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finally answered by the emergence of the car's other occupant.
    There could not have been two more different people imagined. Where Vitus Calloway was all liveliness and energy, his son was mousy and drab. Vitus' brilliant outfit clashed monstrously with Bernardo's proper grey pinstripe. The younger man was round and puffy, fully a foot shorter than his gawky parent, who now strutted behind him in order to push him forward and present him to Wolfgang. The impression was something like a small blimp being maneuvered about at the end of a crane.
    "This is Bernardo, scion of my empire, my only boy!"
    Some “boy,” Wolfgang thought. Bernardo was at least forty, and a none-too-robust forty at that...though perhaps this still qualified as boyish in relation to his father's seventy-plus years.
    "Pleased to meet you. Wolfgang Wallace. I take it this is your first trip to Archimago?"
    "Yes. Mister Wallace. Charmed." Bernardo's voice, when it came, was another contrast. It had nothing of the champagne sparkle of Vitus Calloway's quick-fire British cliches. This was more like marmalade ladled grudgingly over cold toast.
    "Brought the boy along to see the works, don't you know. Been raised in the mother country, all the best schools, then managing my New York outfit. But I'm an old man now, don't you know, not long for this mortal coil, eh what? All be his, I suspect, unless his mother's lawyers are a fair sight better'n mine, eh? Haw haw!"
    Wolfgang spotted a third figure emerging from the limousine. “And Ms...”
    “Oh, dash it all, that’s Forthwhit. Come along, Henny! Henrietta Forthwhit, my financial officer.”
    Ms. Forthwhit had a distracted expression, a small computer on her wrist to which she whispered constantly, and a handshake like boiled lasagna noodles. Wolfgang Wallace mustered a grin.
    “If you would all care to step inside?" The click of their shoes on the marble floor echoed throughout the vast lobby. "Your vid indicated that you were interested in tomorrow's software release."
    "Most keen on it, very keen! Arrived early to let the lad here have a look-see before all the hubbub tomorrow. Thought we'd get the tour now, then nip off to see a factory I own a bit further north, over the border, then back here tomorrow for the unveiling."
    "You're not here to see the management and officers at all today, then? Should I have Mr. Kipling join us?"
    Calloway shook his head vigorously. "No, no. I'll deal with all that lot tomorrow, at the release party. Just a tour today, preferably from someone knows their way about, been here for a while. Henny likes a quick peek at new acquisitions, don’t you know. How 'bout you, Wallace?"
    Wolfgang directed his charges towards the waiting elevator. Henry, the security guard, was still holding the door open.
    “I’m a little confused. I know you’ve been to the offices before, during the purchase negotiations. What, specifically, did you want to see?”
    “Everything,” Vitus Calloway enthused. “Give us the grand tour.”
    “I can do that,” Wolfgang agreed. “Although I should tell you, I’d take a potential investor to the Catalyst floors, to meet the celebrities, and I’d probably take a new employee to the top floor for coffee and the view.”
    Calloway laughed. “Very honest of you, dear chap! Well, we’ll pay our respects to the stars of the show before we leave, but I’d relish a cuppa. Lead on!”
    “Can do,” Wolfgang agreed. “Top floor please, Henry.”
     
    The towers of Seattle were just visible through the morning fog across the Puget Sound through the wraparound windows of the thirteenth floor. “Lovely view,” Vitus Calloway said, “ but why so far from the city?” He slurped his tea noisily.
    “Land is cheaper,” Wolfgang offered. “And frankly, we like being a little bit remote. The lack of distraction is a plus when you're in a business like ours, which depends as much on artists as it does on algorithms.”
    That wasn’t very politic , he