Ramon was a junior programmer in a medium sized venture capital fund. His responsibilities included serving as a supervisor for the space engines prediction team. One day, one of his subordinates, a young programmer named Marconti, presented him with a new probability engine he’d developed for the company. Ramon inspected the invention and saw an opportunity in it, although the engine was still not devoid of faults. He convinced the junior programmer that they should both work together on a more advanced version of the engine, free from the current bugs that disturbed its normal function. For almost two years, Ramon and Marconti secretly worked on the development of the probability engine. Ramon knew that unless their invention will remain secret it would be taken from them by the heads of the company, who would claim the two had developed the engine as part of their work for the company and on company computers.
Unlike Ramon, Marconti had many apprehensions. He was afraid to lose his job. Whenever he encountered difficulties in the development of the product, he wanted to give up and hand over the software to the company managers. Ramon would calm him down again and again, convincing him that they only needed more time to get over all the hurdles and obstacles. Only then, so Ramon had promised, will they introduce the full version of the probability prediction software they had developed to their managers and will be rewarded by praise and a promotion, as the software will be more advanced and elaborate than anything else in the market. Marconti didn’t know Ramon had other plans for the engine they’d developed, plans that did not include the company they were working for. Secretly, without Marconti’s knowledge, Ramon had located, with the aid of the software, available probability options and purchased them for himself in a special account he had opened under the name of Steven Skils. Because the software, in spite of its bugs, was precise and razor sharp with its analysis, Ramon quickly became a wealthy man. He learned to trust the software in every aspect of his life and finally asked it to analyze the sequence of events that will table place between himself, Marconti and the prediction company they were working for. For several months, Ramon had felt his partner was no longer contributing anything to the development of their invention. Ramon himself did most of the technical job, as he was more knowledgeable and skillful than Marconti in the area of processing and implementation. The young programmer’s paranoid fears were like a noose around Ramon’s neck, and he reached the conclusion that Marconti had become a nuisance. The software gave him uncomfortable answers, but he accepted them and acted upon them without hesitation. First of all, the prediction program had verified his inkling that without Marconti, the development process will speed up and the software will be ready to use within a few months; with Marconti, the process would continue for close to three years. He realized he needed to get rid of Marconti. The opportunity to solve the problem presented itself in the image of a new secretary, transferred from the mother company.
Rwanda was a forty-one year old woman who had thus far worked as the prediction company’s manager’s secretary. She was also his lover. When the manager’s wife had discovered the secret affair, she had conditioned her forgiveness with the immediate dismissal of his lover. For lack of any other choice, the manager had transferred her to Ramon’s department as the general secretary of the development branch. Almost by error, Rwanda, hurt and exhausted from her struggle for survival, had discovered the fact that Ramon and Marconti remained at work after regular office hours. She approached Marconti directly and asked him about the extra work they were doing. Marconti immediately broke down and confessed to the fact they were developing software that will compete with the company’s. Rwanda’s sharp wits spotted an opportunity, and she hurried to confront Ramon
with the information she’d received. Ramon realized he’d been caught. All his dreams and plans about the engine they’d developed were now under question. Rwanda, on the other hand, was just waiting for an opportunity to avenge herself on the manager who had thrown her out of his bed. She presented Ramon with a crucial question that bound together both their futures and would determine the future of humanity for the coming fifty years and so. Her question was, “What else needs to be done in order for the engine to reach its full potential?” Ramon jumped to explain that the software was already in a very advanced stage. It corrected itself and needed no further human interference. That was a very dangerous gamble as far as he was concerned, but he had seen the hunger in Rwanda’s eyes and thought he might take advantage of her desire for revenge in order to continue with fulfilling his own wishes. He offered her a partial partnership with the product they’d developed if she would aid him in getting rid of Marconti and find a way to get rid of the mother company. Rwanda gladly undertook the task. She saw to it that Marconti was transferred to a daughter-company in Africa. Ramon promised him he would continue to develop the software and would let him know as soon as the engine was fully operational. Regarding the mother company, Rwanda had a long-term plan in mind. She suggested that they wait and deal with it only when their probability prediction engine will be a hundred percent functional. Then they’ll be able to anonymously purchase patents before anyone else. Even then, the probability engine had given them an almost three-second advantage over competitors, an eternity in patent-option terms. Once the software is fully operational, they will be able to be minutes ahead of the competition. When they are large and strong enough, they’ll become major players in the industry, and will be able to easily free themselves from the mother company, legally, practically and physically. Then, in order to not to raise suspicion, they will both quit the company at different times, and establish their own legal company. Ramon, who was unfamiliar with the business aspect of the company, agreed with Rwanda and thus, the most successful partnership in human history was created. The company they created was called Skil, and it quickly took over the global business world. On their way to the top, the partners also annihilated the fortune company in which they’d begun their common way. The manager who had dumped Rwanda was disgracefully Dismissed and transferred to a junior position at the heart of the Ural Mountains.
Ramon preferred to seclude himself with the super-computer and the software he’d developed, to discover, purchase and get rich. He left the management of the business in Rwanda’s hands. From the very start, he was aware of the fact that Rwanda is a cold blooded manager, who was often cruel. He didn’t care, the main thing for him was that Rwanda allowed him the freedom to be with his computers and took care of all his needs, including the sexual ones. Rwanda ran the company with a firm hand but was compartmentalized on the precise forecasts of Ramon’s software. All her attempts to hack her way into the software’s database were blocked by Ramon, who had dedicated a major part of the software to the prediction of hacking attempts from within and without. Rwanda had no choice, so she gave up her attempts. They learned to hold one another and trust each other. Ramon would locate profitable business opportunities, and Rwanda would perform the takeovers using semi-legal means. She kept a highly skilled and loyal army of agents at her disposal at all times, an army that prevented anyone from threatening the exclusiveness of the corporation. From a small company, Skil had become a corporation, and from a corporation to THE Corporation, the strongest, most powerful force in the world. Their reign was under no threat, until one day, the software gave them the name of a single man. The probability that this particular man will endanger the corporation was exceptionally higher than that posed by all other regular threats. Rwanda turned to thwart this threat, as she’d thwarted other threats that had endangered the existence of the corporation they’d created. Only later did they discover the future importance of the youth that carried the name Adam First. This information only served to enhance their desire to capture him.
