Long Division (13 page)

James was grinning at me again.

I shook my head, fighting against that smile. ‘Right, well, I think you’ve at least got to try. Doesn’t matter if they try and stop you or not. Make people scared to use the product, make the dangers worse than the benefits. You’ve got to do something. Publish a blog, or a video, or go back on that chat show you spoke on. And if everyone’s looking at you, InVizion can’t touch you. With the technology these days, it’s impossible to keep someone quiet.’

James sighed. ‘Ah, and it’s also easier than ever. Tracking, censoring, deleting, it’s all there for people who have the power.’

I rubbed my arms. ‘InVizion doesn’t own the internet, James. Stop talking like that, you’re making me nervous.’

James waved a hand. ‘I don’t believe I said a word about them owning anything. But when it comes to technology, it always comes down to two types of people. Those who are like you: who use it, but do not understand it. You do not understand how it works, how to crawl about the system, how to use it to your advantage. And then those who do.’

‘Like your friend Fox.’

James’s eyebrows went down. ‘He’s not my friend, but yes.’

I watching him drum his fingers on the table. ‘So,’ I said slowly, ‘which category do you fall under?’

His lips twitched but he didn’t answer me. His gaze had drifted to the wall. He stared at it, eyes unfocused. Just that abruptly he lost himself in thought. Whatever it was, I imagined it was much too complicated for me to ever comprehend. Lines of numbers and letters and equations that made no sense to me. I sat back, waiting it out.

Finally, James jerked himself from his thoughts and stood swiftly.

I blinked in surprise. ‘Have you thought of something?’

He frowned at me. ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’

I stood. ‘Okay…everything all right?’

He was already to the door. He raised a hand to sketch a wave and then was gone, letting himself out to the busy London street. I watched the door close behind him, disappointed. Disappointed by how short our meeting had been. How hopeless I now felt. Was this always how I would feel in the company of James Nightgood?

9:Liar

James did not speak to me the next day as he’d said. I might have been irritated with him, had I not known him better. Yet still, I’d found myself anxious—perhaps even slightly desperate—to hear from him. And I knew it had nothing to do with my worry over InVizion. It was because I wanted to talk to him; see him, be with him.

Over the past few weeks, or maybe even months, I’d found myself thinking quite a bit about that. About James. Thinking about our relationship—friendship. Of course, friendship.

His green eyes were always burning at the back of my mind, never far from my thoughts. Those soft lips curved round a cigarette so lazily. There was always something agonisingly
good
about him, when I pictured him relaxed like that.

I wasn’t sure what it was. His odd manner, his Asperger’s that I found so baffling and—admittedly—slightly charming. Not to mention his brilliance.

I tried to shake myself of those thoughts when they occurred. It was frightening that I could even think such a thing. James was my friend. He was someone I did not know well, and, of course, most obvious of all, James was a man.

And still, I couldn’t stop it. The thoughts managed to creep into my mind at the most innocent of times. When we were together, when I was alone, just on the verge of sleep, at work. It hit me at the most inopportune moments and I couldn’t shake it away. There was something about him that pulled at me.

I was fascinated by him.

And that was why it drove me so mad when he didn’t bloody text!

When my mobile did finally buzz, I had a bit of a fight with my trouser pocket to find it. I answered quickly.

‘Hullo?’

‘Mark.’

I grinned at his sharp urgency of his tone. It was always that way, even if it was over the most trivial of things. Still, with everything he dealt with, it was best to be on the safe side. ‘Everything all right?’

‘I don’t suppose you are free this morning?’

I looked at the clock and winced. I’d have to be at work in an hour. ‘Why?’

‘I’ll be on a chat show in forty minutes. I want you to be there.’

I certainly hadn’t been expecting that. I cast another doleful glance to the clock. Damn. That was tempting. Much more tempting than going to work and dealing with books all day. James wanted me there. My stomach gave an odd flutter.

‘Okay, em, where should we meet?’

He rattled off the address and I managed to scribble it out, knowing James wouldn’t repeat it. My pulse quickened slightly at the thought. At what I had already committed to in my mind. Skipping something important like work, simply because James told me to. Was that what I’d come to?

I cleared my throat. ‘Right, well, I’ll see you there.’

‘Excellent.’
James hung up without another word.

