by Ashton, Hugh
“Kenneth-san.” Vishal was grinning widely. “Remember what Meema has her Ph.D. in?”
“I did get quite a good look at the board several times. I know what chips are being used. I honestly think I could put something similar together. Vishal knows all about how the code talks to the hardware and so it’s just a question of working backwards.” She smiled sweetly.
“And,” Vishal added, “even if we cannot be doing this entirely by ourselves, there are many people in Mumbai who can be helping us. I think there will be no problem with making money to pay these people.”
“So when are you coming to Mumbai, Kenneth-san?” Meema batted her eyelashes at him, and Sharpe burst out laughing.
“Let me think. It’s a big move.”
“Look,” said Mieko, “You two should be going through security and everything. The board’s changed.”
The four friends stood up.
“Bye, Meema.” He hugged her carefully, and they kissed each other on the cheek, bringing back memories he would sooner have forgotten.
“I won’t kiss you, Vishal.” But they hugged. There were tears in their eyes as Vishal and Meema picked up their bags and walked towards the security gates.
“Bye,” they called.
Sharpe and Mieko stood holding hands, and waving with their free hands until their friends were out of sight.
“So,” said Mieko, as they turned away and walked back to the airport station. “When are we going to Mumbai?”
“Soon, dear. Soon.” And he meant it.
-oOo-
Thank you for reading the book. Please feel free to contact me ([email protected]) with any comments and criticisms
Discover other titles by Hugh Ashton on Smashwords:
Keiko’s House (free)
Beneath Gray Skies (alternative history)
About the author
Hugh Ashton was born in the UK in 1956. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he worked in a variety of jobs, including security guard, publisher’s assistant, and running an independent record label, before coming to rest in the field of information technology, where he assisted perplexed users of computers and wrote explanations to guide them through the problems they encountered.
A long-standing interest in Japan led him to emigrate to that country in 1988, where he has remained ever since; writing instruction manuals for a variety of consumer products, assisting with IT-related projects at banks and financial institutions, and researching and writing industry reports on the Japanese and Asian financial industries. Some of these experiences form the background to At the Sharpe End.
