DISINTEGRATION

Chapter XIII

The Day of the Statko Effect

The conference ended in a long debate on the ethics of teleportation, the term whose popularity spiked in a matter of hours the following day, as did ZP's ratings accompanied by poignant Rawotzki's quotes. The debate transitioned into infinite threads, both written and vocal, that captivated social lounges.

Ford was quiet and brief, exploding at a slightest irritant and turning the office into an enclosure of tiptoeing jittery lemmings and surreptitious whispers. Matrix seemed to be the only one who could speak to Ford without turning a hair. However, he got sulkier with every conversation which often turned into arguments ending up in Ford thumping away in strides and Matrix bumping his back against a wall, his eyes shut tight. Icon kept bugging him to tell her what was going on, but he would wave her off with a surprising persistency characteristic only of Icon herself.
"Soft Mat's gone rigid," joked IR Herschel. 

The team was taken to the next level; the training started. It was a wearisome chain of lab experiments with whoever was free serving as a guinea pig. The first day the ones to be in tubes with chips and pieces stuck to their temples were Microsoft and Stallone Rivers. Rivers was standing quietly in her tube like it was something she did every day, while Microsoft felt like a total simpleton since he didn't understand a thing of what was going on. 
IR and Augustine teamed up with Wireless Fitzgerald and were constantly enthusing over endless strings of numbers and letters scrolling to and fro around them, then mind-typing frantically. Microsoft was truly amazed as it was the first time he saw mind-typing 'in action'. The commercial for that new frenzy depicted an Apollo-looking tall macho clicking his fingers and causing several SC's of beautiful girls around him to light up with an instant message. The girls flocked around him and started kissing him all over the place. The commercial ended in the man's salacious voice saying, "It's like you're reading my mind". IR was far from a macho-type guy, let alone Augustine, and a tiny WiFi was hardly an image of a sexy girl, still the words buzzed inside Microsoft's head every time they clicked their fingers sending each other formulas, pictures and other jibber-jabber beyond Microsoft's comprehension. He realized he was bored to death. 
He yawned and turned his head to Matrix who sat in the corner of the training room, leaned to one side, tapping nervously on one knee, his other hand tracing his upper lip as if trying to wipe away an invisible crumb. Microsoft had been meaning to speak to him since their brief meeting at his house, but the training sessions started as an avalanche after the conference, and he got swept in them along with the other members of the team. Besides his resurrected memories and the anticipation of the meeting with Rawotzki had thrown him off his stride a little. 
Now, though, sitting in a tube like some sort of an embryo and boring himself out of his mind, the sight of Mat started rubbing Microsoft the wrong way, especially the looks he would give Microsoft at times - the looks a mother would give her child who is about to get an extremely painful injection. Mat had been a good friend to him all those five years of oblivion, it would be a pity if anything Microsoft wanted to do to Ford somehow affected Matrix.
"...Mike!" rang inside his head and he jumped up banging his nape against the tube wall.
"Are you mad?" he yelled back to IR. "I can hear you without the SC."
"It's not an SC, it's a different type of connection, and no, you didn't hear me the first two times I called you," said IR.
Microsoft mechanically grasped his right wrist: he'd completely forgotten that they'd had him take off the SC before entering the tube. The wrist felt strange without it. IR pursed his lips that gave his disheveled look a touch of juvie.
"Oh, sorry." Microsoft caught another anxious glance from Matrix and felt a little queasy.
"Is something wrong?"
"No," said IR. "I just wanted to say that we're going to try out something in a minute, so get ready, it may be a little... weird."
"No kidding! Weirder than a half-naked grown-up man sitting in a tube for hours doing nothing?"
But IR wasn't listening anymore, he had got absorbed in a new portion of figures and letters.
"Okay, guys, lean back and try to relax," rang in Microsoft's head.
He tried to relax and failed, then shivered, although he wasn't cold. Rivers was sitting propped against the tube wall, her eyes closed. Mike did the same, still sick with anticipation. Nothing happened for solid 10 seconds. Then there was something like a tidal wave that covered him and for a moment he thought he'd forgotten how to breathe. He was still in the room, still in the tube, but it was as if he was doing several things at once: sitting quietly, yelling at IR, asking Matrix what was wrong with him, making fun of Rivers, banging against the walls in panic and lying on the sofa in his apartment sulking at the whole world. Then the sensation (or rather the perception) ceased.
"Wow, what was that?" he exclaimed.
"You, my friend, have just experienced the Statko effect," said Augustine with a proud clap of his hands. There were a few things that made him happy, causing people to admire his work was one of the few.
"What effect?" Microsoft asked.
Augustine opened his mouth to explain, but was interrupted by WiFi.
"Statko effect is an artificially induced state of mind wherein a person exercises every possible option of behavior at a given point in time. Discovered and developed by Everest Statko in 2053."
"Great as the mount itself," said Augustine and an article with that same headline popped up to his right forcing apart the stripes of code. 
"Yes," continued Wireless. "But while his experiments were limited to the subconsciousness of a given person, ours has a multidimensional objective approach."
"That is, an objective list of all your potential life choices, so to say," finished Augustine.
"Incredible," said Rivers who'd just woken from the shock of the new sensation. "So, it means we had the same set of options, Mike and me?"
"Not exactly." Augustine stood up and began pacing like a college professor, raving in the opportunity to teach the inferior minds. "See, though the program is objective, working through the fifth dimension, it can't but take into account your personal knowledge and abilities. For example, if a child would want to know how chocolate's made, Statko effect wouldn't trigger in its mind a choice of signing an employment contract with a chocolate factory, because the child wouldn't know there is such an option, but in a multidimensional system that is an option since a child is potentially capable of writing his name of a piece of paper and working at a chocolate factory. This is the brilliance of it - the complete array of options."
"Yeah, it's way hi-fi, for sure, I mean I felt pristine, but what good does it do us?" said Microsoft.
Augustine stared at him, a mixture of shock, disbelief, contempt and annoyance in his face. Microsoft almost regretted he'd even asked.
"What good does it do? Are you serious?"
"Augustine." IR put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but not everyone is a genius like you. Let me explain." 
