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Absentmindedly ripping his
napkin in to 7 million pieces, Milo Cunningham watched the thousands of
courier scooters plying the streets. It would be incorrect to say the
zipped their way through traffic, because they made up the majority of
traffic. Since the closing down of most of the Internet, the number of
private courier companies that delivered information from one part of
the city, or the planet, to the other had exploded. The scooters, some
bound to the earth, others able to use all three dimensions, buzzed like
wasps, but rarely caused problems. For someone who had never been to the
big city, it could be quite a sight. Milo had seen it all before, and
had a much more immediate problem to deal with.
'So, what'll it be?' the voice from across the table startled Milo out
of his daze.
He looked over to the man who had asked the question. Robert Page was
overweight, unshaven, and wearing an ill-fitting suit that now had most
of his meal on it.
Milo would not normally be seen with someone such as Page, but as a
detective Sergeant from the Endacott-Golov Company, he was able to
impress upon Milo the importance of this meeting.
'I'm not the guy you need for this Rob.' Milo answered.
'I think you are. Listen, SolarCorp goes public with that chip in less
then three-weeks. Our aerospace division is going to need 18 months just
to catch up.
Com'on, Kat, you and TIR are the best. This will be a cakewalk for you
two.'
Milo sighed an annoyed sigh and looked out the window again.
'Rob, how can I make you understand this? I'm retired. I've been living
the good life for two years now. Even if I wanted the job, I couldn't do
it. Get someone younger. ’
'We need the best. This isn't like walking into GE and dumping a bills
file. This is Plank's skunk-work stuff. Very secure.'
'And I'm not up to it.' Milo said as he began to gather up his coat.
'Kat, sit down. There's more.' Page reached into his pocket and pulled
out a small touch-pad with a single button on it. 'It's about TIR.'
'What about TIR? What's that thing?'
'Rob, they always figured something like what happened to TIR was
possible. Rumor has it; they even counted on it. I'm not sure they had
you coming in and stealing him in mind though. This is a link to his
core memory, and it's ….' Page said, as he flipped the box around in his
hand. He could not bring his eyes to meet Milo's.
'Kill him?'
"Kat, TIR is just a computer chip.
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