Jack Dagiri walked through his storerooms, watching his workers pile the boxes of processed Elation. His stockpile of Elation was on the rise. Ordinarily, he might consider that a good thing—more efficiency in the production lines. However, the rate at which the product hit the consumers had flattened. He figured that when Enforcers took out Stromond, it would give him more business. Instead, the effect had been that his drug-pushing customers were more hesitant to make the sales; all because of some fear that Stromond’s captured associates would start spilling names.
Of course, Dagiri knew it would pass, but he still did not like it. A decrease in profits now, at this critical time in his grand plan, would offset his timetable. He needed the money now to make things happen with the corporations. If his hackers would just bring him something good that he could use, something to hold over the corporations, then maybe money would not be all that necessary.
At that moment, Steve walked up beside him. He held a tablet in his hand and had an uncharacteristic dark scowl on his face. Undoubtedly, he had heard about Hargo’s handiwork.
“Have the efforts of our hackers increased to acceptable levels?” Dagiri said.
“I thought they were already acceptable,” Steve said, his voice tight. “Hargo’s visit was unnecessary.”
“Watch your tone, Steve,” Dagiri said, just above a whisper. “You know what happens to those that offend me, and I would really hate to have to find another lump of shit to replace you with.”
Steve took in a breath and his expression softened. “I’m sorry, sir. I just—I mean, it’s just hard to find workers of good talent.”
“Tell me about it,” Dagiri said. “All I have is you, Hargo, and these pathetic automatons I have to rely on to sell my product. So try being me for a day. Now, do you have anything for me that I could use to justify your existence today?”
Steve raised the tablet up and handed it to him, his hands shaking.
“The hackers stumbled onto something rather big at Omega Research,” Steve said. “They made contact with a system inside a Martian warehouse facility. It appears to be an old system of Omega Research’s from the A.I. years. Possibly an old A.I. system Omega has kept running.”
Dagiri glanced at the tablet, reading the dialog the hackers had with the A.I. system. “Are they certain it’s not someone playing a joke?” Dagiri said.
“They seem quite sure of themselves. They were using this system to break into others, feeding it mathematical problems to try to break the encryption of the big three. Thanks to this system, they now have complete control of the big three.”
“Excellent,” Dagiri said, his mood brightening. “This could be the big break I’ve been looking for. I want to get our hands on this A.I. relic. Can it be procured from the warehouse?”
“I’m not sure. I sent someone to get a look at the facility it is supposedly stored at, and it’s heavily guarded. It would be difficult to get it out of there.”
“Use the hackers,” he said. “Maybe they can break down the security and make it easier.”
“I… don’t know,” Steve said. “But I’ll tell them to look at it.”
“Put every resource we have on it!” Dagiri said. “I want that relic here. That is top priority. Put everyone on it; make it their new mission in life. I don’t think I have to remind you of how I don’t accept failure. Make sure the rest feel the same, or I will have Hargo remind them of their true place in the pecking order.”
“Yes, sir,” Steve said then hurried off.
Dagiri looked down at the tablet and began to think. If this system was truly leftover A.I. technology, he could not only use its existence to blackmail Omega Research, but he could use the computational power to put the entire Ocean under his control. In time, he would be the slave driver, snapping his whip at the corporate bosses.