"Stephen Kenson - Technobabel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kenson Stephen)

David Hague knew Osborne was one of those people who spent part of her
considerable salary as a member of the Corporate Court on maintaining
appearances. Her fine features were the best Fuchi's exclusive cosmetic
clinics could produce, but she still had not gone the route of entirely
concealing her real age beneath some plastic glamour-girl facade. The dark
chestnut hair was free of gray and the smooth skin free of lines, but Osborne
still looked like a mature woman somewhere in that vague range between thirty
and fifty. An observer would be hard pressed to guess her real age.
She shook her head. "Don't worry about Napoli. He's isolated on the Court-and
he's a lame duck. We can handle him. Renraku hasn't exactly been making
friends on the Court lately."
That's certainly true, Hague thought.
"But it doesn't change the fact that Renraku has a lot of clout," he said.
"Renraku has been handing us a lot of surprises over the past two years, and
it's just possible they might have a card up their collective sleeve that
could trump even the Court. Who knows what Lanier might have given them."
"Renraku is out of cards, David. Nobody can stand against the whole Court when
we're unified behind a cause. The Veracruz Incident proved that."
The event Osborne referred to had occurred ten years ago, before either she or
Hague had become justices. The so-called incident consisted of the world's
first-tier mega-corps joining forces to punish one of their own for flouting
the Corporate Court's authority. A military strike against some of the
target's holdings had been carried out with surgical precision, and the
message sent was clear: defy the Court's edicts at your own peril. Now loomed
the possibility that another megacorp was heading up that same dangerous road.
"I wish I shared your certainly," Hague replied. "Francesco Napoli is a pit
bull. He's not going to let go without a fierce

fight, and by now he must know what you're planning to present before the
Court. Renraku's got to know everything by now, including the fact that our
case has holes in it. He seems too confident. If he wasn't, he'd never have
allowed this hearing to happen in the first place. He'd have come up with some
kind of delaying tactic or-"
Osborne held up a hand to stop him. "Napoli doesn't know all of the facts,
David, and neither do you, just yet. It's what I'm here to tell you."
Hague choked off a retort at the interruption, but he wasn't really surprised
by her words. He knew that Osborae's loyalty to the Villiers faction of Fuchi
put her more in the loop about the corporation's plans now that Richard
Villiers seemed to be consolidating his hold on the corp. Hague was allied
with the Yamana family, which dominated Fuchi Europe.
"What are you talking about?" he said finally. "What do you mean I don't know
all of the facts? Has Fuchi been keeping something ..."
Osborne jumped in again before he could finish. "Not keeping something from
you-just protecting our interests. Renraku isn't the only corp with cards up
its sleeve. Security on this was too tight to trust to anything but
face-to-face communications. That's why we're talking in person. Now, will you
listen for a moment?"
Hague swallowed his response and only nodded curtly. If Osborne noticed his
annoyance at being kept in the dark, she didn't show it. She just continued
talking.