Jack joined Sloane in Hong Kong the next day, knowing that he was now indeed past the point of no return. He felt...rudderless. Cut adrift. His moral compass was spinning in circles and there was nothing, and no one, to orient him. In a life without close friendships, he had valued the professional relationships he had developed, based on mutual respect. The sense of being on a team together, trying to achieve a worthwhile objective. It had grounded him during the turbulent years. That was gone now. He was playing for the other team.
Who else was there? Sydney, in a coma. Not much interaction there. And Irina, of course. But Sloane would be watching him like a hawk for any sign of contact, any indication that Jack wasn't delivering as promised. No, he was unlikely to have any contact with Irina, verbal or otherwise, for some time. He was alone. His depression deepened.
His first stop was to visit his daughter. It had been 5 days since he had seen her last, but progress was evident. A timely and welcome reminder of why he was there in the first place.
"Mr. Bristow? I'm Dr. Walker, head of your daughter's medical team." A man in a white coat walked up to Jack. "We operated 3 days ago to reduce the swelling on her brain. I'm pleased to say that the operation was a success. We were able to take her off the ventilator yesterday; she's breathing on her own now."
Jack felt a surge of hope. Perhaps this would be over soon. "When will she wake up?"
The doctor shook his head. "It's still too soon to tell. We're monitoring her brain activity. It appears that we've prevented any permanent damage, but it could be some time before she regains consciousness."
**
"You'll understand, Jack, how important you are to what we're doing here," said Arvin, as he welcomed Jack. "I've made some modifications to your security protocols. You'll be accompanied every time you leave our operations base. To ensure that nothing happens to you, of course." Arvin smiled indulgently, as if Jack's safety was his most pressing concern.
"Of course, Arvin," replied Jack evenly, his face not betraying his intense irritation. "Perhaps you'd like to accompany me for lunch? I know of a great Chinese restaurant that I haven't been to in years."
**
The next few months were relatively uneventful. Sloane would come to Jack with a problem and, after several sessions with Il Dire, Jack would tell him how to best solve it. There had been 3 coups in 3 separate African countries. There had been two corporate takeovers. Sloane now invisibly controlled the world's diamond supply - financing was no longer a concern.
It had not escaped Sloane's notice that Jack had been working closely with Il Dire, and that his strategies consistently delivered the desired result with minimum loss of life. Sloane recognized this as a form of passive resistance, but shrugged inwardly. No one was perfect. As long as Jack delivered the results, he was doing his job. Still, a small test might be in order.
Jack was, in fact, trying to understand Il Dire. He had demanded and been given unrestricted access to all the Rambaldi documents pertaining to the device. Not much of an owner's manual, he grumbled to himself. But the mathematical basis for Il Dire, which projected events and probabilities forward based on modified chaos theory for large groups of individuals, was stunning. He couldn't hope to understand the math. But he had concluded that, in some way, Il Dire was merging his own probability assessments of individual behavior with the machine's extrapolations of group behavior to forecast a result.
And Jack, despite himself, was intrigued. He found that small, inconsequential actions could have significant impact. Was it true, he wondered? Did the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil really set off a tornado in Texas?"*
Overcoming his deep-seated repugnance of all things Rambaldi, Jack experimented. He tried wild scenarios. He explored futures so outrageously improbable that he never would have believed them possible. And when he had successfully cornered the world market in diamonds for Sloane, he could not stifle his exhilaration.
Sloane watched from afar, and was smugly satisfied. It had been Sydney who had brought Jack to him. Il Dire, he suspected, would keep him there.
*******************************************
*Footnote - Dr. Edward Lorenz, MIT, 1972, lecturing on chaotic non-linear systems
Who else was there? Sydney, in a coma. Not much interaction there. And Irina, of course. But Sloane would be watching him like a hawk for any sign of contact, any indication that Jack wasn't delivering as promised. No, he was unlikely to have any contact with Irina, verbal or otherwise, for some time. He was alone. His depression deepened.
His first stop was to visit his daughter. It had been 5 days since he had seen her last, but progress was evident. A timely and welcome reminder of why he was there in the first place.
"Mr. Bristow? I'm Dr. Walker, head of your daughter's medical team." A man in a white coat walked up to Jack. "We operated 3 days ago to reduce the swelling on her brain. I'm pleased to say that the operation was a success. We were able to take her off the ventilator yesterday; she's breathing on her own now."
Jack felt a surge of hope. Perhaps this would be over soon. "When will she wake up?"
The doctor shook his head. "It's still too soon to tell. We're monitoring her brain activity. It appears that we've prevented any permanent damage, but it could be some time before she regains consciousness."
**
"You'll understand, Jack, how important you are to what we're doing here," said Arvin, as he welcomed Jack. "I've made some modifications to your security protocols. You'll be accompanied every time you leave our operations base. To ensure that nothing happens to you, of course." Arvin smiled indulgently, as if Jack's safety was his most pressing concern.
"Of course, Arvin," replied Jack evenly, his face not betraying his intense irritation. "Perhaps you'd like to accompany me for lunch? I know of a great Chinese restaurant that I haven't been to in years."
**
The next few months were relatively uneventful. Sloane would come to Jack with a problem and, after several sessions with Il Dire, Jack would tell him how to best solve it. There had been 3 coups in 3 separate African countries. There had been two corporate takeovers. Sloane now invisibly controlled the world's diamond supply - financing was no longer a concern.
It had not escaped Sloane's notice that Jack had been working closely with Il Dire, and that his strategies consistently delivered the desired result with minimum loss of life. Sloane recognized this as a form of passive resistance, but shrugged inwardly. No one was perfect. As long as Jack delivered the results, he was doing his job. Still, a small test might be in order.
Jack was, in fact, trying to understand Il Dire. He had demanded and been given unrestricted access to all the Rambaldi documents pertaining to the device. Not much of an owner's manual, he grumbled to himself. But the mathematical basis for Il Dire, which projected events and probabilities forward based on modified chaos theory for large groups of individuals, was stunning. He couldn't hope to understand the math. But he had concluded that, in some way, Il Dire was merging his own probability assessments of individual behavior with the machine's extrapolations of group behavior to forecast a result.
And Jack, despite himself, was intrigued. He found that small, inconsequential actions could have significant impact. Was it true, he wondered? Did the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil really set off a tornado in Texas?"*
Overcoming his deep-seated repugnance of all things Rambaldi, Jack experimented. He tried wild scenarios. He explored futures so outrageously improbable that he never would have believed them possible. And when he had successfully cornered the world market in diamonds for Sloane, he could not stifle his exhilaration.
Sloane watched from afar, and was smugly satisfied. It had been Sydney who had brought Jack to him. Il Dire, he suspected, would keep him there.
*******************************************
*Footnote - Dr. Edward Lorenz, MIT, 1972, lecturing on chaotic non-linear systems