The Journeys of John and Julia: Genesis (Book 1) ~Complete~

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Back in Niem Vidalgo Oten's black conference room the artificial voice of Oten's hyper modern communications system announced once again "Constellato for Mr. Oten" until its not really existing digital ears heard Oten's voice imprint say, "Go ahead."

Constellato's larger than life-size face on the screen started to speak. "Sorry to disturb you Sir, but I just noticed a call to a cell phone that didn't originate anywhere."

"Excuse me? You noticed a call that didn't originate anywhere? Keep in mind that I don't have your million dollar brain so I might be misunderstanding," invisible in the total darkness of the room Oten's sarcasm barely masked his annoyance at the interruption. His new state of the art communications satellite was scheduled to launch in a few hours and he literally should have been in a handful of places simultaneously. "Don't waste my time being vague. What's so special about a call from the non-digitalized areas of the world? Sadly we have to agree that there are still places we can't access because they don't have signal and our new satellite will help a lot with that problem. So?"

"I am not programmed to waste your time with insignificant information, Sir. The phone call I intercepted came from nowhere."

"How can there be a call that has no origin? That is impossible!" Oten lowered his voice the tiniest bit compensating loss of volume with sharpness.

"I ran analysis to see how this could be theoretically achieved and I don't think the answer will please you," Constellato's voice vibrating between pride for his accomplishment and fear of his boss's reaction sounded almost like a cartoon character. His pride won and he dropped the information on Oten like a bomb. "The only way this could theoretically be achieved is if the interaction happens in hyper-communication space without leaving a trace here in our three dimensional environment."

Not for the first time Niem Vidalgo Oten was appreciative of the artificial darkness that surrounded him. It was so much easier to keep his minions in line when they didn't get a chance to read his reactions. And right now his face was a hideous mask of rage fueled by his envy. His multinational communications company secretly ruled all communication all over the world, the digitalized world anyhow, but to imagine the possibility to rule over not multinational but multidimensional space and thereby be able to control time, was his secret ambition. And having to find out that someone seemed to have pulled off just that was a huge blow to his oversized ego. 'Get a grip,' the voice of his inner counselor said, 'no use to lose more face by acting all bothered.' He closed his eyes for a brief moment and re-emerged as the man he liked the world to see, a leader in command of any and all situations.

"If you are not mistaken that is in fact interesting intelligence," and with a patronizing vibe as if to say he was already convinced of Constellato's misinterpreting the information he added, "So do you care to expand on how you came across this impossible manifestation?"

"By coincidence. I ran a routine surveillance of our employees and there it was."

Oten moved towards the screen and his white face became visible. It took all his strength to contain his mask. "Now that is auspicious indeed. That means you can give me visual?"

Constellato's finger came out the screen and the holographic image of a good looking man, sporting a well-groomed goatee, his dark brown hair pulled back into a short ponytail, appeared in the room. "I got this from personnel files. His name is Peter Banes, recently relocated to Ridgewood, New Jersey. He works in HVG development. Mostly working from home and commuting to our New York City outlet when necessary. Not any suspicious movement ever. The perfect employee. Sees himself as a failed artist. Moderately good imagination. We keep him at a low level depression to reduce his qualities so he won't draw attention from competition. He's rated worthwhile."

"In holographic video games development, huh?" Oten's white hands pulling back that ever unruly stray strand of black hair," I guess then we have nothing to worry about. Maybe he's testing some new method of image projection."

"Yeah, maybe that's it," Constellato though not convinced, knew better than giving his unsolicited opinion.

"Keep him tagged and if more unusual activity shows up let me know immediately." Without further ado Oten snapped his fingers and in turning off the screen Peter Bane's face disappeared as well, returning the room to its deadly dark silence.