Walking over to the rack with the suit, Hartley examined it carefully and stopped at his left hand. There was a gold-colored ring there, engraved with a lightning bolt. Pulling the ring off, Hartley examined it and nodded:
«Not bad, it'll be interesting to study... - Turning around, the boy walked further into the room. At the end of the hall stood an unusual elevation of white color. Hartley did not hesitate to touch it. As soon as he did so, an unusual blue-colored hologram appeared in front of him. It was a face that opened its mouth and spoke in a woman's voice:
«Greetings Hartley Rathaway, what brings you here?
The boy frowned:
«Do you know me?
The face responded immediately, still in the same calm voice:
«I know all the Star Labs employees, even the ones who were laid off.
«I see, so why don't you tell me where your core is?
«Your level of access is insufficient, sorry.
Hartley looked at the dais in front of him and grinned:
«I hope you won't resist, but it's not necessary. - After his words, Hartley stretched out his arms and the bracelet on his wrist immediately turned green.
*♪ Vzhzhzh ♪
The platform began to shake and very soon cracks appeared on it.
Gideon reacted just as calmly:
«Penetration, activation of the defense protocol. - the face immediately disappeared.
* Tresk *
The platform didn't last long and, cracking for the last time, collapsed completely. Hartley bent down and picked up from there a strange blue cube with many vector electronic patterns. It was very small and easily fit in the palm of his hand. Inspecting the ruined place, Hartley drew some conclusions:
«The technology appears to be terrestrial, but it's definitely not of our time. This coating. It's a strange conductor, like magnetic... - picking up a couple of pieces of wire, Hartley walked over to the wall displaying the hologram. Using the same method, he broke off a few pieces and quickly left the room.
It wasn't time to leave yet, there was one last thing to finish.
Descending to the lower level. The guy immediately noticed something huge wriggling in the air. It was a gap to another land, only unlike the others, it was stabilized. Noticing the four distributors, it wasn't hard to guess how it was stabilized. It was even easier than he thought.
«Hmm, this wormhole is definitely stronger than the ones I've explored. I think this is the safest way through. - After checking a few moments of stabilization, the guy turned around and started to leave the complex.
When he returned to his lab, he immediately set about checking Gideon's core. It was the main assignment Hunter had given him. To get the Gideon and understand how it worked. The first wasn't difficult, but the second... Figuring out the power supply wasn't hard. Back in his Star Labs days, the guy had noticed some power leaks. But now it was clear, Thawne was powering Gideon. It didn't make sense to create an additional power source, the lab uses dozens of times more energy than Gideon. At the time Hartley hadn't paid much attention to it, but now everything was falling into place.
After an hour of work, Rathaway was finally able to connect to the system, but he stopped there. His programming skills weren't bad, but figuring it out wasn't an option. He didn't get frustrated, he just called Hunter. He had already done his part, all that was left was to figure out the conductor and develop one. And Hunter would find a way to figure out Gideon.
***
After Hartley's account of the situation, I nodded approvingly:
«Good work, I'll deal with Gideon later. Even if there's a problem and we can't use him, we can at least get his CPU. I doubt Thawne brought it from his own time, but if he did, it's not that important. I think our technology will allow us to build something like this. Having artificial intelligence in this time could be a big help in the future.
«Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The guide I've put together would be enough to make billions. There's nothing like it on the planet yet, I'm sure of it. If we can get a patent, we can finance the construction of a gas pedal.
Hartley's idea was one I agreed with. Opening six branches across the country was a good solution, but there's not enough money for huge projects like the Particle Accelerator. We need billions, which we don't have a lot of.
I wondered about the money and asked:
«How's Elaina's biochemistry lab opening?
«Approximate time of construction of the complex, about a year.
I frowned:
«Too slow, double the pay and hire more people. You have six months at the most. We need to start research as soon as possible.
«Okay, I'll let her know... - Hartley was silent for a moment, then asked: - About the prison near the complex, it's not for nothing, is it?
I grinned:
«You're right, but we'll discuss it another time. These things are worth discussing in person. - I added after a moment's thought: - Tell Elaina to prepare a list of all the small and medium-sized independent investment and holding companies in the city. World needs to be fed, we're running out of money.
«Haha, I hear you, she'll be happy to hear that. - I smiled and hung up the phone.
Things were picking up, but unfortunately too slowly. Funds are flowing away like water and there is a constant shortage of them. Ordinary companies do not act like us and do not open so many branches at once. They often rely on different financial groups and the support of different investment companies. They are also thoughtful and cautious, taking risks only rarely because they are afraid of losing money. This is a good method, but slow growth is not for us. Also, we are not restricted by various financial groups and other stock holders. I'm the only one who makes the decision and I don't need other voices. Of course I'll create some kind of board, but that's later. We're about to start aggressively taking over other companies. Of course, if I didn't have the power, I couldn't do that. But I'm Hunger, so everyone else will either submit and become part of my company or be eaten alive.
Elaina is a very good worker, albeit a bit odd. She's a very good worker, albeit a bit odd. That's probably why she was fired from her last job. But I didn't care how she acted, if she had talent, why not recruit her? Though of course the employees got a bit of a beating from her, even Hartley was no exception. She controlled the finances, which meant she had a very high position. She was in charge of the allocation of funds, so you could understand the responsibility. She was good at it and didn't let me down. She had a great talent for management, and while I was busy, she handled everything. If I'd been on my own, I couldn't have done it. So it was a good idea to delegate. I had enough other things to do, and it was impossible to run the company alone. I needed people, and I was able to assemble a core group of people....
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