Continuance (28 page)

“Chrysalis has things
in hand. Besides, we were always going to get out eventually. This is probably
best –for you, for all of us. We’ve had too many close calls here for comfort. But
I wouldn’t dismiss the face value of Chariot so easily. Imagine what the
ability to neuromap live subjects would do for Chrysalis.” She glanced at the
clock on her photoscreen. “I’m coming up on a lunch appointment.”

“I’ll be out of
your way, then,” Jason said. “I’ve got a race to get ready for tonight, anyway.
Sorry things didn’t work out the way you hoped.”

She studied him
with considering eyes. “Why don’t you join me? I think you’ll find the company
interesting.”

Jason shot her a
suspicious glance. “You
are
going to try to talk me into something,
aren’t you?”

The M3 sat low
to the ground, and Jason had to help Dr. Fairchild her into her seat before
hopping in on the driver’s side. It felt strange to have her in the passenger
seat, but she’d explained her car was in for repairs, asking if he could drive.
She tapped her AP, sliding their lunch destination onto the HUD. When he saw
the address, he gave her a sharp look.

“This is
downtown,” he said. “The Library Tower.” Hermetica Corporation headquarters. The
same place he’d first come up with the imaging techniques that later laid the
groundwork for Chariot.

She nodded. “Add
these waypoints to the autonav route. It’ll tell us if we’re being followed.”

Jason hesitated,
but did as she asked. With a low rumble, the car slipped into traffic. “What’s
this all about?”

She panned her
gaze along the dash, eyeing the older-style autonav interface, the shifter
paddles on either side of the wheel. “It’s been a long time since I rode in a
gasoline-powered car. It has a certain feel to it that brings back memories.
You said you have a race tonight? This is what you drive?”

“Yes,” he said,
bewildered by the line of questioning. Apparently the professor would tell him
what he needed to know in her own time.

“Does it have an
audio link?” She retrieved her AP from her purse and tapped to initiate a
connection. “Do you mind? I thought you should hear this.”

Jason expected
music of some kind, maybe some older group she liked, but when the playback
started, he only heard voices. Voices he’d heard earlier that morning.

“…I think I know
how we can get it.”
That
was the spider, Grieves. He sounded excited.

Jason shot Dr.
Fairchild a questioning look. Rather than answer, she nodded toward the dash
that he should keep listening.

“He’s planning
to race.”
Jason
felt a chill as he realized Grieves was talking about him.
“Look here. He’s
a regular on one of the local amateur tracks. See these heat results? Consistent
wins in a car with inferior specs. It’s even gasoline powered. No way that’s
not perks.”

“Good idea, but
the margins are too tight. A couple of seconds at most.”
That gravelly
voice was unmistakable. Neal.

“He’s sandbagging,
then. Keeping things close enough to avoid suspicion.”

“Probably true, but
we can’t prove that.”
Neal sounded pleased, despite the words. “
Something
that iffy won’t fly under D-95, but we can still make this work. We just have
to make sure he gets a blowout win.”

“What? Are you
planning to go out there and cheer him on?”
Grieves asked.

“No need. I
don’t know how they missed him, but Central already has an undercover out there.
Get on the wire and let them know we need…”.

The playback
lasted a few more minutes while Neal and Grieves hammered some of the details. When
it finally cut off, Jason realized the car had left autonav. They were idling
in the transition zone just outside the Library Tower parking levels. Dazed, he
put the car on manual, found an empty spot near the front, and killed the
engine.

“I thought I got
out of there clean.” The weight in his chest felt like he’d swallowed a brick.

“Neal recognized
you and did some digging. Lucky for us, they decided to have their little talk
in our A/V room. When it comes to spiders, I’m a shameless eavesdropper.” Dr.
Fairchild opened her door and got out. “Come on. We can talk about it upstairs.”

