Rise of the Order Read Online Free PDF

expansive Magdeburg University sat on a knoll overlooking the Elbe River, its buildings a distant remnant of the elegance it once was prior to the bombing during World War II that destroyed over 80 percent of the city. Some of the buildings had been rebuilt with the old fallen stone, but others were constructed in the 60s under the watchful eye of Soviet occupation, and those resembled blockhouse tenements designed by unimaginative ten-year-olds.
    Standing in the window of his third-story office in the engineering building, Dr. Wilhelm Altenstein, a professor of micro and nanoscience, was proud of the accomplishments of his university, and particularly his department. He had led a team recently to a conference at Delft University in the Netherlands, where he presented his findings on nanotechnology and bioengineering—the results of which had raised his reputation to those of Professors Martin of Berlin and even Anderson of Stanford University in America. Although those in attendance had been impressed, they knew only part of his research. He could not reveal more. Not yet.
    Altenstein changed his view from the sprawling campus with leafless trees and scattered pines to his reflection in the glass. His hair, black and gray, stood up in all directions, a result of sleeping on the sofa in his office again. His scraggly beard hung down from his chin in a point, and he stroked it now with his thin fingers. In his mid fifties, he looked closer to sixty, he thought, with the bags under his eyes and the wrinkles across his forehead.
    â€œProfessor,” came a voice from the door.
    Altenstein startled from his reverie and then glanced at the reflected image of Hermann Conrad. He wasn’t expecting him for another hour. Checking his watch, he realized the man was right on time.
    The two men met in the middle of the large office and shook hands. Conrad was the chief executive and president of Marienburg Biotechnik, the main funding source for Altenstein’s research. The company was established almost a decade ago during the biotechnology boom that followed the mapping of the human genome. Conrad had done quite well for himself, and that was evident by his Italian suit and shoes, the Rolex watch on his right wrist, his perfectly manicured hands, and hair that seemed to shine.
    â€œHope I didn’t catch you at a bad time,” Conrad said, his words soft-spoken like a jazz disc jockey.
    â€œWe had a meeting scheduled,” Altenstein said, checking his watch.
    â€œYes, we did. But I know how busy you can get.”
    A jab at past meetings he had missed or been late arriving, Altenstein thought. Conrad had always, ever since their relationship began some five years prior, been patient to a point. Cross him, though, and he would unleash a brutal temper. Altenstein had seen him fire employees for seemingly insignificant indiscretions, and the good professor wanted nothing of that wrath. He needed Conrad’s funding or he would end up back in the classroom trying to teach inferior minds the significance of the future of microtechnology, and nanotechnology in particular.
    â€œI heard you turned some heads in Delft,” Conrad said, his eyebrows raising.
    Altenstein tried to guess where this was going. “I gave nothing away,” the professor said. “No more than they already knew. I just wanted my colleagues to know I knew what they knew.”
    â€œPerhaps more?”
    â€œI don’t know about that.” If they only knew his true research, he would probably be investigated on ethical grounds.
    â€œHave you tested the nano. . .what do you call them?”
    â€œInhibitors.”
    â€œRight. Inhibitors.” Conrad crossed his arms onto his chest, his mind in deep thought. “Well?”
    â€œThe tests are nearly complete,” Altenstein said apprehensively.
    â€œHave the. . .inhibitors acted as you planned?”
    Altenstein moved behind his cluttered desk and shuffled some