Nigel shook hands with Corrigan, languidly yet firmly, without undue assertiveness. “Very pleased to meet you, Joe,” he said. Just a simple business introduction, and yet he conveyed the impression that he really meant it. Style, Corrigan thought to himself. The art of gentility and charm. Something that didn’t come very easily from talking to machines all day.
“Me too,” he responded.
“Nigel Korven,” Hamils supplied. “He’s one of the senior consultants who take care of F and F’s key clients.” Corrigan took that to mean what the sufficiently sophisticated were called, in place of “salesman.”
“So you’re the expert from afar, who’s going to tell us about Direct Neural Coupling and where it’s leading,” Korven said. “It sounds absolutely fascinating. Some people here are extremely eager to meet you.”
“As long as they understand that it’s just for information,” Corrigan said. He was about to explain that the research was still in an early stage, but caught a faint shake of the head from Hamils.
“Do I detect an Irishman?” Korven said, changing subjects smoothly. “Over here permanently, I hope?”
“As far as I know,” Corrigan said.
“Good. That’s something we could use more of.” Korven turned to Hamils. “Well, I think the others are just about ready for us next door. We can go straight on in.” He picked up a folder from his desk and selected a few other papers. “Did you get that house in the end, Mat—the one you wanted?”
“The one up near the bridge, right. Got it for eight grand off the asking, too.”
“Splendid. Your wife must be very happy about it.”
“She’s delighted. First thing is a warming party. You’ll have to come along.”
“I’d love to, Mat. I’ll have to see if I can find somebody pretty to bring along.”
“Somehow I can’t see you without a woman around, Nigel,” Glinberg said as they moved out of the room.
“Oh, but I don’t keep them,” Korven answered. “It’s better to have new ones frequently. They’re so much more pleasant to be around when they’re on their best behavior and trying to make an impression.” He winked reassuringly at Corrigan. “Right, Joe?”
Hamils drew Corrigan aside as they were about to follow the other two out into the corridor. “Let CLC decide what its policy is,” he murmured. “We want these people to feel that we can help them solve their problems. They won’t connect if you make it sound too remote.”
Corrigan nodded. “I’ll remember.”
They went into a room a few doors away, where two more people were waiting at a large central table. Korven introduced Walter Moleno, fortyish, dark-haired and tanned, with a thin mustache: “Our man in Southeast Asia, back on one of his rare visits home.”
Moleno shook his head. “It’s not a place, I keep telling you, Nigel. It’s a computer. They don’t need VR out there. They all live in computers already. I come back for the reality experience.”
“In New York? My God! A bit like going to Kansas for the views, isn’t it?”
The other person was a woman called Amanda Ramussienne: probably in her mid-thirties, with high, angular features, wavy ginger hair, and alluring, green, feline eyes that caught the light in a way that made it seem to be coming from inside. Her makeup was generous but professional, and the image completed by a beige dress and gold jewelry that blended impeccably and had not come from the neighborhood mall. She spoke animatedly, with lots of expression and gestures, and in some other setting Corrigan would have guessed her background to be theatrical. Korven introduced her vaguely as an “analyst”; from the preamble after they sat down, Corrigan gathered that her work involved contact with the media.
“I had lunch with that awful creature from Time-Life again yesterday,” she told Korven. He smiled a mixture of amusement at her feigned indignation and despair that she should have known better.
“You mean the fat one who smokes buffalo shit?”
“Of course the one who smokes buffalo shit. He definitely wants me to go to bed with him. He even had the nerve to say so. . . .” She waved imploringly at the ceiling. “What is so special about this job that I should put up with this? I mean, when is the harassment thing going to be extended to apply to customers too?”