"That's good to hear," said the assistant director. "We just got notification that our daughter's school will be getting their student accounts in a few weeks. So that's something to look forward to."

"Speaking of student accounts," said Alvin, "have you heard about Horizon VR's new AVR Explorer? Radius has a new World of Wonder VR service they are offering for free to anyone with a student account."

"I have," said the assistant director. "Our cybersecurity department has had to send out numerous warnings that the AVR Explorer is not approved for use with government systems. Most people don't even have one yet, and they're already clamoring for the damned thing to be approved for use in secure environments."

Alvin chuckled. "I have a friend who went to CES and managed to buy one. From what he's told me, I can understand the appeal. If they didn't have cameras or microphones on the thing, I could see it maybe being approved."

"Don't tell anyone, but we have some of our tech people looking at the device. Its utility is just too high to be ignored. Even the director has weighed in. He wants one, and he wants our tech people to figure out how they can make one safe for use in his office."

"Damn," said Alvin. "Well, I hope they succeed, because it would make our analysts more efficient. Though not much as obtaining Radius's proprietary model would help."

"Yes, I know what you mean. Now, on to business. What's the status of GREEN BADGER?" asked the assistant director.

"Sir, it's a real conundrum. We tried several times to get someone on the inside at Castle Group, and each time, Castle Group declined to hire. Our only initial success was getting one of our people hired as a janitor."

"But..." said the assistant director.

"But... Castle Group canceled their contract with the janitorial services company and hired most of the janitors as direct employees. Except for our inside person. We're not certain, but we think they started transitioning to direct employment of janitors the day after our person got hired."

"That is disconcerting."

"Yes, sir," said Alvin. "Yes, it is. Also, our reasons for even having someone on the inside are slowly being removed. Castle Group has been 'firing' some of their clients. They are refusing to renew contracts with several of their clients, and most of the ones they decline to renew are with clients that were of interest to us."

"So not only did they remove our agent, and quite likely all other foreign agents, they are also divesting themselves of any client that might draw our attention to them?"

"That seems to be the case, sir. In fact. Since the initial house cleaning incident, they have brought on only three new clients. Radius, Horizon VR, and some kid and his harem."

"Say what?! Did you say some kid and his harem?"

"Yes, sir," said Alvin. "The kid is attending NSU and has something like seven or eight girlfriends. We only did a cursory analysis, but it looks like the kid inherited a nice chunk of change from his adoptive mother. Results of a lawsuit against her husband's employer."

"Okay, so ignoring the luck bastard and his harem, you're saying they have only taken contracts with Radius and Horizon VR since cleaning house?"

"Yes, sir. And all the VR services Horizon is offering are provided by Radius. Phineas has had prior contact with Heidy Oakland and her partner Cindy, so that might explain why they are working together."

"Do you think there's any connection between Radius or Horizon and the Castle Group house cleaning?" asked the assistant director.

"None that we can see. One of my analysts suggested the possibility that Radius is providing Castle Group with some kind of special AI that can help them spot spies, but our internal AI experts say that's just not possible."

"Alright, Alvin," said the assistant director. "Since we can't get people on the inside, let's see if we can establish a digital foothold. And see what else we can dig up on Radius and Horizon. It's just a coincidence for now, but I'd like to know for sure if there's a connection."

——————————

Jerry Kang, CEO of Blit Blaster, slumped into his desk chair and stared across his office at the display showing market information. His company's stock was down over 30 percent.

The advances in AI and the surge in AI services over the last few years had been a major boon to Blit Blaster. Their income, profits, and share price had soared. And with it, so had the expectations of his board members and most Blit Blaster shareholders.

He and his board members understood that Blit Blaster's share price was over-inflated, but not by 30 percent. Orders for their latest AI accelerator cards had taken a serious nosedive, and if nothing happened soon, their next quarterly report would show an unhealthy decline in revenue.

BallSoft and Yoctoly had canceled all their orders for new GPUs, and so had many other GPU service providers. The only places where interest in Blit Blaster GPUs remained high were in Novarossiya, Sarmatia, and Serica. Places where Radius didn't provide services.

Those were also the three places where Blit Blaster was technically not supposed to do business. There was an official embargo in place for Novarossiya and Sarmatia, and exports to Serica were regulated by the Federation.

He wasn't ready to thumb his nose at the embargo on Novarossiya and Sarmatia, but there were ways around the Federation's Serica export controls.

There were companies in the Asian Alliance he could sell to. And what those companies did with his GPUs after he sold them was none of his business. His lawyers had gone over the regulations with a fine-tooth comb and assured him that selling to those companies was legal.

And just to be sure, he had made generous donations to the re-election campaigns of every congressman and senator that sat on foreign trade and foreign policy committees. Politicians knew not to bite the hands that fed them.

He turned and looked at an e-mail he had open on his laptop. One of those Asian Alliance companies was expressing an interest in buying large quantities of GPUs. An amount suspiciously similar to the total amount of GPUs from BallSoft and Yoctoly's canceled orders.

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