He got up moving his eyes from Matrix to Microsoft and back, getting more and more excited with every word. "This is actually genius. Mat, you have to listen, this is actually brilliant. Augustine came up with this during the conference. So, you all know Zeno's paradoxes stating that the space and time regarded as space are infinitely divisible, that's what we applied for Diod Medina. The program regards him as a 'motionless arrow', in other words, it virtually divides every half of the the space and time in half on and on, infinitely moving to the point where he...you know...is supposed to eventually split up."
"Now you're talking like WiFi, get to the point." Wireless looked up at the sound of her name but didn't seem to get what Microsoft said.
"Anyway," IR continued. "What if we could induce multidimensional Statko effect for every individual atom of his body and rule out the options where any part of his organism is damaged, then we could 'unfreeze' him and reintegrate without any damage whatsoever! Just a simple decision-making, only we do it for him, so to say, and presto! - he's out."
IR illustrated his last words with a clap and grinned at everyone as if awaiting applause, but none followed. 
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," said Microsoft. Stallone looked equally confused, so Herschel turned his pleading look to Matrix in the hope he'd understood. Matrix put his hand from his mouth to his knee, sighed and shook his head.
"I'm not sure it's possible." 
IR looked devastated, as did Augustine, even Wireless perked up a notch or two. 
"Matrix, you have to see the formulae, it's not as complicated as it may sound, we've done all the calculation--" Wireless broke off, because Matrix kept shaking his head. 
"Don't you think I've considered this?" he said sweeping his eyes over the room. "I've spent hours and hours thinking about what we can do. And yes, I saw your calculation, and I was impressed. It was indeed our only hope and I thought we'd found it. I've spent last night figuring out if it may work, but it doesn't." He stopped Augustine from speaking with a raised hand. "It doesn't, Augustine, there is no way we can make Diod do anything, because there's no interaction, no feedback, and you know it. Even if we have a perfect software to do this, it'll be inapplicable. We can measure, we can analyze, we can watch, but we can't change the outcome at this or any instant of time in the future. I know it's hard to accept, but be reasonable. If we meddle in, it can be fatal."
IR sat back down, and Augustine hid his eyes under his ginormous eyebrows. Wireless sank back into her codes, the air displays surrounding her made her fade and look like a projection. Microsoft decided to break the icy silence that had seized the room.
"So, what do you suggest we do?"
"We do what we're doing, but we'll take it a step further. If we can't go into the future, and our hands are tied in the present, we go into the past."
"So, time travel, ha?" Augustine appeared from under his eyebrows, steaming. "This is possible, right? Do you understand the principle of multidimensionality? We'll have to put a person into a reality without time or space where he'll be experiencing every minute of his life, including his future, in all the possible options all at once, and make him follow a very specific route, making sure we don't mess up the subsequent events."
"Don't teach me the string theory, Augustine. I've been in the secret service, I know exactly what it's like and what we're up against."
"Do you really?"
"There is a training process, and it's risk-free. With enough practice and right algorithms the target will be able to do exactly what we need."
"The target! Listen to yourself, it's not the federal army here." Augustine started pacing again, but now alarmed and angry.
"I'm sorry for my wording, but I know what I'm talking about."
"Do you? Do you?"
"Stop it!" IR jumped to his feet and went between Matrix and Augustine.
"What are you even arguing about? It doesn't matter if it's possible or not. The point is, it's illegal! We've ruled it out, Matrix, you said so yourself."
"Calm down, IR, I know the law implications of this."
"So, what are you saying? We're coming back to where we started? Time travelling right into jail? Or worse - exile?"
Microsoft shuddered.
"This is not my decision!" Matrix was yelling now. "Do you think I want this? We're all on edge, but you have to understand - this is our only option. We do this or let the boy die! I've tried to argue my case, I've really tried. But as much as I may say about the whole legal side of it, this is the truth - we take the risk or the boy dies!"
"He has a point," Stallone said. She had got out of the tube and was sitting on a hoverchair next to Wireless.
"So, correct me if I'm wrong," began Microsoft. "If we do this 'time travel' as you've put it, and anyone finds out, we're all going to jail?"
"Most likely, but--" Mat put an emphasis on the last word and glanced around the room again to make sure he had everyone's attention. "The Old Hundred is willing to take the risk. You all know he'll be the first to go down if it all shutters, but it's a secret operation, and we have an official theory thanks to you." He pointed at Augustine with an open palm. 
"However, it's your choice to stay on the team or walk away. That's why Ford wants to talk to everyone of us personally. If you don't feel like you can be in on it, the team will be reassembled to include those who are willing." 
Everybody was silent for another painful minute before Matrix decided to call it a day and give his colleagues time to mull things over. 
"Anyway, let's sleep on it, tomorrow is a new day and we'll talk about it when we're rested. After we've all gone through the interview and made a decision, those who've stayed will stick to the crisis plan - we'll continue training in multidimensional reality. We'll find one of us who's been the closest to the crime scene on that day, go on with decision-making practice, and make everything else ready."
Augustine threw his hands in the air and left the room. IR followed him without a word. Microsoft wanted to go too, but Matrix stopped him by the arm.
"Mike, how's your...are you okay?.." He asked the question but it sounded wrong, as if it wasn't what he meant to say at all. Microsoft turned to him, grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it lightly.
"Mat, don't worry, I'm in. I won't leave you alone in this." He meant it as an encouragement and hoped to trigger at least a feeble smile on the darkened face of his friend, but Matrix got even more sullen. 
"Yeah, thank you, it means a great deal to me." 
"I'm in, too," said Stallone.
"Yeah, appreciate it," said Matrix in the same dull tone of despondency and went back to his chair. He sat down and sank his head into his hands rubbing the forehead with the tips of his fingers. 
Microsoft thought that maybe he could talk to Matrix right then and there, but he checked the time putting his SC back on - it was late already and he had to be on his way to Rawotzki soon. He had to put off the friendly banter once again. He pulled his climate-control shirt over his head, bid his goodbye, leaving Matrix and Stallone alone in the room. 

