The Thought Cathedral
Page 59
“Liu Wenzhong is my name,” Leonard said.
“Yes, Mr. Liu, please note that this device will provide full invisibility, even for an individual in motion. The device is, of course, easily adapted to work on other inanimate objects, as well.”
“What data do you have for sale?” Leonard asked.
“We have the full technical specifications for the device, as well as a full technical description of the manufacturing process. I will say, Mr. Liu, that we do not possess a hundred percent of the research documentation that led to the series of physics and engineering discoveries that preceded the manufacturing of the device. We currently have roughly forty percent of these documents. However, as I already said, we have the complete description of the manufacturing process, the recipe if you will, for how to make this invisibility cloak.”
“Is there a sample of the documents on the computer I can examine?”
“Yes, by all means. Just toggle the mouse and feel free to use the keyboard to click through the data. If you wish, you can use the headphones to hear a verbal description.”
Leonard stepped forward and toggled the mouse. Instantly, a technical document appeared on the screen. He flipped through a few of the pages with the mouse, noting the Brooklyn Capital logo of Galileo Galilei present at the top of each page. The pages looked identical to those he’d seen in the flash drive that Min had given him and that they had viewed in the CIA safe house in Beijing.
“I’m very impressed, Mr. Xie. The information I’m seeing in these documents appears to be legitimate. Before I go much further, I hope you don’t mind if I inquire as to the price.”
“All told, Mr. Liu, we have a total of approximately 115 gigabytes of data for sale. This is enough data to store a small library of information. Based on current market conditions and the high value for the data, we have set the price at 2.3 million dollars per gigabyte of data, for a total of $264.5 million if your group purchases the whole library.”
“Is this for an exclusive copy, Mr. Xie? Or, are you selling multiple copies?”
“Our intent is to sell multiple copies, Mr. Liu. There is very high demand for this information.”
Leonard inhaled through his teeth. “That is a very high price to pay. We would have expected to pay that much only for an exclusive copy.”
Mr. Xie shrugged. “This is the current market price.”
“Is there any room for negotiation?”
“No. Not at this time.”
“I’ll need to consult with my superiors. May I ask if it is possible to obtain a few of the documents for purposes of independent validation?”
“We expect to allow transfer of up to five percent of the documents prior to sale,” Mr. Xie said. “This sample should allow for proper validation.”
Leonard said, “Please excuse me while I consult with my superiors.”
On his way out, Leonard nodded at Al Ansari, who joined him back in the circular waiting area. They found that the guide was still standing there, seemingly waiting for the two of them to exit. Leonard asked for, and was given, directions to a secured land line where he could place a call.
Following the guide’s instructions, Leonard followed the main corridor a few meters further into the complex. Out of curiosity, he stopped into a couple of the other rooms to see what else was on sale. In the first, he found a Russian selling newly developed physics to be used in the process for manufacturing surveillance machines at the molecular scale. The second was a German woman selling advanced computer code that would allow for an artificially intelligent computer chip that could be embedded in people’s brains to help them to more quickly learn and retain certain skills, such as learning a foreign language. He assumed the information had been stolen, but he kept this to himself as he didn’t wish to end up spending the next few days in a Dubai prison cell, or worse.
A few short minutes later, Leonard had followed the guide’s instructions to a soundproof booth, where he dialed an international number. Since he could not assume that the line was secure, Leonard used coded messages to relay the terms of the sale to the male voice on the other end of the line. Since Leonard had discussed beforehand the price the CIA had been cleared to pay for the data, it was not a surprise to him that he was instructed not to buy. He reasoned that the FBI must’ve been having some success in tracking the documents that had been stolen from Brooklyn Capital.
Al Ansari, for some reason, seemed disappointed to learn that there would be no sale. Leonard accepted the old man’s offer for dinner, where he would visit for the next few nights before his return to Beijing. Here, he would listen to stories of his work in Dubai and throughout the Middle Eastern world. During the nights, however, he would dream of Min and Jiang Liu.
For many purposes, not the least of which was self-preservation, Leonard was constantly developing informal ways of working the government bureaucracy to meet his own ends. One of these purposes was to obtain updates on how his ex-agents were doing, whether they were still spying for the U.S. government or whether they had been placed in a government protection program. In a metaphorical sense, he imagined it analogous to navigating the terrain of a dark tunnel by throwing a penny ahead of himself so as to interpret the echoes. He was developing the ability to throw “pennies” into the informational nexus of the agency, listening to the echoes—the bits of information. He fervently hoped that those echoes would prove always to reveal that life had been kind to Min and Jiang Liu.
Also by Nathan Williams:
The Three Fifths Fugitive
American Grease (Prelude to Thought Cathedral)
If you would like more information about Brooklyn Ventures, please visit brooklynventures.net, so you can sign up for my mailing list.
About the Author
Nathan Williams has degrees in mathematics and business from the University of Nebraska. He enjoys swimming, travel, and reading. He resides in Omaha, Nebraska.