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Chapter 16
Night found me in a brassy Chinese restaurant in San Francisco with ten courses laid out in front of me and ten other people at the table with me, "To Ryan, a revolutionary genius!"
I bowed my head humbly, "Revolutionary, sir? I'm far too boring to be revolutionary."
The chairman of the board, James Callaghan, clapped my shoulder, "But so well. You are an artist, sir."
I lifted a hand and ordered another mao tai before replying, "Look, I just run the thing. You know what Peter Lynch said, 'Build a business that can be run by a monkey. Because sooner or later it'll be run by one.' Well, sir, you've got yours."
His wife, a plump woman by name of Abigail, laughed gaily, "Nevertheless, we are grateful for your primate lineage."
"You aren't the only one."
Another board member piped in, "So how are you finding Japan?"
I smiled, "Japan is rather nice. I have to admit that it expected much less of it."
James grinned, "For an unmarried man no less?"
As I affected a look of shocked innocence, Abigail moved in for the kill, "So when are you getting married? You can't have that much trouble finding someone."
"Well, it really hasn't been on my list of priorities. When I get the company up and running in Japan, then I can devote more time...to carnal pleasures."
The chairman clapped my shoulder again. It was starting to hurt. "Ah, my boy. I worry for your sanity. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and all that."
Directly, "Then take heart in the fact that I do not worry for myself. I am confident of my own sanity."
The trip to America lasted for only another day, with the last details being wrapped up without any significant difficulty. I would not need to make the arduous trip to America for a little while, a good thing at that. The Chief Financial Officer would be going over periodically to ensure that the deal was still on, but the rest of the process could be done over video conferencing.
Checking my schedule, I found that I had Friday office hours and then a Saturday golf game to attend with Rei. That would be most interesting. But now, I had dozens of sales reports to deal with that Rei had emailed me earlier in the day. I adjusted the headrest on my seat and stared out the side of the plane. California was a wonderful place, difficult to leave for the first time and even more difficult each subsequent time.
But, I, like everyone else, had duties to perform, both to my employers and others. I lifted my hand to my face and felt the creases of age. Which is funny. As far as I knew, I aged quite a bit like humans. In fact, there is a little bit of controversy over exactly what species I really. Human based certainly, with my complexion, considerable anatomical similarities, and the fact that genetically, I am undifferentiable. Non-human, in my sensory perceptions, my resilience to physical damage and the like. It is a knotty philosophical question which is solved easily by the contention that I am human enough.
I lit up a cigarette before signalling to a waitress, "Gin martini with a twist."
She nodded before disappearing to the back of the first class cabin. I messed with my tie. It would be around 8:00 AM in the morning when I landed and I would need to go to work immediately from the airport. I had already missed far too many days already.
Rei tapped out a status report and emailed it to her boss before putting a copy in the 'to do' pile. The boss's desk, despite overflowing with work, was neater than she ever had seen it. Kaitou tended to mess things up rather efficiently, and in his absence the entropy seemed to take its own order.
It was still early in the day and she stood up to stretch. She yawned and exited the office to get herself a cup of coffee. The mornings had gotten progressively earlier, working up to the point when she would be getting up to get to the office at 6:00 AM like her superior.
Her mind wandered to other things, as she absently noted the slight growl in her stomach.
A slightly accented, "Excuse me, Rei-san. Gotta get my morning jolt."
She turned to see Ryan guzzle a cup of boiling hot coffee and then squeeze his eyes shut as if in enormous amounts of pain, "Kaitou-san! How was your trip to America?"
"Absurdly busy. We're getting our money though and for that I am happy. Even if it means less sleep." He gunned down another cup of black coughed, "Alright. I'm ready to go."
"Are you okay? Did you sleep on the flight back?"
"Not a wink. Too busy worrying about what I had to do today. With luck, it'll be a quick day and we can all go home and sleep."
I worked with the fury of a madman. Anything useful was stored into another inbox behind me while everything else went straight into the industrial strength shredder at my side.
I had a press conference and some industry meetings to attend and then I would need to make the rounds in the building to see how the various parts of my organization were running. A quick call to the States for software information then a leisurely dinner to top it off. At 12 PM or so.
Dammit. I thrust those thoughts from my mind and tossed another paper into the shredder. I could not afford those thoughts right now.
"Rei!"
She entered my office, prim and proper as usual, "Hai, Kaitou-san?"
"Mail these off. Several are international so take what you need out of petty cash."
"The addresses?"
"On the sheets themselves." I turned to my computer and scanned another email, "So are you up for the weekend?"
She looked a little embarrassed, "Took some golf lessons while you were away and bought a new outfit. I'm not very good."
I looked up amusedly, "Great, neither am I. We'll make a good pair."
"Yes sir."
Stifling a yawn, he continued to work through lunch and then a reasonable dinner hour. Rei looked at him with a mixture of pity and awe. He was forever energetic, running his business at a breakneck pace. He had been in a conference call for nearly two hours, then popped out to walk and talk to every single one of the sales managers and staff. She had followed to take notes, but in reality she knew that he had allowed her to pursue the opportunity as a sort of apprenticeship, watching the master at his trade.