There was Wireless of course, but she might as well have not been there. She was so absorbed in her work (obviously, working on the new plan) that she ran one of the air displays right through Stallone's head. Stallone jerked back as a glowing table of figures slid through her face and froze behind her head expanding double size at the movement of WiFi's hand. Stallone walked towards Matrix waving the displays aside. They closed back in after she passed, wrapping Wireless up in a flickering and shimmering membrane of colorful symbols, numbers and objects. When Stallone was close enough to touch Matrix, she reached out her hand precariously, but pulled it back changing her mind. He hadn't seen or heard her coming, so he startled when looking up.
"I'm sorry I scared you," she said.
"No, it's fine." He looked at her in confusion.
"I...I know you must be tired, but...but would you care for a...for a cup of...something?" 
He raised his eyebrows processing what she'd said and when it dawned on him that she was asking him out, he opened him mouth, but no sound would come out. He cleared his throat.
"Why...not?" 
She made a few clumsy incomprehensible movements as though deciding whether to sit or stand or jump or clap. She was sure it looked like she was experiencing the Statko effect all over again. Stallone clenched and unclenched her fists and breathed out: "Good". 
"Let's...um...let's go then." He got up. Another 'good' under her breath. 

They left the training room, and as soon as the wall filled in the opening, WiFi said out loud, "Hey, Mat, there's a tiny snag, though...Mat?" She raised her head and looked around surprised to find no one in the room. "How does that happen all the time?" she muttered and turned back to her codes.

DISINTEGRATION

Chapter XII

The Day Everything Was Perfect

Matrix entered after Arone had waved him to come in with a smile no less tentative than his steps. He halted halfway into the main room shifting from foot to foot.
"Please," said Arone showing him in with a nervous gesture. He moved towards the aquarium sofa, and as he sat down, a school of fish came to life inside it making him jump up with a start. Arone smiled and began to explain, but Matrix pulled himself together.

"I know, I've seen those. I just didn't expect. Today is a stressful day."

Arone invited him to sit down again, and as he felt that the rigid-looking material was actually quite soft and pleasant to sit on, she noticed a slight nod of appreciation from him. She joined him on the sofa and tried to smile off the embarrassment. 

She wondered why they both felt uncomfortable: the uneasiness on her side was quite understandable - Matrix was one of Ford's employees after all and she had a lot to hide, but his behavior was inexplicably strange. She now remembered meeting him a couple of times at forums she had attended together with Microsoft, and he had seemed quite an outgoing guy to her. She supposed he was on edge because of the press-conference. 