A few minutes
later, Jason found himself with the professor on the seventy-second floor. He
looked around, amazed. They stood on a hilltop overlooking an outdoor vista near
sunset. A sprawling stone villa with a red tile roof rose from a promontory on
their right. On three sides, a vast vineyard covered the rolling slopes below –
row upon row of vines, all laden with clusters of purple grapes. Beyond, lakes
and small villages dotted the landscape. A fresh breeze shifted a strand of
Jason’s hair as he pivoted in a full circle. The vista extended behind as well,
a full panorama of Italian countryside.

The illusion was
stunning. He knew the space wasn’t nearly so large, the work of high-res
photoscreens, probably a sizeable network of the latest tech. All told, it
would have cost a fortune.

 A slim woman in
the black and white of a hostess smiled in welcome from behind a rustic wooden
podium. Overhead, a gazebo overhung with a canopy of lush grapevines made
dappled patterns of shade and sunlight on the granite tile floor.

“A live feed from
just outside Castellina in Chianti,” the hostess said. She offered Jason a pair
of black gloves and shoes that looked like loafers. “You’re just in time to
catch it. We’ll loop a daytime recording in after sunset there.” Jason slipped
the shoes and gloves on, recognizing the material – retroweave.

She turned to
the professor with a gracious smile. “Mr. Grieves is expecting you, Dr.
Fairchild. He’s in the villa solarium. I’ll be happy to escort you.”

“Thank you, but
that won’t be necessary. I know the way.”

“Of course.” The
hostess gave a gracious nod before returning to the photoscreen at the podium.

As they followed
a cobblestone path toward the villa, Jason felt hard pressed to remember a
stranger day in his life. Either one of them. “What’s this about? Why are we
meeting the DIA here?”

Dr. Fairchild
laughed. “Don’t be silly, Jason. This isn’t the same Grieves you had the
misfortune to deal with earlier.”

“Then who is
he?”

“Hermetica
Corporation’s chairman and CEO.” She lowered her voice, leaning close. “And
well-placed inside Chrysalis. He’s asked to meet you.”

Jason wanted to
ask more, but forced himself be patient. Whatever Dr. Fairchild and this Grieves
wanted, he’d know soon enough.

She waved an
encompassing hand at the countryside. “One of Darren’s pet hobbies. It’s one of
the most advanced interactive virtual spaces in the world.” She led him to the
foot of a wooden staircase that hugged the villa’s exterior wall. “Last time I
was here, this spot was a pagoda overlooking the Yangtze.”

Jason followed
her up, feeling a slight give in the stairs beneath his feet. “It’s an
interaction field,” he said. “Like the one we have in the Chariot imaging
chamber, strong enough to support weight.”

“Quite a few of
them, actually,” the professor said. “Even the new generators can only project
basic planes and angles, so each stair is an independently generated field.”

They emerged
onto a small terrace lined with round café tables covered with white
tablecloths. Of the pair of men sitting near the railing, the furthest drew
Jason’s eye right away. With wavy brown hair and an ivory-colored sport coat,
he might not have been Lindsay Grieves, but he might as well have been his
brother. The welcoming smile he offered showed perfect white teeth.

“I hope you
don’t mind Italian,” he said as they neared. He rose, greeting Dr. Fairchild
with a kiss on the cheek before offering a hand to Jason. “Darren Grieves.”

Before Jason
could ask about any relation to the spider, he felt his eyes widen in surprise.
This
man was Hermetica’s CEO? He couldn’t have been more than thirty. “You’re
one of the originals,” Jason blurted. “From before Moratorium.”

Grieves nodded.
“An advantage I wish you shared.” His handshake was solid, friendly. “I think
you already know my companion here.” Darren held an upturned palm toward the
other man at the table.

“I thought you
didn’t like meeting in person, old man,” Jason said.

“I don’t.” Alex’s
voice sounded strange, like listening to him over the phone. His movements had
a slight shimmer, and his features seemed smoothed over, lacking fine details.

“A photoscreen
projection,” Jason said. So the place wasn’t just a simulation, but an
integrated telepresence system too. Impressive. He and Dr. Fairchild took a
seat at the table. Their place by the veranda’s rail gave them a commanding
view of the countryside below.

