“And you aren’t? He used it to record anything important that he didn’t entrust to the network. It will have what we’re looking for. Trust me.”
Ruby glanced at her companion and noticed Candice was trembling.
“I miss him as well,” Ruby said and stared out across the sea, imagining that Nikoli would have been gutted to see the grief he’d left behind.
“Do you think Devan had Nikoli killed?” Candice asked.
“I don’t think so. Nikoli pissed him off, but enough for Devan to have him killed? No. That doesn't mean I don't think he's played a part in it somehow. You could always scan him,” Ruby suggested.
“Never going to happen. He has the best blockers available. Rumour has it he’s addicted to blocking stims.”
“What do you suggest?”
Candice didn’t reply. Ruby was about to press further when she heard the lift doors behind them swish open. Langer stepped out.
“Ladies. Getting the full tour, Ms Parry?” His voice dripped like treacle.
“Mr Langer,” Candice said, smiling in a perfunctory way that suggested there was little love lost between them. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Alas, no. I just came over to inform our new liaison officer that Mr Oster has requested a meeting.”
Ruby’s heart skipped a beat. “Really?” She glanced at Candice and saw a sparkle of fear in her eyes.
“Really,” he said smiling.
“Any idea what about?”
“I presume to talk about your work.”
“Oh. Right then. What time…”
“Now, Ms Parry. It’s now. I’m to take you to him.”
Ruby glanced at Candice who returned a look as if to say “I don’t know either.” Ruby squashed her nerves and smiled at Candice. “I’ll catch you later. Been nice to see a familiar face.”
“Sure thing. Anyway, congratulations on getting the job.”
“Thanks.”
Langer coughed and made no attempt to hide his impatience. Ruby grinned and followed, wondering how well her blocking patterns would hold up against Devan's security measures.
8:40 AM
Ruby hurried to keep up with Langer. They entered the lift and after a burst of acceleration; it slowed and opened its doors onto a large open space.
“I need to get some files,” he explained, gesturing that she should join him. “We’ve got a few minutes until he needs to see you.”
“I thought you said he wanted to see me now.”
“I wanted to make sure we weren’t late.”
It took Ruby a second to realise that the whole floor was actually all of Langer’s personal space. Glass walls discretely rose from the floor to partition the space into a series of smaller rooms, but before they became opaque, Ruby glimpsed a functionally furnished sleeping area complete with bed; a kitchen larger than Ruby’s own; and a large glass and metal dining table with room for a dozen people. Once the glass walls were up, the office space that Ruby was in, seemed nice enough, if a little bereft of decoration. The walls displayed random works of art, none of which Ruby recognised, and they floated along the walls, fading like ghosts. Langer stood by the window looking out onto the campus below.
“Don’t you ever just want to get some time away from here?” Ruby asked.
Langer tipped his head slightly, considering. “No, I don’t think I ever have. OsMiTech has been very good to me. I wouldn’t be comfortable anywhere else.”
“Seems like it might get a little lonely.”
“How can it be lonely? There are hundreds of people working and living here.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Ruby took a seat and tried to get comfortable on the hard leather. The furniture barely looked used. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
Langer paused and a thin smile appeared. “Of course.”
“How old were you when you were diagnosed?”
“You make it sound like a disease,” Langer returned his attention to the window and stood statuesque over the compound. “My talents have been with me for as long as I can remember. I was a boy, long before the Three Day War obviously. No one was talking back then about telepaths. Before the Registration Act, no one even knew how many telepaths we had in the country. But as a boy, with busy parents, I didn’t think much of it. I could just see things that my mum was thinking. My dad took longer to read, and although I got there eventually, I always found it easiest with Mum.
“One day after school, I must have been about eight, I remember walking home and suddenly she was there inside my head, crying. The sounds were so vocal and so primal that they resonated through my head. I had a dizzy spell and my friends had to stop me from walking out in front of a car, but when I came to, I ran back home screaming for my mum. She was huddled on the sofa, arms around her knees, sobbing. Grandma had died.
“Mum didn’t need to tell me what had happened, it was there all over her mind, as easy for me to see and understand as a book. Mum didn’t ask how I knew to come running home. She saw there was something special about me and that was enough. She said nothing to Dad and I didn’t volunteer. It was our bond. She taught me to stay quiet about it, knowing that nothing good would come of it should others find out.
“When the war came, I was an adult and had honed my abilities carefully over the years. When they talked about conscription, I considered reporting my abilities to the authorities, confident that my talents would be put to good use, but then as quickly as the war started, it was over. I had no need to do anything other than consider the life I’d narrowly avoided. A life of government service. I didn’t know how to feel about that but going back to my normal life after that felt a let-down; a wasted opportunity.”
Langer paused and took a bottle of water from a dispenser on the desk. “It may not suit everyone, and I know that some telepaths don’t believe that OsMiTech is there to help them. But a world where telepaths don’t have any central structure to come back to, is a pretty unpleasant place to live.”
“How long have you worked for Mr Oster?”
