Unexpected meeting. Chapter 10

Riek Sergev entered the huge hall. Looking up, he saw nothing - the directional light panels perfectly illuminated the lower part of the hall, but its vaults were hidden by the dusk reigning above. “Hmm,” Riek thought, “the NBS Directorate simply loves monumental buildings.” In this super-protected and fully automated building, the council of the NBS rarely met. Riek did not quite understand why they should hold face-to-face meetings instead of virtual ones at all and attended meetings even less often than they did. He preferred his fully lighted laboratory facilities to the gloom of the meeting room. However, he could not miss the meeting in which the main figure was himself.





Riek did not linger in this hall and passed on. Passing a series of rooms, he got into the meeting room, where five people sat at a huge round table. One free space was intended to enter. Riak greeted everyone with a raised hand and sat down in a spacious armchair, slightly set aside from the table, which looked more like a majestic throne with expensive decoration. Mechanized chair smoothly moved to the table. Now there were six people in the hall, evenly distributed around the table of enormous size. Four men and two women sat at considerable distances from each other. It seemed that for communication you will have to constantly raise your voice, if you don’t scream at all. However, the directional acoustics system leveled these distances, creating personal acoustic channels for each meeting participant. Neural network at meetings was not taken to use. The minutes of the meeting were conducted automatically from the faces of all those present and at the end of the meeting was available to each participant.
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“So gentlemen,” began one of the two women, “everything is complete.” We hadn’t been going to live for a very long time, - she looked around at everyone, - a similar general meeting with an absolutely full composition was about two years ago. The reason for the full-time meeting is weighty and applies to all, but for a long time we will not linger. Meeting declare open. Today we have the only agenda - the long-awaited results of the Sergeev division and the further fate of the neurostop technology. Riek?

- Greetings to all. I'll be brief. All you are aware of the work "Warranty". Many are already using basic protocols in their experimental products and are preparing them for integration into the program. Recently completed, - Riek hesitated a little, he did not want to pronounce the name of the project containing the name of Laer of Siberia, and provoke questions about the fate of the main people in it - a pilot project, the results of which you can confidently say that ... - The program "Guarantee" has not met expectations and will be closed. Her achievements were useless. The path will have to start over.

Riek was silent. He felt silence in the hall. In his own words, he rejected the development of most of the company for at least fifty years. Of course, everyone already knew about the current situation from the brief report that he had sent out, but his words put an end to this story right now. Long and careful developments of new neural networks, their preparation for integration with new implants were in vain.

- What, absolutely useless? - A question was heard, sitting to the left of Riak, a man.

- Unfortunately yes. I put the question of the complete closure of the program "Guarantee" and the release of all resources involved in it.

- Riek, do you understand what you are talking about? A voice rang out, the owner of which sat across from Riak.

“Listen,” Riek raised his hand, warning a flurry of questions, “I understand perfectly well that closing the program does not hurt only one person.

Riek glanced to the left, gliding at the previous speaker. Judging by the relaxed posture of the head of the development of autonomous implants, he really didn’t care. Support for neurostop, for sure, was implemented a maximum of a pair of new devices, the projects of which are now simply closed. The main products will not suffer from this decision. What can not be said about the rest - it is impossible to take and simply remove the functionality that has become unnecessary from the neural networks. It is impossible to leave it unused - it will sooner or later lead to big problems in the future.

- I understand that all the others have already deeply enough implemented the main protocols and their shutdown ... it is impossible just like that. But get me right. I have been doing neurostep for a long time. It was not easy for me to take and send to the scrap my last hundred years. Warranty failed. Fully. It is a fact. All resources must be removed from this program. From this point on, we only lose time, which you can use more intelligently.

Silence reigned in the hall. The heads of the corporation's divisions pondered about broken contracts, reducing personal reputation, and wondering about the procedures for losses associated with reorientations of production cycles.

- M-da-aaa ... - the man sitting on the right stretched, - Riek, you very much set everyone up. All the development of the last century will have to throw in the trash. But it is not so scary. I transferred six percent of production to a new type. You were so convincing at the time! Now what to do with it? Changes in cycles will require investments of at least sixty to eighty percent of the construction of new complexes. Which, by the way, will work immediately without failures and troubles. Just quitting everything means simply freezing your presence in several worlds and forgetting about all the investments in their infrastructure. These locations I got not a click of the fingers. And this situation is not just me. And when we go back there everything will be ruined, because the local will not normally be able to support all this. In view of the lack of resources, and even desires, they still hoped that it was our centers that would be a heavy development driver for locations at first.

“Especially,” the woman sitting to the right of the previous speaker took advantage of the pause, “how are we going to explain the failure to the Union government?” Riek, NBS provided your development only by a third. If the Union decides to roll the work, then do not hope that the corporation will restart your project alone. We have enough problems without you. And yes, are you aware of the development of how many worlds are already planned in the program? What to do with it now? Yes, all the CMS corporations are happy to use this situation to weaken our positions and influence. And something tells me that the SCM officials this time will not be on our side.

There was silence. Riek tensely anticipated the following questions. People had to speak. From his point of view, the meeting has so far carried the expected development and no one has yet recalled the fate of the agent, plunging into the heap and scope of their problems. Any rhetorical questions raised by Rieku were more than feigned. But the memories of a person who no longer exists, whom everyone here knew personally, did not promise him anything good.

