Bug Park by James P. Hogan

Michelle raised her eyebrows. “You mean it’s still there?”

“It seemed better up there than having it run down out in the open somewhere.” As Kevin spoke, the image cut out. Michelle stopped the tape.

“They didn’t mention Microbotics or Payne’s name anywhere,” Michelle commented. “How did you establish who he was?”

“I didn’t until yesterday,” Kevin replied. “When Ray came to the house.”

“The ferry captain who was at the barbecue,” Corfe threw in.

“Yes, I remember him.”

“He was asking about a guy that we both used to know at Bremerton,” Corfe explained. “Well, this guy became Payne’s skipper on the Dolores—still is for all I know. When I told Ray that, Kevin recognized it as the name on the plaque that we just saw on the tape.”

“I see. . . .” Michelle sat back and contemplated the blank screen for a while, then scanned over her notes.

“What do you make of it?” Corfe asked after what seemed like a generous allowance for silence. When she didn’t reply immediately, he offered: “Vanessa’s been taking Eric for a ride. They’re setting up for Payne to move in on the business, and then, hell, I dunno . . .” He exhaled heavily and waved a hand. “Eventually, she walks, I guess, and Eric gets left . . . with what, the crumbs and a lot of problems?”

Michelle looked at Kevin dubiously and bit her lip, as if unsure how much to say of what was going through her mind. Kevin met her stare with an unvoiced challenge, daring her to just try and concoct some excuse for getting him out of the way, like asking him to go next door for some sandwiches or something. Dammit, he’d gotten the tape; it was his dad. . . .

If she had any such thought she seemed to think better of it, and relented with a nod that was probably unconscious. “I think it might be more serious than that,” she said. Kevin’s and Corfe’s eyes met for an instant, then shifted back to her. She checked her notes again. “Vanessa said something about trying to change somebody’s mind. She had to have been talking about Eric. Let’s see if I can find it.” She rewound the tape to where the mec was heading for refuge between the cushions, then replayed from there, picking out selected parts of the dialogue between Vanessa and Payne. “There. Vanessa’s trying to change his mind, but doesn’t think that being pushy would be prudent. Change his mind about what? . . . Now Payne’s talking: they have to have Phil draw up a codicil. That almost certainly means Phillip Garsten, yes? Then, a few seconds later, we get something being directed in Vanessa’s favor, with a reference to Kevin that seems connected. . . . Eric’s the only one, and then something about contesting. . . . Then a reference to something needing notarizing, followed by somebody not being around to argue.” Michelle paused the tape and looked across the desk. “Is it suggesting anything yet?” Kevin returned a blank look. Corfe had the expression of somebody who would rather not have been thinking what he was just starting to think.

Michelle fast forwarded through Ohira’s projections for the entertainment market and Kevin’s visual inventory of the cabin. “Now listen to this again, but in the context of what I just said. . . . Here. Payne hadn’t realized it was worth so much. He wonders if he’ll still be able to afford Vanessa when she owns it. She says not me; we’ll own it. What’s ‘it’? What are they talking about here?” She looked from Corfe to Kevin challengingly.

“I assumed it meant this business they’d just been talking about—the entertainment sector that Ohira has his eye on,” Corfe said. His expression said that now he wasn’t so sure.

Michelle looked skeptical. “The wording’s not right. You have markets, or you get them, take them, or steal them; but you don’t own them. And in any case, people don’t. Companies do. I don’t think that’s what they’re talking about.”

Corfe’s brow knotted. “Okay. So what do you think they’re talking about?”

“How about the whole technology itself—the DNC patents? Isn’t that something that Vanessa could own—and then the two of them together if she ditched Eric and climbed aboard Martin’s wagon?”

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