After a moment of awkward silence she said: "I'm sorry, I'm not sure you can talk to Microsoft today. He's been resting in the oxygen room since yesterday and I wouldn't like to disturb him."

"I hoped to see him." He fumbled with a black silicon box in his hands. 

"Has something happened?"

He studied her, apparently deciding whether she was trustworthy enough to reveal the information, and showed her a ring.

"Wow, beautiful!" she exclaimed snatching the ring from him. Then, realizing it hadn't been a very polite gesture, hurried to apologize.

"I'm sorry, it's just so—"

"No, no, it's ok. I don't mind."

"Serendibite, is it?"

"You grok jewellery?"

"I've worked with the gem on several projects. First I thought it was hideous, but it grew on me. The polish is quite messy, though, on this one...oh, and it's cracked."

She raised the ring and held it up to have a better look at it.

"Yeah," said Matrix. "That's why I need Mike."

"What happened?" 

"Just some... technical difficulties."

Arone waited for him to continue but he didn't, so she gave him the ring back and stood up.

"Well, I'm very sorry I can't help you, maybe if you could—"

"Mat?"

Arone and Matrix turned their heads as on cue to see Microsoft standing in the opening, his hair dishevelled, eyes wide and Sakura on his heels.

"What are you doing here?"

"I... well, uh...hey." Matrix stood up to shake his hand, his eyes trailing towards Sakura.

"This is Sakura Takano, our couple counselor, Matrix Eroglou - my colleague and best friend." Microsoft slapped Matrix on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. Sakura gave him her charming smile and shook Matrix's hand.They both looked like they have just come back from a holiday, not a painful memories restoration session.

"Mike, are you sure you—" began Arone gingerly, but Microsoft interrupted her in a rather glib manner. 

"I've never felt better, don't worry!" He brushed his lips against her furrowed forehead and asked her to see Miss Takano out. 

"So," said Microsoft after the women disappeared behind the opening and he made himself comfortable on the sofa beside Matrix. "You? Here?"

"Yes, I—"

"Oh, that's what it's about!" said Microsoft noticing the ring in Matrix's hands. "I've just seen it in the broadcast on the Old Hundred. Adrian messed up?"

"Well, you know him, he tries really hard, sometimes too much." Mat gave out a nervous laugh.

"I see." Microsoft took the ring, examined it with wry smiles, rolling eyes and random scoffs and head shakes. 

"Can you fix it in the next hour?" 

"I can certainly try. You going back now?"

"Actually, I was thinking I could stay. I'd rather deliver the ring back myself, don't want to teleport it."

"I don't have this kind of equipment on me, Mat. If I do it here it'll take more than an hour, but at work it's a matter of minutes. I'll go with you."

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"But I thought—"

"I'm fine!" Microsoft smiled at Matrix, who was staring at him with confusion and an incipient fear in his eyes. "Really, stop looking at me like I'm a handicap. It was a stupid headache. You're like Arone - she got so scared she called a psychiatrist, can you imagine? I got knackered trying to convince Takano I was okay, I thought I'd never get rid of her! Look, I've been at home for almost 24 hours, thank you very much, but that's enough holidays for me."

"Well, so much the better," said Matrix, still a little wary.

"Good, give me a sec."


Microsoft got up and left Matrix alone in the main room. Arone had been waiting for him to come out, and as he did, she opened her mouth to say something, but he just went past her without payng her any attention. He took a swift shower, changed, brushed his hair and headed for the main room, but Arone met him mid-way again. This time she didn't let him pass, and he had to look at her. His eyes didn't tell her anything, all she could read was annoyance and exhaustion.

"Are you angry with me?" she asked.

"No," he said, and before she could say anything else he kissed her on the lips. It was a long and passionate kiss that made Arone a little dizzy. He unhitched himself from her and walked towards the main room. He moved away so fast that a whiff of air brushed against her hair, taking the sweetness of his sudden affection with it. She followed him with her eyes and felt a pang of apprehension - he had a plan and didn't intend on telling her. He was angry.

Microsoft refused to teleport, so the two men went to the office in his LandHover. After a 10-minute silent journey the blue car maneuvered into the office garage.

"Is something wrong?" asked Microsoft, getting out of the car.

"What?" Matrix looked at him without really seeing him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

Matrix wasn't his usual self and Microsoft knew better than to attribute it to the conference paranoia, but he didn't say anything else, figuring it was safer just to watch and analyze. At the tubes Microsoft turned to the stairs, he told Matrix to give him 5 minutes with the ring. Matrix nodded silently and vacuumed up to the conference floor.
Microsoft's working place was the usual mess, only now it was illuminated by numerous requests that were flashing vigorously on the margin panel of his table. He scrolled through them with a sigh: ads, more ads, car gadgets, hubs... "Man, people, I've been away for less than a day," he muttered to himself.

"Hey, champ! Did you skip the stairs marathon and teleported? I could swear you weren't here a minute ago!"

"Hey, Ad," said Microsoft standing up to greet his friend. Ad gave him a bear hug.