“Well, well,” the head of the corporation broke the silence, “we all had problems in five minutes.” Big problems. Riek, I hope you didn't come here to just say this? What options?

- Yes, right. I suggest restarting the project.

- Start all over again? - I heard incredulously on the left.

- No, not our development will be taken as a basis. It will save us more than a dozen years.

- Whose development?

- Churchmen.

There was a general sigh at the table.

- And at what stage is their development?

- In the stage of development. We even benefit from it - we can quickly figure everything out and, relying on their development as a base, start our project. But, again, in order to save money and time, I do not see the point. If they already have a good model, you can disassemble it in pieces and study it, but not change it. This will give us the opportunity to use the research resources of the clergy for some of the work. The scale of the scale, of course, is much lower. But in our conditions and this relief of life.

“I am against it,” said the implant curator. - We should not use someone else's base. As you said, “quickly figure it out” is critical to risk. We will now understand, and after two hundred years it turns out that something was not found. Or they thought that they had understood something, but in fact it turns out that it works quite differently. About the bookmarks from the fathers generally keep quiet - even if we catch all they will find ways to slip at least something. You will not do all the work personally, and people ... this is a weak link. Your approach has the right to life, but to ensure the reliability and peace of your life, you will have to do a full filtering of the neural signals. Provided that this is generally possible, since what is there among the clergy for neuroschematics and what modulation of neural signals is still unknown.

“I also doubt the reliability of such a decision,” a voice across the table supported the previous speaker, “and I’m worried even not so much by the fathers as the guardians. We run the risk of running into their technology and not even understand it. In the fairy tales of their neutrality, I do not believe. On the little things - yes, they do not interfere. But here - not a trifle.

“How would the fleet react to this at all?” All they wanted was that they won’t get it.

- Yes, and the leadership of the Union, too, will not be happy.

Recently, calmly and confidently respectable people at the table made a real hubbub. Riek did not even try to answer questions. Bosses of the corporation asked rhetorical questions to each other, thereby aggravating the gloom of the situation. Finally, a flurry of indignation began to subside. The head of the corporation clapped her hands a couple of times and silence slowly settled in the hall.

- Riek, I think all these questions that have been heard here are familiar to you like no one else. Unlike patients, but small in percentage terms, the losses of individual units you invested in this young direction of our corporation practically everything that you had. I appreciate it. That is why at this table for the last hundred years there are six chairs. Although one of them is often empty, she let go of the hairpin. - At one time you really was convincing. A new direction was created not just with our support - you poured your energy into this direction, gave it life. And your services as the founder are undeniable.

"Oh, something gently spreading," thought Riek, "as if it were not painful to fall." The permanent head of the NBS was famous for its wayward character as well as mind. With her wit and causticity she could level a person’s opinion on almost any issue, as well as belittle or even crush his self-esteem not only in others' eyes, but also his own. The woman was very attractive by the SPM standard and one of her favorite pastimes was the intellectual mockery of young and self-confident people who dared to try to make acquaintance with her for romantic or business purposes. The high life of the head was widely reported in the press and many politicians of the SPM were reasonably afraid of it and preferred not to get involved with it unless it was absolutely necessary.

- Practice is the criterion of truth. And at the moment the result - she made an expressive pause - to put it mildly is not convincing. However, when something new is created, the risk of error is very high. And to all of this, ”she looked around at all those sitting at the table, lingering at the head of the implant unit, which made him grin,“ is very well known. We, ”she emphasized the word“ us, ”appeared to have certain difficulties and problems. And they will have to decide together. I propose to think about minimizing losses. Some questions I can solve with the authorities of the Union using my own, - she smiled sweetly, - charming irresistible. But we need an agreed plan. Riek, you made it all up - did you think exactly how to unravel it all now?

- Of course. But for this I need the general position of the council on the very fact of the need to develop a neurostop.

“Neurostop is needed,” the head answered firmly. - Does anyone have a strong argued objection?

No one objected. The head of the implant unit covered the head altogether, settling more comfortably in the chair. He was one of the oldest in the council and, it seems, was not at all afraid of the head of the corporation. At least, he allowed himself a little more than what others could afford and did not experience much discomfort from the rare trickery from the “main” organization.

“Good,” Riek continued. - In this case, we can consider two options. Restarting the development or use of the developments of the clergy. Restarting will be harder for us, because it will take time to analyze the failure. And at this time it is necessary to spend resources on maintenance of that infrastructure which is created within the framework of the "Guarantee". This is a lot of bad money. I have not studied this option seriously. I am sure that it will be disadvantageous. The development of the clergy ... I agree and fully understand all the risks that you have expressed here. But if you look, is it really important that probable, precisely probable, dependence on fathers? The church directly depends on our technology and political decisions. And how long will the Church last on the periphery without our fleet? With custodians harder. However, if they are so technological they cost nothing to push through their decisions in the era of the formation of neural networks. And if it was, then they still did not show themselves. But the prerequisites for this were. There is no reason for such a pessimistic perception of the guardians. If they didn’t have such technologies, then now they don’t - in this area no one can compare with the power of our corporation. At the moment, I proceed from the position that everyone needs a neurostop. Generally all. Without exception. Everyone is interested in creating technology. And everyone understands that only our corporation is able to pull out this development in some reasonable time, release it to the masses and provide effective support and development. Churchmen make this technology for millennia. And then the same amount to finish it up to a workable version. About the distant worlds, I generally keep quiet, despite their technological rise in recent times. At the moment I am working on an option based on the technologies of the Church. I already have their basic neural network protocol. And now I can say that thirty-forty percent of our existing base under the “Warranty” will not require any meaningful change. This is a very significant time and money saving.

