The young woman changed the subject while Pru pointedly occupied herself with food. The chatter ranged across unimportant subjects until they had clearly all finished their lunch and Terry rose, with suitable goodbyes, and took Pru back to his office.
Pru turned on him. “What is this, Terry? Where did you get that information? And what did she mean by that business about wanting my body?”
Terry raised his hands in mock surrender. “Easy! When you agreed to come for an interview, I did a routine query of our own data, using your name. I found that incident and one or two other minor and creditable things—just raw data, no interpretation. It´s the kind of thing our people report all the time. Sometimes, it means something, mostly not. Analysis is the key, and that´s what we do on the ‘other side´: the OSG side. And of course, I checked your security profile. I told you that earlier.
“Most people never appear in our data. But, you have been to interesting places and done interesting things. So, you show up. Simple as that.”
“And, that other remark?”
“Neo-Tantra teaches increased empathic awareness. It´s the core of our work. A really competent lover has developed a high degree of empathy, and that´s what makes our people able to sense the mood and feelings of every one they meet. I´ll admit I find you very attractive, Pru, and Suzanne picked up on it. Not just because you are physically attractive, but also because you´re one hell of a woman. She recognized that just as I do. I do want more than your body. I want you for our company.”
Pru walked to the row of windows that looked out over a garden toward where the nearly transparent energy fields that define a Controlled Area separated the compound from the rest of the OC world. Terry´s candor did not shock her; she had sensed his interest, and knew she returned it to some degree herself. She stood for several moments, thinking, considering, then turned and walked across the room to where Terry was leaning against the edge of his desk watching her.
Standing a foot or so from him, Pru raised her arms and reached behind her to unfasten her collar, and tossed it on the desk.
“I´m interested in your offer, Terry. You´re right that I play a different role with my friends in the souk. And, in some of the other places, I go in Europe and China. I care about those people. I try, in small ways, to help them and give them new ideas.
“So, I´ll consider the offer to work for Neo-Tantra. But, I need to think about it for a few days.” She stripped the cuffs off her wrists to follow the collar.
“Right now,” she said, unfastening the waistband of her kilt and tossing it on the desk, “I want you to show me what this damned Neo-Tantra can do for me as a woman.” Her knife landed on top of the kilt, followed by her briefs.
Much later, the Long Distance Metro sped toward Washington Sector with Pru gazing, unseeing, at the wall displays that pretended to show passing scenery.
In the course of the afternoon Pru had seen the offices, the living quarters, classrooms and all the unclassified parts of the Neo-Tantra compound. She had talked with several of the people there chosen by Terry, she was certain, with an eye to a positive response to her questions. Nevertheless, the place had impressed her as well run, efficient, warm and happy. Everyone was open, responsive, encouraging.
She had asked Terry for the financial information he had promised, and he had unhesitatingly dispatched a copy to her home com so she could review it at her leisure.
She´d also made it clear to him that what her flash told the world was true. She was an uncommitted woman. He told her it was the same for him and for most of Neo-Tantra´s staff. “Uncommitted” meant no strings, no commitments. Pru planned to stick with that, and so it seemed, did Terry.
The ride back to Yonkers had been uneventful. ‘Just about the only uneventful thing all day,´ Pru thought.
‘And, here I am. I´m high as a kite. I told him that now I know what getting high on orgasms means, and he told me I had more to learn; that I´d learn a lot more about it when I take the course. Wow.´
Returning home, Pru checked her mail, going through it on her com, making the necessary responses. She ate a light supper, and then spent several hours going over the financials of Neo-Tantra Inc.
It was very late when she went to bed. Her last thought before sleep was, ‘Hell, I´m still high´.
In the morning, after her Tai Chi practice, Pru went to her office in the K Street building in the old section of Washington Sector, where she had spent several satisfying years as Chief Operating Officer of a small Web company. She worked hard all morning and when it was lunchtime, she went out with her boss, the company´s owner, as she frequently did. They talked about business, as usual, and Pru found her attention was not totally on the issues at hand.
Her boss asked her where she had been yesterday. At first, she replied evasively, something she rarely did. Then she said to him, “Ted, I had a job interview yesterday. It´s a larger company, a better opportunity. You own this place, you´re young and there´s no way I can grow here. I´m thinking very seriously about moving on.”
Ted was upset, a little angry. It had clearly never occurred to him she might want more than his company had to offer. He expressed his dismay, tried to suggest alternatives, but in the end, he admitted she was right. There was little in the way of growth for her in the company. His plans for expansion were constantly frustrated by one thing or another, and that expansion was the only possible growth path for Pru.
“Well, don´t worry, Ted,” Pru told him. “I haven´t made up my mind yet; I´m not about to sell my stock in any case and I´ll give you plenty of warning if I decide to leave.” Pru realized she´d already done that.
She left the office earlier then usual and went home. She took off her kilt and called Terry Sideman on com. Since their last com had ended in Show All mode, it resumed in that mode. When she saw him standing in his office in front of the windows, Pru said, “I´m giving my notice tomorrow. What do you want me to do?”
Terry smiled at her warmly. “I´m very glad. Try to get away as soon as you can; then go to Morocco for two or three weeks, and spend them in the souk. Decompress. We have an office in Tangiers Sector and one in Ceuta Sector – feel free to drop in. Then, let me know when you´re back, and plan to come up here for that course in Neo-Tantra. You´ll go on payroll when you start. Once that´s done, we´ll get busy.”
“Good,” said Pru. “I´ll do that.”
Before she could end the com, Terry raised his hand. “Would you like to come up to a concert in New York Sector Friday?” he asked.