“Since the early days. I applied for a job within OsMiTech and he saw something in me that he thought could be useful to him.”
“No one knows much about him.”
“More’s been written about Devan Oster than most of the world leaders.”
“But most of what’s written is by people that haven’t even met him.”
“He’s a private man. He has to be to keep this facility running. Too many people would seek to damage him and what he stands for.”
“And what does he stand for?”
Langer uncapped his water bottle, took a swig, then replied, “Why, he stands for the truth.”
But before Ruby could press him any further, a beep emanated from the computer on Langer’s desk. Looking down at the display, Langer announced, “He’s ready to see you now.”
Ruby suddenly felt like a seal on the shore that’s identified the approaching shadow in the water.
“Are you coming with me?” she asked.
“I’m hardly going to let you in alone.”
Langer took Ruby back to the lift, and they travelled up, to the top of the building this time. She glanced at Langer and despite the cool, composed exterior, she caught a sense of her companion’s nerves. His hands were straight by his sides, rigid and inflexible. The man was so still it was barely natural.
Ruby’s throat was dry, and she wished she’d asked for a bottle of water from Langer’s office.
When the door opened, the first thing that struck Ruby was how cold the air was. A rash of goosebumps broke out on the back of her neck and she tried but failed to suppress a shiver. The room was darker than Langer’s office had been and despite the large floor to ceiling windows directly opposite her, it felt like walking into a cave. There was no sign of anyone waiting to greet them but Langer, so used to this, stepped into the space and paused beside the lift. Ruby followed suit.
“Is this his office?” Ruby whi
spered to Langer.
“Of course.”
Dark panels had been fixed to all the internal walls in this space. There were none of the glass partitions from Langer’s apartment; these walls looked like they were made of industrial materials and deliberately left unfinished. The floor had been fitted with dark oak floorboards with built in low-level lights.
“You’re late.” The voice came from the hidden person in the high-backed chair facing the windows.
“Mr Devan?” Ruby ventured.
The chair turned, Ruby idly wondered whether Devan had waited in that chair for the pair of them to arrive, just so he could make a dramatic reveal. Devan clicked his fingers and spotlights flicked on and shone onto the space in front of him. Yes, the man was clearly a showman.
“Ms Parry. Welcome. It's been a while.”
Devan moved away from his spotlights and walked towards Ruby. As he got closer, Ruby offered a hand, and after a tiny pause, Devan took it and gave it the most cursory shake.
“I have to say,” Ruby started, “I’m surprised you wanted to see me. I presumed you’d be busy with the InfiniteYou launch.”
“That’s all in hand. Come and sit, I’ll get you a drink.” Devan extended an arm to the side and Ruby aimed for the leather sofa he was indicating. Langer hung back. “Sir, if you don’t need me, I’ll be going.”
“Yes, yes, off you trot,” Devan said waving a hand dismissively.
The lift doors dinged open and Langer left, not bothering to say anything further to Ruby.
Devan went to a cupboard and pulled out some glasses and a bottle of whisky. “Drink?”
Ruby checked the time on her HALO.
“Sure, why not?”
“Ice?”
“Neat,” Ruby replied.
He raised an eyebrow, and a moment later, Ruby sat opposite Devan Oster with a crystal glass half full of vanilla tinged Scotch. Glasses were clinked.
Devan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I guess you didn’t imagine sharing a drink with me this time last week.”
Ruby sipped. “No. But I’m delighted you agreed to my working here. It’s an amazing place.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you like it. I’m only sorry that you’re here under such sad circumstances. Has there been any developments with Nikoli’s murder?”
“You heard about the remnant keeper?”
He tipped his head and smiled.
“Of course you have.” Ruby returned the smile but didn’t feel it. “I’ve heard nothing since he was attacked. I assume if the police have more information they’ll take it forward the best way possible.”
“It’s incredible, isn’t it? We’ve come so far with technology that we’re even having this conversation. I can’t understand why there are still people out there who are prepared to go to any lengths to protect their secrets. How many people have now died as a result of Nikoli’s death?”
Ruby sipped her drink. She didn’t feel like Devan actually wanted an answer. He seemed to be quite happy sounding out his own thoughts. In his office, with this lighting, there was something slightly malevolent about his appearance.
“You like it here,” she said eventually. “Inside OsMiTech. You don’t leave much.”
“No. I have a lot that requires my attention. It makes little sense for me to leave. But, I do miss meeting new people. It quickly gets tiresome seeing the same faces day in, day out.”
“So, why live like this then? Why choose to be a recluse if you want to get out and meet others?”
Devan didn’t answer at first. Ruby wondered whether she’d made a mistake in asking such a direct question of her host.
“How much do you know about me?”
The question caught Ruby off guard. “I know what your biographers say. Now, whether that’s what your actual story is—well, that’s another matter.”
“It’s mostly true. I left Sweden to get rich. To start my empire over here. But then I got sidetracked.”
“That’s an understatement. The government tried to have you shot.”
Devan laughed, a grin etched on his face.
