by Pete Molina
Chapter 13
“So is she playing along, or isn’t she?” Damon Harding asked while striding across his office to look out the window from the penthouse.
Dawson was superimposed over his vision. He now appeared to be floating just outside the office window. The image of Dawson shrugged. “I can’t be sure. We kept tabs on them both the whole time, we have everything that they said on record, except for the time they spent in the Arlin Theoretical Physics Building. I couldn’t get access in time. Apparently there are umpteen million forms to be filled out if you don’t have a Newbie escort. They even had my companion confused. And to top it off they had a level one security fog field that my micro-bugs couldn’t penetrate. I don’t think the Newbies want any one to know what’s going on in there.”
“I wouldn’t worry about them. Nothing they’re doing in there is that important. It’s just a lot of useless theory from what I’ve been able to discern,” Damon commented dismissively. “The question is what did they discuss? I guess we’ll never know, but it seems that dinner is on at the crèche mates in five days. Then we’ll get some answers, regardless of the level of the security fog field, if there is one.”
Dawson nodded, catching his meaning, but clearly not comfortable about the methods they were using. “Yes, I’m sure the dinner will be illuminating.”
“Did you get the sense that Ms. Gates was cooperating from the rest of their discussion?” Damon inquired.
“Yes, she seems to be playing the part, but I didn’t ask her to meet with him at all; she could have just showed up at dinner.”
“She could have…but that wouldn’t have been her style, and perhaps it would have given her away later. I have found Ms. Gates to be thorough, she doesn’t give into others easily if ever. We shouldn’t forget that she has her own agenda and government to be loyal to, and that she was promised something by a man that may have an unlimited assembler. There are a great many things that I can imagine she would do almost anything for, some piece of technology for Mars, and that is what makes me doubt her intentions to help us.” He wasn’t looking at Dawson’s image any more but at the lights of the city as they began to come on with the setting sun.
“I don’t trust her either. But I think she can be manipulated into doing what we want,” Dawson said confidently.
“Don’t be too quick to think you can manipulate Terra Gates. A great many people have tried, myself included, and have failed. She will do what’s in her and the UMG’s best interest because they are one and the same.” Damon glanced back at Dawson with a little disdain for his attitude.
“Don’t worry, they won’t get far if they are with Storm 6.7, accessories after the fact,” Dawson remarked.
“I don’t really care about them, Agent Dawson. I want Storm. They are just the means.” There was a little menace in Damon’s voice now. He was beginning to think that perhaps Dawson wasn’t the right man for the job. It had seemed that recently he was becoming a little too opinionated.
“Of course, I didn’t mean that I don’t want Storm 6.7 or that he isn’t my top priority, but it’s my duty to bring them all down. I’ll let the little fish go to catch Storm if necessary, considering the threat he poses. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise,” Dawson said, realizing that he had pushed a little too far.
Damon smiled. “Good, I’m glad to see we have the same goals. How is 23.1 coming along?” He’d been spending so much time worrying about Storm and the investigation that he had neglected his other business interests for too long and while catching up had become a little out of touch as to the situation with the Storm backup.
“He’ll be totally restored in four days. I have him scheduled to speak with a shrink. We can use the time to calibrate the surveillance equipment and try to get a read as to his motivation. I think it would be helpful if we can build a psychological profile of him. It might help us in finding his counterpart.”
“Excellent suggestion, Agent Dawson. It will also fluster him. I want him brought here so I can meet him myself before we let him go. I’ll be able to tell a lot from a meeting that I won’t get from a psychological profile.”
“Okay, I’ll arrange it,” Dawson replied. “Is there anything else, Mr. Harding?”
“No, please proceed, Agent Dawson,” Damon said and the image of Dawson disappeared leaving only the New York skyline and a few of his other heads up displays that gave him constant status on issues that he had decided were important to monitor.
Things were proceeding well. As usual, Terra was in it for herself. Damon hadn’t expected any less of her; fortunately, her best interest coincided with his, finding Storm 6.7. He wondered how she’d take running into an old version of Storm. Her other version had obviously been involved some how, judging by her change in behavior starting eight years ago, right after the 263.3 Version had been backed up. Hughes he could understand, the sting of a brother’s betrayal would drive him anywhere in the solar system to confront his crèche mate. 23.1 however was another issue. Damon wasn’t sure how he would react to being restored and being so far out of date. It was possible that he would crack and be completely useless.
He was counting on the three of them to slip away from the clutches of Agent Dawson. Dawson was competent, but he had a lot of demons in his past that drove him. Losing the three of them would just make him that more likely to chase them and to do whatever it took. Damon had his own psychological profile of the four of them. Dawson’s suggestion to have 23.1 profiled was a good one. Damon was glad that he hadn’t had to order it himself.
He might even be able to use the profile to understand Storm 6.7, to see how bad the situation really was. Obviously things could go badly, but Damon was intrigued, and that was something that didn’t happen to him too often any more. Now that he controlled Second Chance and he didn’t have to worry about the technology getting out of control, he needed a new project. Storm might just provide him with the perfect opportunity.
And as for the Newbies and their elaborate security procedures at the theoretical physics building, that had Damon slightly concerned. They were up to something, but he didn’t know what despite his best attempts to find out. The children’s cities seemed like such a good idea at the time, he reflected. Maybe I should have just left things alone on that one; these Newbies are nothing but trouble. They want too much change, and no one wants a lot of change like the twentieth and twenty first centuries again. It was too much, too fast. Slowly, methodically, that’s how you get things done. There’s plenty of time, now, I’ve made sure of that.