The Eternal World

by Christopher Farnsworth

  “Exactly,” Simon said, as if David had just made his point for him. “That’s why Revita works on transcription errors,” Simon said. “Zero defects. Perfect cellular copies. That’s the key. Not telomeres.”

  “Your own research trials show that Revita doesn’t fix all the errors. It’s more like bleach in the laundry—you erase the stains, but most of the color, too. And that’s why you’re getting such a high incidence of brain tumors. You’ve wiped out one of the gene sequences that prevents cancerous cells from forming in nerve tissue.”

  “None of our other researchers have said that.”

  “Probably because they’re too scared. Like I said, I don’t work for you yet. I bet your next set of lawsuits comes from people developing spinal-cord cancer.”

  Simon gave David a cold look.

  Just when it seemed like this job might be interesting, David thought.

  Then Simon smiled. “You’re right. We’re getting some feedback from the FDA about that already. It’s probably going to be a class-action suit by Christmas.”

  Simon didn’t appear too worried. In fact, he looked pleased that David had just found a flaw in the company’s most lucrative product.

  “I think you’ve got to combine our transcription approach and your telomerase research to find the answer,” he said. “What if I told you—”

  He was about to continue when the bodyguards shifted from background scenery into sudden, violent movement.

  David saw a girl, dark-haired and dark-eyed, approach Simon’s table. She didn’t look that much different from the other random women who’d joined the entourage.

  But the bodyguards must have seen something they didn’t like.

  They formed a wall, blocking her out completely. The guard in the lead shoved her and sent her flying. He was six-four and easily 240 pounds; she was maybe 110 after a full meal. She landed hard on her ass and went skating backward on the dance floor. Another of the guards put his hand in his jacket as if he were going to take out a gun.

  David didn’t realize he was on his feet until he was right in front of the bodyguard. “Hey,” he shouted. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  The bodyguard raised his hand to knock David aside, but David was quicker than the man expected. He slipped under the guard’s arm and pushed him back.

  Another guard was on him in a second, wrapping him up and immobilizing him in a complicated armlock. It felt like being inside a very small steel cage.

  The guards had a clear sight of the girl again, who was still on the floor, stunned.

  There was a moment, strung out like a high wire. Impossible as it seemed, they looked ready to shoot her.

  David struggled. He saw the lead bodyguard look at Simon.

  Simon gave a quick shake of his head.

  And the tension evaporated. The bodyguards relaxed as the young woman hopped up and began screaming about a lawsuit. The guards released David, and Simon approached the girl. A few moments later, she stopped screaming and accepted a thick wad of cash and a drink from him.

  David was still buzzing with adrenaline. Simon’s friends didn’t say anything, just watched him. Then Simon returned from soothing the girl, who was smiling and giggling at whatever he’d said.

  They all looked at David, gauging his reaction.

  “What the hell was that?” David asked, his voice tight.

  Simon shrugged and looked at David. “It’s a curse to be so attractive, you know?”

  “You need a guy with a gun to protect you from a girl in a miniskirt?”

  “They got a little overzealous. It happens.” He turned to the lead bodyguard. “Mr. Perkins. Would you please apologize to Dr. Robinton?”

  The big man looked at David like a machine scanning a bar code. “Sorry,” he said flatly.

  “There,” Simon said. “All better?”

  David shook his head. “You’re that scared of random club girls?”

  Simon didn’t respond. The music thudded, heavy on the bass.

  Max broke the silence. “He’s that scared of being served with a paternity suit.”

  They laughed, but it seemed forced. Simon smiled and got David another drink. David calmed down after a few more sips. Then they went back to other topics. That was apparently all the explanation David was going to get.

  Maybe this happened all the time in Simon’s world. David decided he needed a break from all the fun. He made an excuse about going to the bathroom and looked for a way to get some fresh air.

  FORTUNATELY, THIS CLUB HAD a patio that was open to the sky and stars. David felt better once he got out of the noise inside. The patio was almost deserted, aside from a few people keeping to the shadows at the far edges. He found a comfortable cushioned seat. He leaned his head back and drew in a deep breath.

  “Tired of the high life already?”

  David’s eyes snapped open. She’d taken the chair opposite him, was watching him with a bemused smile on her face. He started to reply, and then found he didn’t have any idea what to say.

  He was looking at the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life.

  Her hair was dark and long, and her skin was a deep, burnished copper, the same shade that other women spent hours in the sun trying to achieve. Her eyes were dark, with flecks of gold reflecting back at him in the dim light.

  He’d heard the words “breathtaking” and “stunning” before, of course, and seen his share of beautiful young women at all the campuses where he’d studied and taught.

  But this was the first time he’d ever had his breath actually taken away. This was the first time he’d ever actually been stunned.

  She had to be accustomed to getting stares from men. (And women, too, probably.) She just let him gape at her for another moment, then laughed.

  Despite the fact that her laugh was just as distracting—her face lighting up with amusement, her perfect white teeth revealed in a brilliant smile—it was enough to snap him out of his stupor.

