Part 15 (2/2)

When the sliding doors opened, Simpson was in the small anteroom watching the monitors and Lattimer was at the front desk. He hastily pushed The Dead Zone The Dead Zone to the side and looked to see who had come in. Behind him he could hear Simpson coming through from the adjoining room he had seen them approach on the monitors. to the side and looked to see who had come in. Behind him he could hear Simpson coming through from the adjoining room he had seen them approach on the monitors.

The two waitresses were about the same height and had similar features. One was blonde and carrying a tray of champagne, the other was dark and had a tray of sandwiches.

'We brought you some refreshment,' the blonde girl said and they placed their trays on the desk in front of Lattimer.

'We shouldn't really while we're on duty,' Lattimer said.

'But since it's a special occasion.' Simpson reached for a gla.s.s of champagne and stuffed a sandwich in his mouth.

'Thanks.'

Lattimer helped himself to a sandwich. The waitresses watched expressionless as they ate and drank.

138.

'Yeah, thanks,' Lattimer said. 'Anything else we can do for you?'

The blonde waitress smiled suddenly. There was no halfway stage as her muscles stretched or the mouth moved upwards.

One moment she was looking at them stoically, the next her mouth had turned up at the ends and her cheeks creased slightly.

'We were wondering, as we came over, what you do here,'

she said. 'How it all works.'

'I'll show you,' Simpson said quickly. 'Come through here and you can see the set-up.' He led the way into the control room and started to explain the banks of monitors and how they were linked up to the external and internal cameras.

Lattimer and the other waitress followed. Lattimer stood behind the blonde. The other waitress, seemingly less interested, waited in the doorway. They were engrossed in the explanations, and in the way the young woman perched on the edge of the control desk as she nodded encouragement and asked simple questions.

The bake-house was next to the kitchen. Johanna was checking the weapons, opening the various crates which had been brought through from the kitchen and itemizing the contents. She had left Carlson to watch Miss Smith.

She looked up as Lewis came into the room. He was holding his pocket computer and showed Johanna the current display.

'We're running fourteen per cent below optimum,' he said.

Johanna said nothing. She had an idea what Lewis was up to, and he had probably ma.s.saged the figures to get the result he wanted.

'It can't be allowed to continue,' he said when he realized she was not going to reply. ' He He can't be allowed to continue.' can't be allowed to continue.'

'Stabfield?'

'Of course Stabfield. His att.i.tude, his perspective, his lack of delegation of the major opportunities and challenges.' Lewis paused, then started on a different tack. 'Oh he's brought us this far with no major defects. But the time has come for him to sign-off This isn't just a knee-jerk, we need new direction while we're c.o.c.ked and ready. Otherwise we may go belly up.'

139.

Johanna went back to her examination of the crates'

contents. 'You're questioning his management bandwidth,' she said.

'Yes, I am. Johanna, I've got risk a.s.sessments which put us at less than eighty-three per cent.' He was standing close to her, almost whispering although no one else was present. 'I can show you a predict sequence animation which makes us dead in the water. Can I count on your support?'

Johanna straightened up. She was holding a grenade and tossed it from hand to hand. 'Maybe. Let me see your figures and the extrapolations and I'll think about it.'

Lewis nodded. 'Okay.' He handed her the computer. 'See if this doesn't press your hot b.u.t.tons.' He turned to leave.

'Marc.'

He turned back as he reached the door. The grenade was flying through the air towards him. He caught it easily.

Johanna slid the stylus across the screen, calling up the a.n.a.lyses Lewis had mentioned.

He watched her for a while from the door. 'I haven't gone public with this yet,' he said. 'I need your backing.'

She nodded. 'Even that may not be enough, you know. He's in a strong position with a proven track record.'

'I know. Just don't go non-linear on me. Not now.'

'No problem.'

Lewis put down the grenade, and left. Johanna continued to stare at the screen. The numbers were impressive, but she wasn't convinced. Not yet.

The Doctor was making good progress. But he was not sure he liked what he was finding. The main file on the disc seemed indeed to have a structure a.n.a.logous to a living creature a genetic code, almost. That coupled with the complex reasoning algorithms similar to those in the chips he and Harry had recovered was enough to make him very worried.

What was worrying him most was that he had no idea of the purpose of the creature. He had convinced himself that the bit patterns did const.i.tute a form of life, albeit inactive. But what was it for?

140.

He tried another a.n.a.lysis, a Schroedinger adjustment he had been forced to write himself. Perhaps if he could determine whether the creature actually existed when not connected to a processor that would help him to define the type of life he was dealing with.

'What a lot of questions,' he muttered as his program compiled.

The d.u.c.h.ess of Glas...o...b..ry was late, as usual. And when she did arrive she sent the security guard at the front desk in the main entrance to the house to pay her taxi. This he duly did, then led her through to the great hall.

The great hall was enormous far too big for the small reception already underway in there. The walls were panelled in oak and decked with large portraits. One of them looked like a Van Dyck, but was probably a copy. There was a large bay window on the left side of the hall, looking out over the grounds towards the woods. On the right side two other windows and a French door gave on to a central gravelled courtyard, complete with ornate fountain. At the far end two doors led off into the rest of the house. The right one seemed to lead to the kitchens, certainly that was where the main traffic of waiters and waitresses was. Most of the end of the hall behind where she came in was curtained off.

There were about a dozen people, mainly staff from Hubway she guessed, at the reception. She could also see a large man in army uniform who she guessed was the American Amba.s.sador together with his personal a.s.sistant.

Peterson pushed his way through a group of people, ignoring the fact that the room was so big for the number of people that he could simply have walked round.

'd.u.c.h.ess,' he had no idea how to address people properly, 'thank goodness. The press photographer is waiting.'

The d.u.c.h.ess allowed herself to be led over to the far corner of the room where a man was setting up a camera on its tripod.

By the time the Amba.s.sador joined them she had somehow managed to acquire a gla.s.s of champagne and a plate loaded with food.

'Careful with that, lady,' the Amba.s.sador drawled.

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