Read Online Light Shaper by Albert Nothlit - Free Book Online Page B

in the nothingness when his avatar had been taken away from him.
    “Lane?”
    “Yes?” she said.
    “Do you know of something called ‘Atlas’? Is it a sector of some kind?”
    Her eyes went wide for an instant. “How…. How do you know about that? I thought you were new.”
    “So it’s a sector?”
    She glanced quickly around to make sure nobody was listening. “No. Not at all.”
    “What is it, then? When it spoke to me, I got the sense that it was big, but I don’t know if it was another user, or maybe one of the administrators, or—”
    “It spoke to you?” Miranda asked him in a whisper.
    “Well, yes. Something about contacting me later. But what is it?”
    She set her coffee cup down and ran a hand through her hair. “Wow. Don’t… don’t tell Scholl. Or anyone else. You probably shouldn’t have told me, either.”
    “Why?”
    “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. I know how to keep a secret.”
    “What do you mean? What is it about—”
    “The less you know, the better. But I can tell you this. Atlas is supposed to be a secret. I only know about it because we had a security breach last year, and one of the senior scientists kept talking about it on his way to the hospital. I was made to sign a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for a very fat check so it would keep my mouth shut about the things I heard. I didn’t have an option, either. Richard Tanner, our glorious bastard of a CBO, is more powerful than you can imagine. I didn’t want to give him a reason to notice me.”
    Barrow nodded. They drank the rest of their coffee without speaking, the awkward silence stretching. Barrow thought about what Miranda had said. He wanted to ask her more, but it was obvious she did not want to talk about the subject. He scanned the room and noticed a big portrait of a middle-aged man set on the wall above the realistic but completely useless fireplace that decorated the far side of the lounge. He had been painted sitting in an office set high up, commanding a view of far-away Aurora. He was wearing a black suit, and his face was youthful even if his hair was streaked with silver.
    “Is that Tanner?” Barrow asked, mostly just to have something to say. “The CBO?”
    Miranda glanced over her shoulder at the painting. “Yes and no. That’s Kyle Tanner, the creator of Otherlife. He’s been dead some thirty years now. His grandson, Richard Tanner, is our boss now. I’ve only met him once, and I did not like the experience. He’s a shrewd bastard, smart enough to reclaim complete control of the company after the board of directors had taken over when his grandfather died. He’s one of the richest men in the world. The richest one in Aurora for sure.”
    “Oh. Okay.”
    There wasn’t anything else to say, and soon afterward Barrow left for his home. He was tired. Miranda told him to get some sleep and wiped a tiny coffee stain off his corner of the table with a napkin, then handed it to Barrow.
    As he walked through the nearly deserted road leading to the Skytrain in the peaceful darkness of very late night, Barrow thought about everything she had said and everything he had seen. When he was far enough away from the building that he was sure he was not being surveyed, he opened his fist and extended the crumpled napkin inside it. Miranda had scribbled a note on it. It said:
    Atlas is dangerous. Don’t speak of it again.

Chapter Four
     
     
    RICHARD TANNER, Chief Board Executor and uncontested majority shareholder of CradleCorp, disconnected from the Otherlife network with the smooth efficiency that so few others could match. He opened his eyes calmly, confirming at once that he was alone in his office. He cast his gaze down and flicked his hand at his desk. The computer embedded within came to life at once, already displaying the data he wanted. He watched its holographic console with cold, carefully controlled anger. It was happening. He had known Atlas would be a problem eventually, but he