Christopher Hinz - The Paratwa 03 by The Paratwa

Author:The Paratwa [Paratwa, The]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The prime data-retrieval section, located deep in the first-floor vaults of E-Tech’s Irryan headquarters, was a small circular room jammed from floor to ceiling with computer equipment. On several occasions over the years, the Lion had been given tours of the more publicly-accessible areas of the massive vaults. But until now, he had never been inside this section. Nick referred to it as the “heart and soul of the archives.”

The midget sat before him at one of the consoles. A trio of E-Tech programmers were in the room as well, two males and a female, all incredibly youthful, all three faces displaying that same passionate dedication that had underscored Adam Lu Sang’s spirit. Cheerleaders, Nick called these three. They buzzed through the cramped chamber, checking readouts, accessing information, painting multicolor data portraits across monitor screens with a nimbleness that the Lion found oddly disturbing.

He suspected that what annoyed him was their intense perfectionism, their focusing of raw energies into microlaser precision, their concentration on the immediacy of the moment to such a degree that they were sure to miss the overall picture, the larger perspective. But he reminded himself that these three had been Adam Lu Sang’s friends, as well as early supporters of the slain programmer’s theory that a sunsetter was responsible for the data destruction within the archives. And now, the youthful trio remained the only high-level programmers whom Edward Huromonus had been willing to trust for the upcoming task. The remainder of the vault personnel, including many of Doyle Blumhaven’s appointees, had been denied access.

Trusted security guards, with orders to use deadly force, had been posted outside this prime data-retrieval section to insure that Huromonus’s dictates were obeyed.

“All set!” hollered one of the programmers.

“Fault lines correlated,” added another.

“Archives get ready for your first trembler!” chortled the third.

The Lion sighed. The trio also reminded him of pampered colonials rich juvenilia, mainly who hired Costeaus to take them into the outer reaches of colonial space to “experience” adventure. Earlier, he had mentioned his comparison to Nick.

“Nah,” the midget had replied. “They’re more like cheerleaders.”

The name had stuck.

“Eddie’s here,” announced Nick, glancing at a security monitor.

The door opened, admitting Edward Huromonus. The E-Tech director looked inordinately cheery. “I’ve got good news.”

Nick raised his eyebrows. The cheerleaders froze en masse, then, in tandem, turned to Huromonus. The Lion was reminded of a cluster of ancient radar dishes, all swiveling to track the same source. Three sets of ears locked in on their target, preparing to receive virgin data.

“I correlated your latest sunsetter data,” began Huromonus, “with information that my people managed to wring from one of Doyle’s former compatriots in E-Tech Security. This Blumhaven crony is currently facing a host of serious criminal charges. He has been persuaded that cooperation is the most proper course of action.”

“Change of heart, huh?” quipped Nick.

“Indeed. And from what he has told us, it appears that those weird trails left by the sunsetter at multiple nexus points throughout the archives were created for the purpose of covering its tracks.

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