- Where did you get their work at such a level? Churchmen so quickly do not solve questions! - asked the head of the NBS.

- I have, so to speak, well-established horizontal ties and I quickly think of how to unravel everything with minimal damage to the corporation. It is my unit and I personally are responsible for the situation. And we are already solving it.

“I hope in the Union your connections are equally effective,” grumbled the man sitting across from Riak. - Because it is you who will have to push through the restart of the program and protect our interests.

- I understand you. Tomorrow a meeting is scheduled with the leadership of the SPC board and, perhaps, a personal visit to the fleet commander. Meetings will be the same character as ours. Reporting character. I will have to listen a lot more about myself. I propose to think in more detail about the options for our next steps. In a week, it is worth getting together again and working out a common position, based on which I will build a corporate line of conduct. In a few days I will send you a refined analysis of the work received from the Church.

- C'mon! - replied immediately emboldened, apparently from the prospect of a speedy conclusion of the meeting, the head of the implant unit. - What are you going there for three days? In someone else's design.

“Don't forget that I now have the best research base,” retorted Riek.

- Having a base will not replace an objective assessment and experience. You have not much experience in this topic.

The man waved dismissively toward Rike, who was about to protest, and continued, addressing everyone.

- Gentlemen, I support the decision to meet in a week. The next meeting will be more productive - we will understand our situation, know the reaction of the Union and the Fleet. Yes, and Riek can be a week will give more useful information. We must pay tribute - he came to us not to separate with his hands, but with some kind of real decision. I don’t know what channels you have with the Church, but you have demonstrated the ability to solve the situation.

- Someone else wants to add something? - asked the head of the corporation.

No one was wanted.

- In that case, let's disperse. Despite the rather unpleasant news, I was glad to see everyone here personally.

- And when were we going here in the absence of problems, then? The man sitting on the right grunted. - Constantly problems from outside, then divisions with each other gag.

“It is not true,” the head objected, “seven years ago everyone gathered here in honor of my round date.”

The pensive faces of people gradually softened.

- You, by the way, that time broke my chair! - She hit her hand on the table.

“Um-hmmm, but I faithfully compensated for your loss.” Even with interest! - the man rounded his eyes.

Heads of departments smiled. The voltage subsided a bit.

- You said that the full analogue will be only in a quarter of a century. I will wait patiently for these next eighteen years.

People rose from the table with quiet chuckles.

- Riek, wait for me at the output of the second circuit.

***

Riak patiently waited at the exit from the next hall, looking thoughtfully at the quaint mosaic on the wall, which was depicted against the background of the setting sun of some kind of lizard. Riek was not sure that it was a lizard, but it was definitely something flying. Maybe an atmospheric glider? For the correct perception of the picture it was necessary to move away from the wall and look at it all. But Riek's thoughts were already occupied by the upcoming new meeting. There was no quick and swift glider on it, but the predatory lizard seems to be quite possible.Riak believed that today he was lucky and thought gloomily that he would answer the question of the fleet commander about the fate of the best wagon in the fleet. He didn’t even want to think about a similar question in the Council of the SPS concerning Laer. We needed some kind of non-trivial solution to the problem. Riek was startled by surprise when he was gently taken by the arm.

- Chief? ..

- Just Dyad, Riek.

Riek was surprised to find that he was persistently and purposefully pulled to the exit. Having passed several halls, they left the last room, which in fact was a disguised first-level security camera. Those heads who had not yet left the parking lot immediately noticed the couple leaving the building. Dyad with Riek defiled to the nearest aeromobile. Aeromobiles in the parking lot did not differ from each other. Not only that - transports outwardly did not differ from serial models. This was done for security reasons - the cars did not stand out from the general movement, it was harder to follow them and it was difficult to establish who really was in them. Today, the heads of a powerful corporation moved on a fairly common model of the "Moros" of the seventh generation. Cars,despite their one hundred percent similarity with the base model, they were custom-made and very different from standard equipment inside.

- Chief, tomorrow I have a meeting in the Council of the Union. I think I should be ...

- Dyad, Riek, tonight I am just a Dyad for you. And maybe not only today - everything will depend on how you will conduct yourself. - The woman smiled coquettishly. “We need to discuss some issues in a ... ummm ... informal setting." You can not refuse a beautiful woman to spend the evening with him? - she pressed her whole body to his side and Riek felt the warmth of her body.