I hurriedly dialled up work, making myself sound as pathetic as possible, and called in sick. Again, a thrill of excitement. In my rather dull adult life I’d rarely found good excuses to bunk off. And soon I was dashing across London, praying I’d meet up with James in time. Why he wanted me there, I had no idea. James was a loner and didn’t seem to much care for moral support. But he’d asked and I wasn’t about to refuse.

I spotted his tall, lanky shape standing at the foot of the steps leading up to the broadcasting building as I jogged up. He looked as he normally did. Not well dressed, and clearly ill at ease with his surroundings.

‘Hey,’ I greeted, a bit breathless.

James turned to me, mouth partially obscured by a striped scarf he had wrapped a bit too many times round his neck.

I directed my eyes up to the glossy front of the building. ‘How’d you manage to schedule an appearance so quickly?’

James began walking up the steps. ‘InVizon’s Godlink is the topic on everyone’s mind. Any talk about it, no matter what it is, is going to be covered. Especially when it’s a high profile mathematician claiming he has something important to say.’ He opened the glass door for me and I gratefully led him inside into the warmth.

I gazed round us in awe. ‘And, what, exactly are you planning on saying?’

James’s narrow shoulders gave an indifferent shrug. ‘Haven’t given it much thought.’

I spluttered. ‘What? James! You mean to tell me that you’re planning on going on live television to tell the world how dangerous InVizion is and you haven’t even planned on a thing to say?’

James waved a long hand dismissively. ‘I don’t need a script to tell the truth. That will simply muck it up, make it less believable.’

I supposed that made sense, in a way. If it were me, I’d want something prepared. So I said it right, so I didn’t screw it up. But, James’s mind didn’t work the same way mine did. What made sense to him didn’t make sense to me. That was just the way it was.

I followed James blindly down the hallway, over glossy white floors and pale walls with odd prints. I didn’t know where he was going. Hopefully he did.

Finally, we were met by a thin, attractive woman who stopped us and turned her attention to James, ignoring me completely.

‘Hi,’ she drawled, ‘you’re right on time. If you will just follow me, please, we’ll get you all set.’

James thrust a hand back my direction. ‘He’s with me. He comes backstage.’

The woman’s heavily painted eyes slid my direction without interest. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’ She turned her attention back to my companion. ‘If you would just follow me.’

James looked back at me and tilted his head, motioning for me to follow.

About half an hour later I was standing backstage, waiting uncomfortably as I watched the business around me. My eyes fell to James, standing tall and imposing, watching everything in a detached sort of way. Our eyes met briefly, something almost resigned—heavy—over his features. He looked different with the makeup and partially tamed hair—I could almost describe as attractive.

Then he was being ushered towards the stage and our contact broke.

‘And now we’re back,’ the blonde host announced, flashing a charming smile at the camera which was off to my right. ‘Our next guest is one of the brilliant minds of the UK, and an expert on a topic that we are all finding so intriguing these days: InVizion’s Godlink technology.’

I felt my stomach tighten slightly at the introduction. Just how many of InVizion’s people were watching this now? She turned to my friend.

‘James Nightgood, thank you for joining us.’

James had his back to me so I could only see his profile, but I still stared at him as if I could read his expression. I watched his figure for any signs of what he might be feeling. Nervous? Did the man even get nervous? He didn’t like bright lights, or noise, or people, so the whole setup seemed like a recipe for disaster, but he’d done it before, without me there for support. He had to know what he was doing.

‘Pleasure,’ he said, in a charming voice which took me off-guard.

The woman turned more to face him. ‘Working for the company, Mr Nightgood, you were able to see many advancements first hand. How do things seem to differ now that the technology is out on the streets as comparted to how it was in the laboratory?’

James leant back in his seat. ‘Ah, a complicated question.’

I felt the pit of my stomach tighten another notch. James’s lack of planning was worrying me. He had to be careful about what he said. Absolutely sure of everything. His whole message counted on it.

‘Of course, when working in a laboratory things are more or less controlled. You can understand how things are going to turn out and can affect the outcomes by carefully planned variants. Out in the real world, things are completely unpredictable. People behave differently than lab rats, and when you’re dealing with something as complicated as the brain, how can anyone truly know the consequences?’

The woman frowned. ‘What kind of consequences are you implying?’

James spread his hands. ‘This is a new system. A system that is still in its first stages of public testing. A system that is vulnerable.’

The woman’s expression became much more interested. ‘You are suggesting it can be hacked?’

