“I left the iron on. You’re hanging out back here with the vultures now, Ms. Park? That’s a big step down for you.”
“I go where the story is.”
“Come now, Ji-eun. You of all people should know you can’t believe everything you read.” Tyson pushed a tabloid reporter out of the way with a dismissive shove, then helped Elsa inside the waiting car before stooping to enter himself.
“Immortal Tower. Emergency limiter suspension,” he said. The pod took off like a spurned quarter horse, pushing them both back into their seats.
“Holy shit,” Elsa said. “I didn’t know they went this fast.”
“They can go two hundred kph, but it has a bad habit of turning pedestrians into pudding.”
With all the lights and crosswalks on their route between the auditorium and the tower locked to red, and the pod pushing its maximum speed, the trip was a short one. But not short enough to escape the board.
Nakamura buzzed in first as his hologram appeared inside the windshield glass of the pod.
“We need to talk.”
“Not now, Takeshi.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, does another time work better for you, Tyson?”
The rest of the board buzzed in one by one until, ready or not, they were having a full-blown meeting.
“I’m not alone in here.” Tyson nodded in Elsa’s direction. “It’s not secure.”
“What the hell is secure at this point, Tyson?” Durant chirped back. “All of our most damaging secrets of the last two weeks have already been blasted across the net like a celebrity sex holo.”
“This really can’t wait, Tyson,” Meadows said calmly, but firmly. “Myself and I think the rest of the board are comfortable with Dr. Spaulding sitting in as long as she signs an NDA. Is that all right with you, Doctor?”
“I mean, sure?”
“Like it matters,” Nakamura muttered. “It’s just going to be pillow talk for them anyway.”
“Waaay out of line, Takeshi,” Tyson snapped. “If we’re bringing this trash fire to order, you’re starting with an apology to the good doctor.”
Nakamura straightened in his chair. “Yes, you’re right. I am sorry for questioning your professionalism, Dr. Spaulding. You’ve worked diligently these last weeks to see the company through this crisis and the board applauds your efforts. I spoke out of turn merely from frustration.”
“I accept your apology,” Elsa said coolly.
“Good,” Durant said. “Now that’s out of the way, can we get down to what the fuck just happened?”
“Obviously our spy got the better of our IT security again and decided to spread a little mayhem,” Tyson said.
“Spy? Or an internal leaker?”
“Our investigation has not uncovered any—”
“Your investigation, Tyson,” Nakamura cut him off. “And in a month, your investigation has only uncovered half a dead girl.”
“I assure you, no one has greater motivation to unravel this mystery than I.”
“It’s not your motivation we’re questioning, Tyson. It’s your competency.”
Tyson’s face went hard as marble. “I beg your pardon?”
“What Takeshi is saying in his indelicate fashion,” Meadows injected diplomatically, “is the rest of the board believes these overlapping crises are too big for any one of us to tackle in a vacuum. You’re taking on too much, Tyson. Let us help.”
“And none of your typical micromanaging,” Durant added. “We need full access to your sources and methods for once. No more of this off-the-books shit. Leave that to Navy Intel, their black budget eats up enough of our profit margins as is.”
“Our stakeholders expect results,” Nakamura said. “All they’ve seen for the last month is a transtellar freefalling toward a singularity.”
“Most of the damage that’s been done is because things we preferred kept in the shadows were dragged into the light before we were ready. If we start airing all our dirty laundry ourselves, it’ll not only exacerbate the problem, but signal to whoever’s behind the espionage that their plans are paying dividends.”
“I agree,” Meadows began, “with Takeshi. No matter what’s been happening behind the scenes, publicly we’re coming off as entirely reactive. Our stakeholders need to believe we’re getting out ahead of these issues forcefully and with a plan. I’m sorry, Tyson. You can put it to a formal vote if you want, but the rest of us have already spoken about this privately and we’re in unanimous agreement.”
“Tell him the rest, Foz,” Durant said.
“And…” Meadows hesitated. “And if things don’t turn around soon, we may have to entertain merger offers. At least on a preliminary basis.”
Tyson went completely rigid, as if he’d been kicked in the stomach by a wild horse. It took him a full three seconds to return to himself and respond. “You would abandon two centuries of this company’s bedrock independence over a hiccup!”
“This isn’t a hiccup, Tyson,” Nakamura said. “The union bigwigs are already making rumblings about a general strike. The fuse is already burning. Unless you want to be the CEO of a cinder, we need to act fast and decisively.”
So it had come down to this. Conspired against from the outside by his enemies, and from the inside by his own board. Tyson couldn’t believe he’d been so completely outmaneuvered. What had Sokolov’s message said? Not everyone on his board had his best interests in mind?
One of them was part of this. Only someone in his very innermost circle had the access necessary to leak what had escaped. But which one? The answer would have to wait. For now, he had to play along, lest the traitor begin to suspect their cover was blown. As the pod slowed on its approach to the Immortal Tower, he made his next move.
“Then decisively we will act, as one. The vote is unanimous. Send a proposal to Paris. I’m ready to provide the rest of you with whatever you feel you need to see us through these rough seas.”
Two minutes later, they were in Tyson’s penthouse office.
“Privacy mode,” he shouted at the ceiling. The clear aluminum glass went opaque as quickly as the electricity passed through it, cutting off what little of the setting sun’s light remained.
Paris walked up to them from a corner in her new physical body, a sight Tyson