  “Ah, sorry,” he said, just managing not to stammer. “I was taking a quick break. I’m not used to this.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “I could tell. Don’t worry. Nobody’s as good at celebrating as Simon. I think it’s his true calling.”

  “Oh. Are you—I mean, you know Simon?”

  “Sure,” she said. She didn’t elaborate. David hadn’t seen her in the entourage earlier that night, and he would have noticed. Maybe she’d joined the party later, while he was doing body shots off Tiffani. He hoped, suddenly and fiercely, that she hadn’t seen that.

  And she didn’t strike him as one of the party girls. They were almost frantic in their desire to have a good time. The stranger sitting across from him radiated calm—even serenity—despite all the decadence and noise on all sides of them.

  The others were girls. She was a woman, even though she had to be the same age as he was.

  David realized he was staring at her again.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, though he wasn’t sure why he was apologizing. He offered his hand. “I’m David.”

  “I know,” she said. Her grip was warm and surprisingly strong. “You’re here to save Simon’s company. Solve all his problems. Change the whole world. Have I got that right?”

  David laughed. “I don’t know if I can live up to that.”

  “Simon thinks you will. He’s very impressed.”

  David shrugged, embarrassed and pleased to have someone bragging about him to her.

  Suddenly, the woman’s tone turned brisk and businesslike. “He’ll offer you a million to start.”

  “A million?”

  “Dollars,” she said. “It’s a big round number and he thinks you’ll be impressed by it. He knows you don’t come from money. You’ve got student loans and you’ve been living on grants and scholarships. He knows you’re smart, but h
e also knows you’re naive. He doesn’t believe you can use your intellect when it comes to money.”

  David’s feeling of pride evaporated. He hated it when people made assumptions about him because of his background. She was right—he’d never had much money, not since his father died. He could remember wearing clothes that had other kids’ names in them. It was still a sore spot.

  “Simon doesn’t think you’ll figure it out. That he needs you more than you need him. You can hold out for two.”

  David’s head spun again, and not from the drinks this time. “Two million dollars a year.”

  “Plus incentives. A car, a house, all that. Believe me, he’ll be happy to give them to you.”

  “How do you know this?”

  She smiled. “I’ve known Simon for a long time.”

  David felt a sudden, irrational stab of jealousy. He tried to tamp it down and think of something smarter, or at least charming, to say.

  But even with the alcohol fizzing in his blood, he felt like he’d missed a vital piece of the script. There had to be a reason this woman sat down and started talking to him about Conquest’s job offer. He just didn’t get that lucky.

  He decided, after a split second considering all his options, to ask the obvious—and most useful—question: “Who are you?”

  She smiled again and stood up. “See you around, David,” she said.

  Then she walked away without another word.

  David was about to go after her, but then Tiffani dumped herself onto his lap.

  “There you are,” she said, giggling happily. She kissed him hard on the mouth, blocking his vision.

  He pulled away, trying to get a glimpse of the other woman again.

  She was gone.

  CHAPTER 3

  THE NEXT MORNING—afternoon, actually—David shoved Tiffani’s legs off his body and rolled out of the hotel bed. She flipped over and resumed snoring. Her expensive dress was wrinkled and discarded on the floor like old wrapping paper. She’d thrown him down on the bed when they got back to the suite, then abruptly stood and ran for the bathroom, where she began an Olympian session of vomiting.

  David held her hair, then gave her some water and some privacy. At some point, he must have passed out on the bed, and she joined him whenever she was finished.

  David tried to shake off the dull throbbing behind his eyes and realized he was hungover. He knew one thing: you could sweat out a hangover. He immediately dropped to the floor and began doing push-ups.

  A few minutes and a hundred push-ups later, he went down onto the thick carpet, face-first. His sweat stung his eyes, and he stank like something left out in the sun too long.

  A night to remember, but probably not in the way Simon had intended. He hauled himself into the bathroom to clean up.

  David winced at the glare from the fixtures when he turned on the light. The bathroom alone was as big as his apartment back in Boston, done in marble and tile that had to be a thousand bucks per square foot. Like the rest of the suite, it was as if someone poured a thick layer of money over everything and then buffed it to a high shine. Simon had done some damage to the corporate account.

  Tiffani was still snoring when David got out of the shower. He couldn’t help being relieved. He’d never been that good at one-night stands. Still wasn’t, judging by the evidence.

  Suddenly, he remembered the woman. He felt a strange pang of regret. Maybe if he’d had more time with her . . .

  Someone knocked loudly, shaking David out of his haze. He wrapped himself in a robe and hurried to the door.

  It was Simon, with two paper cups of coffee, looking impossibly fresh and rested.

  “I got a mocha and a latte. Didn’t know which one you wanted.”

  David took one from Simon’s hand. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Good, because they’re both black coffee. I can’t stand that frothy garbage.” Simon walked past him without waiting for an invitation. “How was your night?”

  He looked into the bedroom, where the door was still open, and saw the wreckage of Tiffani there.

