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.Couldn't stand the thought of pulling Raines down with me, not even for the occasional visit.She deserved better.A better future.A future I wished I could've been a part of.I was snapped out of these thoughts by a bell chiming.Somebody had pinged my nanocomp.Being connected to the world again was an odd sensation that made me long for the seclusion and privacy of my own mind, free of the Stream.Nobody in Unity knew I'd reconnected to the Stream, and I hadn't broadcast my presence to the network, so it seemed a safe bet that the ping was Raines including me in whatever digital conversation was taking place in her brain.Gamble long enough and you learn there is no safe bet.A lesson I was reminded of as I accepted the ping and Malcolm Wolfe's face appeared before me.CHAPTER SIXGifts From An Enemy Are Anything ButNo single word could describe the influx of emotion I felt in that moment.The closest approximation would require a hyphen.Something along the lines of confusion-rage.Malcolm's thin lips slithered to either side of his face, revealing a row of off-white enamel.A far cry from a perfect smile, but it fit well with the sharp angles and folds of his cheeks and chin.For a guy that'd spent the greater part of the last decade in a coma, he didn't look half bad."Sorry, wrong number," I said, clumsily pawing through the Stream to initiate a trace.A simple procedure, though filling balloons with wind might have been easier than using the Stream in my emotionally compromised state."Always with the jokes," Malcolm said."I've missed that about you.""That feeling is less than mutual.""You wound me.Listen, sorry I didn't call sooner.I've been busy absorbing this brave new world.I'm sure you understand.But now that I'm here, we have so much to catch up on.""Not sure we have much to talk about.Unless you're looking to lose a couple teeth, in which case I might know a guy," I said, resisting the urge to unload a vortex pistol into the man's face.I reminded myself nothing good would come from that but a blown-out windshield followed by another pride-bruising slap from Raines.In the end, it didn't matter.I had no pistol, so the windshield remained intact.For now."Is violence the answer to all your problems? Suppose that's the Lowers rubbing off on you, eh?" Malcolm leaned in, eliciting a response from the nanobots tucked away in my olfactory lobe.The sudsy sterility of soap.Jasmine, perhaps.The scent penetrated my virtual nostrils, eliciting a visceral response in the form of a stomach-curdling shudder.It wafted off him as if he'd spent the greater portion of the morning trying to wash away the person he'd been."By the way, have you found whatever it is you went down there searching for?"I eyed the trace in the bottom-right quadrant of my display as it crept towards zero.Thirty-three seconds.I hadn't gone to the Lowers in search of anything, only to escape memories of a former life.Memories, it turned out, haunt regardless of location."No," I said, only partially aware of Raines watching from the driver's seat, "still looking.Suppose I'm getting closer, though.""And if I may ask, what are you searching for?"I wanted to sit quietly, never speak again, but Malcolm wanted to talk.I was obliged to let him until the trace could finish."Penance, maybe.""Poor Tom, seeking that which he shall not find.""I found you once.""A technicality.""That's a big technicality.""Indeed." Malcolm tilted his head and nodded."But were you in time? And if not, then does it truly matter?"There was nothing I could say that didn't start with a scream, so I bit my lip."And if you don't find your penance?" Malcolm continued."Is there a heaven for men like you?""That's not a place I'd want to spend eternity.""You don't give yourself enough credit.""You give yourself too much," I said, checking the trace once more.Zero.The trace flashed twice then disappeared.Weird.I chased it through the user interface and pulled up the data-log.Bad news.The trace had been terminated.Results deleted.A command that could only be issued by my nanocomp.A command which most certainly had not been issued by my nanocomp.Not without my consent, at least.Which is something it would need."Please tell me you didn't think it would be that easy?" Malcolm grinned like a kid burning ants with a magnifying glass.He'd hacked my nanocomp.Which shouldn't be possible, but it was the only explanation that could account for what had happened.I wouldn't let him see me squirm.Not nine years ago, and not now [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]