They’d thus far failed. The only failure they’d had during all their years in Skil.
Now, Rwanda, the one in charge of targeted killings, murders, and pursuits, was already neutralized and Ramon, the mind behind the corporate evil, was lying in front of Adam, bleeding and unconscious. ‘Let’s see you predict this,’ thought Adam and shook Ramon. He didn’t think the corporation manager’s foot injury was severe, and in order to continue with his plan, Ramon needed to be awake. He leaned Ramon against the wall and lightly slapped his cheeks until he opened his eyes.
“Do you know who I am?” asked Adam and Ramon nodded feebly. “You killed my parents,” Adam continued to talk in a cold, emotionless tone, “and you’re going to pay for it.” To Adam’s surprise, tears began to voicelessly run down Ramon’s face, staining his shirt. “You’ve chased me and killed my friends. Now’s the time for revenge.” Ramon’s crying intensified. “You’ve messed with the wrong guy,” Adam continued to recite.
“I know that now,” Ramon suddenly mumbled. Adam noticed that Ramon’s eyes turned time and again to look at something behind his back. He turned his gaze and saw a box lying on an office desk at the corner of the room. His attention was distracted as Natalia burst into the room, gun in hand.
“Are you all right?” she called to Adam and hurried to embrace him. He hugged her back and kissed her, his eyes still following Ramon. He detached himself from her, went to the table and lifted the box.
Ramon could hardly breathe. He gave Adam a panicked look. “Be careful with it,” he asked, almost commanding. Adam smiled coolly. He opened the box and discovered a simple, old fashioned looking computer. “Leave it alone,” whined the defeated Ramon, “it’s mine.”
“Not anymore,” Adam said coolly and signaled the surprised Natalia to be silent. This is not how she’d imagined the most powerful man in the world would act. He seemed weak and gray; she found it difficult to believe this was the man who took over the human race with equanimity and cruelty. She couldn’t help but wonder whether Adam was prepared for the fact his greatest enemy was actually a puny looking pathetic man. And how will Adam deal with him, now that the chase was over?
• Spots
• Yes, the Nagid
• Have you been looking for Ramon’s computer?
• Affirmative
• In my hands
• To neutralize it, you need to draw out the intelligence core on the instrument’s right-hand side
• Wait
Adam turned the old computer, and then took out the intelligence core. He examined it closely, fascinated by the infinitesimal activity teeming within the core’s diode. At the corner of her eyes, Natalia noticed a movement in the back of the office. She quickly took out her laser staff, just as Rwanda lunged at Adam. Natalia shot from the hip, without aiming, relying on instinct alone. Rwanda fell on Adam with a mighty scream, and they both remained lying on the office floor. Natalia jumped and pulled Rwanda off Adam. The women hold a small Injector in her hand. Natalia looked for external signs of injury and when she found none, assumed Rwanda had managed to insert some kind of poison through his protective suit. She hoped the poison antibodies in Adam’s body would manage to locate the poison and neutralize it. It was his only chance and Natalia felt panic overtaking her. She wasn’t ready to lose him. “You who watch over him,” she called aloud, “do something. Save him.” She didn’t know who exactly she was turning to but remembered Adam had called them ‘Spots’. “You have to help him; you have to!” She waited for a reaction, and when none came, she jumped to her feet and looked for a medical kit. She knew the chances of finding medical equipment in the room were close to zero, but the desire to save her loved one overcame logic. She opened drawers and slammed them shut, she looked inside closets and behind the furniture. Finally, she grabbed Ramon in a chokehold and called, “What did she inject him with?” Ramon stared at her, and his gaze was drawn to the core Adam was still holding in his ha
nd. “Answer me,” Natalia screamed at him, but Ramon continued to be silent. Natalia turned away from him with distaste and returned to Adam. She felt lost. Adam appeared lifeless, and she did not know how to save him. She leaned by his side and placed his head in her hands. Tears rolled down her eyes. She drew him closer, then felt a shiver pass through his body. She detached herself from him and examined his face. His eyes fluttered and opened a crack. “You’re alive,” she called out with a happy voice, “you’re alive,” Adam mumbled something unclear. She placed her ear next to his mouth and was able to hear him:
“The core.”
Natalia didn’t understand what he was talking about. She looked around her and managed to see Ramon slipping something into his suit’s pocket. She gently rested Adam’s head on the floor and jumped toward Ramon. He cried out and backed against the office wall when Natalia lifted him as if he was weightless and took out the glowing diode from his pocket. Then she let him go, and he curled up in the corner of the office.
“It’s mine,” wept Ramon, “give it back to me.” Natalia ignored him and hurried back to Adam. The tiny balls of light, the creator’s gift, were hovering around his head.
“Now smash the diode,” Adam instructed with a whisper. Natalia placed the core on the floor by Adam’s side and stepped on it forcefully. The glass diode shattered and a spray of inner nanos that had composed its intelligence core was emitted into the air. The light spheres jumped from Adam’s head into the glowing mist and absorbed the nanoparticles. Then they returned to Adam and entered his body. Adam closed his eyes again and lay still. Natalia waited impatiently to see how his body would react.