All in a moment’s span his relief had budded, bloomed, and turned to ash gray wilt as fear blew through his heart in a killing frost. He could neither separate the sphere from Marius, nor himself from the sphere, which now joined them as if…
Cédric blinked with the last meaningful realization of his life. Another that seemed so glaringly evident, he could only wonder how it had not dawned on him much sooner.
“They’re magnetized,” he heard himself tell Marius in an almost matter-of-fact tone.
Marius’s eyes were full of terror and confusion behind his view port. In fact, it almost seemed to Cédric that his features had drawn together into a bold, hanging question mark.
Cédric was wondering just what sort of answers were expected of him when the spheres fastened to the hardsuits exploded, and the rushing sea took his thoughts.
“Well, Casimir? My curiosity pesters.”
“We have total success. The neodymium hunter swarm has acquired and neutralized its targets.”
The yacht owner’s eyes were brilliant ice. “Would damage imagery be too tall a request?”
Casimir’s attention held on the monitor and control boards.
“It could be done,” he said. “The killfish has been recalled beyond the outer edge of the blast zone, and its backscatter sensors show a high density of suspended particulate matter within the zone. But we could task it—”
“No need, bring it back in,” the yacht owner said. “Laziness of imagination is a common failing in this day and age, Casimir. We mustn’t allow ourselves to submit.”
“As you wish.”
The yacht owner reclined on his pale orange sofa, his bone-thin form barely impressing weight into its cushions.
“And his spirit moved upon the face of the waters,” he said in a near undertone. “Fiat lux.”
Casimir’s head turned briefly to regard him over a white uniform epaulet.
“What was that, sir?”
The yacht owner passed his fingertips through the air.
“Old words from an old and very fascinating story,” he said.
TWO
From the Wall Street Journal
Online Weekend Edition:
UPLINK INTERNATIONAL TO COMPLETE STALLED MARINE FIBEROPTIC NETWORK
Experts Agree Venture May Plunge Telecom Giant into Choppy Seas
SAN JOSE — In a move analysts believe marks a critical and risky juncture for the world’s leading telecommunications super carrier, UpLink International announced earlier this week that it has concluded a long-rumored deal with Planétaire Systems Corp to pick up some very large pieces left by the France-based company’s financial tumble.
Once UpLink’s primary European rival, Planétaire has been the most recent telecom industry player forced to make sharp operational cutbacks during a period of global economic uncertainty that has seen many established technology firms struggle and fail. While many in the financial sector expect industrywide earnings to improve at least marginally over the next quarter, Planétaire’s losses have been deeper than some due to a combination of heavy capital borrowing — said to have exceeded $1.5 billion U.S. — for its construction of a submerged fiberoptic cable ring in the waters around Africa and steep declines in revenue from its cellular telephony service elements.
Although the specific terms of the pact have not been disclosed, insiders report that UpLink has acquired all of Planétaire’s existing “wet highway” and terrestrial fiber network equipment and facilities in equatorial African nations, considered some of the most underserved markets on earth, in part due to the region’s continuing political and economic instability. Speaking on CNN’s Moneyline program, however, UpLink vice president and frequent spokeswoman Megan Breen gave high marks to the groundwork laid by Planétaire and expressed confidence in her firm’s ability meet any challenges it may face.
“Planétaire has enjoyed tremendous past success, and I’d be pleased if our agreement allows it to consolidate and direct its assets toward a bright future,” she said. “Our companies have been very competitive, but at the same time worldwide connectivity is a goal we’ve always shared, and UpLink is wholly committed to building upon Planétaire’s established infrastructure on the African continent.”
Ms. Breen emphasizes that commitment is long term, extending into the next decade and beyond. “It’s really a logical outreach for us,” she said. “Our driving corporate philosophy, and the core belief of our founder Roger Gordian, is that the introduction of modern, reliable Internet and telecom services to developing countries parallels the emergence of America’s rail and telegraph system over a hundred years ago and can bring about comparable industrial, political, and social progress.”
But some have suggested that Gordian and company will have to navigate rough waters in a period of rapid financial sea changes — and beware of sinking beneath those shifting currents. The expansion mentioned by Ms. Breen would put considerable strains on the resources of any firm, even one as globally dominant as UpLink. Much of Planétaire’s African network is already connected to Europe via seabed fiber cable and there is speculation that UpLink plans to thread a transoceanic line to the Pacific Rim. This ambitious effort would require retrofitting decades-old portions of the system with high-capacity, next-generation equipment and undersea cable — a high-priced undertaking.
Marine maintenance also can be expensive. Less than a year ago Planétaire incurred multimillion dollar repair costs when a segment of cable was damaged off coastal Gabon, the small equatorial nation where its African network hub is located. Two specialist deepwater divers were accidentally killed while investigating the service disruption. Although the tragic incident is presumed to have no bearing on Planétaire’s regional pullout, it does point toward the complexity of initiating cable projects in inhospitable and sometimes dangerous environments…
“What’s wrong?” Pete Nimec said.
“Hmm?” Annie Caulfield said.
“I’m wondering what’s the matter.”
“Nothing’s the matter.”
Nimec was otherwise convinced.
“Come on,” he said, shaking his head. “Something is definitely the matter.”
Annie looked over at him. Nimec looked back at her. She was holding the ladle. He had the spatula.
“What makes you think that?” Annie said, a trifle distantly.
“This right here makes me think it.” Nimec raised the spatula and wobbled it in the air between them. It was a proffer of evidence, his smoking gun, courtroom exhibits A through Z rolled into one.
Still looking somewhat preoccupied, Annie regarded him without comment as a bright, warm, daisy yellow torrent of east Texas sunshine washed through the window of her kitchen, where they were at the electric range fixing breakfast, Annie with her blond hair spilling mussily over the collar of her bathrobe, Nimec already dressed in Levi’s and a T-shirt, Annie’s kids in their pajamas at the opposite end of the house, just stirring under their bedcovers, this being Sunday morning after all.
“You’d better flip that thing,” Annie said finally. She nodded toward the sizzling dollop of pancake batter she’d ladled onto the hot skillet in front of him.
“You sure?”
“Unless, of course, you have some reason for wanting to serve Chris and Linda burned pancakes—”
“Ah-hah. Got you. There it is,” he said.
“There what is?”
“More proof that you’re upset with me.” Nimec gave the implement in his hand another little shake. “I’m using a metal spatula right here. And the skillet’s your expensive nonstick. Means I’m supposed to use a Teflon-coated spatula or screw up the finish, right?”