"Are you alright? I heard you got sick or something."

"Nah, just stress leave."

"Wow, I never took you for a drama queen."

"Give me a break." Microsoft nudged Adrian in the abs, who immediately put up his hands in a kung-fu-like defensive position, inhaling deeply as if before the biggest battle of his life.

"Bring it on, mortal," he whispered. Microsoft waved him away.

"Cut it, Ad, I'm really busy. I promised to fix this ring in five minutes."

"Oh." Adrian dropped his hands and slumped his shoulders at the sight of the familiar ring. "That's why you're here."

"Ad, this wasn't a bad job, it just fell down and cracked." The attempt to cheer Ad up didn't work. He miserably watched Microsoft put the ring into a laser adjustment box, scan through the measurements on the ring projection that popped up over the table, locate the inconsistencies, adjust the figures, click "impairment fix", and a perfectly elegant, polished and impeccably proportional ring slid out of the box.

"I'm a total schlub," said Adrian almost mournfully.

"No, you're not, you just have to practice more. Look, I've an idea, my assignment panel is clogged up, why don't you take the load off me today?"

"I'm not sure I-"

"Ad." Microsoft stood up and put his hand on Adrian's shoulder. "Don't lowball yourself on your abilities, just leave me the hubs, all the rest you can take."

Adrian's face lit up.

"Thanks, champ, this is really cool of you."

"Any time." Microsoft put the ring in its silicon box, then scribbled some figures on a slip of paper, folded it and put into his pocket. "Later," he shouted to Adrian heading out.

"Eh, Mike?"

"Yeah."

"Could you... there is... on your team there is this girl, Spectrum..."

"Yes?"

"Could you... tell her I said hi?"

"Sure." Microsoft turned away, and his eyebrows shot up.

"Man, people," he muttered, "Have I been away for that long?"


"Where have you been?!" Icon almost screamed when Matrix appeared from the tube.

"Hey, easy, Mike's here and the ring will be fixed in a minute."

"You left two hours ago!"

"I got held up."

"Held up? Are you aware there is a life-critical press conference on?"

"Look, if you have a problem with the way I do things, do it yourself next time!" Martix marched to his spot passed a bewildered Icon.

"What is wrong with you?" She followed him with her eyes.

"Nothing!.. Nothing is wrong."

Matrix's essie buzzed and he checked a message from Mike: "I'm taking the ring to the o.h. Check the signal." Matrix looked at the network of emerald green communication lines - the signal was steady and clear, everything was perfect, as it had always been with Microsoft. Matrix rubbed his forehead until it turned red, closed his eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath, looked up and announced: "Ford's essie is on, all ready in 7."

Having sent the message to Matrix, Microsoft checked the conference status - about 10 minutes till Ford's appearance.

He cursed under his breath and, throwing a rueful look in the direction of the stairs, stepped into the tube. Hardly a breath later, he tumbled out of the tube on the hundredth floor. He fell on all four, gulping for air.

"Doesn't look like all that stair sprinting makes you any fitter," he heard a familiar jingling voice. He turned to his right to find Gear standing beside him in a stunning white bodysuit showing off her perfect shapes, her hand outstretched. He took it, and she helped him get up.

"I honestly thought it would get easier the second time," he said.

"Third time's a charm?" She gave him an encouraging smile.

"I hope so. Gear, right?"

"I see you still can read, which means you're just fine." 

Microsoft looked at the grey letters crawling across her chest on the right, the ticker showed her name, her position, time of the day and the temperature of the room.

"What do you think?" She pointed at the ticker. "Look, the material is fiber optic, you can even connect it to the SC and watch stuff on any part of my body."

"Amazing." Microsoft shook off the images of 'stuff' broadcast on 'different parts of her body'. "Is Mr. Ford in?" 

"Ah, no, he's gone to the green room already."

"Right. The conference is on the 90th?"

"Yes."

"Sorry, I would talk more...I would definitely like to talk more about this great suit of yours, but I gotta run."

"Sure."

Gear gave him another dazzling smile.

"It's really, really nice," he shouted with his thumbs up before disappearing behind the opening to the staircase.


He had reached the green room a couple of minutes before Ford was on. The old man stood in the middle of the room with people hustling and fussing around him, checking his grey suit, the equipment - "perfecting the image", as they called it. Microsoft stopped at the entrance as if there was a transparent wall that didn't let him in. Ford turned his head and looked at Microsoft, who was standing there like a lost kid.

"Mr. Stevenson," said Ford with a nervous irritation. "What do you want?" 

"I have your ring." Microsoft walked hastily towards Ford and took the box out of his pocket. 

"Like it's not enough people in here," mumbled Ford in exasperation. "Don't you know you work for a teleporting company where you don't have to deliver things personally?"

"I...yes, of course, I just wondered if we could...if I could—"

"How about you could do you job right the first time? You've almost ruined my morning session. Enjoy your day, boy, because if this thing doesn't work," Ford put the ring on, "it may be your last here."

