Read Online The Lead Cloak (The Lattice Trilogy Book 1) by Erik Hanberg - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Erik Hanberg
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no offense by this, but if you’d taken another one point eight seconds to get to Yang it would have been too late. The rest of the Lattice manufacturers and myself are not willing to bank the world economy on those one point eight seconds.”
One point eight seconds. Was that it? Shaw hadn’t heard that number, but it felt about right. And someone was always jumping in to history to research stupid things like that. Of course someone had calculated Shaw’s margin of error.
He wasn’t sure why, but this call was making him decidedly uncomfortable. Shaw looked down at his forearm, where the wrap had already predicted his interest in Galway and Dvorak.
The wrap also showed a list of messages he’d accumulated in the last twenty-four hours—hundreds of congratulatory calls and requests for interviews that had been filtered by his privacy screen. Only officers at the Installation and his closest friends and family were able to reach him directly at any time. Zella Galway was not one of those.
“I’m sorry if this sounds rude, Ms. Galway, but how did you get past the privacy screen to reach me?” Shaw asked.
“Marc’s a friend,” she said, and it took Shaw a moment to connect “Marc” with General Braybrook. “He authorized me. I hope that’s all right? You see, I want to help you catch these raiders, Byron. If you need them, all the resources of Dvorak Systems are yours to command.”
Shaw’s eyebrows went up. “That’s very kind,” was all he could think to say.
“I can put a hundred people on it today, and more later if you need it. You just need to tell me where to point them.”
“General Braybrook has a whole battalion of men working on this, I—”
“Just give me a direction. The spheres? The pilot? The plastic surgeon? The lasers?”
“Truly, we don’t—”
“I’m going to tell them to research something . It may as well be something that would be helpful to you.”
Shaw realized he was going to lose. “All right. Thank you. Can you research the surgeon and the three who built the hovercraft? Until yesterday, most of the raiders on the Lattice have been relatively low-skilled. I want to know if there are any similarities between these two. Kind of school, kind of teachers. What would draw these people in?”
“We’re on it. I’ll get back to you within twenty-four hours. And would you mind adding me to your privacy screen? I don’t want to have to beg Marc for authorization again,” she said, laughing. But it only made Shaw feel trapped as he added her to his privacy settings.
When Ellie came home she found Shaw on their small balcony again. She kissed his forehead and draped her arms around his shoulders.
“I’m surprised you’re out here,” she said. “We’re scheduled for more rain soon.”
“So soon? I thought St. Louis won its bid for weather this week.”
“We did win, but the farms needed some rain, so they scheduled it tonight. Come on inside.”
“Not yet. I want to enjoy it while I can. How was your day?” he asked, running his hand along her arm.
“Fine. Nothing special. But all I could think about was what you were doing.”
“How much did you hear about it?”
“Pretty much everything, I think. I checked in with the news feeds during my breaks. You were researching the imposter. Then some sort of sphere that appears and disappears and can’t be traced. And then you got a call from a woman with billions in the bank and added her to your exclusive list of names who can call you day or night. Should I be worried?”
Shaw shook his head in amazement. “The feeds reported all that?”
“And that’s not all! Braybrook apparently thinks you should consult me. So the feeds are speculating about my IQ now. That’s when I decided to head home and make my genius available to you.”
“They’re reporting on you too? That’s outrageous.”
“By, you can’t predict who people are going to latch on to. You should have seen it coming in the
One point eight seconds. Was that it? Shaw hadn’t heard that number, but it felt about right. And someone was always jumping in to history to research stupid things like that. Of course someone had calculated Shaw’s margin of error.
He wasn’t sure why, but this call was making him decidedly uncomfortable. Shaw looked down at his forearm, where the wrap had already predicted his interest in Galway and Dvorak.
The wrap also showed a list of messages he’d accumulated in the last twenty-four hours—hundreds of congratulatory calls and requests for interviews that had been filtered by his privacy screen. Only officers at the Installation and his closest friends and family were able to reach him directly at any time. Zella Galway was not one of those.
“I’m sorry if this sounds rude, Ms. Galway, but how did you get past the privacy screen to reach me?” Shaw asked.
“Marc’s a friend,” she said, and it took Shaw a moment to connect “Marc” with General Braybrook. “He authorized me. I hope that’s all right? You see, I want to help you catch these raiders, Byron. If you need them, all the resources of Dvorak Systems are yours to command.”
Shaw’s eyebrows went up. “That’s very kind,” was all he could think to say.
“I can put a hundred people on it today, and more later if you need it. You just need to tell me where to point them.”
“General Braybrook has a whole battalion of men working on this, I—”
“Just give me a direction. The spheres? The pilot? The plastic surgeon? The lasers?”
“Truly, we don’t—”
“I’m going to tell them to research something . It may as well be something that would be helpful to you.”
Shaw realized he was going to lose. “All right. Thank you. Can you research the surgeon and the three who built the hovercraft? Until yesterday, most of the raiders on the Lattice have been relatively low-skilled. I want to know if there are any similarities between these two. Kind of school, kind of teachers. What would draw these people in?”
“We’re on it. I’ll get back to you within twenty-four hours. And would you mind adding me to your privacy screen? I don’t want to have to beg Marc for authorization again,” she said, laughing. But it only made Shaw feel trapped as he added her to his privacy settings.
When Ellie came home she found Shaw on their small balcony again. She kissed his forehead and draped her arms around his shoulders.
“I’m surprised you’re out here,” she said. “We’re scheduled for more rain soon.”
“So soon? I thought St. Louis won its bid for weather this week.”
“We did win, but the farms needed some rain, so they scheduled it tonight. Come on inside.”
“Not yet. I want to enjoy it while I can. How was your day?” he asked, running his hand along her arm.
“Fine. Nothing special. But all I could think about was what you were doing.”
“How much did you hear about it?”
“Pretty much everything, I think. I checked in with the news feeds during my breaks. You were researching the imposter. Then some sort of sphere that appears and disappears and can’t be traced. And then you got a call from a woman with billions in the bank and added her to your exclusive list of names who can call you day or night. Should I be worried?”
Shaw shook his head in amazement. “The feeds reported all that?”
“And that’s not all! Braybrook apparently thinks you should consult me. So the feeds are speculating about my IQ now. That’s when I decided to head home and make my genius available to you.”
“They’re reporting on you too? That’s outrageous.”
“By, you can’t predict who people are going to latch on to. You should have seen it coming in the
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