"Chief Executive Aneki-san will summarize the events that have transpired and describe the actions Renraku is taking to control the situation." Watanabe swiveled her chair a few degrees in Aneki's direction. He rested his hands palms-down on the table as he addressed the board in a calm and unhurried voice, cultivating an image of inner serenity he wished was as good as it sounded. "As you know," he began, "Fuchi Industrial Technologies has brought a case before the Corporate Court claiming Renraku Computer Systems has violated the fair competition and practice concords of the Court with our rapid development and marketing of new technologies that are beginning to outsell Fuchi's products. Fuchi maintains that our research relies on illegal and illegitimate sources." He paused to fix his gaze on Lanier, but the former Fuchi man remained impassive, his image calm and unwavering. "We do not intend to dispute Fuchi's claim." A ripple of shock and noise spread through the board room like a stone thrown among a flock of birds as the board members exploded with questions and protests. Aneki held up his hands for silence. "We will not contest Fuchi's claims because to do so would put us in a difficult position. In order to prove that our technological sources are legitimate, we would have to provide technical information to Fuchi that would compromise the value those technological developments have for us. Fuchi knows this and wishes to gain access to the information as well as to try to prove their claim that some of it has been stolen from our competitors. If our data becomes spread among the members of the Court, then our advantage is neutralized." The other board members quieted and considered Aneki's words. There had certainly been times in the past when the Court's solution to contested technologies had been to share them equally among all of the members, thus maintaining the balance of power. "What then will our response be, Aneki-sama?" asked Motoki Matsumara.

"There need be no response," said Yasuhiro Sasaki, one of the younger and more ambitious board members who supported Renraku's aggressive stance in the market recently. "What does the Corporate Court have? Where is their proof we have done anything wrong?", "That is simple," said Gordon Leighton with a nod in Lanier's direction. "They have him to hold up to the Court as a source of information we could be exploiting." Lanier did not rise to Leighton's bait, but it did not matter because the others had already begun to throw in their opinions. "We cannot be sure…" Matsumara began to retort when Aneki again held up his hands. "Gentlemen!" he said sharply. "Please listen to the report of Renraku's response before you begin any debates." The noise subsided, and Aneki swept his gaze around the table before continuing. "As I said, we will not respond to Fuchi's accusations with anything other than a denial of them. As Sasaki-san has pointed out so forcefully, the burden of proof remains with Fuchi. They must demonstrate some wrongdoing on our part for the Corporate Court to act. However…" Aneki paused and stood, then walked over to the side of the table. "Renraku's growth and success over the past two years has been rapid enough to concern many of the members of the Corporate Court. Of the eight first-tier multinationals, only Fuchi and Saeder-Krupp currently exceed us in the world market. That means the other members of the Corporate Court are not likely to be well-disposed toward us. Although some of them might wish to see Fuchi humbled, they are more likely to be concerned regarding Renraku's growth and may see fit to take action to limit our corporate activities. We wish to ensure Renraku's continued growth and success, and cannot allow the possibility that the other megacorporations will unite against us." "Do you really think that will happen, Aneki-sama?" Lanier said quietly from his side of the table, his ghostly holographic image flickering a bit as he moved. "You of all people should know the answer to that, Lanier-san. You helped coordinate the Court's operation to teach Aztechnology a lesson some years ago, neh? If the members of the Court feel sufficiently threatened, they will act. We must give them good reason not to act against us while maintaining Renraku's growth and influence." Aneki touched a panel set into the wall, and the wall of the conference room became blank, its thin polymer coating functioning as a computer display screen to bring up images at his command. "The key to our goal," Aneki said, "lies here." The screen filled with an image that was as familiar to the Renraku board members as it would have been to their corporate counterparts. It was an image that had haunted the nightmares of many corporate systems analysts over the past two years. The picture on the screen showed a figure made of two different parts. The lower was taken from the Shroud of Turin, believed by many to be the shroud Christ was buried in. But the head of the image was a woman with an enigmatic smile. Both images had been reversed as photo-negatives, giving the figure black skin highlighted with white outline. "The Leonardo image?" Matsumara asked. "Of what use is that to us?" "The image itself is of no use, Matsumara-sama. It is what the image represents. The Leonardo Project. The technology Leonardo has provided us is the same technology he used to simultaneously compromise the central computer systems of all of the major megacorporations. It is the selfsame technology that has made Renraku more powerful and influential than ever, made our computer systems invulnerable to our rivals' deckers, and given us near-supremacy in the Matrix, allowing us to spur on our own research and development projects while subverting and gaining access to the work of our competition. An unbeatable combination." Aneki did not mention his concerns about Leonardo still being able to circumvent Renraku's computer defenses when he chose to. Let the board consider Renraku invulnerable on that front for now.