Microsoft straightened up and stepped back without a word, his abashed expression changing to stone-faced. 

"What else can I do for you?" barked Ford.

"I'm sorry, I was just leaving."

He turned on his heels ready to go when the opening from the conference room dispersed and in came Celestro Rawotzki with his crew.

"Mr. Ford." He nodded to Evos Ford who ignored him completely and proceeded to the conference room. Celestro followed him with his eyes, loosened his scarf a little and turned to the exit where he faced Microsoft. The corners of Celestro's mouth went up as on cue, but the eyes didn't follow the friendly smile. Microsoft scoffed, thinking how ridiculous the smile tugs made someone look at an unexpected moment. Celestro halted, let go of the scarf, ran his hand along the rim of his jacket as if trying to smooth it out and before he could turn his eyes away Microsoft stretched out his hand towards him.
"I'm Microsoft Stevenson, I work here." 

Celestro nodded, shook hands with Microsoft, still smiling unnaturally, but his eyes indicated a slight surprise as Microsoft let go of his hand. 


Celestro went out of the green room refraining from looking back, his right hand squeezed into a fist. He could hardly wait getting to the portal and home, he could feel the little ball of paper literally burning the inside of his palm. When he was finally alone in his house, he opened his hand to find a note rolled into a nubble. He unfolded it - there were two rows of numbers, but it took him less than a couple of seconds to understand it. Microsoft sent him one single word: "Chat". 

Celestro leaned back, the hoverchair catching him mid-way to the floor, and took a deep breath. 

"Perfect," he said out loud and threw the paper into a cremating trash basket, where the note puffed, turned to ashes and was sucked into the bottom. Celestro rubbed his SC earring, which lit up at his touch. "Causse," he said. "Arrange everything for out honored guest...Yes, I mean exactly who you think I mean. Dredge up the archives, my friend, we'll go with the standard procedure. I'd like the guest in the mansion tomorrow. Thank you."

Celestro stretched out, put his hands on his nape, and a wry, this time natural smile curved his perfect lips.

DISINTEGRATION

Chapter XI

The Morning Celestro was Admired

Although everyone was looking at the boy's mother, Mallory Okolloh could feel all eyes on him: Mat, Icon, Stallone, prompting experts - all were burning the walls from the other side with their astonished glances, he was sure, even Ford seemed to eye Okolloh reproachfully through the back of his head. The huge man shifted uneasily - the mother and the son must have different last names, they must have, because the other option would be - she had thimblerigged him to slip in unspotted. The mother had obviously been waiting for the right moment to go public, because the conference was the first time she'd stepped into the light. 

After a moment of stupor the team noticed Ford circling the gem on his ring, Icon's SC buzzed and she beckoned IR, who started feverishly scrolling through files on the air display, then she signaled Matrix to put her through.

"The boy's name is Diod Medina. Recognize the mother, the name is..." Icon searched for IR with her eyes, he raised a finger without looking up and in a second threw a piece of data to her. "...Penrose Stewart," she read off her display.

"I'm so sorry, it took me a second to recognize you." Ford kept circling the gem. Icon's SC buzzed frantically.

"His essie's off!" she shouted.

Mat scanned the displays with frantic eyes. "Can't be, I'm still linked to it."

"I wouldn't hope you knew me, Mr. Ford," the woman said.

 

"Then there is something wrong with it! Rivers, we need to change the schedule. Penrose Stewart, Penrose Stewart...," Icon kept saying, articulating every letter.

"Mz. Rose Stewart, is it?" said Ford. Icon buried her face in her hands.

"It's Penrose, actually, like the mathematician." The woman squeezed her hands together and straightened up.

"You have to forgive an old man, I've become sentimental and remember flowers now rather than science," said Ford.

"44, no partner, Senior Manager at a delivery company GetsDone, delivers everything anywhere, from food to hovertrucks," pattered Icon and raised eyefuls of hope to the spy screen.

"I'm sure you do, Mr. Ford"

Ford let go of his ring. "Journalism is your second profession, Mz. Stewart?"

Icon sighed with relief.

"I can't just sit at home and do nothing, this is my part of investigation, and since my light's still green, am I allowed to ask another question?" A swift put-on smile touched Penrose's lips.

"You have every right to, Mz.Stewart." Ford replicated the smile on his own lips.

"Celestro Rawotzki agreed to move his section up," reported Rivers. "We can wrap up in 10."

Matrix lifted his thumb. "Putting you through."

Penrose squeezed her hands tighter. "Will you get my boy out alive?" This time her voice broke at the word "alive", and all her officialism evaporated, leaving a weary and scared mother before Ford.

"Diod is a strong young man," said Ford a little softer. "We'll do our best to get him out in one piece, I promise you."

Rivers watched a green flicker on her SC in stupor. "Rivers!" Matrix looked back to see what was wrong with the girl. "Rivers!" 