Rieck, confused, could not understand what was going on. Next to him is one of the most influential people of the CMS, who by his behavior demonstrates that they will now ... go to her house? When he appeared in an organization about such a thing, he could only dream, sneaking glances at the “main” in those rare moments when he could personally contemplate it. With the gradual improvement of his status, Riek got used to his attractive and charming immediate supervisor, who almost from the very beginning supervised his development directly and in many ways helped him with his technical advice and administrative resource. No attempt at rapprochement, even in the direction of informal communication, Riek did not even try to do, having a good idea of ​​what this could turn out for him.From time to time, in the secular chronicles, disassembly of the chapter with contenders for her heart and the NBS skipped a couple of weeks like a beehive, in which the bees discovered the unexpected and instant loss of all honey stocks. And this was not the main thing in Riek's life - his every step was aimed at creating a new neurotechnology, which, he believed, would give a second wind to the development of mankind. Gradually, Riek reached the level of complete independence in decision-making, and for the past seventy years, communication with the head of the NBS differed little from her relations with other heads of divisions of the corporation. Now, Riek's thoughts were confused, trying to figure out which game and why the head had started. Did they decide to finally sink it? Did he not notice something, lost sight of?in which the bees discovered the unexpected and instant loss of all honey stocks. And this was not the main thing in Riek's life - his every step was aimed at creating a new neurotechnology, which, he believed, would give a second wind to the development of mankind. Gradually, Riek reached the level of complete independence in decision-making, and for the past seventy years, communication with the head of the NBS differed little from her relations with other heads of divisions of the corporation. Now, Riek's thoughts were confused, trying to figure out which game and why the head had started. Did they decide to finally sink it? Did he not notice something, lost sight of?in which the bees discovered the unexpected and instant loss of all honey stocks. And this was not the main thing in Riek's life - his every step was aimed at creating a new neurotechnology, which, he believed, would give a second wind to the development of mankind. Gradually, Riek reached the level of complete independence in decision-making, and for the past seventy years, communication with the head of the NBS differed little from her relations with other heads of divisions of the corporation. Now, Riek's thoughts were confused, trying to figure out which game and why the head had started. Did they decide to finally sink it? Did he not notice something, lost sight of?Gradually, Riek reached the level of complete independence in decision-making, and for the past seventy years, communication with the head of the NBS differed little from her relations with other heads of divisions of the corporation. Now, Riek's thoughts were confused, trying to figure out which game and why the head had started. Did they decide to finally sink it? Did he not notice something, lost sight of?Gradually, Riek reached the level of complete independence in decision-making, and for the past seventy years, communication with the head of the NBS differed little from her relations with other heads of divisions of the corporation. Now, Riek's thoughts were confused, trying to figure out which game and why the head had started. Did they decide to finally sink it? Did he not notice something, lost sight of?

The woman laughed merrily and carelessly, as if the companion made her laugh with something. The flying air car slightly leaned over the side and opened the door. The thickness of the door that had driven off unambiguously hinted at a strong car reservation. Rieka, with unexpected and incredible strength, was literally shoved into her. Dyad climbed next. The car slid open the door and majestically emerged from the parking lot. The heads of the NBS divisions, who were closely watching the couple, continued their landing and after five minutes only corporate transport remained in the parking lot.

***

The call scribbled desperately somewhere right in the center of the sleeping man's brain. The man woke up and opened his eyes. The volume of the call has decreased. But as soon as he died down so much that the person decided to close his eyes, the call was sharpened with a new force. Riek opened his eyes and turned them first in one direction, then in the opposite direction. It helped - the sound of the bell completely disappeared. Riek recalled that today his speech at the Council of the SCM and there was no trace of sleep. He rolled onto his back and suddenly realized that this was not his home. The agitated woman, who was sleeping next to him, pressed against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around Riuck's chest. Riek remembered the events of yesterday.

“God! What was yesterday? ”Flashed through Riek’s head. He recalled how Dyad literally kidnapped him in front of the entire directorate of the NBS. They went to some restaurant and Dyad forced him to turn off the neural network record and “tweak” the metabolism to turn off the biochemical neutralization of alcohol. In the restaurant they had dinner and, it seems, noted something. Oh yeah, noted the failure of the project. Then another noted the rebirth of the ashes of his organization units. Then ... Riek remembered little, the memories were untied and fragmentary. He got drunk for the first time in the last fifty years. Or seventy? In the restaurant, of course, accidentally and incomprehensibly, the Riek, it seemed, broke an aquarium with some predatory arthropods that instantly spread across the floor, which was the reason for the emergency closure of the entire restaurant.They left the restaurant right home to Dyad. The evening was continued. Then night came. Night memories were fragmentary and Riek could not compose a complete picture. Yes, it was not necessary - everything was clear and true. Did he allow himself too much tonight and night? And now what to expect from all this? Secular fame Reeku now was not needed.

Riak reluctantly and carefully freed himself from the captivity of women's hands, trying not to wake Dyad, and headed for the shower. The head of the corporation lived smartly - Riek had to wander before he found the right room. He himself did not attach much importance to his life, he loved and appreciated comfort, but if we compare it with the level of the corporation’s directors, one could say that he lived austerely. Compared to the multi-storey residence of the head of a corporation, it was in general a wretched existence. Riek gladly took a shower, pulled on the first available robe and returned to the bedroom.

In the bedroom, he found Diad, who was lying on his side, propped his head on his hand. When he appeared she perked up.

- My dear, why are you leaving the sleeping beauty? This is somehow ... uncivilized. Could in the morning and hug, kiss ...