Dana had popped in for a couple of moments to drop off some forms for signing and then had beaten a hasty retreat to Rei's office.
"He's working pretty hard in there."
Rei gawked at her, "Pretty hard? His desk is nearly clean now. That was a week's worth of work."
Dana shrugged, "He's fast when he wants to be. But it looks like he'll be here until midnight at least."
"Well, I should probably stay with him. Make sure that he gets home alright."
The other woman smiled knowingly, "I'm certain that he'll be fine. I think that you should work until about 9 and then get some rest."
Rei was inclined to agree, but something stopped her. She believed it was a nagging sensation, a curiosity as to how this strange American accomplished what he did. "No thanks. I think I'll make sure that he doesn't get messed up too much in the process. Besides, I kinda want this week to end with a bang. It's been too boring anyway."
"Suit yourself."
Blearily, I glanced at the clock on the wall. I couldn't focus for a moment and rubbed my eyes to clear them. Given the situation, it didn't really make all that much of a difference and I gave up in disgust before remember that I had a watch.
I grabbed long empty bottle of water at my side and tried to drink from it. While wondering why liquid was not issuing forth from the bone dry container, a firm hand took mine and guided it to a fresh, unopened bottle. I gulped up half of it, then flicked few droplets in my face.
"Kaitou-san. You should really watch out for delirium. It seems to afflict you when you don't sleep."
"Rei, the work does not finish itself. Why are you still here?"
She smiled innocently, "To watch over you. And don't worry, I rested in my office. But you have not. Come on, I'll get you to a cafe."
I smiled gratefully, "I appreciate the thought, but I have the work to finish-"
"But it will still be here on Monday. Besides, you've made pretty good progress today. I don't see anything that another thirty minutes would not fix. Come on. I'll use my overtime to buy you dinner."
I laughed, "Okay, okay. Never argue with a woman this late at night."
"Had some experiences I see?"
"What-?"
Rei smirked, "You're tired. And glucose deprived. I think we should get some dinner before you pass out."
I blinked a couple of times, then yawned, "Alright. Just let me find my jacket...or something..."
I stumbled over to the coat rack and a flip out mirror concealed in a panel on a wall. I straightened my tie and ran a comb through my hair quickly to pick off any stray strands. Easing on my coat, I winced at the stiffness in my joints and then cracked my neck. "There are days when I wish I were retired."
"But what would you do in your spare time?"
"Golf, sleep, drink. Only three things needed to make a man happy."
Rei feigned shock, "What about women?"
I waved a hand, "Companionship is overrated."
Chapter 16
Night found me in a brassy Chinese restaurant in San Francisco with ten courses laid out in front of me and ten other people at the table with me, "To Ryan, a revolutionary genius!"
I bowed my head humbly, "Revolutionary, sir? I'm far too boring to be revolutionary."
The chairman of the board, James Callaghan, clapped my shoulder, "But so well. You are an artist, sir."
I lifted a hand and ordered another mao tai before replying, "Look, I just run the thing. You know what Peter Lynch said, 'Build a business that can be run by a monkey. Because sooner or later it'll be run by one.' Well, sir, you've got yours."
His wife, a plump woman by name of Abigail, laughed gaily, "Nevertheless, we are grateful for your primate lineage."
"You aren't the only one."
Another board member piped in, "So how are you finding Japan?"
I smiled, "Japan is rather nice. I have to admit that it expected much less of it."
James grinned, "For an unmarried man no less?"
As I affected a look of shocked innocence, Abigail moved in for the kill, "So when are you getting married? You can't have that much trouble finding someone."
"Well, it really hasn't been on my list of priorities. When I get the company up and running in Japan, then I can devote more time...to carnal pleasures."
The chairman clapped my shoulder again. It was starting to hurt. "Ah, my boy. I worry for your sanity. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and all that."
Directly, "Then take heart in the fact that I do not worry for myself. I am confident of my own sanity."
The trip to America lasted for only another day, with the last details being wrapped up without any significant difficulty. I would not need to make the arduous trip to America for a little while, a good thing at that. The Chief Financial Officer would be going over periodically to ensure that the deal was still on, but the rest of the process could be done over video conferencing.
Checking my schedule, I found that I had Friday office hours and then a Saturday golf game to attend with Rei. That would be most interesting. But now, I had dozens of sales reports to deal with that Rei had emailed me earlier in the day. I adjusted the headrest on my seat and stared out the side of the plane. California was a wonderful place, difficult to leave for the first time and even more difficult each subsequent time.
But, I, like everyone else, had duties to perform, both to my employers and others. I lifted my hand to my face and felt the creases of age. Which is funny. As far as I knew, I aged quite a bit like humans. In fact, there is a little bit of controversy over exactly what species I really. Human based certainly, with my complexion, considerable anatomical similarities, and the fact that genetically, I am undifferentiable. Non-human, in my sensory perceptions, my resilience to physical damage and the like. It is a knotty philosophical question which is solved easily by the contention that I am human enough.
I lit up a cigarette before signalling to a waitress, "Gin martini with a twist."