"But," he went on, "the Leonardo technology has not reached its full potential. Thus far, our uses of it have been subtle and conservative. We have gained information from other corporations where we have not been able to go before, but the abilities Leonardo displayed, the ability to compromise the systems of all of the Corporate Court and its members simultaneously, has been beyond us." Miles Lanier seemed to listen carefully while Aneki spoke, his fingers steepled in front of his chin as his virtual image leaned back in the motionless boardroom chair. "Are you saying, Aneki-sama, that Renraku now has the sort of ability Leonardo used against us?" Aneki was not surprised that Lanier was the first to pick up on the implications of his words. "No, we do not. At least, not yet. The difficulty does not lie in the technology; it is still years ahead of anything else that has been produced. Nor does it have to do with the skill of the user. Although Leonardo's computer skills are no doubt significant, we have many of the finest deckers in the world in our employ and yet they cannot match the feats Leonardo performed with his cybertechnology. "No, the answer lies instead in here." Aneki tapped the side of his head with a bony index finger. "In certain neurological modifications necessary to make full use of Leonardo's cyberdeck technology, modifications intended to work in conjunction with the deck's unique processing capability to increase the power of both many times and make the user unstoppable by conventional intrusion countermeasures." "What are these 'modifications,' then?" piped up Shun Isoge. Aneki knew the man was involved in many biotechnology companies. Biotechnology and its applications interested him keenly. "That is what we are in the process of determining," Aneki replied. "The nature of those modifications is being investigated even as we speak." Once again the board members began chattering in surprise and the meeting threatened to become chaos. "Why weren't we told about this project?" Matsumara said, pulling a white handkerchief from his coat pocket to mop his damp forehead. Aneki was about to answer when Chairman Watanabe spoke, her voice cutting through the chatter like a sword, bringing silence to the room again. "Security was too paramount, Matsumara-san. This project holds the entire future of Renraku. I knew of it, as did Aneki-san and our appointed agents within the company. The board members were not informed because the project was in its most preliminary stages and security was the most important consideration." Several pairs of eyes glanced toward Miles Lanier as Watanabe continued. "Now, with the activities of Fuchi, it is more important to make sure the project is seen through to its conclusion with all possible haste." "And what is this project, Madame Chairman?" Miles Lanier asked with a touch of exaggerated courtesy. Aneki cleared his throat and touched a control, transforming the wall-screen into a map of North America, with a patchwork of nations picked out in different colors. There were the United Canadian and American States and the Confederate American states in blue and gray, the two nations dividing the eastern half of the North American continent between them. The purple of the Republic of Quebec showed in the upper corner. The red of the Native American Nations covered most of the western half, save for the gold of California Free State, the green of the elven nation of Tir Tairngire, and the small blue island in the midst of the red of NAN that was the Seattle metroplex. Four cities were highlighted on the map with glowing points: Seattle, Denver, the Federal District of Columbia, and Boston. All of them UCAS cities, save for Denver, which was held jointly by many of the nations of North America as part of the treaty that ended the conflict between the old United States and the Indian rebels who used the reborn power of magic to attempt to reclaim the land they considered rightfully theirs. "These cities," Aneki said, pointing toward the map, "are all places where activities of tribes of children known as 'otaku' have been reported. The otaku have taken our name for those who obsessively become attached to the world of the Matrix and turned it into a legend, a story of children who have the ability to access the virtual reality of the Matrix without the use of a cyberdeck interface, using only the power of their own brains. R amp;D believes, and certain independent consultants have confirmed, that the Leonardo technology requires the special abilities of the otaku to realize its full potential. There are limits to the hardware and software that can only be overcome by engineering changes to the 'human factor,' to the brain itself." "Ridiculous," Matsumara said with a snort of derision. "The otaku are only a myth, an urban legend. Are you seriously telling us that you are risking the fate of Renraku Computer Systems on the basis of a decker tall tale?" "Many things were once considered myths, Matsumara-san," Aneki countered. "Things like magic, elves, and dragons, neh? But one need only look at the daily newsfax to see that they are all real. Why not the otaku? How else can we explain why Renraku, with some of the finest research facilities and deckers in the world, has not yet realized the full potential of the technology we have acquired? Our research suggests that the otaku do exist, and they have a means of altering the human brain to function within the Matrix as a kind of bioprocess holographic computer system. In conjunction with Leonardo's paraoptical cyberdeck technology, such an individual would be able to perform the feats we ourselves witnessed two years ago." "The compromising of every megacorporate computer system in the world," Larder said quietly, and Aneki nodded. "Hai. And with that ability in our control, there is no rival in the world who could realistically challenge us. Not when we can subvert their communications, command structure, records, and finances at will. The Corporate Court will cease to be a concern, because Renraku will have an advantage that no other corporation can match. The Matrix is the lifeblood of economics and trade. Control the Matrix and we hold the very existence of our rivals in our hands." "The other megacorporations would never stand by and let that happen," Isobe said. "It would collapse the Court, there would be corporate war…"