An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) (45 page)

“Can you elaborate?”

“I could teach it
,
but the training usually starts in infancy
.
Just say that I’ve usually got an
a
ce
up my sleeve in many situations that most won’t understand nor comprehend.”

“
OK
,
but that still doesn’t explain…”

“My illness started as nothing but muscle aches
,
but I knew
there was nothing normal about it
.
I’ve not been ill since a bout of measles at seven years old
.
This made me obviously suspicious
.
I’ve tested my blood and
it’s
positive for an unknown biological agent
.
It could be a naturally occurring mutation, but its targets seem a bit localized.”

“I don’t think we should assume anything yet
.
We should give it a bit of time
.
We’re
a small and closely knit group
, after all
.”

“Well
,
I’m going to institute some quarantine procedures
.
All those that are ill will not be allowed to further mingle with the rest of our team.
”

“Seems logical no matter the cause
.
I don’t mean to sound belittling
,
but this sounds like an overreaction.”

“So be it
.
I find it all too convenient
,
but we shall see.”

* * *
 

For
their regular quarterly meeting, t
he cabal met in person in the heart of a private space station orbiting the
M
oon
.
That they alone occupied the station or had ever been on the station since its construction didn’t seem to
faze
these ten wealth
y
individuals
.

Living and sleeping in
zero
-
gee
,
and the solitude no one ever got on Earth,
rested one in a way no other relaxation could
.
Each had used it as a private retreat when the pressures of running a conglomerate
climbed too high to withstand.

The
tiny
conference room
would’ve
seemed cramped in any gravity, but in zero-gee the group lay out flat nearly head-to-head in a formation that resembled the points of a
three
-
dimensional compass
.
Each kept notes on an electronic stylus tethered to podiums that stretched out from the wall
.
Tokyo Industrials
and
CNI
, both uncomfortable floating free, strapped themselves to the same solid structures
.

“
That brings us to the actions against the GAM,” directed Wintel, the chairman for this quarter.

“Actions here have taken a radical change,” said
Taste Dynamics
, who gently drifted away to the right from
her
notes
.

“Agreed,”
Nanogate
said
.
“The actions against
Nanogate
have ceased
,
but the damage has been done
.
We are a ghost of our former strength
.
Our simulations show eight to ten years to reestablish ourselves even without any further attacks.”

“That
’
s within the
overall
window of damage we predicted,” claimed ECM
.

Nanogate
kept his face perfectly calm.

“Actually
,
the change I wanted to report
is
that
we
are
now
the ones
under attack
,” Taste Dynamics explained. “
As has been the norm of late, no one has claimed responsibility
.
Additionally
,
the attacks have been very severe and quite uncanny in their target
ing
.”

“Please elaborate.”

“We
’
ve lost seven shipments of a rare chemical required in the production of nanites
,
and even more importantly
the new
N
AD,
Neural
Amplification and Disruption, weaponry
.
We’ve beefed up our security on these shipments
,
and miraculously no one made attempts on the last four
we sent
.
This puts our finished goods deliveries to our customers behind by at least a full quarter
,
even if we reduce our own uses to zero
.
The
cost in penalties alone is
ruinous.”

“Our original assessment of this was industrial sabotage
,
until someone succeeded in eradicating the formula for Pepsi
.
This formula is one of the most closely guarded secrets in my entire sphere of influence
.
Only three people
,
and one totally isolated and hidden computer system
,
knew the formula
.
All three of these people were killed within minutes of a large detonation which destroyed the computer system
—
a system whose location only three different people knew
.

“I don’t need to inform you of the magnitude of this loss
.
To hide this
,
we’ve
start
ed
a spin on all the nets to get people ready for the new and improved Pepsi
. H
owever
,
every netwired pundit has plastered the
real story
over every black channel available
.
Sixty-three percent
of the viewers
believe
the truth, not our spin coverage.”

“Anything more?”

“Dozens of attacks on key industrial facilities
.
All of this has happened within the last week
.
Our stock, as I’m sure all of you have noticed, has plummeted to a mere
thirty-four percent
of its former value
.
My people are telling me that the word on the street is that the GAM has
made
Taste Dynamics
its prime target
.
And as in the past
,
massive puts distributed across many
over
-
the
-
counter operations again gave the perpetrators a massive infusion of cash.
”

“Why the change?
”
Nanogate asked with a straight face
.
High stakes poker players
could take
tips from hi
m
.
“
They
could’ve
finished us off completely with just a bit more concentrated effort
.
”

“Lack of prime targets?”
a
sked
CNI
.
“A group like this feeds on morale and success
.
They don’t have the will to follow through with their actions to completion
.
I venture they
realized
all they could pick on with
Nanogate
was crumbs and decided to go after more juicy morsels elsewhere.”

“A plausible explanation,”
Taste Dynamics
reluctantly agreed
.
“I
remain
concerned that the damage to our fiscal structure seems a little too precise and convenient
.
Could there be inside information?”

“That
’
s definitely something you should investigate,” said
Bell
.

“Wait a moment,”
Percomm Systems
interjected
.
“Are you suggesting that someone in this room had anything to do with this?”

“I made no such implication,”
Taste Dynamics
said with the blandest expression
as she floated just a bit away from her designated place
.
Her
body made gentle and unconscious movements to recover
her
podium
and
her
notes, but
her
face didn’t waver
.

“That
’
s good
.
Without cooperation, we would not be able to function nearly as effectively.”

“Agreed.”

“
Yes
.”

“I suggest in the interest of continuing our support of those affected by the GAM that we extend our open loan policy to
Taste Dynamics
,” offered
Nanogate
in a fine hypocritical glow
.

Taste Dynamics
glared but said nothing.

“Passed by accl
a
mation.”

             
* * *
 

“Grab her left arm
…
I mean
,
tentacle
…
I mean
,
just grab it!” 

With a howl spawned from
the
deepest hell
, Suet
fla
iled again, throwing Tolly’s huge frame across the bedroom with predictable results in the
centuries
old
home
built with
old
-
fashioned sheetrock
.

With the devastation left by a hurricane, the room bore holes randomly spaced about the walls,
along with
shattered lamps, torn bedding
,
and shredded bits of indistinguishable electronics littered about
.
One sliding closet door hung from a single point at right angles to its tracks
,
and the other had been broken
roughly horizontally
in half
.
The bed on which
Suet
lay only retained its two right legs, canting it to the left
.
The loose jade tentacle snapped across the top quarter of the battered but
previously
intact TriVid, shattering any semblance of form or functionality
.

This
time
Tony and Andrew managed to
grab and hold down
Suet’s right arm without damage to any party
.
The w
elts and bruises on everyone testified that they hadn’t been so successful
in containing the chaos
previously.

“Augustine
!
Hurry up!”

“Cracking body implants isn’t the easiest job in the world!” she snapped back from the other room
.
“Most of this is black market kludge
.
If I address the wrong command register
,
I could crash her completely
!
”

“I don’t care
!
If you
ain’t
smart, Sheila,
we’ll
all be mush!”

“Andrew, get this arm lashed down so we can try and control the other one.”

“P
’
ease shu
’
me
off
,” Suet pleaded in a voice weak and cracked by hours of screaming.

“We’re trying, sweet
ie
,” Tony said softly
.
“It won’t be long.”

“Oh, shi
’
!
Here comes another one!”
The screech of Suet’s voice mimicked the intensity and agony of tearing sheet steel in a
high
-
speed vehicle crash
.