“Told you he was
bright,” Alex said. “Moneybags here likes all the latest toys, so I’m
broadcasting live, from a location
not
near you.”

In the middle of
the table, a pair of red wine bottles flanked a trio of appetizer plates. Dr.
Fairchild added some bruschetta to the small plate in front of her, then
offered some to Jason.

“Are the spiders
still dogging your steps?” Darren asked Alex as he poured them glasses of wine.
“Rio’s a little outside their jurisdiction.”

“Not that I can
tell. But I wouldn’t put it past them to try.” Alex sounded distracted,
undoubtedly multitasking with something in his smartglasses. “So. The message
says you might have a job for me?”

“The Arkive encryption
keys,” Darren said. “Do you think you can crack them?”

Even through the
projected likeness, Jason saw wariness on Alex’s face. “So it’s a play for the lab
copy, then. We’ve been through this before, Grieves. Sure I can crack them,
given enough time, but Chariot’s network is completely cut off from the
outside. That’s the whole reason our kid Jason here decided to infiltrate and
work on site.”

Dr. Fairchild
leaned forward, eyeing the virtual Alex. “But if you had a local copy to work
with, you could do it.” It wasn’t a question.

“Let us worry
about getting it outside,” Darren said. “One of us will contact you with the
details when we do.”

“I assume these
details include payment?” Alex asked.

“Of course.”
Darren offered Alex a thin smile. “Enjoy the beach.” The projected Alex
disappeared, leaving Jason with Darren and Dr. Fairchild.

“Sometimes
working with Mr. Richman feels like haggling for photonics in Little Mumbai.” Darren
took a small bite of his caprese salad and turned to Jason, suddenly intent. “So
you heard the pow-wow between Agent Neal and my great grandson? With all the
stunts you and Richman have pulled, I’m surprised it took them this long to
lock in on you.”

In spite of the
hospitality Jason felt annoyed at the comment. “I’m not the one who hijacked a
multibillion dollar experiment.” So not brothers, then, but Darren and Lindsay
were
related. A piece of the puzzle fell in place. Darren was one of the first to be
continued, a free man since he pre-dated the Moratorium ban. That his grandson
should choose a career in the DIA couldn’t be coincidence. A falling out,
perhaps? Jason wondered if he suspected the elder Grieves’s ties to Chrysalis. “So
is that why you brought me here? To warn me to be careful?”

Darren took a
sip of wine, seeming unruffled by Jason’s prickly mood. “The time for that’s
come and gone, I’m afraid. The spiders have you targeted now. As mercenary as
Richman can be, you’re fortunate he was the one to plant all your background
records. Otherwise they’d have already found something to get you behind an
engram sensor. I’m sorry your friend Ivory wasn’t so lucky.” A trace of sadness
filled his eyes as they panned the rows of trellised grapevines below. “You
need to disappear, Jason.”

Disappear. A few
days ago, he’d been ready to. But he remembered how he felt when he made that eastbound
turn out of Anza Borrego – like the world was being ripped out from under him.
He didn’t want to feel that way again. What was the point of having a second
chance at life if you always had watch over your shoulder, ready to run? If you
had to sever the ties that made life…life?

Dr. Fairchild
took Jason’s silence as agreement. “We have a place for you on a project we’re
working on. Normally, we’d do the work through Hermetica, but Chariot taught us
the DIA would find a way to cause problems. So it’s a hidden facility,
self-contained with no SLIDes.” She placed a reassuring hand on his arm.
“You’ll be safe there.”

Intrigued, Jason
took a sip from his glass. “What’s the project?” A fine Chianti, the wine had a
long, smooth finish.

“Chariot 2.0,”
Darren said. “This one will use adaptive AI with accelerated scanning. And it’ll
be compact and transportable.” He could have been describing the latest AP on
the market. Either Hermetica had made a huge breakthrough or the man was
confident to a fault.