James rolled his eyes. ‘Everything can be hacked. And this is, unlike your social network sites, much more…intimate.’

‘How so?’

I could tell James was getting frustrated, and I was, too.

‘Because this is not a social network site to be hacked into. It is the human brain. The consequences would be much more severe, not to mention completely unpredictable. No one has any idea how this will affect the human brain, and we will be completely unprepared for when it does finally happen.’

The host squirmed in her seat, seeming a bit unnerved. ‘You believe it to be an actual possibility, then?’

James shook his head with a slight growl. ‘Oh, an inevitable one.’

I could almost sense a shift come over the set. I glanced round to see the mixed expressions of disbelief and discomfort on the faces of the crew. To be honest, this was the first I’d heard of most of this and yes, it did chill me. Because, unlike the camera men and sound crew, I believed every damn word of it. But if what James said was true, it would be InVizion itself doing the “hacking”, not some outsider like Fox. That frightened me all the more.

Did that make me gullible? To be honest, I didn’t know. Didn’t care. Because I believed in James completely, and I didn’t think he was capable of letting me down. I felt a surge of pride, looking at him now, the harsh lights of the set glaring on him, throwing his pale face into contrast. His back was so straight, his entire composure one of complete control. I knew that to be a lie, for James seemed to constantly teeter on the edge of complete breakdown over the unexpected; but, for now, he was in control. I found it incredibly…well, for lack of a better word, attractive. James had a way of making himself desirable without even trying.

The woman did not share any of my thoughts, and did not seem to be buying into the suggestion that mind control was a plausible danger. I found myself crossing my arms, growing judgemental. She probably put the damn headset on the second she walked through the door of her posh flat. Probably couldn’t breathe without it. That’s how people got with their technology. Become so bloody attached to it that then when someone told them it was harmful, they immediately get defensive about it. As if they understood how all those circuits and wires worked better than the people who made it.

‘But, Mr Nightgood, the mind is not like other computer programmes. It has free will, it can think for itself. It’s not so easily controlled that it could be…hacked by simple viruses, or—or code!’

James spread his hands. ‘The mind is also easily influenced, easily manipulated. The subconscious and the basic needs and desires so very often outweigh common sense and reason. Human beings are easily swayed when the conditions are right. Be it intoxication, or pleasure or subliminal messaging we are all, constantly, being influenced by our surroundings.’ His voice shifted to a lower growl. ‘The mind is a complex place, you are correct, but it is also a fickle place. And so very often it has a way of not working as hard as it should. Brains these days like to be lazy, and the more technology helps them think less, the better. Our technology is our drug. A drug that is socially acceptable to be completely addicted to. For the most part, we are relaxed when we use it. And every little ping that tells us we have a message or an update, every happy little release of serotonin makes us all the more relaxed. All the more addicted. To hack our lazy minds would be as simple as guessing your friend’s SocialNet password.’

She just gaped at him. I almost felt sorry for her, for the look on her face was one of complete, stunned stupidity. James didn’t seem to know what to do with himself after his little speech so he flashed her a tight smile that almost came across as smart arse. His eyes briefly darted over to mine and the smile dropped. Maybe my expression matched hers more than I’d thought.

She cleared her throat, finally losing the deer-in-the-headlight look. ‘Well, Mr Nightgood, this has been an absolutely…fascinating discussion. Thank you for that…different opinion on things.’ She held out her hand to him, but he didn’t take it. The hand wilted to the glass table.

The next few minutes were a blur and then James was standing beside me, looking a bit sullen, as we walked back down the hall towards the front entrance.

‘Well,’ I said awkwardly, after a moment of silence, ‘that went well.’

James turned slightly to me as we walked, expression unfathomable. ‘Did you really think so? I thought it went rather badly.’

I hid my grin. ‘So you weren’t very pleased with the reception, then?’

James’s mouth turned down. ‘I don’t understand what is so difficult to accept in my message. Did it not make sense?’ He pushed the glass doors open with a little more force than necessary. ‘Did I need to spell it out more thoroughly than I did?’

‘It made sense,’ I agreed, trotting after him. ‘But, James, you have to understand how…difficult it is for people to accept, no matter if it’s true or not. People get protective over their beloved technology. For many, it’s the most important aspects of their lives!’ I trailed off as I watched James scrolling over his mobile. ‘Point proven.’