; ; Gurney didn't have a clue about the shadow, so I'd minimized how much ; trouble I thought that really meant I--and now he--were in.
; ; "See this, here," he pointed at the schematic, up in its innards, ; "this is really similar in overall architecture to this," he called up ; an overlay, "piece made by BlissTech through a subsidiary."
; ; I was suddenly wondering why Gennaro hadn't figured that out--but ; maybe she had.
; ; "Which subsidiary?" I asked.
; ; "They don't have a name," Gurney said, "but I do know where they front ; their operation--in low orbit."
; ; "Okay," I replied, "anything else?"
; ; "Not much else. It's like looking at a processor--you can see what it ; looks like but the protocols are totally unknown unless you can tap ; it." He said, shrugging his shoulders.
; ; "What if I brought you Meat that had the I-toy? Could you tell more ; then?" I asked.
; ; "That's not a good idea," Gurney said, "because this sucker replicates ; and it has a very, very long range for Sub comm."
; ; "What the fuck do you mean?" I replied, incredulous.
; ; "The I-toy is just a node in a larger system. That's what this," he ; pointed at a winding wire that ran beside the spine, coiled up, "is ; for. It's a high-powered antenna, laced into the skin. I'll bet it ; uses the skin's electrodynamics to transmit and receive packets."
; ; "What packets?" I asked.
; ; "Protocol packets. This is a node, Cyn. That means that it is only one ; redundant piece of a bigger system." He pulled up a schematic of an ; iWork. "See this?" He said. "Multiple nodes--each node transmitting ; and receiving and routing protocols to other predefined nodes. That's ; what a full iSystem is. Well, the I-toy isn't just a Meatmaker. It's ; more properly a nodemaker that's self-replicating."
; ; "I don't believe you. Gennaro didn't say anything about any of this," ; I said.
; ; "Really. She wouldn't have caught that because she wasn't looking and ; it isn't her specialty." He said, scratching his balls.
; ; "Alright." I paused, thinking, wondering for just a moment, pulling ; the Afghan suddenly up to my chin and almost spilling my wonderful, ; real coffee.
; ; "What did you mean when you said self-replicating?" I asked.
; ; "Well, the I-toy has a manufacturing component--which is really ; unique. It's designed to accept raw materials, common stuff anybody ; would have, and process it. That's what this," he pointed to several ; items he'd highlighted with grey overlays, "and this are for. You ; 'feed' it with synthetic items, like plastics that contain embedded ; circuitry, and it remanufactures it. It would probably require the ; user to do a bit of the work, but with the CAT reprotocoling the user ; probably knows exactly what they need and the exact 'feeding' ; sequence."
; ; "Jesus," I said, thinking carefully about the implications. Any I-toy ; user would become a source of new I-toys. Gennaro had really missed ; the mark on the seriousness of this new hardware. Really missed.
; ; There was silence in the room for a long while, the schematics ; brightly floating on their stage, motionless.
; ; "For a Meatmaker, it's way beyond anything I'd ever seen. And you know ; what I've seen." Gurney said.
; ; "Gurney," I said, "why build something like this? I mean, why?"
; ; "Don't know," he replied, suddenly pacing, "but it's very efficient ; and it's permanent. Somebody wants to up their Meat count, heavy."
; ; More silence filled Gurney's place, seeping out of every corner of the ; octagonal arrangement.
; ; "Gurney," I said quickly, thinking like an IUer, "Have you had any ; special contracts to develop protocols recently? One-shot deals. From ; a month ago to four months ago?"
; ; "I get lots of those," he said, "why?"
; ; "It's very important that you tell me. Single, unnamed bidder. Large ; payment from the same source. All underground. A piece of work--a ; single piece of a subsystem and not a complete Stim." I said.
; ; "Well, there's only one job recently that fits that bill. And it paid ; like a motherfucker." He replied.
; ; "Let me guess--you provided your most powerful Stim protocols," I ; almost whispered.
; ; "Yeah," he paused, "you don't think. . . ."
; ; "Yes," I said, "you may have developed the Stim protocols for this ; little monster."
; ; Gurney's work had helped blanket Susan's helpless mind with limitless ; vistas of pleasure while the biomechanics wired her up like a ; synthflesh doll.
; ; "Shit." He said.
; ; "Do you still have the RFPs? The requests for bids and specs?" I ; asked, hopeful.
; ; "Sure. I have them right here," he said as he pointed at his desk.
; ; With a glimmer in my eye, I stared at Gurney and said: "We can trace ; them back to their source. I'll bet they go back to BlissTech's ; subsidiary."
; ; As Gurney watched, I laid back on the couch, spread my legs, turned my ; head to one side--pulling back my hair so he could see my CAT's ; service hump--and said, "But first, let's take an hour, only an hour, ; and try your new Stim. . . . Master."
; ; It was a good deed--and some fuckingly righteous Stim.
; ; End of Part 7 ; [1 ; 2 ; 3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7 ; 8 ; 9 ; 10 ; 11 ; 12 ; 13] ; ;