Riek stopped wondering what to do, what model of behavior to choose next. In front of him was still not a casual acquaintance from yesterday's party. The atypical manner of behavior of the chef knocked him off track. Dyad was amused by his expression, she laughed loudly and stretched, causing the light blanket to slip off, revealing the upper part of her body. Apparently, Riek's expression became even more helpless and she took pity on him.

“Go up two floors above, find room 53 and put on something decent.” Do you have a meeting today in the council of worlds? I'll take a shower for now.

Riek did not force himself to persuade, quickly retiring from the room.

The second time they met in the dining room this morning. I found the dining room Riek more quickly, as I guessed to connect to the information network of the house and asked for a floor plan. Dyad is located in the corner of the sofa, climbing with his feet. She was wearing a long gown of golden color and she was hugging a large mug with some kind of drink, apparently hot, because from time to time she picked up the sides of the mug alternately. The thoughtfulness disappeared from her face when she saw Rieka and her expression took a genuine keen interest. Dyad critically looked him up and down.

- Well, not bad. The style is chosen according to the content of the meeting - business, but independent. Sit down - on the table "NSB", you should drink. Maybe you want breakfast? - she asked sympathetically?

Riek was wearing a standard business suit. The strict style emphasized his slimness - he was still very young compared to other council members and was not lazy to keep himself in shape, while other chapters devoted this time only to the urgent need dictated by high life. Informality Rieku was added by the unbuttoned top button of a white shirt, the absence of a handkerchief in a jacket and its slightly wrinkled bottom. All conventions were respected.

Riek took off his jacket and sat down in the middle of the couch. Taking the glass, he sipped a third of it and closed his eyes. Not to say that he felt bad - the neural network did its job for the night, and the morning douche refreshed it, returning the same confident mood. However, this extremely expensive drink will additionally charge its energies, which today will not interfere with it. He felt a sudden lethargy in his whole body — that was as it should be. “Neural network vigor” at one time was a pharmaceutical mistake, an unsuccessful product of the company, until by chance its interesting influence on the neural network was discovered. So she became the first and still remained the only effective and safe neurostimulator. The production of this drink was extremely difficult, so its price was just space.

- No, thanks, it seems yesterday I had a great dinner. Although I did not remember exactly what I ate.

Dyad tilted her head to the side and laughed.

- Yes, it was fun. I do not even remember when it was the last time.

She moved toward him and patted her ear.

- Are you afraid of me?

“Frankly, yes,” Riek honestly admitted.

- And doing it right.

Dyad moved back to her corner. She took it out of the mug and stared at Riek again.

“You do it right,” she repeated, “but turning off the metabolic control yesterday was the wrong decision. I ... - she hesitated, - not that I regret it, quite the contrary ... But do not let this happen in the future with those you do not trust.

- It is not about trust. I know you for a long time, you are my mentor, in fact, thanks to you, I am now represented on the board of the corporation - how can I not trust you? Just wary.

- I definitely like you. The balanced behavior of an intelligent person. “She took a few sips from her cup and changed the subject. - By the way - what time is your meeting with the Council?

Riak was about to respond, but Dyad was ahead of him, apparently requesting data from the infoset.

- You have time and even with a stock. Have you already thought how and what will you talk about?

- The model of behavior will be the same as yesterday. I am no longer in the situation when you can click as I used to. We'll have to get used to the new role. I feel that she, - Riek was silent, - will not pass quickly. Next week there will be face-to-face meetings with some high-ranking officials. It will be worse there, because at the time I gave personal guarantees.

- No, Riek. Your behavior should not change. And if you think a little, you will understand why.

Riek thought, turning over options in his mind. He was so stuck in the intricate secular and political life of society that the most intelligent thing was not to make any sudden movements now. It was necessary to convey information, understand the reaction and then make some decisions. The brazen and self-assured pushing of his interests, to which he was used, could now lead to unpredictable consequences. So to nothing and without coming, he looked inquiringly at Dyad.

“Riek, Riek,” Dyad shook her head. - Bad I, as you say, mentor. - She was silent. - Although, I more supervised the technical side of your activity. Politically you made yourself completely yourself. Riek, a leader of high rank is first and foremost a subtle politician. Do you think I keep managing a corporation only with my mind or attractiveness? And do not dare to think that I so easily invite someone to my place for the night! You are an exception for so many years. - Dyad thought, then as if came to her senses. - Humanity has made a breathtaking breakthrough in technical development, but human relations over these tens of millennia have not changed at all. It is beneficial to get out of many situations - you just have to take into account secular traditions and skillfully play on the nuances of the structure of human society.

Riek continued to look blankly at his immediate chief, mentor, head of a corporation, or a woman with an incomprehensible degree of intimacy — he no longer knew exactly who she was responsible for.

- When was the last time you attended any social event with your companion? - Diad asked.

“Long time,” Riek replied, a little discouraged.

“Have you ever been with a woman the last time?”

- Eeee, - stretched her opponent, - and what does it have to do with it?

- Exactly, I used to ride all over the periphery, and when you return you burrow into your center and nobody sees you. - She paused and thoughtfully added. - Although - it even turned out for the better. The effect will be breathtaking. - She smiled, but it turned out somehow predatory and ominous.