She nodded before disappearing to the back of the first class cabin. I messed with my tie. It would be around 8:00 AM in the morning when I landed and I would need to go to work immediately from the airport. I had already missed far too many days already.
Rei tapped out a status report and emailed it to her boss before putting a copy in the 'to do' pile. The boss's desk, despite overflowing with work, was neater than she ever had seen it. Kaitou tended to mess things up rather efficiently, and in his absence the entropy seemed to take its own order.
It was still early in the day and she stood up to stretch. She yawned and exited the office to get herself a cup of coffee. The mornings had gotten progressively earlier, working up to the point when she would be getting up to get to the office at 6:00 AM like her superior.
Her mind wandered to other things, as she absently noted the slight growl in her stomach.
A slightly accented, "Excuse me, Rei-san. Gotta get my morning jolt."
She turned to see Ryan guzzle a cup of boiling hot coffee and then squeeze his eyes shut as if in enormous amounts of pain, "Kaitou-san! How was your trip to America?"
"Absurdly busy. We're getting our money though and for that I am happy. Even if it means less sleep." He gunned down another cup of black coughed, "Alright. I'm ready to go."
"Are you okay? Did you sleep on the flight back?"
"Not a wink. Too busy worrying about what I had to do today. With luck, it'll be a quick day and we can all go home and sleep."
I worked with the fury of a madman. Anything useful was stored into another inbox behind me while everything else went straight into the industrial strength shredder at my side.
I had a press conference and some industry meetings to attend and then I would need to make the rounds in the building to see how the various parts of my organization were running. A quick call to the States for software information then a leisurely dinner to top it off. At 12 PM or so.
Dammit. I thrust those thoughts from my mind and tossed another paper into the shredder. I could not afford those thoughts right now.
"Rei!"
She entered my office, prim and proper as usual, "Hai, Kaitou-san?"
"Mail these off. Several are international so take what you need out of petty cash."
"The addresses?"
"On the sheets themselves." I turned to my computer and scanned another email, "So are you up for the weekend?"
She looked a little embarrassed, "Took some golf lessons while you were away and bought a new outfit. I'm not very good."
I looked up amusedly, "Great, neither am I. We'll make a good pair."
"Yes sir."
Stifling a yawn, he continued to work through lunch and then a reasonable dinner hour. Rei looked at him with a mixture of pity and awe. He was forever energetic, running his business at a breakneck pace. He had been in a conference call for nearly two hours, then popped out to walk and talk to every single one of the sales managers and staff. She had followed to take notes, but in reality she knew that he had allowed her to pursue the opportunity as a sort of apprenticeship, watching the master at his trade.
Dana had popped in for a couple of moments to drop off some forms for signing and then had beaten a hasty retreat to Rei's office.
"He's working pretty hard in there."
Rei gawked at her, "Pretty hard? His desk is nearly clean now. That was a week's worth of work."
Dana shrugged, "He's fast when he wants to be. But it looks like he'll be here until midnight at least."
"Well, I should probably stay with him. Make sure that he gets home alright."
The other woman smiled knowingly, "I'm certain that he'll be fine. I think that you should work until about 9 and then get some rest."
Rei was inclined to agree, but something stopped her. She believed it was a nagging sensation, a curiosity as to how this strange American accomplished what he did. "No thanks. I think I'll make sure that he doesn't get messed up too much in the process. Besides, I kinda want this week to end with a bang. It's been too boring anyway."
"Suit yourself."
Blearily, I glanced at the clock on the wall. I couldn't focus for a moment and rubbed my eyes to clear them. Given the situation, it didn't really make all that much of a difference and I gave up in disgust before remember that I had a watch.
I grabbed long empty bottle of water at my side and tried to drink from it. While wondering why liquid was not issuing forth from the bone dry container, a firm hand took mine and guided it to a fresh, unopened bottle. I gulped up half of it, then flicked few droplets in my face.
"Kaitou-san. You should really watch out for delirium. It seems to afflict you when you don't sleep."
"Rei, the work does not finish itself. Why are you still here?"
She smiled innocently, "To watch over you. And don't worry, I rested in my office. But you have not. Come on, I'll get you to a cafe."
I smiled gratefully, "I appreciate the thought, but I have the work to finish-"
"But it will still be here on Monday. Besides, you've made pretty good progress today. I don't see anything that another thirty minutes would not fix. Come on. I'll use my overtime to buy you dinner."
I laughed, "Okay, okay. Never argue with a woman this late at night."
"Had some experiences I see?"
"What-?"
Rei smirked, "You're tired. And glucose deprived. I think we should get some dinner before you pass out."
I blinked a couple of times, then yawned, "Alright. Just let me find my jacket...or something..."
I stumbled over to the coat rack and a flip out mirror concealed in a panel on a wall. I straightened my tie and ran a comb through my hair quickly to pick off any stray strands. Easing on my coat, I winced at the stiffness in my joints and then cracked my neck. "There are days when I wish I were retired."
"But what would you do in your spare time?"
"Golf, sleep, drink. Only three things needed to make a man happy."
Rei feigned shock, "What about women?"
I waved a hand, "Companionship is overrated."