Minions (40 page)

Devlin accepted the comment. 

“As difficult as it may be for you to understand at the
moment, you’ve already proven your worth for the greater good.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Devlin asked aggressively,
but his mood was immediately subdued by his own thought process.  In
particular, he dwelled on what he’d learnt in the research interface. 

Glen continued only after he saw some acceptance on
Devlin’s face.  “You should be able to raise your head high for your part.”

“But what I read in the research interface told me ...”

“The greater good is not all about you, Devlin.  That’s
why we’re here, so you understand that much.”

“So why did we need to come here?”

“If you hadn’t come here you might never have understood
the greater good. 

“I still don’t.”

“Think about it,” said Glen.  “One thing you should now
know from the messages is that bad people exist, possibly hidden under a thin
veneer of good, just as good people can exist largely hidden by what others
choose to see.  Far be it for me to suggest that there is good in everyone, but
everyone can contribute to a greater good.”

Devlin searched for the poignancy in what Glen was saying.
 “I don’t see how this affects me.”

“I just want you to see what Malcolm is doing.”

“If Malcolm is doing anything then maybe LastGasp’ isn’t
as secure as you think.”

“How do you think that may be then?”

“Alright.  I figure Albert gets told stuff, maybe
everything, by your readers when they need a little headspace.  Doesn’t that
constitute a leak?”

“Albert is indirectly harmless.  He’s only interested in
finding Malcolm, which isn’t a concern.  If you look into their common history
you’ll work that much out for yourself without any effort at all.”

“The fire?”

Glen shook his head.  “Malcolm, Sam, taught me a lot, but
to do so, he needed to make a point.  I would have preferred that he did this differently,
but that isn’t what happened.  Albert is concerned that
his
legacy might
have been compromised, just like most people would do, if they were at all
aware.  For this, he’s desperate to find Malcolm. 

“It’s unfortunate, but Malcolm’s actions represented a
significant change for LastGaspStore.  He forced a serious system rethink.”

“What about the use of laptops in the bunker?  Surely one
could be taken out of the building and in the right hands
something
could be gleaned from it.”

“You’re assuming that others want what is in LastGaspStore. 
I thought you’d understand by now that it’s not about what’s
in
LastGaspStore,
but rather what comes
from
LastGaspStore.”

“If LastGasp’ is secure then surely they are one and the
same thing.”

“So did I,” Glen said morosely.  “Getting at a single
machine wouldn’t help anyone because the real power is not in the premature
release of secrets, but rather in what secrets dead men, people, tell.”

“The difference being what exactly?”

“You can’t challenge a dead man,” said Glen.  “Do you ever
wonder what the guy you killed might have said in a LastGaspStore message, if
in fact he was a member?”

“No.  What?”

“I have no idea.  The point is that he could have said
anything, about anyone.”

“So?”

“So, what he said is out there.  It can’t be withdrawn or
retracted.  Even more important than that is that it can’t be refuted or
challenged.  Libel and slander don’t apply and there’s no going back.  Think
about what can happen when such a message is received.”

Devlin did as Glen had suggested.  Would his life have
been different if the guy’s message, if there was one, had said something in
his defence?  What if such a message had existed but never been brought to
public attention, particularly to the attention of either the police or the
media?  The thought was both inviting and angering.  Devlin then had another
thought; that the corollary was also true.  What if such a message had
implicated him?  Devlin felt a rising gulp of bile, this time not caused by the
coffee.

Sensing a degree of realisation in the expression on
Devlin’s face, Glen continued.  “The trouble is that things stay said.  Sam
worked it out, and I didn’t believe him until I saw it for myself.  No protocol
could help and no algorithm I could envisage could prevent it.  For all my
vision I’d inadvertently created a tool of social engineering.  Real people
armed with untruths and devoid of any recourse could change the world.

“Your situation, what happened to you, was a classic
example.  If you can be comfortable that the family of the guy you killed is
better off for what you did, then that’s a good thing.  That he wasn’t who you
thought he was is not important.”

“But why?  Why me?”

“I can’t say for your case.  I never claimed to have all
the answers.  That your family, your father in particular, shared in your fall
is possibly significant.  I can’t say.

“My penance for what I created is to try to make amends,
as much as possible, where I could see obvious abuses of the truth.  It was the
least I could do to try to show people, like yourself, why.

“When I realised what Sam did I closed that particular
avenue for abuse and prevented anyone from creating a message on behalf of
someone else.”

“So what’s Malcolm, or whatever his name is, doing now?”

“Nothing as far as LastGaspStore is concerned,” said Glen
smiling subtly.  “What’s more, on account of the system privacy and security I
can’t even be sure if he’s a member.”

“Does that mean that you feed him information on the sly?”

“He’s not getting anything from me.”

“But the protocols?  Who gets the information?”

“An incessant reminder of the scope of my creation,
nothing more.  I certainly don’t do anything with them anymore, though they do
serve to focus the attention of my readers.”

“So why still have them?”

“That would raise more questions.  It’s better that I just
keep up the façade.”

“So how do you explain what Malcolm knows?  If he’s not
getting it from you, then how would Malcolm know about Angie, or me for that
matter?”

“Malcolm sees what you see, reads what you read and hears
what you hear.  Admittedly not at LastGaspStore, but that’s irrelevant.  He
just knows where to look and he’s alert to it.  Who he helps is purely the
domain of his own conscience.”

“So why are we here now?”

“The fact that we are here right now is only to show you
that social change can be engineered by good people, not just bad people.  And
that bad people can do their part.”

“For the greater good?”

“Indeed,” said Glen.  “For the greater good.” 

