The Two Faces of Tomorrow by James P. Hogan

The Two Faces of Tomorrow by James P. Hogan

Author:James P. Hogan [Hogan, James P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction - Science Fiction, Science Fiction - Adventure, Science Fiction - High Tech, High Tech, Artificial Intelligence, Comics & Graphic Novels, Computers, Manga, Superheroes, Fifth generation computers
ISBN: 9780671878481
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 2014-12-24T05:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Dyer was walking through the bar outside the cafeteria on his way back to the DatEx Sector after having lunch with Krantz when he spotted Laura sitting at a table which a couple of the CIM bunch were just leaving. He changed direction abruptly, walked over and sat down.

“Hi,” Laura greeted. “Don’t tell me you’re actually going to talk to one of the minions after sitting up there on that throne all morning. What’s the matter—having a touch of conscience or doing your meet-the-troops thing?”

“Neither. I feel like a drink,” Dyer grinned.

“Oh. For a moment I thought it might be me.”

“Now you come to mention it, I knew there was something else.”

“You know what it is I like about you,” Laura said with a sigh. “Ifs this way you have of making a girl feel really great. Know what I mean...You must have been born with some kind of knack for it.”

Dyer listened with a serious expression on his face and nodded solemn agreement. “It doesn’t come easy though,” he told her. “You have to work hard at it.”

Laura watched him in despair as he keyed in his order for a drink. He glanced at her glass and added a request for another without asking.

“So,” she said after a few seconds. “I gather it’s all going okay. Kim said everything’s going as planned.”

“Kim? I didn’t see her around,” Dyer said, surprised.

“We were talking over lunch. She went back early to tidy up a few things.” Laura studied his face for a moment as if searching for some reaction, then asked, “Why’s she here?”

Dyer shrugged in a way that he hoped was nonchalant. “She’s part of the team. The team’s here. Funny question. Why ask that?”

“I’m not sure really...” Laura’s voice had taken on a faraway note. “Did you know her first husband was killed?”

“What?” Dyer’s surprise was genuine.

“Four years ago. It happened in a midair collision somewhere over Europe. They finally traced it back to a programming error in the computers that hadn’t been picked up.”

“No, I didn’t know about that.” Dyer spread his hands in a sympathetic gesture. “That’s tough. I guess there’s nothing that’ll stop things like that happening ever. No...I really didn’t know about that.”

“That’s why she’s hated computers ever since,” Laura told him. She caught his look of disbelief and nodded to confirm the point, “She hates them...everything to do with them. I guess it must have affected her deep down somehow. I don’t know how; you’re the shrink. But this whole business here terrified her. That’s why I wondered why she came.”

Dyer gave Laura a long and curious look. “Did you go into all that when you were talking just now?” he asked.

Laura shook her head. “Hell, no. We’ve done a lot of talking on and off ever since we were back at Vokes. You’d be surprised what women get into when they start talking.”

The drinks arrived and Dyer took them out of the dispenser. Laura cocked her head to one side as she



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