An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) (42 page)

“Don’t worry about me
.
I can work the long hours
.
I want to win
,
and
now that
we can finally see some successes
,
I’m just a little eager
.”
His outburst drained what little color remained in his face
.

“Linc, let this one go
.
What is this, your ninth mission in seven days
?
I’ll pick up someone else for this one
.
Christine
’s been itching
to do something
,
seeing
as
we’ve
all but nixed her
specialty
from further field operations
.”

“Well, I
must admit I’m
not feeling very well.”

“You don’t say
?
OK
, s
orry for the sarcasm, but I really think you should call it a day
.
You don’t look so good.”

“You sure you can do it without me?”

“Yeah
.
Walk in the park compared to the risks we were taking when
I
first started this show.”

“Well,
OK
.
Thanks, Tony
.
I’m going to go lay down.”

* * *
 

Nine miniature solidos once again sat on the matte black surface of
Nanogate’s
desk
.

“We’ve heard enough of your complaints
.
These impromptu meetings are dangerous and costly
.”
Several others nodded.

“We did agree to meet
more often
.
We’re meeting remotely only in deference to
Tokyo Industrials
and
Unified Textiles
,
who could not alter their travel schedules.”

“
Yes, quite right
.
Taste Dynamics
,
please
refrain from changing the topic
.
We shall now continue
,
with
Nanogate
having the floor
.”

“I’ve brought this to your attention previously, but now things are becoming perilous
.
All of those companies in my linked directorate have fallen under attack
.
Sixty separate incidents over two weeks
.
Our cash reserves are dangerously low
.
If it continues it may force us to close our doors…all of them.”

“Your poor foresight is not our concern
.
Why are you whining whe
n—
”

“Gentlemen,”
CNI
interrupted
,
“There is a perfectly simple solution to everyone’s troubles
.
This effort was supposed to be a shared risk to us all
.
As
it’s
been directly affecting only one of us, I suggest we all provide unsecured loans to weather these issues
.”
Most of the quorum nodded
.

“Passed by accl
a
mation.”

“A practical solution,” offered Wintel, one of the more conservative of their group
.
“This will get you past the worst of it
.
If
you’ll
refer to our simulations
,
you’ll
see the weapons should begin to be felt any time now
.
We’ll
see an easing of this area steadily for the next three weeks.”

“I don’t believe this body really understands the gravity of the situation
.
Two more weeks of this will cause a significant portion of our directorate to declare insolvency
.
Three weeks would completely destabilize not only my administration but also the corporate fold I control
.
This could easily cause a ripple
e
ffect
that would impact you as well
.
My simulations show a
fourteen percent
chance of catastrophic failure,
a
twenty-nine pe
r
cent
chance of a
system-wide
depression
,
and a further
thirty-eight percent
chance of recession
.
My data is available to any who wish to examine the validity of the simulations
.

“With these thoughts in mind
,
I would like to propose something more than just loans
.
Loans only temporarily prop up what has become a sinking ship
.
I propose we each assume an equal share of the losses
.
I ask for a vote
.”

Nanogate
knew what the outcome would be before it even showed
.
The world of finance bred cutthroats, not altruists
.
They couldn’t see or smell the danger to themselves for the blood in the water
.
Most of them were
already
deciding how they could snap up pieces of
his
company for the biggest profit.

Eight nays carried the vote.

“Thank you for your time,
gentle
beings
.
I must prepare what I can and determine what loans
I’ll
need from each of you
.”

Without fanfare he terminated the connection
.
His single button push summoned Mr. Marks in his yellow vinyl
.
“I have another job for you.”

“Of course, sir.”

* * *
 

“As we
—
I mean
,
Tony
—
predicted,
” reported Beth, “
we
’
ve been
experiencing
a large influx of not only volunteers
,
but warmth from the community
,
where just a short while ago we were beginning to see signs of support erosion and in some cases even hostility
.”

“
Excellent
.
With that and our
next steps in place, I call
for new business
,
” Sonya said
.
As one the group
remained silent.
“Well
,
in that case
,
I have a new item
.
This one
’
s
a
two
-
edged sword
.
We’ve been contacted by the head of the
Nanogate
syndicate.”

“How did he find us?”

“There were two messages
.
Both found their way to me
.
The first
Augustine
ferreted out when she spent last
weekend
trying to break
into another
Nanogate
mainframe level
.
There in the open for even the most moronic of icebreakers to find was
a message addressed to the GAM
.

“
The second came to us from the brother of one of our current members
.
I won
’
t mention
who,
as he
or
she would be embarrassed to admit they have a corpie as a sibling
.
Somehow
,
the
Nanogate
sent us a personal message buried as an implant
in the
man’s brain
.
The details are lengthy
,
but after they fired the man he came to his brother for help
.
Our medical probes, the same ones you
each
were subjected to, discovered it easily
.
Both
conveyed
exactly the same message
, word for word
.

“
He
want
s
a
percomm
meeting at a specific time
.
He
assure
s
us
there will be no attempt to
trace the call
.
There’s
no reason for the call given
.
It
’s
signed with the CEO
’
s
DNA
.”

Tony fingered
a
crack in the upholstery as he
considered Sonya’s words
.
“That really is a basket of snakes
,
”
he remarked after a moment.

“
Why go
’
o such
’engths
?”

“
Yeehaw
!
We got him on the run
.
He must be desperate.”

“You think he might want to negotiate a peace?”

“Or buy’n time to fix his stuff
.”

“Or even it could be a trap
.
”

“
I congratulate you all
,” Sonya agreed. “
I came up with exactly the possibilities you proposed
.”

“So why chew
with
him?”

“Well
,
he tipped his hand with this message
,” Tony answered excitedly. “
He gave us info we didn’t have before
.
He knows
we’ve
infiltrated his nets and he knows
the
people
they’re
nilling are coming into our fold
.
And, perhaps even more interesting,
he’s
contacting us
in a clandestine manner.”

“True
.
Hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“If you don’t mind, Sonya,” Tony said, waiting for her nodded approval
.
“Well, let
’
s take each option in turn
.
Option
o
ne
: We have him on the run and he wants to negotiate
.
If he is, he knows he has to offer something sweet to make us lay off
.
I think
we’d
be foolish not to at least listen to an offer.”

“Yeah, righ’
.
We ge’ more from him
th
an
we’re
sucking up now!”

“Agreed
.
Option
t
wo
: We have him on the run and he wants to buy time
.
Again, I think
there’s
no loss in listening
.
If
it’s
a ploy for a stall
,
we can always ignore it.”

“And we can shove it up his arse if it
’
s shonky.”

“Times two on that comment
,
”
Colin added.

“
OK
,
OK
.
Option
t
hree
: It’s a trap
.
I think
ninety percent of avoiding
any trap is
knowing it’s there in the first place
.”

“And then we can shove it up his arse.”

“Goes
’
ouble for me.”

“
OK
,
Suet
, I think we understand your sentiments,” Sonya said
.

“
What about
risks?”
Jackson
offered
,
almost as if scripted.