She raised her terrified eyes at him. "Speak!" he snapped.

"Wrapping up, Mr.Ford," Rivers stuttered. "Rawotzki's section moved up, starts in 10 minutes."

"I promise you to see to it personally that Diod gets back safe and sound." Ford addressed everyone in the room. "Now the first part of the morning section is over. The independent expert will be with you in 10 minutes. Thank you."

Ford strode out of the room of confused journalists, Mallory followed. 

When the team saw their CEO entering the backstage, everyone got up expecting an outbreak. Ford gave Mallory an impassive look - but Okolloh didn't need much to understand what to do, he left the room to make another check-up on the conference members. Then Ford diverted his fiery eyes to the team.

"When's the second part?" he asked.

"In four hours," whispered Rivers.

Ford turned on his heels and headed for the exit, but a few steps before the opening he halted and turned around. His heavy breath was the only sound audible in the room. He took the ring off his finger and dashed it against the floor. A sharp clink made everyone flinch.

"Fix the damn ring!" 

As the opening closed behind Ford, everyone startled as if there was a door he had just slammed. No one said a word, just got back to work silently. Spectrum picked up the ring and examined it - the gem was scratched and there was another crack inside of it. She put the ring on Matrix' hovertable. He took the little thing mechanically and slipped it into his pocket.

"Icon, I'll need a fill-in in two hours," he said. Icon nodded. 

After Ford's remark about his inexistent son Microsoft blinked the display off and was just staring at the white wall. 

"You were right," he said after several minutes of silence. "It wasn't a good idea."

Sakura needed him to get back on track. She had a hunch that Celestro hadn't told her everything. As a phychiatrist she was used to trust a hunch. She was set on getting as much from Microsoft as she could. "You said you had a plan." 

"We had a plan, yes."

"Did it have anything to do with Evos Ford?"

"I don't wanna talk about Ford."

"Alright, let's not talk about him. Were you able to execute the plan?"

"We were going to, but then something happened."

"What?"

"You know what!" 

She nodded in agreement. "I do, but I'd like to hear your version."

He let out an irritated sigh, but made an effort to remember. "I was waiting for Arone, she was supposed to be coming home soon and was running late. I think he flickered me... no, he couldn't, we never actually talked on the SC. How come we never used virtual communication?" Microsoft stared at the floor.

"How did you communicate?" 

Microsoft raised his eyebrows and bit on his lips.

"I think we always used paper... yes, through the mail portal in the kitchen, he would send me a message, and every time he would leave me a different address to send my reply to. Weird..."

"Were you working for Ford at the time?.. I'm sorry, but it's relevant."

"Yeah... Lester had told me how to get the job..."

Sakura smiled to herself, but Microsoft didn't even notice how he changed Rawotzki into a friendly Lester so quickly. He told her about their meetings and how helpful Celestro had always been. He also told her how he'd enjoyed their correspondence and how they'd used ciphers to encode messages, and he had felt like a special agent. 

"Weren't you overcautious?" Sakura asked.

"Just having fun. No one tracks paper these days, and if they had it'd have taken ages to decipher and then to understand the meaning of the message. He used a Russian doll principle, you know, code in a code." Microsoft got excited with every piece of memories that came back to him, telling Sakura almost proudly about their system of communication. She was amazed how elaborate it was: a message was encoded into a sentence using the less frequent letters of the alphabet, then encoded again using a code word and then again following an algorithm only they knew.

"That night, did he send you a message?"

"I got a package with a letter inside. He wanted to see me."

"To talk about what?"

"Doesn't matter." Microsoft pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them. "I got to his house, from the back as usual. There was this guy, Causse, he let me in and told me to go to the orchard."

"Causse told you to go to the orchard?" Sakura's astonishment must have been too manifested, because Microsoft looked at her with curiosity, and she hurried to compose herself.

"I mean, Causse must be the concierge, and he let you in?"

"Yes, he... he told me Rawotzki was working in his garden as usual... I went up and... son of a..." Microsoft fell silent, and flashed his eyes across the room, jerking his head nervously.

"Who was there, in the orchard?"

Microsoft looked at her dumbfounded, all his body showing how stupid he thought her question was.

"Microsoft, I need you to tell me what you saw in the orchard." 

"I saw my friend betraying me."

"That's what you felt, betrayed by a friend?"

"I was angry."

"With whom?"

"With myself. For being such a fool to have trusted him."

"Wasn't he the one who told you about your father? Tried to help?" 

Microsoft didn't answer to that. 

"Why do you blame him? Arone was there too." 

"She was, yes, but--"

"Before you came to Mr. Rawotzki's, had she told you where she would be?"

"I thought she was at work."

"So, she lied to you, didn't she?"

"She did... Why are you doing this?"

"I just want you to tell me about your true feelings, true memories of your feelings. Do you blame Celestro Rawotzki for what happened?"

"I don't know."

"Did he try to contact you? Make amends?"