Devlin was unconvinced, but quiet.

                                                                                                                                                        
Chapter - 88.
               
 

On return to Glen’s car, Devlin finally felt an
inclination to ask more questions.  He’d been content to walk silently beside
Glen the entire walk from the café, just as Glen had appeared satisfied that
he’d explained enough to render Devlin silent.  He finally felt that he
understood enough of LastGasp’, and possibly even of Malcolm to put his mind to
rest.  Tania however, remained, like an extra piece left over after completing
a jigsaw.  “How well did Malcolm know Whitely?”

“Well enough.”

“And Malcolm knows Tania?”

“Not that I know of.  Certainly not in the biblical sense,
but he knows about her.”

“None of this explains David’s involvement in the death of
Tania’s brother.”

“I didn’t think that was a particular concern of yours. 
If it’s any consolation, Tim, Tania’s brother, was killed by the very person
who the police identified.  Case closed.  That much has nothing to do with
David.”

“But why?”

“Who’s to say.  Tim happened to be in the right place at
the right time with a mentally unstable, paranoid schizophrenic.”

Glen’s choice of words caught Devlin’s attention.  “Not
wrong place and wrong time?”

“The greater good, Devlin.  Perhaps you should ask that
question of Whitely when next you see him.”

“Is it worth asking how Tim came to be in this right place
at the right time then?”

“That might be a question for Malcolm.  When next you meet
with him you might want to ask how he’s doing it.”

“So what is it about Malcolm?”

“You have to understand that until Malcolm, I’d seen my
vision corrupted despite good intentions.  I never meant it to be a tool for
others to settle a score without retribution, be that for personal,
professional or even cultural gain.  My solution of having Readers largely
backfired, and who am I to have the final say as to whether a message gets
sent. 

“For all my corrupted legacy, Malcolm helped me see that
there could be an upside.  He wasn’t like other readers.  There was nothing in
it for him then, just as now.”

“I still don’t understand what he’s doing,” Devlin said.

“I hope you learned in the messages that there are good
and bad people. 
I was focused on serving the good and denying
the bad, while Malcolm is effectively serving the good by using the bad.”

“So you let it happen?”

“If Malcolm wants to help align those in need with those
wanting to provide, is that so wrong?”

“But the guy in the café.  That was the guy from the
Research Interface and Angie’s LastGasp’ message.”

Glen smiled.  “He’s just someone that Malcolm, Sam,
knows.  They met long before he met Angie.”

“But why?  Why him?  Why don’t you just let the
authorities know about him?”

“What’s to tell,” Glen explained.  “There’s nothing that
couldn’t be known by anyone who wanted to learn for themselves.  You yourself
marvelled that he wasn’t in jail.  Interpret that as you will, but maybe they
don’t want him touched.  In the meantime, Malcolm’s clearly got him working for
a greater good.”

“And me.  What about where I fit into this?”

“As sad as it is, Devlin.  You are inconsequential.  Your
demise served a greater good.  Get over it.  Think bigger.  Move on.  Don’t
waste your life.”

Devlin returned a smile for his understanding of the
greater good.  “Thank-you.”

For the first time, Glen did not reject Devlin’s
appreciation.

                                                                                                                                                        
Chapter - 89.
               
 

Tania was not in a door answering mood.  She was feeling
the familiar twangs of post binge regret, and the last thing she wanted was to
have to interact with people.  Instead, she would have preferred to have
continued her internal struggle until she found familiar middle ground
somewhere between anger and disinterest.  Anger at the mess that was her life,
and disinterest that she was so far beyond caring that if confronted she’d just
as soon as say that she didn’t give a shit.  By chance, in the pendulum of
emotions, she was swinging very much towards hate fuelled anger when the
doorbell rang, but a moment on either side and she might well have been
suicidal or contemplating another trip to the bar, any bar. 

She knew it was sure to be her new landlord.  Her brave
call to just blow off his scheduled visit yesterday only delayed the inevitable,
and his phone call this morning was not the best way to start an otherwise bad
day.  At least he wasn’t so much angry for his wasted visit, but only disappointed
that their meeting had been delayed.  That would have been a bad way to start
their relationship.  He sounded nice enough on the phone, foreign of course,
but that he also knew ‘Cat’ helped break the ice.  She braced herself for the
need to impress him and be polite, but that couldn’t suppress her immediate
need to vent her frustration.

She headed for the door, still cursing a list of people
under her breath.  Her oblivious father, her well-intentioned but naïve
brother, her past employers, the larger of her suitors from last night.  This. 
All of this.  Her life was not her fault.  Perhaps this was the ‘rock bottom’
that her brother had encouraged her to embrace, the upside being that her life
would surely improve from here.

*          *          * 

Nebojsa always enjoyed meeting new people when not at
work; it was like foreplay.  It was fun, and with it would come the
anticipation of what would follow and what he would learn about himself.

The woman answered the door and he recognised her
immediately, even if it was clearly not reciprocated.  The ‘pijan’.  Others
might consider this priceless, but Nebojsa was confident that he’d find the
right value.

She was fired up and angry, and he could sense it even
through the security screen.  He liked that.  He was expected obviously, but
still he liked that she would open the door willingly, already mindful that she
couldn’t deny him.  Nebojsa liked that too.  This one had a fire that even
Angie had taken a lot of encouragement to share.

The landlord’s inspection was a formality and for the most
part, he took it for the ruse that it really was.  The legitimacy of the
meeting was intoxicating.  It was probably important for her too, but he didn’t
care.  He decided to call her ‘Seed’.  This was the start of a relationship for
sure.

He asked to see the bedroom.  He asked once.

The End.