Dyad looked at Riak and sighed, realizing the futility of her efforts to direct the thoughts of the man in the right direction.

“What are you thinking about now?”

- I wonder if Simmerman will be at the meeting or not. I picked up such a moment that he should not have time to return from his tour of the periphery. His presence is highly undesirable.

- Riek!

- Yes?

“Yesterday, all the chapters saw us getting into my car!”

In Riek's brain, something clicked, switched, and thoughts prepared to accept a new channel of their current, but they were in no hurry to move, preferring, so far, only to look at each other.

- Yes, they did. But, we went to an extra meeting. Closing the project ...

- Remarkable conclusions, given my, so to speak, very light behavior. What do you think any conclusions will be made by any normal person? - Dyad laughed, - Yes, she is ready to argue that everyone started to merge information wherever possible with lightning speed. In our council, intelligent people are sitting and I am sure that everyone understood everything at once. But you, ”she grinned and looked at him,“ have to really smoke for a while. And yesterday's dinner? - She rolled her eyes. - You showed such an unexpected and unpredictable vigor, that now she couldn’t go unnoticed. I could not even dream of such an amazing effect.

Riak's brain clicked again. Much louder this time. He connected to the network and requested the morning news bulletins. After processing the request, he immediately opened the secular news section. “New lover of Dyad Itvor”, “Riek Sergev gaining points in the council of the NBS”, “The history of the neurostop - love punishment by the head of the NBS”, “The heads of the NBS organized a brawl in the restaurant”, “The wedding of the head of the NBS will take place in two months”, “The secrets of the NBS. Riek and Dyad - who seduced whom. Detailed investigation "," In the restaurant "White Noise", the lover of Dyad Itvor, whom she hid for the last hundred years, lit up, "You have never seen anything like this - a new victim of Dyad Itor."

“This is a catastrophe ...” Riak spat involuntarily as he scanned the headlines. Reading the contents of the articles was pointless.

The dyad was so amused by his reaction that she, in a laugh, spilled some of the contents of her mug right on the bathrobe. Not paying significant attention to this, she frankly enjoyed the moment.

“Riek, dear, well, it’s impossible to mock me like that,” she bent again in laughter when Riek looked at her with a bemused look — he still couldn’t move away from his recent discovery.

Riek has built its image over the years and decades. The image of an arrogant, confident, successful and reliable representative of the corporation. He sometimes hard and uncompromisingly pushing their decisions. Those who helped him never lost. In the end, the image began to work for its owner and Riek, relatively painlessly, managed to achieve unprecedented funding for his work from the SPC. And everything was smooth. While he was not familiar with the results of the project "Laer". He had to accept the fact that for the first time in a very long time he suffered a crushing defeat. I had to revise my behavior in the future. And suddenly, in one morning, everything changed. What happened did not fit in absolutely no way in the old image. The new model of behavior is now also in question. If he sleeps ... with the very head of the NBS!Now you just can not behave like a normal guilty head of the corporation. Because it will indirectly and negatively affect the Dyad itself, in particular, and the corporation as a whole.

- Discard me ... I now get ... as if the official groom of the head of the NBS corporation? - Riek suddenly realized his jumped status in the entire galaxy.

“Well, finally,” the woman nodded in satisfaction. - So how will you behave on the board?

Riek was silent, digesting simple truth and wondering why he hadn’t seen such an obvious thing so far.

- Just like before. But today - without requirements. Just a meeting with a strong emphasis on the fact that nothing is lost and we have an alternative solution, which has long been in development.

- Right. There is no hurry. In the Union to comprehend this information for a long time. With the military, issues can be resolved quickly only if they demonstrate at least something that works. And it depends on how long the churchmen will move. I was impressed by how quickly you reached an agreement with them, and you came to an agreement with a real result, but do not think that everything will be decided there in a week. Although it is already obvious that the decision will be positive. Today you bring the news in person to the council. When politicians are aware of the scale, they will be shaken for a month. But then they will be more compliant. There is no hurry. We may well take a month to "meditate on the situation." Have you already thought through the most dangerous questions?

- Yes and no. Any question can be answered evasively: a fundamentally new development, little-studied properties of the human brain, the territory of the new and the unknown. But, - he paused and confessed, - that I don’t represent the fate of the two agents.

- Yes, yesterday you deftly went around the name "Laer". And the heads did not raise this question. Riek, everyone understands everything perfectly. But on the council of worlds, ”she paused,“ you might not be so lucky. And already in the fleet - for sure. I was not personally acquainted with Orton, but his file is impressive, which is not surprising for a person selected by the program. My advice to you is to tune in and speak of them as inanimate objects. These are just “project elements” and only. You can have anything inside, but you shouldn’t show it in any way.

Riak's mood began to fall. He put an empty glass on the table.

“I,” he said in a slightly fallen voice, “these people are on my conscience.” Live with me. It was worth more clearly outline the scope of the experiment.

Riek rose and took his jacket.

- Perhaps I should go. I am now a celebrity, you should use it to the maximum and have time to drop in before meeting with a couple of people.

Riek looked at Dyad, who was not even going to get off her seat. From her detached look, it was obvious that she was doing something in the infoset. Riek made an indecisive step to the side.

“Hey,” said Dyad’s disgruntled voice, “what about the gallant farewell to the woman he loves?”

