Dark Matter Read Online Free PDF Page B

felt to a relative stranger, but this relative stranger knew more about her than even her family.  Jane didn't know John at all; open with his speech he kept his thoughts on a tight leash.  His “outburst” today in Group was the nearest he had come to showing how he felt about anything.                'What are you trying to achieve with your research?’  Jane asked. 
    John sat down next to Jane accepting both the cigarette and the light she offered.  He inhaled deeply, staring off into the middle distance.  Jane recognised this as a sign he was preparing to speak, deciding how much he would divulge, and in what manner.  He turned to look at her and began.
    'I am trying to perfect a mineral extraction system, primarily for Gold, one that is clean, efficient and one hundred per cent effective.' 
    'What is wrong with the current system?' 
    'Well it's not clean, efficient or one hundred per cent effective.'
    'Perhaps,' she tried again, 'you could tell me how the current system works and how yours differs?'  That should do the trick, she thought , keep him talking in general terms, you can always come back for the specifics later.
    'Well my process is similar to the current process up to the point where they have mined the ore and pulverised the rock, then the current process uses all sorts of nasty chemicals, such as cyanide, to “leech” the gold out of the powdered ore.  However, this toxic waste is simply dumped back into the environment.  The chemicals are then free to poison the water supply and anything that depends on it, which would probably be all of the local life forms, flora and fauna alike.  My process would subject the same powdered ore to a different process, one that uses physics rather than chemistry.  The ore would be turned into a “soup” of atoms, from which the gold atoms would be “vacuumed up” like using a strong magnet to pick pins out of a thick carpet.' 
    His explanation, although appearing vague was actually very close to his process.  Not that anyone will know until my research is published, but by then I will own the patent.
    Jane tried to draw more out of John but he politely but firmly changed the subject at her every attempt.  She was less successful at deflecting his questions, making her re-evaluate her career, her choices, and her life.  She realised that she didn’t like where her life was headed. 
     
     
    09:28  25 October  [08:28  25 October  GMT]
    Fischer, Blum & Wyss Attorneys at Law, Zurich, Switzerland.
                 
    The junior clerk sighed as he went through the back file.  The back file, a list of instructions given by clients to be executed on a future date, was one of the least glamorous jobs.  Essential work, executing the pre-planned instructions of their clients, it wasn’t what he wanted to be doing.  He looked at today’s date, one entry.  That’s interesting , he thought, this one was lodged with the firm over nine years ago, it’s not often we have instructions given so far in advance.  A personal letter already addressed to the recipient in St. Petersburg.  Although there was no request for proof of delivery the clerk knew that without one he could not show that he had done his duty and so he ticked the “signature of addressee” box on the mail form.  He placed the form with the letter in the out tray and looked to the rest of his duties.
     
     
    08:52  27 October  [05:52  27 October GMT]
    Bondarenko Mansion House, Pavlovsk Suberb, 30km south of St. Petersburg, Russia.
     
    Solomon Bondarenko turned over in bed, her left leg, slender and well-toned, exposed to the world, her toes playing with the covers like a kitten.  She moved her arms up to her head, crossed them and lay her head upon them with her chin resting in their fold.  The door to her room opened quietly, a figure stole into the room, walking barefoot across the carpet, stalking her.  The figure was carrying something, concealed