“So what if I did?” he demanded. “You deserved it! You tried to steal my job and my bonus. Fucking female!” He spat the word as though it was a curse, glaring at her with hatred he couldn’t hide. “I don’t know how you reprogrammed him, but you ought to be dead right now!”
Corinne didn’t answer him. Instead she turned to Karnex.
“Did you get all that?”
“Every bit of it.” He nodded and tapped the small node in the hardware of his neck.
“Good.” Corinne stepped up to the still-fuming Silas. “I’ll take this, thank you,” she said and slipped the Long-Distance Communication Interface off the cord that hung around his neck.
“Hey—what are you doing? Stop that!” Silas made a snatch for the small black box, but a growl from Karnex made him take a step back.
“Just relax, Silas. I need to make a call,” Corinne told him.
The LDCI blinked when she pressed the right buttons, placing a call directly to the Company. She knew how to use it because all Department Heads got one, so she’d had one for quite a while before Silas stole her job. Of course, it was meant to be used only in the most dire emergency, but Corinne felt like this situation warranted a call.
There was a moment of silence, then a beeping. A holographic image of a woman appeared, hovering over the LDCI. She’d clearly had the latest in surgical enhancements—her waist was impossibly narrow and her lips looked like inflated balloons.
“Yes?” she asked politely. “What seems to be the nature of your call?”
“I’d like to speak to the Chairman, please,” Corinne said calmly. “Please tell him this is Dr. Corinne Virelle calling him about the promotion and the bonus he offered me for my discovery of the Kindred Cybernetics lab on Old Earth.”
The woman’s eyes widened and her three-inch-long eyelashes fluttered dramatically.
“Oh my—Dr. Virelle! You’re all we’ve been talking about for weeks. I’m sure the Chairman will be pleased to take your call.”
“Thank you.” Corinne waited.
“You can’t do this!” Silas muttered in a furious undertone. “You don’t dare say anything about me when he comes on the line!”
“Oh, I’m not going to say a thing,” Corinne said sweetly. “I’ll let you do all the talking.”
Silas puffed up his narrow chest.
“That’s good, because?—”
Before he could finish, a hologram of an important-looking older man with graying hair and deep-set eyes appeared above the LDCI. His eyes brightened when he saw Corinne.
“Ah, Dr. Virelle! I was wondering when you were going to call me back. We’re all so pleased with your discovery of the ancient Kindred lab. They had so much wisdom we can learn from. And I’m waiting to hear if you’re going to take the promotion we’ve offered you. You’ve certainly taken enough time thinking about it.”
“Pardon me, Sir, but I wasn’t able to answer you before because I was locked in my room by Dr. Drex, here.” Corinne nodded at Silas, who at once began to protest.
“She’s lying! I never?—”
“Shut…the fuck…up.” Karnex’s low, menacing growl and the glare he leveled at the much smaller male made Silas go pale.
“Dr. Drex locked me in my room and then tried to have me killed by my own Cyborg,” Corinne continued.
The Chairman looked startled.
“Well, this is…quite an accusation, Dr. Virelle.”
“I don’t expect you to believe me right away,” Corinne said calmly. “I think you should hear it from Dr. Drex himself.”
“Dr. Drex?” The Chairman looked at him, eyebrows raised, waiting for an explanation.
“She’s lying! She’s just a stupid, lying female!” Silas exclaimed. “She never?—”
“Enough!” The Chairman raised one hand and looked back at Corinne. “Do you have any other proof of your accusations, Dr. Virelle?”
