moment.”
“It’ll pass.”
Luke ordered a drink.
“We need to talk about your progress, or lack there of.”
“Not now.”
“Yes, now,” Lunsford said. “At this stage I expected that you’d have something to show for our efforts. And I don’t care what deal you just swung with Evans, if you come up empty handed, you’re not getting paid.”
Luke was surprised that Lunsford was so upfront about screwing him over, although he always suspected that it might happen.
“You should see that place. It’s locked down tight like a prison.”
“People escape from prisons,” Lunsford said.
“Not this one. You’ve seen my reports. They’ve got me locked out in this candidate class doing busy work.”
“You’ve got to do better than that.”
“I need more time, that’s all. I can do it, but it won’t happen immediately. Whatever they’ve got, its big otherwise they wouldn’t have us plugging the holes in their research.”
“How do you mean?”
Luke explained his theory that they were being given pieces of a puzzle that the research team was having trouble with. They couldn’t see the whole problem, so they couldn’t aggregate it to make any sense.
“There are still ways to provide us data without knowing exactly what it is. Why haven’t you delivered any of the data-plug watches to the dead drops?”
“Because I haven’t used them. I can’t bring those things in. They scan everything going in and coming out. If it has a virtual memory in it – like a cell phone or pocket computer - they flag it and hold it in a safe room just off the main entrance while we’re on campus.”
“I’ve got a solution for that. Give me your phone.”
Lunsford plugged a small black device to the data port on the phone. He punched in a few numbers on the screen and removed the plug and gave Luke detailed instructions on how to use the new tool he just installed on the phone.
“Luke, we’re not going to be infinitely patient with you. If you can’t produce, you’re a liability. And I can’t have liabilities dragging down my operations.”
Luke stood up and gave Lunsford a mock soldier salute.
“Yes, sir,” he said, then turned to the bartender, “This guy’s going to pick up my tab.”
“Hey wait -”
“Screw you, Steve. I’m off the clock tonight.”
Luke left the bar without another word.
***
The streets of downtown were filled with sports fans spilling out of bars, celebrating the local team’s victory and guaranteed spot in the playoffs. Luke wandered among them, in no particular rush to return to his tiny apartment in Portland. He bought a cup of coffee to sober up. No one paid him any attention. They were caught up in their own world, just as he was.
He looked up at the skyscrapers and thought of the condo in Bellevue that he had once shared with Rachel. His ex-fiancée. Never thought he’d say that. They were supposed to be getting married. He’d given it all up. And for what? He had nothing to show for it. He was making a nice little salary with MassEnergy and StuTech was still funneling him funds every month, but did the money really matter all that much to him? It didn’t. Evans had just pulled the rug out from under him.
He still didn’t have enough to help Gina. And she was content to live life with as little means as possible. She was happy and flat broke. Tilly was another story. She, like Luke, hadn’t asked for the life Gina wanted to live. She was born into it and couldn’t escape. Even her illness wasn’t enough to make them leave Mill Creek. And maybe it shouldn’t have to be. Why should people be uprooted from their homes because technology suddenly couldn’t reach them?
That was really the whole game. If StuTech or MassEnergy or some other company could figure out how to make the wireless technology work longer distances, then Mill Creek and the thousands of towns like it all over the country could thrive again. It seemed so simple.
And he had a chance to
“It’ll pass.”
Luke ordered a drink.
“We need to talk about your progress, or lack there of.”
“Not now.”
“Yes, now,” Lunsford said. “At this stage I expected that you’d have something to show for our efforts. And I don’t care what deal you just swung with Evans, if you come up empty handed, you’re not getting paid.”
Luke was surprised that Lunsford was so upfront about screwing him over, although he always suspected that it might happen.
“You should see that place. It’s locked down tight like a prison.”
“People escape from prisons,” Lunsford said.
“Not this one. You’ve seen my reports. They’ve got me locked out in this candidate class doing busy work.”
“You’ve got to do better than that.”
“I need more time, that’s all. I can do it, but it won’t happen immediately. Whatever they’ve got, its big otherwise they wouldn’t have us plugging the holes in their research.”
“How do you mean?”
Luke explained his theory that they were being given pieces of a puzzle that the research team was having trouble with. They couldn’t see the whole problem, so they couldn’t aggregate it to make any sense.
“There are still ways to provide us data without knowing exactly what it is. Why haven’t you delivered any of the data-plug watches to the dead drops?”
“Because I haven’t used them. I can’t bring those things in. They scan everything going in and coming out. If it has a virtual memory in it – like a cell phone or pocket computer - they flag it and hold it in a safe room just off the main entrance while we’re on campus.”
“I’ve got a solution for that. Give me your phone.”
Lunsford plugged a small black device to the data port on the phone. He punched in a few numbers on the screen and removed the plug and gave Luke detailed instructions on how to use the new tool he just installed on the phone.
“Luke, we’re not going to be infinitely patient with you. If you can’t produce, you’re a liability. And I can’t have liabilities dragging down my operations.”
Luke stood up and gave Lunsford a mock soldier salute.
“Yes, sir,” he said, then turned to the bartender, “This guy’s going to pick up my tab.”
“Hey wait -”
“Screw you, Steve. I’m off the clock tonight.”
Luke left the bar without another word.
***
The streets of downtown were filled with sports fans spilling out of bars, celebrating the local team’s victory and guaranteed spot in the playoffs. Luke wandered among them, in no particular rush to return to his tiny apartment in Portland. He bought a cup of coffee to sober up. No one paid him any attention. They were caught up in their own world, just as he was.
He looked up at the skyscrapers and thought of the condo in Bellevue that he had once shared with Rachel. His ex-fiancée. Never thought he’d say that. They were supposed to be getting married. He’d given it all up. And for what? He had nothing to show for it. He was making a nice little salary with MassEnergy and StuTech was still funneling him funds every month, but did the money really matter all that much to him? It didn’t. Evans had just pulled the rug out from under him.
He still didn’t have enough to help Gina. And she was content to live life with as little means as possible. She was happy and flat broke. Tilly was another story. She, like Luke, hadn’t asked for the life Gina wanted to live. She was born into it and couldn’t escape. Even her illness wasn’t enough to make them leave Mill Creek. And maybe it shouldn’t have to be. Why should people be uprooted from their homes because technology suddenly couldn’t reach them?
That was really the whole game. If StuTech or MassEnergy or some other company could figure out how to make the wireless technology work longer distances, then Mill Creek and the thousands of towns like it all over the country could thrive again. It seemed so simple.
And he had a chance to
Similar Books