Riak approached the sofa, leaned over and kissed her. At the last moment, Diad turned her head a little and the kiss fell not on her fragrant-smelling cheek, as Riek expected, but on the lips. Riek straightened.

- Can a personal question?

The woman arched a brow in anticipation.

“All these recent events between us ... The background of them ...” he got off track, but then continued, “how should I assess our current relationship?” Is this a temporary political union or ... is there something more personal?

Dyad was silent. Riek waited and was ready for any answer. The pause dragged on. Finally, the woman broke the silence.

- If I wanted to give you only political weight, then it was not at all necessary to drag you into my bed. - She calmed down, as if pondering the following words. - Although, I must admit, at the moment this method is the most effective in terms of smoothing issues to the corporation. Questions of course will, but today, - she mysteriously looked at him. - Today, the council will examine you under a microscope and everyone will have no time for some kind of neurostop. Everything is already clear with neurostop: when will it appear? But the emergence of a new and probably significant figure - we need to think about it today. And you need to react to it immediately - right now start building a favorable relationship with you. The fate of the program will determine your current behavior. Show cold confidence, demonstrate your behavior,that something happened to the program that should have happened and you are not surprised at all, you have calculated everything in advance and you have already prepared an alternative for a long time. For years, the business style you have developed is characterized by maximum accuracy and consistency of your actions. Use it today. All the political weight that a person accumulates over a long time turns out to be critically necessary only a few times in his life. And today is just such a day in your life.it turns out to be critically necessary only a few times in his life. And today is just such a day in your life.it turns out to be critically necessary only a few times in his life. And today is just such a day in your life.

Dyad attentively looked at Riek and got out of her corner from the sofa.

- However, you asked a reasonable question. Perhaps I spend you.

She grabbed his arm. On the sleeve of the golden robe the stain darkened, from the recently spilled contents of the mug.

“Well, the robe is dirty,” she grumbled, and pushed Rieka in the side, “by the way because of you!”

“I'll ... buy you a new one,” Riek replied automatically.

They looked at each other and laughed. Dyad led him to the elevator.

- You see Riek, I know you for a long time. I will not cheat - at first you interested me as a person only because of the similarity of your behavior, communication, purely human qualities with the once dear person to me. But the more I looked at you, the better I understood that you ... ”she paused, choosing the words,“ you are you. ” This is a trite conclusion, of course.

They went to the elevator that opened at their approach - the house correctly calculated the vector of movement of people. The elevator went somewhere down, obeying the neural network command of Dyad.

- The further I recognized you, the more I understood the essence of your outlook, the motivation of actions, the reasons for behavior. In the end, you left without this comparative raid of memories. Therefore, I will answer you this way: you cannot say that I do not care for you. Yesterday evening, and ... tonight — I don’t regret it at all. Rather, the opposite is true.This morning, you also showed tact, did not be impudent, and tried to find out the fundamental question of our relations right away, although you put it off until the very last moment.

The elevator stopped and they went to the underground parking lot.

- And how carefully and cautiously you led yourself to me. “Just lovely,” she concluded, giving him her smile.

They approached the aeromobile. The side door smoothly disappeared into the car body. Dyad made an inviting gesture inside the car. Riek looked at her, then suddenly hugged his waist and let go only after he kissed him tightly.

“Well, I have already begun to become impudent,” stated the slightly embarrassed head of a powerful corporation. She looked pleased, however.

- Thank you for your frankness. At the moment, our personal and corporate interests are closely related. Perhaps there may be something between us, but, really, it will become clear only after I solve the corporation’s problem, ”Riek summed up and got into the car. - I think I'll solve it. Fast or slow - no matter, there will be progress.

He resolutely sat down in a chair and looked through the opening of the door, behind which stood the Dyad.

- Yes, that's exactly how I like you. Riek, you should not consider everything only from the standpoint of practicality. I understand your fears, but ... after everything is settled down, I reasonably think that we have - she emphasized the word "us" - life will begin to play with bright colors.

- The day after tomorrow we will meet in the corporation, dear. Sorry, but it is unlikely to work out earlier. Riek nodded to a woman waving to him and closed the door.

The car climbed to a small height and smoothly moved to the entrance of one of the tunnels, which emerged to the surface away from the residence of the head of the corporation, flowing directly into the general traffic flow. Dyad looked after her and her face took a sad-dreamy expression. The age of Dyad was so great that she already understood very well her, sometimes impulsive, character, motivation of actions, actions. “When everything settles ... What will happen next? - she thought. “Will there be any sense in this game?” When the car disappeared into the tunnel, a woman approached the elevator that opened, and her face showed power and slight arrogance.

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Unexpected meeting. Chapter 10
Text version: 1.0.1.
Date of first publication: 06/15/2017.
Last edited Date: Sep 03, 2017

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The full table of contents is given in Chapter 1 .

Quick navigation:
Chapter 9 is the previous chapter.
Chapter 10 is the current chapter.
Chapter 11 is the next chapter.

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Dear readers!

You and I have made a kind of anniversary: ​​10 chapters, 1.5 years for a story, a little over a quarter of a million characters.

Initially it was supposed to publish by chapter per month and finish the story in one year. But life has made its own severe adjustments. Yes, and I, frankly, was overly self-confident, counting on their performance. Nevertheless, the work continues, although perhaps not as quickly as you and I would like.

