Part 38 (2/2)

”Yes,” she said. ”Yes,” an emphatic whisper. ”I have worked hard for it, haven't I?”

”Yes,” Jean-Pierre a.s.sured her, petting her hair. He smiled. ”You have indeed.”

”That's right, as much of it as I can sell,” Peter said into the telephone. With a disbelieving expression he shook his head at Byron, who crossed his arms and shot him a mildly disturbed look.

”Okay, Peggy, thanks,” Peter said, then hung up the phone.

”You sure you want to do that?” Byron said carefully, turning his coffee cup in his palm.

”You bet I am! Byron, I can't believe this! I can't believe Matthew has formed an alliance with them!” Peter said, batting his hand at the ”Wall Street Journal,” whose headline announced, ”ICP, Wallaby Announce Strategic Venture.”

”Petey, don't forget that 'them' is where this old timer comes from.”

”I know, I know. I'm sorry. I don't mean to disparage you, or where you're from. I'm just astonished Matthew has actually done what he was trying to get me to agree to do. To sell out Wallaby to ICP.”

”He's not selling out, boy. He's upping Wallaby's market.

Probably triple it in a few years because of that two-step he pulled today.”

Peter folded his arms. ”All the more reason for me to sell my share in Wallaby and invest it in what we're working on. You know, I'm in the mood for a little shopping spree. I think my mind is made up about those couple of acquisitions we've been talking about. The net browser. The compression routines. And definitely that knock-out handwriting recognition kernel. Yes indeed, it's time to do a little spending.”

The two men had turned the extra bedroom in Byron's Maine home into a lab and workroom. Scattered all around were diagrams of circuit boards, tools, and a.s.sorted computer and electronic parts. A flowchart of the software that Byron was engineering, based on the design the two men had come up with in the last four months, was spread out on the table before them.

”Well, that's settled then,” Byron said. ”Good. Now what do you say you wipe that little snarl off your face and we get back to work. Come on.” He patted the stool beside him and Peter, still plainly agitated by the news, returned to his seat beside his partner.

”This is what I changed last night,” Byron said, pointing at a series of boxes indicating the user interface portion of the code. ”It's what's going to make this baby different from every other portable doohickey out there.”

Peter leaned over the table, following Byron's finger. He shook his head. ”No.”

”No? No what?”

Peter roughly took Byron's hand in his. ”This!” he said, encircling the entire drawing with the other man's finger and, in doing so, pulling Byron from his stool and practically stretching him across the table.

”Hey!” Byron yelled. ”If you want to dance, just say so, but be careful, boy, I prefer the floor to tables!”

”I'm sorry,” Peter said. He let go of Byron's hand, and gently patted it.

Byron tugged at his sweater sleeve and flexed his arm.

”But look at this,” Peter said. ”All of this!” he continued, gesturing in a frenzy now with both hands at the entire table, the scattered parts, the room.

Byron casually fished his tobacco pouch from his s.h.i.+rt pocket.

”Don't you see what's wrong with all this stuff you're talking about?”

”Why don't you tell me,” Byron said. He crossed his legs and began packing his pipe.

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