Runner's Companion.pdf - Free

Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9life on the run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . life on the run . . .166The executive assistant set down three cups of coffee. The conference room was mostly empty, just two men andone woman sitting at one end of the large faux marble high-tech conference table. Behind them, the floor-to-ceilingwindows framed a stunning view of a snow-covered Mount Hood.“Will that be all, sir?” she asked, as she placed a platter of pastries in the center of the polished table.“Yes, Carol, thank you. If we need anything else, I’ll let you know,” he said, then waited until she’d left the room.“Marie-Louise, you said you had some issues with one of your departments?” he asked, after taking a sip of his coffee.Not much differentiated him from the other man; both were blond, both had the thin, youthful look of their shared elvenheritage. It was his manner, and the cold look in his eyes, that conveyed a sense of age, an unmistakable aura of power.The woman touched the screen in front of her, pulling up a report. “As you can see, our work on the biomorph dronesis proceeding on schedule.”“Yes I noticed… Unfortunately, I’ve received intel that NeoNET’s version will be ready for market in six months. Ouradjusted street date is six months, two weeks.”“Can we trim a month off that?”“Not at this point. Unfortunately, the growth rate of the biological hosts just can’t be pushed any faster withoutcompromising their viability. If they are compromised, it’s another 3 months. NeoNET simply started their projectbefore we did.”“Didn’t we approve a significant budget expansion in order to acquire three NeoNET researchers?” the younger elfasked, scrolling through the report, skimming the details.“Yes, Thomas, we did. Which is why, although we started almost four months after NeoNET, we’re now only twoweeks behind them. However, at this point, everything is dependent on the growth rate of the biological hosts. We simplycan’t speed up nature—at least, not more than we already are.”“Hmm,” the older executive said, skimming through the dossier. “Apparently so. What are our anticipated losses ifwe don’t reach market first?”“Two point four billion, over the first two quarters. At that point, we anticipate secondary suppliers will enter themarket and profits will be diluted—Martin has informed me that NeoNET data may have already been acquired byone competitor,” Marie-Louise replied.“Suggestions?”“To delay NeoNET’s project by four weeks?” Thomas offered. “Destroying their primary research facilities?”The older executive raised one slender eyebrow, disapproving and dismissive. “Something more subtle, perhaps?”“I’d suggest targeting their datafiles. At this point, loss of their accumulated test data would basically halt theprogram. We could arrange to corrupt or destroy their primaries and as many of their backups as possible. We havethe known locations of their primary research facilities, as well as their offline data-backup storage sites.”“You would have to destroy the stolen data, as well, or else they could simply recover it,” Thomas pointed out.Marie-Louise nodded agreement.The older executive looked at the data again, thinking, then nodded, “Make the call.”Runner’s Companion