  “David. You animal.”

  “It’s not like that,” David said, unsure of why he cared what Simon thought. He crossed the room and closed the door.

  “You don’t have to explain to me. We’re both men of the world.”

  He stretched himself out on the couch. Behind him, the big picture window framed the blue of the sky and the ocean and the already brilliant sun. In the middle of it all was Simon, like he’d arranged it just to have something to pose against.

  “Sit down. Please,” Simon said. “Let’s get this over with, then we can get breakfast.”

  David sat, squinting into the glare from the window. He realized that Simon had not taken off his sunglasses. It now seemed like a smart idea.

  Simon swung his feet off the coffee table and leaned forward. Standard negotiating posture. Getting down to business.

  “Look,” he said. “I don’t like to dick around. You know what you’re worth. I know what you’re worth. Believe me when I say I’ve talked to everyone in the field. We’ve checked your references, your dissertation, your grade-school progress reports. There’s nobody else who can do what we need to do.”

  David took a sip of his coffee, hoping the caffeine would kick in fast. “What exactly is that, anyway, Simon? Nobody has ever mentioned any specifics.”

  “I can’t tell you everything. You know that. A single leak, our competitors would be all over us. They find out what we’re working on, it could cost billions. That’s right, with a B. That’s real money.”

  “So you expect me to take the job without knowing what I’ll do?”

  “Head of research on our most important project. Unlimited budget. You answer only to me, and I’m not going to tell you how to do your job. You’re a brilliant guy, David. I wouldn’t insult you with something that wasn’t worth your time.”

  “Unlimited budget?”

  Simon smiled. “Zeroed right in on the key words. Let me put it this way: if the amount is anything less than eight digits, don’t bother asking for approval. Just buy it.”

  “That’s a lot of money.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Seems like you’d be willing to spend a good amount in salary, then, too.”

  Simon’s smile only got wider. “Right, where are my manners? Of course we’d pay you appropriately. Million-dollar annual base salary. Company buys you a home, a car—and not a fucking Hyundai, I mean a car—that are yours to keep, from day one. One hundred percent pension, for life, vested fully after one year. Health package, annual bonus, plus performance incentives. And perks. You’ve already experienced some of them.”

  Simon gave a significant look at the closed bedroom door. David chose to ignore it.

  “A million a year?”

  “That’s right.”

  David decided to test just how well the mysterious woman knew Simon. “Two.”

  That slowed Simon down. “Beg your pardon?”

  “Two million annual salary. Double that if I reach mutually agreed benchmarks in the first three years. And twenty percent profit participation on anything you manage to sell out of my research.”

  Simon opened his mouth, then laughed. “That’s a pretty big chunk. What’s left for us?”

  “More than you’d get if I wasn’t there to make it happen.”

  Simon laughed again, as if he’d just put down a winning hand in poker. “Done,” he said.

  David was surprised. He had the distinct feeling he could have asked for more.

  Simon had his hand out, ready to shake on the deal.

  David hesitated.

  He had a healthy respect for his own intellect, but he wasn’t so arrogant as to believe he knew everything. One of the first things that propelled him on the path he’d taken
was a moment when he was a little boy, looking up at the sky. Trying to count the stars. He must have been three or four, on a family camping trip. And he couldn’t number them all. He got a good way across the big, dark bowl of the night sky before he’d lost his place. It was then he knew—on an instinctive level—that the world was much, much bigger than he could ever possibly understand.

  He resolved to understand it all. But he never forgot that there was so much he didn’t know. He would have to work hard. He’d have to learn.

  Right here, right now, Simon was presenting him with a deal he’d have to be an idiot not to take. And everything inside him said that there was more to this. Maybe too much more.

  He didn’t trust Simon, he realized in a flash. This had all been designed to shock and awe him, to overwhelm him with money and power. Even the woman last night. She’d been part of the manipulation. To set him off-balance. To keep him from thinking.

  David didn’t respond well to being played. They thought he was a puppet. It was time to yank himself free from the strings.

  David didn’t take Simon’s hand. Instead, he put the coffee down and said, simply, “No.”

  Simon laughed again, as if David was joking. Then he looked at David’s face. “No?”

  “No,” David said. “I don’t know what you’re doing. I’m pretty sure you don’t, either. So I’m not going to waste any more time on this. What I do could save lives. Millions of them. And yeah, you have a lot of money. But you haven’t the first clue how important this work is. I think you see it as a quick way to make more cash. When you don’t get the results you want immediately, you’ll get bored and move on. You don’t see anything here but a shiny toy, and you’ll throw it away eventually.”

  Simon’s smile shut down. The expression that passed over his baby-faced features made him appear, for just a moment, much older—and much colder.

  “I know a lot more than you think, David. About this field, about what’s at stake, and about you. You should reconsider. Believe me when I tell you: you and I should be on the same side.”

  David wasn’t impressed or intimidated easily. “And if we’re not?”

  “Then you’re walking away from everything you’ve ever wanted.”