Free A Gift of Ghosts (Tassamara) by Sarah Wynde Page A

Einstein, past, present, and future were simply
a stubbornly persistent illusion. Akira wasn’t a quantum physicist herself, but
she knew that they postulated that on an atomic level, the future could be
known. If they were right, then theoretically seeing the future could be
possible. But still, it sounded highly unlikely to her. Although not really any
more unlikely than seeing ghosts.
    Maybe it was time for some basic scientific inquiry. “So, did
you know we’d be having this conversation?” She tried not to let any emotion
slip into the words, to make them as calm and neutral as she could, but even
she could hear the hint of skepticism that slipped out.
    Max’s smile was approving. “No. No, if I could see
everything, I’m sure I’d be institutionalized. It would be impossible to
function. No, I just sometimes know the outcome of an event before it happens.
Rather random events, it seems. There are events I would have given a great
deal to have foreseen that were obscured to me.” The sadness in his eyes didn’t
match his smile.
    “He’s mostly good with money,” Zane said, turning his
attention back to the table.
    “Money?” Akira was startled. That seemed so practical.
    “Things that make money, really,” Max corrected his son. “The
money itself was your mother.”
    Akira raised her eyebrows at Max, encouraging him to go on, and
he continued. “My wife was the driving force behind General Directions. The
company is primarily a holding company. We buy and sell shares of other
companies, and sometimes pick up useful patents. As I’m sure you can imagine,
foreknowledge is an asset when it comes to dabbling in investments.”
    “Shouldn’t that be illegal?” Akira was fascinated. It had never
occurred to her to look for such a pragmatic use for her own quirk. Not that
ghosts were likely to be useful when it came to buying stocks, but they could
have been helpful in other ways, she supposed. Maybe?
    “Oh, probably,” Max agreed. “But I wouldn’t want to be the
politician trying to get the law passed.”
    “Or the lawyer trying to prosecute,” Zane said. “It’s tough
to prove. Turns out that knowing the future looks a lot like insider trading
from the outside, at least to the SEC, so we’ve had some experience.”
    Max waved his hand, as if brushing away the SEC. “We’ve
worked all that out.”
    Akira was still trying to put the pieces together. “If it’s a
holding company, why do you have research labs?” she asked. The labs she’d seen
on her first tour were impressively well-stocked and the scanner that Nat had
used earlier in the day had to be a multi-million dollar piece of equipment.
That didn’t fit the picture of a company that only invested in other companies.
    “I like research,” Max answered, as if that was all that
needed to be said.
    “Got to spend the money on something,” Zane murmured to
Akira. “Mom always spent it on making more of it, but Dad uses part of the
profits for his interests.”
    “We’ve got some fascinating projects underway. Some, of
course, explore our, well, quirks, if you will, but we’ve funded some
biochemical research that’s quite amazing. And there’s a quantum teleportation
project that you might be interested in.” Max sounded eager to share, and Akira
heard the words with a surge of curiosity. Quirks?
    “You’re researching psychic phenomena?” she asked, not sure
how she felt about that. Academically, of course, it was disastrous. Her one
speculative paragraph had led to stern words from her department head, whispers
in the staff room, mocking jokes from her colleagues, and a seeming end to her
academic career.
    “I hire people with gifts,” Max said. “Or interesting ideas.
And then see what they do. Often that means researching the phenomena that
affect them directly.”
    Akira didn’t really know much about business, having spent
her life in academia, but Max’s tactics sounded risky to her. Maybe he really
could see