Free The Complete Karma Trilogy by Jude Fawley Page A

he frowned and mentally prepared a statement. “We will perform as Mr. Perry says. That is the final word on the matter. I will ask, of course, that he be understanding of circumstances, which have been mentioned by several gentleman already. This is a respectable business, and should always be. The quality of the product we make is our utmost priority, and the livelihood of our employees. Do you object to those priorities, Mr. Perry?”
    Matthew pretended to give it a moment of consideration. He could sense, by looking at the faces around him, that the decision of the CEO would override any objection that the rest would make. “Quality and livelihood. I can work around those two words. My methodology may be slightly different than you are used to, though.”
    “Damn Americans,” one of the more elderly gentlemen couldn’t help but mumble, after Matthew’s response.
    “Racist comments will have to go. That’s my first dictate. If that’s such an unacceptable change from normal operating conditions, then I wonder that this company does as well as you say it does. Xenophobia can hardly get you very far, in this modern world. What a tense working relationship this will be, if I’m disliked on such irrational grounds, right from the start.”
    The room became hushed. It was a fairly dramatic situation that he was centered in, but Matthew’s mind couldn’t help but wandering. He simply had to wonder what the situation looked like to his bodyguards, who didn’t understand a single word that was being said. Comprehension would have to resort to a more abstract level, for them—it would look like a bunch of old, humanoid organisms being irritated by random vibrations in the air. And that’s all it was.
    Furthermore, one of those old men could say directly to Matthew, “I will kill you in the next five seconds. But not by using a physical weapon, nor will I make a single violent motion. I will not even move. Nevertheless, you will die in five seconds, if I can concentrate in peace for that long.” And his bodyguards, there to ensure his livelihood, wouldn’t do a thing to protect him, even though they could turn the man to a cloud of smoke in less than a second. He laughed at the thought.
    “If we can all be grown men, I’d like to move on to matters of business, which is what we’re all here for, is it not? I will require a tour around the building, to inspect operations, if someone could kindly be provided to do this for me.”

 
     
     
    Ronin 3
    Seppuku
     
     
    Reiko dived into her project with an enthusiasm she’d never had before. She rearranged the entire room into a configuration she thought would be the best compromise between her and the rats, between her observation and their comfort. She put a lot of thought into it. When she found out that she had a fairly large budget, she had cameras installed to monitor them at all times and to record everything. From the outskirts of the city, lying in her bed at night, she would watch them on her small laptop as she drifted to sleep.
    One week had gone by since her first day at Kaishin. In that time, the rest of the fourteen rats had been fitted with a machine in their heads, she had named all of them, including the control rats that had no machine, and they had all learned their names. She had learned their individual personalities, how often they slept, their nervous habits, how sociable they were. Using that information, she started writing little biographies for each.
    To start with, she had decided to keep the rats that were mentally paired together in the same cage. To those eight different pairs, in eight cages, she taught one simple, unique trick. Her thought was that if, after the groups were combined into four, each rat knew two tricks with only having been taught one, that would be the simplest indication she needed that the machine worked. She taught Tako and Maguro how to roll over, Yasai and Niku how to spin in circles on command, and Neko and