"I'm not sure--"

"Is it possible he did but you didn't know about it?"

"I think... Do you mean Arone--?"

He paused and stared somewhere past Sakura, she turned her head to the object of his interest and saw Arone peeping through the porthole and smiling guiltily. He watched her wave to him and mouth 'hello' and looked away. She waited for a while for him to look up again, but he didn't. Sakura shook her head at Arone almost imperceptibly, she nodded to show she'd understood and disappeared from the porthole. Sakura didn't talk for full 15 minutes after that, neither did Microsoft. Then, at last, he spoke.

"At least she owned up to it."

 

"For all I remember, she blurted out the truth during one of your fights." Sakura kept eye contact, she owned him.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not suggesting anything, just tell me what happened in the orchard."

"I came in, saw them at the back among those damn flowers."

"And then?"

"Lester turned back and looked at me, I hurried to get out, but he caught up with me, tried to stop me. He kept saying it was a mistake and he was sorry." 

"Where was Arone?"

"I don't know, must've stayed behind. Guess she was too embarrassed to see me."

"She didn't come after you?"

"No." Microsoft sounded as unblinking as was his stare. "She didn't come home soon either. And in the morning, I guess, I already didn't remember anything. It's all very strange... I wasn't surprised to learn I was working for Ford. Can it happen? Can one remember one thing about the same period of time and forget all the rest?"

"Our brain is an amazing little world playing tricks on itself," said Sakura. "There is no one to blame, Microsoft, what happened is a reaction of the organism."

"So, I should treat the betrayal as a reaction of his organism?"

"Have you never made a mistake, Microsoft?"

"I've never stolen somebody else's wife."

"Well, Arone's still with you, isn't she? Celestro Rawotzki hasn't bothered you all this time, he made a mistake, and he stepped aside to let you live your life, didn't he? Isn't that something a friend would do?"

"Maybe."

"What would you do if you were him? What would you want?"

"I would want the earth to swallow me whole."

"Maybe that's exactly what he wanted - to disappear from your life and to hurt you no more."

Microsoft seemed to be digesting the thought slowly. After a while he said, "I need to speak with him."

So do I, thought Sakura.

Arone woke up with a start as if someone had shoved her. A bright beam of light was pushing against the darkness of the room through the porthole. She got off the bed and walked cautiously towards the oxygen room. She could see Sakura and Microsoft sitting on the floor and talking vividly, suddenly Mike saw her and froze. She couldn't understand whether he was upset or angry with her, or just unemotionally registered her presence. She waved at him timidly, and he looked down. She searched for Sakura's eyes for support, but she just shook her head. Disappointed, Arone walked away from the door thinking it best to leave them to finish the session. 

She went to the kitchen, ordered coffee that arrived almost instantly through the mail port, and switched on the TV menu on her SC. The press conference was the greatest buzz in the network, so she sat down at the table with her cup of coffee, clicked on the link, pulled the air display out and swung it to the opposite wall. 

Celestro Rawotzki was sitting rather comfortably in a chair with two of his men behind him. He wore a curious russet suit made of a luxurious material that gave off an enchanting dull luster; there was nothing under the jacket. A bisque scarf hung loosely around his neck and rested on his bare chest. Arone noticed with an appreciation of a designer that the scarf had a penrose tiling pattern delicately woven into it in thin grey threads. Celestro looked at ease and spoke leisurely.

"...you see. I am not here because I chose to, I am here because I was chosen to be, because people trusted my outside perspective as a fellow professional of Mr. Evos Ford, my mentor and my guru. 

"So, I'll be very honest with you. Mr. Ford mentioned that a knife maker couldn't be blamed for a crime committed by another person with that knife, and that is absolutely true. Every person is responsible for their own actions, but think about children. Children do all kinds of stupid things as every mother knows they would. She is surely not able to protect them from their inexperience, their mistakes or their lack of judgment, but she still does everything in her power to guard her child, to take care of it, because she has to serve her child and nurture it into a healthy and educated individual. It is her duty, as well as it is our duty as the leading service providers to serve people.

"Who are we but humble servants trying to make the world around us better? What right do we have to say that we are not responsible for what happens to our customers? I believe that if we can build something that sends people across the planet in a matter of femtoseconds, we are fully capable of providing absolute security for those who chose to trust us. I can assure you that's the truth and the guiding light of Zenith Perpetual. I learned that from Evos Ford, and I can only hope he hasn't forgotten his own lessons."

Arone was listening to Celestro with a quiet admiration when her SC buzzed; there was someone at the door. She wondered who could visit so early and clicked at the peephole cam. A tall man with dark hair and a smart look about his face stood outside the door. 

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Hi." The man smiled shyly into the cam. "I'm here to see Mike, my name is Matrix Eroglou. This is urgent." 

Arone put the trembling cup on the table, hesitated for a moment, took the cup again and drained it in three gulps. Then put the cup into the dish-washer and went to open the door, pulling frenziedly at the rim of her dress.