MHG-V3-4 (Initial Draft)

Chapter 12 - Recruiting Samantha

Mark swiped his holodisplay away as he leaned back in his chair with frustration. It was like chasing mice with a broomstick. All the allegations and and negative publicity. Even threats of lawsuits. It was as if that Samantha Kang had treamed up with the Synthsous since that night and gone crazy trying to bring him down. He was considering to use her father's job as a trump card if it got much worse, but there had to be a better way.

Mark didn't want to lose either Henry or Samantha. They were both brilliant people and were highly useful if they could only be manipulated in the right way. Surely there had to be a better way.

Mark drummed his fingers on the desk anxiously when suddenly it came to him. Ot course! The perfect way to shut Samantha up and sever her ties with those synthsous. It was a brilliant idea. He quickly called back the holodisplay and wrote up an email.

"Dear Miss Kang,

I'm terribly sorry for my inappropriate behaviour that night. After having time to reflect I've come to understand how wrong my behaviour was and that you must feel both shamed and afraid to even see my face. I realise there is no way to properly make up for my behaviour, but I do have a small offer to make, which if you will meet me together with your father, I hope will make you happy and in some small way repair the grevances between us.

Yours sincerely,

Mark."

Mark read it over once or twice and then smiled. That should do it. He pressed the send button and then dismissed the display again.

With this matter out of the way, everything would begin playing into his hands once again quite nicely. It was so fortunate of him to have that conversation with PT001. Now he just needed to pull the right strings to bring her across to his side too.

***

"Sorry." Teruko said, sitting opposite Ken.

She wore shorts and yellow blouse. As always she looked beautiful. Ken thought that as he listened to her speak. He was sitting in her server room with the holopad in front of him projecting her image in front of him as always. In the end she had refused to use Ayaka's simulation program. She insisted she only wanted the real thing - not something fake a computer had tried to virtually project as reality.

Still the image in front of him right now was just that - a virtual reality. Ken didn't really see the difference, but he accepted her feelings anyway.

"I shouldn't have let myself fall into that depression so easily. I can't believe I let the words of that idiot get to me."

"Still, I don't know what he said that made you so depressed." Ken said.

"Ahh.." Teruko looked away with embarassment. "He said that I... wasn't human."

"Not human?" Ken asked.

"Just an artifically intelligent being. Never a real human."

"But then what about the soul ring?" ken asked.

"That's what I thought." Teruko said. "But who knows what's really inside there?"

"You mean it could just be a machine? Impossible.. I felt it.."