important role in our agreement. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir."
"Mr. Carroll, you are about to learn something that, if you were to share it with anyone, it will cost you your life. Do I make myself clear?"
"Uh, yes sir ," Carroll stammered.
The Chairmen's old wizened face turned to the woman sitting beside him. He nodded and she nodded back. Carroll had thought of what happened next thousands of times yet he still could not believe what he saw. One second the woman was sitting quietly next to the Chairman ; the next she was holding Carroll aloft with one hand. Carroll remembered looking into her eyes just the thought caused him to shiver with fear, even years after it had happened. Her eyes were as cold and predatory as those of a reptile. She held him aloft for some time before she shook him like a rag doll and put him back down in his chair.
"As you can see , Miss White is an extraordinary creature. She is not enhanced nor was this a trick. She is no human breed Mr. Carroll she is from another race. A race I did not know existed before a year ago."
"But she looks human. I can't tell the difference. I...I"
"Alien is your word Mr. Carroll. No, I am part human but I am mostly Xotoli. I am what is called a Xotec, a member of a race that has been selected for the privilege of being part Xotoli. It serves our purposes for representatives to look like the race we are dealing with. It makes things easier shall we say," Miss White said.
The Chairman ’s wizened face changed into the closest thing to a smile Carroll had seen as observed Carroll's reaction. He waited a few moments before speaking, letting the astonishing information slowly sink in.
"You will take back with you a program to load onto your computer. Then you will destroy the original. You will memorize the password and the procedure for uploading the data the program is collecting. You will be told when and where to upload the data. Otherwise you will conduct yourself normally. No one is to know about this."
Carroll could only nod in agreement.
"Are you clear without saying anything else?" The Chairman said. "Say it."
"Yes, yes sir. I am clear."
"Good. If I had to spell it out for you we would not be using you for this important task."
"Yes, sir. Thank you sir."
"Mr. Carroll, if you ever mention this to anyone, Miss White or one of her associates will come for you, and it will not be pleasant before you are allowed to die. I hate to use such threats but this is potentially the biggest deal in human history and neither you nor anybody else will stand in the way of the corporation’s fiduciary responsibility to our investors. If you do as you are told you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams and become a valuable part of the most powerful corporation in the known worlds. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
Miss White slowly smiled a cold smile and said.
"I think I will come for you myself if you do not perform to our standards Mr. Carroll."
Carroll had not been able to take his eyes from Miss White since she had lifted him so effortlessly. She had held his eyes like a snake held the eyes of its prey. From that moment on Carroll would periodically be told to send certain files to a certain address. He knew it was a very important source of revenue for Von Fleet; in fact it was one of the main sources of revenue according to what he was told. Von Fleet had been smuggling tens of thousands of metric tons from their natural resources division to the Xotoli for years.
Given he was in an entirely separate division that only handled the military contracts of the corporation , he did not have regular contact with the ongoing operations. He was simply to do as he was told and supply the information a program installed on his computers was gathering. He never understood what he was sending; it was fire walled off from the corporation’s information systems. He never tried to find out what it was, but given the location of his office at the Fleet Headquarters, he
"Yes sir."
"Mr. Carroll, you are about to learn something that, if you were to share it with anyone, it will cost you your life. Do I make myself clear?"
"Uh, yes sir ," Carroll stammered.
The Chairmen's old wizened face turned to the woman sitting beside him. He nodded and she nodded back. Carroll had thought of what happened next thousands of times yet he still could not believe what he saw. One second the woman was sitting quietly next to the Chairman ; the next she was holding Carroll aloft with one hand. Carroll remembered looking into her eyes just the thought caused him to shiver with fear, even years after it had happened. Her eyes were as cold and predatory as those of a reptile. She held him aloft for some time before she shook him like a rag doll and put him back down in his chair.
"As you can see , Miss White is an extraordinary creature. She is not enhanced nor was this a trick. She is no human breed Mr. Carroll she is from another race. A race I did not know existed before a year ago."
"But she looks human. I can't tell the difference. I...I"
"Alien is your word Mr. Carroll. No, I am part human but I am mostly Xotoli. I am what is called a Xotec, a member of a race that has been selected for the privilege of being part Xotoli. It serves our purposes for representatives to look like the race we are dealing with. It makes things easier shall we say," Miss White said.
The Chairman ’s wizened face changed into the closest thing to a smile Carroll had seen as observed Carroll's reaction. He waited a few moments before speaking, letting the astonishing information slowly sink in.
"You will take back with you a program to load onto your computer. Then you will destroy the original. You will memorize the password and the procedure for uploading the data the program is collecting. You will be told when and where to upload the data. Otherwise you will conduct yourself normally. No one is to know about this."
Carroll could only nod in agreement.
"Are you clear without saying anything else?" The Chairman said. "Say it."
"Yes, yes sir. I am clear."
"Good. If I had to spell it out for you we would not be using you for this important task."
"Yes, sir. Thank you sir."
"Mr. Carroll, if you ever mention this to anyone, Miss White or one of her associates will come for you, and it will not be pleasant before you are allowed to die. I hate to use such threats but this is potentially the biggest deal in human history and neither you nor anybody else will stand in the way of the corporation’s fiduciary responsibility to our investors. If you do as you are told you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams and become a valuable part of the most powerful corporation in the known worlds. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
Miss White slowly smiled a cold smile and said.
"I think I will come for you myself if you do not perform to our standards Mr. Carroll."
Carroll had not been able to take his eyes from Miss White since she had lifted him so effortlessly. She had held his eyes like a snake held the eyes of its prey. From that moment on Carroll would periodically be told to send certain files to a certain address. He knew it was a very important source of revenue for Von Fleet; in fact it was one of the main sources of revenue according to what he was told. Von Fleet had been smuggling tens of thousands of metric tons from their natural resources division to the Xotoli for years.
Given he was in an entirely separate division that only handled the military contracts of the corporation , he did not have regular contact with the ongoing operations. He was simply to do as he was told and supply the information a program installed on his computers was gathering. He never understood what he was sending; it was fire walled off from the corporation’s information systems. He never tried to find out what it was, but given the location of his office at the Fleet Headquarters, he
Similar Books
