Joining the Team
The peon made his move this morning. He used a public terminal to make it harder to trace him. I triggered the program I had bought and set loose in the network, waited until he was done, verified that the program had captured enough incriminating information, and walked up to him.
"Pardon me, but I cannot help but notice your illegal activities."
I will confess that he was calm. "I don't know what you mean."
"Russell, your false ignorance is charming but useless." I showed him part of the data the program had captured. "This evidence is enough to net me my bounty."
Now Russell was less calm than before. "I can pay you. More than your bounty is worth."
"Bribing a duly-bonded officer of a judicial company? You compound your crimes." My stereo-opticon recorder whirred. "However." I made much of turning off my recorder. "I can imagine a way for you to avoid having to pay any fines or spend time in corporate-approved incarceration." I leaned closer. He smelled of tikka masala and fear, a spicy combination. "Join my team as an independent contractor."
"What?"
On occasions like this, I wish I worked with more clever people, even if they are more dangerous in the long run. At the very least he could try to ask better questions. "I have a group of people who do work for me that falls outside the strict purview of my job."
This, of all things, made Russell calmer. "Well. I'm a highly-paid individual with many in-demand skills. What kind of compensation did you have in mind?"
I turned him over to Hiram for final negotiations, with the reminder that, thanks to direct neural interfaces, Russell did not need use of all of his fingers to perform his tasks.
"Pardon me, but I cannot help but notice your illegal activities."
I will confess that he was calm. "I don't know what you mean."
"Russell, your false ignorance is charming but useless." I showed him part of the data the program had captured. "This evidence is enough to net me my bounty."
Now Russell was less calm than before. "I can pay you. More than your bounty is worth."
"Bribing a duly-bonded officer of a judicial company? You compound your crimes." My stereo-opticon recorder whirred. "However." I made much of turning off my recorder. "I can imagine a way for you to avoid having to pay any fines or spend time in corporate-approved incarceration." I leaned closer. He smelled of tikka masala and fear, a spicy combination. "Join my team as an independent contractor."
"What?"
On occasions like this, I wish I worked with more clever people, even if they are more dangerous in the long run. At the very least he could try to ask better questions. "I have a group of people who do work for me that falls outside the strict purview of my job."
This, of all things, made Russell calmer. "Well. I'm a highly-paid individual with many in-demand skills. What kind of compensation did you have in mind?"
I turned him over to Hiram for final negotiations, with the reminder that, thanks to direct neural interfaces, Russell did not need use of all of his fingers to perform his tasks.