Last weekend, I realized that my story would be nice to highlight my personal "house" on the Internet. So I overcame my natural laziness and decided to make a blog. Since the “house” was exactly personal, I decided to make a blog myself — I do not consider myself to be a website builder pro, but I have some experience. In addition, given that after the publication of each chapter, the number of subscribers on Geektimes grew, I forced myself to turn my face to people and make the story available on social networks - I created groups on VKontakte and Facebook. Now, if you advise this story to someone, you can follow him in a more familiar setting, and not only in the context of our “geeky” site.

Therefore, I had a fun weekend, like a person who used to work only with the DLE engine - I decided to build a blog on Wordpress and spent the day setting it up, studying, setting up and initial filling. In general, it was interesting, although in Wordpress everything was reduced to tuning through civilized mouse-poking in the admin panel and plug-ins and with the same liberties as in DLE in the output templates you no longer climb - in DLE, only knowing HTML and at least minimal CSS, You can build from a template that will allow fantasy.

I also completely ignored (yes, today is 2017, but such people are found) the existence of social networks - imagine the incredible surprise of a man who spent his whole life mostly on forums and classic sites and when he first tried to add an entry to a social network, he faced the absence of a WYSIWYG editor , support for BB-codes, the absence of the link insertion button and inoperative constructs such as <a href =, the absence of an insertion button for the image and ignoring codes of the type <img src =. After a couple of hours of torment, I got mad, “How can I use it?” And simply deleted the group in VC (in fact, no, there’s just nothing, you will never delete it, but you can make it so that no one needs it and search results will not fall). The second call took place only the next day, and even successfully. I thought naivelythat Facebook will be almost the same, but the content was so crookedly imported into the group that I had to sit down and deal with the Open Graph ... everything was decided, of course, by installing and configuring the plug-in for WP, but, from my point of view, I made a crutch, not a solution Problems - how to slip an individual picture for a snapshot of an article in which there are no Karinks at all, I did not understand. From the point of view of usability, it seems to me, VK will be much friendlier and, importantly, it works correctly with my Firefox. Wordpress-> social network and other social scaling integration has not been praised by me for the automation of the export and I have so far waved my hand to it - then I will, someday, maybe. Everything new works, it can be said, in a test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.but the content was so crookedly imported into the group that I had to sit down and deal with the Open Graph ... everything was decided, of course, by installing and configuring the plug-in for WP, but, from my point of view, I made a crutch, not a solution to the problem - like Facebook to slip an individual picture for a snapshot of an article in which there are no caricons at all, I did not understand. From the point of view of usability, it seems to me, VK will be much friendlier and, importantly, it works correctly with my Firefox. Wordpress-> social network and other social scaling integration has not been praised by me for the automation of the export and I have so far waved my hand to it - then I will, someday, maybe. Everything new works, it can be said, in a test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.but the content was so crookedly imported into the group that I had to sit down and deal with the Open Graph ... everything was decided, of course, by installing and configuring the plug-in for WP, but, from my point of view, I made a crutch, not a solution to the problem - like Facebook to slip an individual picture for a snapshot of an article in which there are no caricons at all, I did not understand. From the point of view of usability, it seems to me, VK will be much friendlier and, importantly, it works correctly with my Firefox. Wordpress-> social network and other social scaling integration has not been praised by me for the automation of the export and I have so far waved my hand to it - then I will, someday, maybe. Everything new works, it can be said, in a test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.Of course, by installing and configuring the plug-in for WP, but from my point of view, I made a certain crutch, and not a solution to the problem - like Facebook, slip an individual picture for a snapshot of an article in which there is no Karinka at all, I did not understand. From the point of view of usability, it seems to me, VK will be much friendlier and, importantly, it works correctly with my Firefox. Wordpress-> social network and other social scaling integration has not been praised by me for the automation of the export and I have so far waved my hand to it - then I will, someday, maybe. Everything new works, it can be said, in a test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.Of course, by installing and configuring the plug-in for WP, but from my point of view, I made a certain crutch, and not a solution to the problem - like Facebook, slip an individual picture for a snapshot of an article in which there is no Karinka at all, I did not understand. From the point of view of usability, it seems to me, VK will be much friendlier and, importantly, it works correctly with my Firefox. Wordpress-> social network and other social scaling integration has not been praised by me for the automation of the export and I have so far waved my hand to it - then I will, someday, maybe. Everything new works, it can be said, in a test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.In which there are no caricons, I did not understand. From the point of view of usability, it seems to me, VK will be much friendlier and, importantly, it works correctly with my Firefox. Wordpress-> social network and other social scaling integration has not been praised by me for the automation of the export and I have so far waved my hand to it - then I will, someday, maybe. Everything new works, it can be said, in a test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.In which there are no caricons, I did not understand. From the point of view of usability, it seems to me, VK will be much friendlier and, importantly, it works correctly with my Firefox. Wordpress-> social network and other social scaling integration has not been praised by me for the automation of the export and I have so far waved my hand to it - then I will, someday, maybe. Everything new works, it can be said, in a test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.in the test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.in the test mode, it looks somewhat ascetic, but, nevertheless, it works, it performs its task.