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“They never think outside their box.” He drew four connecting lines in the air. “Four square.”
“Frustrating for you, to be able to see so much more than they could.” Peabody sighed a little in sympathy. “Why didn’t you ever cut loose, just go out on your own? You didn’t need them.”
He shrugged.
“Or maybe you did,” Peabody continued. “I mean, a smart man knows he needs to use other people, pick their brains, let them handle some of the work so he can focus on what’s most important. You’ve known them a long time, worked with them, so you know their strengths and weaknesses, and how to use them for, you know, that big picture.”
“You’ve got to make a living so you can do the work.”
“Right. They supplied that. I get it. So when you gave Bart the disc, it was really just an experiment. You needed to see what would happen. To test it out with an actual human player.”
“That’s right. He gives good game. I thought he’d last longer than . . . I couldn’t know,” he said, backtracking. “I wasn’t there.”
“You couldn’t know when you gave Cill the disc either,” Peabody agreed. “You couldn’t know she’d fall. Plus, their weapons were as lethal as their opponents’. It wasn’t like you sent them in unarmed.”
“It had to be fair.” Var leaned forward, focusing on Peabody. “Look, Bart played that scenario a million times. If he hadn’t figured out how to take out the Black Knight, it’s not my fault.”
“How could it be? And if you’d told them they were plugging in your program, your new technology, it wouldn’t have been a valid experiment. A true gamer is supposed to believe it’s real, right?”
“Exactly.” He gave the table a quick slap. “There’s no point otherwise.”
“You had no responsibility to tell them about the program when you gave them the discs.”
“No, I didn’t. What happened after that was on them.”
Eve started to speak, then hooked her thumbs in her pockets to let Peabody play him out.
“But those can’t have been your first experiments. Not for a scientist as meticulous and involved as you. You must have played the game yourself.”
“I used droids, once I figured out the tech, and what was possible, I used droids against the holos. It’s all in my logs. I documented everything. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not my fault anyone got hurt.”
“Droids and holos.” On a low whistle, Peabody shook her head in admiration. “Man, I’d love to watch that play out.”
“Holos took it eighty-nine-point-two percent of the time. But they could run it for hours. Wicked frosty.”
“You knew they weren’t coming out,” Eve murmured. “When you sent your friends, your partners into those holo-rooms, you knew they had almost no chance of surviving the game.”
“I couldn’t know.” He folded his arms, smiled a little.
“You’ve got us there.” Eve nodded. “They walked in on their own. You weren’t there. It’s not like you forced them to play.”
He shot out a finger. “Bingo.”
“Wanting Bart gone, that’s not a crime either. And you did want him gone, didn’t you, Var? You’d done with them. You had what you’d worked for, and here’s Bart, who’s not nearly as smart, as inventive, as visionary as you are, refusing to play. All the resources of the business, all the tools available—that you’d helped build. And he said no, no dice, not going there. What gave him the right to deny you?”
“He didn’t have the right. I’m just as much a part of U-Play as he was. Just as important. But if Bart said no, everybody went along.”
“That’s a pisser. But if Bart’s not around, you go up a level. You have more control, more power, more say.”
“Like you said, wanting him gone’s not a crime.”
“And you had a way, where you wouldn’t be responsible, and he’d be gone. It’s brilliant.”
“It’s what I do. I build the scenario, create the tech, and the player decides. Win some, lose some.”
“He loses, you win.” Eve studied his smug, satisfied face as she rocked slowly back and forth on her heels. “And you’ve tied our hands on it. You always knew we couldn’t come at you for murder, even if we figured it out.”
“I have to say, I didn’t think you’d figure it out. Not for a while, not at least until I had the program on the market. Going military and security with that, by the way. It’s not for the kiddies. You can see right in my logs and notes that I never intended the tech for the open market. You just can’t come at me on this.”