“An exaggeration. The BEP weren’t happy with me, but they were just afraid of upsetting their idea of a political balance. Being a one party democracy leads those in charge to become paranoid.”
“It’s only paranoia when it’s not true,” Ruby countered.
“The New Earth Movement would have unsettled the status quo, but it had no real chance of unseating the government. It was the idea they didn’t like. The idea that an alternative could happen and that the people might want it.”
“But why do that here? Why leave Sweden to set up a political party?”
“It was never about the politics; always about the money. I wanted to sell you things, but the conditions the BEP had cultivated in this country made that difficult. I decided that ultimately if I wanted my products to sell, I needed to change the country—and I knew how to do it.”
“The New Earth Movement?”
“That was part of it, the beginning.”
Ruby had never expected this level of confidence being extended to her. The facts about Devan’s past had been trawled over many times before, but with Devan never officially endorsing any version as the truth, his motives weren’t explored. The candour with which Devan was sharing this history made Ruby uncomfortable.
OsMiTech had originally been set up as a technology company offering consumers the latest in gadgetry. The middle-classes had for years saturated their lives with gadgetry and diversions, and the lower-classes envied and sought to emulate them. What OsMiTech offered was more than just gadgets. They were the founders of biotech. A new technology that worked in synergy with the human body. Not technology you would just wear, but tech that would fuse with your body to enhance and improve the body.
Cybernetics.
A scary word to some and when the government shut that line of development down, OsMiTech continued to power ahead with other areas.
“You promised a lot, I’m not sure you ever quite delivered.”
Devan looked hurt. “The company got sidetracked. After the Three Day War, we had no choice but to refocus our designs and strategy. If we hadn’t shifted our focus, what would have happened to the rising number of telepaths across the country? What do you think the BEP would have done with so many uncontrolled people with such an ability? They wouldn’t have waited to see what would have happened. OsMiTech became a sanctuary for the telepathic community. I saved many people.”
“You’re too modest,” Ruby said wryly.
“How should I behave? They are the facts. Argue with them, don’t accept them. It matters nothing to me.” Devan flicked a stray hair away from his face. His eyes bored into Ruby’s. “That’s about as open as I’ve ever been with a stranger before. I hope you appreciate that.”
“I do. Thank you.”
“And I also trust you won’t be sharing that with others. It’s about trust, Ms Parry.”
And for a moment, she did feel like she could trust him.
“But I’m afraid that I’m going to have to ask you to stop conversing with Candice Hart.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m aware that you’ve been having conversations.” He elongated that last word, stretched it to breaking point.
“I met her at the InfiniteYou launch. I thought I’d say hello.”
“But you’ve met more than that.”
Ruby shifted in her chair. The whisky had warmed her and chilled her in equal measure. “With respect, I’m not sure what business that is of yours.”
“She’s an employee of mine.”
“Employee, not property.”
“In OsMiTech, there’s not much of a distinction. She’s been through a tough few weeks. I don’t want anyone to upset her.”
“I’m not upsetting her. I’m being a friend.” Ruby wondered if Devan even knew the meaning of the word.
“She was very close to Nikoli, I understand. I think
she would do better speaking to our own counsellors rather than seeking solace in someone she barely knows.”
“Why not let Candice be the judge of that?”
Devan picked up his glass and downed its contents. “You’re a guest here, Ms Parry. Don’t forget it. I allowed you in here because there’s a job to do and I felt some sympathy for you. What I don’t expect is for you to forget why you’re here. Don’t make me reconsider your position. There are a lot of people capable of filling your shoes right now.”
He stared at her. Ruby bit her lip, then quickly stopped, finding it was much harder to maintain her professional demeanour with a glass of whisky in her and the richest man in the country warning her off one of her leads.
“Ms Parry, you do understand don’t you?” When he smiled, his perfect white teeth shone behind his lips.
“Yes, I understand.” Ruby stood and put her own glass down on the table. “I should get back to it. Thanks for the drink.”
Devan smiled, and as Ruby turned and walked back towards the lift, it was all she could do to not break out into a run.
6:05 PM
The day proved to be long and without the number of interruptions she’d had in the first hour of her day. By the time her HALO told her it was six o’clock, she was exhausted. All day, she kept thinking that Devan would turn up in her office and demand she leave the building. He’d spooked her in a way he hadn’t managed to when they’d met that first time. Back then, he’d seemed this gentle avuncular figure. Now, though—
She shivered.
Ruby called up the files from that day’s inspections and dragged them to her datastack. She could do with catching up on work this evening. Give her a chance to look into her other lines of enquiry in the morning.
Had Langer overheard any of her conversation with Candice earlier? If he had, he’d unquestionably filled Devan in on it by now. Had she been spied upon the moment she’d stepped into OsMiTech? Warily, she looked around her office. Despite being sparsely decorated, there were any number of places a micro-camera could be hidden. It wasn’t inconceivable either for them to have placed one on her own person as she entered the building. She would have a good shower when she got home.
The Infinity Mainframe (Tombs Rising Book 3) Page 16
