The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️

Chapter 61 : Carla Vacuxa

In a room somewhere in the palace, 5 men were waiting, drinks in hand, discussing some of the latest events. Dusk and her 3 companions walked into the room with Sir Oyster and another government official who had joined them on the way. Susco immediately recognised the Assistant Advocate General, who smiled at her. She wondered how he happened to join the meeting and whether there was some planning behind it. Perhaps Sir Oyster joining them was not a spur-of-the-moment incident.

The men were unhappy to see her walk in with a team of 5. They had expected that she will come alone or with just one more person and they would have a psychological advantage over her. They were more surprised to see two who seem to be government officials.

"Please come in, I am Carter Sto, CEO of Carla Vacuxa GameTech Inc. You must be Dusk Hale."

Dusk shook hands with him. She introduced her team, "This is Ms. Susco, she is a director on the company with me."

"Actually, I was hoping for a one-on-one meeting with you Ms. Hale. Which is what I assumed when I was informed that you will be here for the Ball." Carter said with a smile.

"And, you have done a very admirable job of preparing for a one-on-one meeting here by getting 5 other persons with you, I see." Dusk replied, much to Catherine's amusement. Catherine almost clapped on hearing the retort Dusk gave.

Dusk did not like the attitude that Carter was displaying. She felt from him the kind of sneer she used to get from the rich and entitled students in the university, before she became known as a director of a company. However, Carter was pretty apt in hiding it from being overtly visible.

[Meanwhile, in a virtual room, 3 people were sitting together, looking at the video streams from multiple cameras on the meeting room.

"Where did she come from?" one asked.

"I don't know. Catherine was not a part of the plans. But in a way it's good, seeing a young student there, Sto is going to be more relaxed. I just hope he does not realise she is a Princess. Her picture was plastered all over Social Media today. Hopefully he does not see social media."

"I like the answer Dusk gave. Looks like the meeting will go the way you want, huh?"]

Carter Sto backed down a little. He had not expected Dusk Hale to be so direct in her response. He called the attendant in the room to give everyone a drink and suggested, "Well, let's sit for dinner, shall we. We can talk about things along the way."

"If you do not mind, I would like to get straight to the point of the meeting. I do not want a drink and I would prefer to have dinner with my friends outside. Please tell me what you wanted to meet for." Dusk interrupted the plans.

Carter Sto was surprised. He had arranged for good food and a very expensive bottle of alcohol for the meeting. He had expected the girl, student from a rural area would be more amenable to these things.

"Well, then let's talk of that. I do hope after the discussions, you will be willing to honour us by joining us for dinner."

Dusk gave a non-committal tilt of her head. Both Catharine and Susco were impressed with Dusk's negotiation tactics as were the 3 watching the video feed.

"You see, you have been making VR programs that have been reasonably well accepted in the market. You make use of our VR Gloves and Goggles. But we have not got any benefit from your success... While we are pretty much happy to see students like you achieve success, don't you think you should have taken our appro..."

Dusk coldly interrupted him. "Let's stop right there. In the first place, our VR Programs have been an astounding success, resulting in the University being able to sell many tens of thousands of copies of the Agro-Edu VR programs. So, I would appreciate if you do stop denigrating our success. The improvement in training in Agro-Tech processes due to our VR is unprecedented. Each of the gloves used have been officially bought and there is no restriction on what the gloves may be used for. Now, what exactly is your problem?"