Page 2 - Unlikely Stories 4
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Quintessence
Buy me a beer? Thanks, pal. No, relax: I know this isn’t a gay bar.
On the other hand, you’re not going to find much female
companionship here. But you probably know that. And this is not a
sports bar with giant-screen TVs dominating everything else. No, it’s
a good, old-fashioned drown-your-sorrows-somewhere-other-than-
in-your-lonely-apartment bar.
Yeah, I’ve polished the vinyl on these stools a lot in the past few
months. Can’t say I’ve seen you before, but it’s dark in here for a
reason, you know? Pardon my habit of observation, but that looks
like a wedding ring on your right hand: either you’re using it as a
second marriage engagement ring or you haven’t pawned it yet from
your first go-round, and keep wearing it for reasons you probably
couldn’t explain to yourself. Am I right?
Okay, okay: didn’t mean to be nosy. Listen: I’ve been divorced
four times after only one marriage. Don’t believe it? Then wait until
I’ve told you how it happened. Then I’ll buy you a beer. Or
something stronger: you may need it.
Three years ago I was a sales rep for—well, let’s just say it’s a
cutting-edge technology company with a lot of investment capital and
a business plan to compete against the best in robotics and artificial
intelligence. As you can imagine, a lot of this work is very secretive
and kept away from the eyes of the public—and those competitors.
The people working there all had non-compete and non-disclosure
clauses in their employment contracts, including me. Anyway, right
now I don’t give a damn about that: if you’re an industrial spy, you
can take whatever I tell you right back to your masters, for all I care. I
just want to get it off my chest.
No, no! I was half-kidding about that. You say you were a teaching
assistant at state college before they cut you off at the knees? All the
better: you might have a keener appreciation of the personal disaster
I am about to relate. Now, where was I?
Right: so the company had a new slant on where the industry was
going. By “industry” they meant a whole complex of research going
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