The Beam: Season One Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’m here to see…”  
    “Oh, yes!” the girl said brightly. “You’re the salesman. You’re early. Mr. Killian is in with a distributor. I apologize that he’s a little behind. He’s been tied up with a bunch of loose ends. The other day, some protestors beat in the door of our warehouse and disturbed a swarm of nanos that had been developed for police use. It was almost a disaster. You wouldn’t believe the mess, but luckily nobody was hurt, and now…”  
    Doc held up a hand. “Hang on a second, darlin’. I’m here to see Mr. Nero.” Every other Friday, Doc stopped by to see Nero for more stock and to see what was new, if anything. Nero was a prick of immeasurable proportions and despised even the slightest delay, but he also cut Doc a tremendous wholesale deal since Doc moved so many upgrades. When Nero wasn’t being pricky (which was rare), he sometimes told Doc that none of the other independent salesmen could sell to the wide spectrum that Doc did. Most of the reps who sold Beam-enabled personal upgrades catered to the low or high end of the market, but Doc could sell to both and everyone in between. Doc sold rudimentary tablets and handhelds to people below the line, but also sold memory and creativity enhancers to those near the top of the food chain. He didn’t discriminate where profit was concerned
    The usual desk jockey — an uppity little cocksucker named Templeton — knew Doc and would have rebuked him for his lateness. But Templeton wasn’t here, and his replacement had no clue.  
    “Oh, Mr. Nero isn’t here,” said the girl. “He’s dealing with the police. The swarm, like I said. You’ll be meeting with Mr. Killian. Have a seat over there.” She pointed to a chair in the waiting area, near a plant.  
    Doc’s heartbeat was still coming down from his run, so he forced himself to breathe slowly and sit. While he waited, he tried to fan his armpits and cool off. He wasn’t late after all. This Mr. Killian wasn’t even ready for him. Doc wondered if Nero had told Killian to give him his usual discount. He’d be pissed if he had to pay full price and would grill Nero about it in two weeks if he did. Nero had a big bark, but ultimately spoke credits. If Doc threatened to move and start buying from Yeardley, he’d immediately cough up a rebate to cover the discount.  
    Ten minutes later, a tall man in a white lab coat with dark black hair appeared at the end of a hallway and greeted Doc. Doc rose and shook the man’s bony, clammy hand.
    “I’m sorry we’re so chaotic today,” said Killian. “We had a bit of an incident with the protestors, see, and…”  
    “I heard,” said Doc. He thought of adding something about how obnoxious the protestors were to grease the conversational skids, but he’d yet to gauge the man’s political temperature.  
    “Well, it’s led to a bit of a kerfuffle. Anyway, I apologize. Don’t let your first impression get to you! We’re ordinarily very composed and professional around here, and if you’re going to…”  
    Doc laughed good-naturedly. “It’s hardly my first time here.”
    Killian stopped and looked at Doc, confused. “Really? I understood I was introducing you to our product line.”  
    Doc shrugged. “Have you gotten new products in lately?”  
    “Oh yes.” Killian’s confused look vanished, something delighted replaced it. “We get new shipments constantly. The pace at which we’re cracking the neural nut, so to speak, is staggering. Once the Series Six nano software patch was developed and we learned that we could up-or-down-regulate CNS neurons, the cortex became our playground. What Einstein said about how we only use ten percent of our brains? Well, that leaves a lot to uncover. I can’t discuss it all yet because it’s preliminary, but let’s just say that what’s becoming possible by the week has us all quite excited.” Killian’s eyes had grown wide. He seemed positively giddy with discovery.