The Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child Read Free Book Online

positive and there’s a suitable opening, an offer is made. In my case, about four years ago I received my MSE in computer science from MIT. It was my plan to go on directly for my doctorate. Instead, I won the Advanced Computing Society’s Obfuscated Software Award. And then I got a visit from a Lux recruitment officer.” She shrugged. “And here I am.”
    “What was your specialty at MIT?” Logan asked.
    “Strategic software design.”
    “Never heard of it.”
    “It’s a rather new field. It deals with how to protect programs from today’s threat-filled digital environment: worms, tunneling programs, reverse engineering, intrusions by hostile corporations or governments. Of course, one learns how to write one’s
own
reverse engineering algorithms, as well.” And she smiled almost slyly.
    “And were you hired specifically to be Dr. Strachey’s assistant?”
    Mykolos nodded. “His previous assistant had to leave to become a full-time mother.” She paused. “Funny how married women tend to get pregnant from time to time, isn’t it?”
    “I’ve often wondered about that.” Logan sat back in the chair.“But were you a good fit for the job? With Strachey, I mean. His specialty was relational databases, after all.”
    Mykolos hesitated. “I’m not sure how familiar you are with them. They’re much more powerful and versatile than flat file or hierarchical databases. And Strachey’s database management system, Parallax, was a revelation when it appeared. He was a phenomenal coder. Really phenomenal. The language he wrote it in, C, is tight to begin with, but he was able to make each line do triple duty. Still, Parallax was…well, a product of its time. Lux was looking for a way to market it to a larger, less demanding market.”
    “And that meant bringing in fresh blood.”
    “These days, programs that large corporations once paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for in site licenses don’t necessarily need to be shelved as they age. They can be repurposed for the use of smaller companies that will pay a lot less per seat, but whose needs are more limited. But that also means, in effect, releasing the program into the wild—and so it needs to be protected by antitampering technology. That’s where I came in.”
    “And the result?”
    She glanced at him. “Sorry?”
    “Well, a person like Strachey, nearing the end of his career, might become resentful…if he felt his life’s work was being ‘repurposed’ by someone young, lean, and hungry.”
    There was a pause during which a change slowly came over Mykolos. From a friendly, open, even playful young woman, she became visibly distraught. She pushed herself back from the desk. Logan felt her pushing back from him, as well.
    “May I take hold of your hand for a moment?” he asked.
    She frowned in surprise.
    “If you don’t mind. It helps me get a better sense of the person I’m talking with. Sometimes I can understand things on a deeper level than with language alone.”
    After a moment, she extended her hand. He took it gently in his.
    “I know,” he said after a moment. “I know you’re trying to deal with a terrible thing in the best way you can. One way to do that is to pretend: act and speak lightly, avoid the issue. It’s a valid defense mechanism—for a time, anyway.”
    Mykolos’s eyes filled with tears. Logan withdrew his hand. She turned away, reached into a tissue box, dabbed at her eyes. Perhaps a minute passed. Then she took a deep, shuddering breath and turned around to face him again.
    “I’m all right,” she said. “Sorry.”
    “Don’t be. You’ve been through something awful.”
    “It’s just that…” She paused again, and for a moment Logan thought she might begin to weep. But she pulled herself together. “It’s just that Willard was such a kind man, such a
gentle
man. He loved his work. He loved Lux. And he loved me, too, I think—in a way.”
    “So he wasn’t resentful—didn’t see you as someone