press conference if you and Ray want to come see the show. It’s at
Triton’s headquarters.”
Sawyer considered the request for a moment. “I think you’ll see us
there, Frank.”
Sawyer and Jackson, their yellow visitor badges riding brightly on their
lapels, walked into the auditorium-sized room, which still managed to be
crowded.
“Damn, this must be a big event.” Jackson eyed the sea of reporters,
industry people, financial analysts and other investment types.
“Money always is, Ray.” Sawyer snagged two cups of coffee from the
hospitality table and handed one to his partner. Sawyer stretched his
six-foot-three-inch frame to its maximum height as he looked over the
crowd.
“Looking for somebody?” Frank Hardy appeared behind the pair.
Jackson smiled. “Yeah, we were looking for some poor people.
But I think we’re in the wrong place.”
“That you are. Gotta admit, you can feel the excitement, can’t you?”
Jackson nodded and then pointed at the army of reporters. “But is one
company buying out another really all that newsworthy?”
“Ray, it’s a little more than that. I would be hard put to name any
other company in America whose potential exceeds CyberCom.”
“But if CyberCom is so special, why do they need Triton?” Jackson asked.
“Wth Triton they can partner with a world leader and have the billions
of dollars needed to produce, market and expand their product base. The
result will be that in a couple of years, Triton will dominate like GM
and IBM used to–even more so, really. The flow of ninety percent of
the world’s information will be through hardware, software and other
technology created by the business combination being formed today.”
Sawyer shook his head as he gulped his coffee down. “Damn, Frank,” he
said, “that doesn’t leave much room for everybody else.
What happens to them?”
Hardy smiled weakly. “Well, that’s capitalism for you. Survival of the
fittest comes from the law of the jungle. You’ve probably watched those
National Geographic shows. Animals eating each other, struggling to
survive. It’s not a pretty sight.”
Hardy looked up at the small elevated stage where a podium had been
situated. “It’s about to start, guys. I’ve got us seats near the
front. Come on.” Hardy herded them through the crowds, entering a
special roped-off section that encompassed the first three rows from the
stage. Sawyer looked over the occupants of a short line of chairs to
the left of the podium. Quentin Rowe was there. He was a little more
dressed up today, but despite his hundreds of millions of bucks in the
bank the guy apparently didn’t own any neckties. He was engaged in an
animated conversation with three men in low-key business suits who
Sawyer assumed were the CyberCom people.
Hardy seemed to be reading his mind. “From left to right, CEO, CFO and
CO of CyberCom.”
“And SOL, shit outta luck, for everybody else,” Sawyer said.
Hardy pointed at the stage. From the right side Nathan Gamble, nattily
dressed and smiling, marched across and settled in at the podlure. The
crowd quickly took their sears and abruptly quieted down as if Moses had
just strolled down Mount Sinai with those tablets. Gamble took out a
prepared speech and launched into it with considerable vigor. Sawyer
didn’t hear most of it. He was busy watching Quentin Rowe. The young
man was looking at Gamble.
Whether he was conscious of it or not, his expression was not amicable.
From the little Sawyer did hear of Gamble’s words, the main import was
money, big money that came with market domination.
After Gamble finished with a flourish–he was quite the glib salesman,
Sawyer had to admit–there was a huge wave of applause.
Then Quentin Rowe took his place at the podium. As Gamble passed him on
his way to sit down, the two men exchanged smiles that were about as
phony as Sawyer had ever seen outside a t3 movie.
In comparison to Gamble, Rowe’s emphasis was on the limitless positive
potential the two companies, Triton and CyberCom combined, could offer
the planet. The issue of money never came up. At least from Sawyer’s
point of view, Gamble had pretty much covered that issue anyway. Now he
looked over at Gamble, who was not looking at Rowe at all. He was