Read Dreams in the Tower Part 3 for Free Online Page B

know as well as I that any official ties to Silte Corporation would be illegal and unethical. I can assure you that I value Silte Corp’s voice on an equal level with all of my constituents. And by the way, if such practices had been going on at Silte Corp we would have investigated and prosecuted them to the fullest extent of the law.” After months of conditioning himself, this lie was easier for Chris to tell than the truth would have been.
    “So reports that you had no hand in writing or advising the AI Act but were simply a puppet in getting it to a vote are false?”
    “Absolutely, they are false,” Chris said, having trouble keeping his voice calm now. “I can assure you that any such reports are completely scurrilous.”
    “I’ll take your word on that for now.” Drex leaned back in his seat and looked smugly through the screen, taunting Chris with his eyes. “But I’m sure you will understand that we will continue to investigate this.”
    “I look forward to seeing the results,” Chris said, returning the smile with a false one of his own. “Brendan, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to go. As you can imagine, things are very busy around here.”
    “I understand, and thank you…”
    In an act of mercy Baz cut the feed at that point, and Chris was spared from another second of keeping that stupid smile on his face. Why the hell is Silte letting BFN continue to exist? They were obviously too dangerous to be left alone. The major media outlets were all under control; the only one whose parent company wasn’t in the Silte family was ONN, and their level of bias in the reporting of the last few weeks made it clear Silvan must have bought their loyalty some time ago. The independent news groups, however, were largely still wild. And it was one of these tiny, self-important citizen news sites (who had no corporate sponsors and who were working as much for pure love of truth as for money) that would be the undoing of everything. No, Silvan wouldn’t—couldn’t—let that happen. Chris would do his part by never doing another interview with anyone outside of Silte Corp’s control, if that was possible.
    “An urgent call coming in, Senator,” Baz said, appearing on the screen once again.
    “Who is it?” But rather than answering him, Baz put the face of Nelson Hergeman up on the screen. Hergeman’s mechanical features were stretched ever-so-subtly into the beginning stages of anger. Or was it disappointment? His face was as hard to read as it had been a few days before, during their last meeting.
    “Your performance just now was regrettable,” Hergeman said. “From now on, you only do interviews we approve first.”
    “Fine, fine,” Chris said, waving a hand. “Anyway, why haven’t you shut down BFN yet? Or bought them out or something?”
    “Bare Facts News may have ties to the Anti-Corp, or the People Against Corporatocracy, or any number of other groups. They remain difficult to bring under our control for now.”
    The significance of this revelation of weakness by Hergeman took Chris completely aback; he could find no words to respond. Wasn’t Silte Corp supposed to be winning by now?
    “We have your next task, Senator,” Hergeman said. “We need you to start making friends. Not just people we can buy off; we need people to be loyal, like you. People who would not benefit from Silte Corporation losing.”
    “Doesn’t sound too hard,” Chris said, absently straightening his desk up to the state he always left it in each day.
    “You have a week.”
    “I take it back.”
    “Find five people by our next meeting,” Hergeman said. “The group should be diverse and influential. People with power, but who have different capabilities and areas of expertise than you. The goal here is swaying public opinion.”
    “Got it. I think. You’re being a little vague.”
    “You are our captain in Washington. We need you to name your commanding officers.”
    “Ah, I see.” Chris liked this