Datasets:
BlinAI
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Testo

Dataset card Data Studio Files
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Caine's guide, Ms. Rakir, drove the Rover as hard and fast as an adolescent male overdosing on testosterone, but her voice and the movements of her head were as...
"Pretty much like this drive."
She laughed, throwing back her head while swerving to avoid a stump of rock protruding from the unfinished roadbed. "You don't like my driving?"
"It's-exhilarating."
"Or is it that you don't trust women as drivers?" Her voice had modulated into a lower register, became as sinuous as she. "It's not unusual. Many men still d...
Caine smiled and looked away. He had seen this coming the moment she had come to pick him up for his driving tour of Site One's operations. Everything about h...
"I'm sorry; did my question make you-uncomfortable?" Her voice had become a little more formal: she had overplayed her hand and she knew it. She's used to men...
"You never told me where we're going first, Ms. Rakir."
"Please, call me Consuela. Well, I thought we'd start with a drive around the main compound, but Mr. Helger evidently showed that to you yesterday afternoon."...
"Yes, but it was a pretty brief tour. Night comes on pretty quickly, here. As did morning: I'm still a little earth-lagged, I'm afraid."
"Yes, Dee Pee Three's seventeen-hour day takes a little getting used to. Not so bad for me, though: I grew up with midday siestas and late-night tapas. The ru...
He decided not to look over at her again: he heard the insinuation in her voice. The modulation was far fainter, the suggestion was a fading grace note instea...
"All over. Caracas, Corpus Christi, Lagos, Amsterdam. We moved a lot."
"That accent sounds more Cambridge than Corpus Christi."
"Millfield and Oxford, actually. I only lived in Corpus Christi for two years. What about you?"
"Me?"
"Yes; where are you from?"
Caine felt a sudden disorientation: where do I say I'm from, now? An unlisted refrigerator? He gargled out an awkward laugh. "The stars. I'm from the stars."
He could feel her looking at him. She laughed along, a second too late. Have to change the topic: I'm weak here. "Bad joke. D.C. area, most recently. Lots of ...
"Yes-we have that gypsy background in common, then." Consuela's voice made him think of her fingers working their way between his: wiggling in, sliding and wr...
And she was indeed peril. Caine couldn't be sure whether Helger had sent her as a spy, a distraction, or a peace-or should that be "piece"?-offering, but it w...
He looked up, seeing the foliage for the first time. They were speeding under a canopy of-well, not exactly trees: more like oversized ferns and sponge-sheath...
"Beautiful, no?"
Caine wondered if Consuela were talking about the flowers or herself-and thought: that's exactly the way she wants me to think. She doesn't want me to like he...
"The flowers are unlike anything I've seen before. All of it is. How long have you been here?"
"About a year. It's been-"
"And what do you do? What is your job?"
She almost stuttered. You'd decided I was a gentleman-wouldn't interrupt, sure to be susceptible to a slow seductive dance, out of good manners, if nothing el...
"I'm assistant director for new product marketing."
"What new products?"
"Well,"-sweeping around a corner and out from under the foliage, they came to a dusty stop in front of a lightly-built oil rig-"petroleum."
The action of the sudden halt sent the inevitable reactive shock waves undulating through the upper part of Consuela's torso. Caine did his best not to notice...
She smiled: it was a predatory leer, but honest, and-he intuited-a species of grudging congratulations on his deduction. "So you must be an investigative repo...
And in your veins, I'll bet. "So, that's the part of CoDevCo that you hail from."
"Guilty as charged. I am one of the she-wolves of energy corporation notoriety. The despised of the earth."
Because you create the wretched of the earth, you supercilious bitch. You'll be telling them to eat cake, next. It was becoming rapidly easier to find her les...
He swung his legs over the side of the Rover, shaded his eyes, looked to either side: dozens of light-framed derricks in both directions. A thin, steady strea...
"Did you? I didn't know."
Liar. "Yep-but I didn't spot these as oil rigs. They looked-well, too flimsy. I thought they were construction frames for towers of some kind."
"It's a new derrick design made possible by lighter, stronger materials." Consuela had come to stand alongside him-very close. That was either her arm brushin...
"And so this is why Site One became off-limits? You wanted to establish exclusive production?"
She nodded. "That's what I guess: the Board doesn't consult with little fish such as me."
Caine stared up along the black-gray girders: Too easy. They're showing me this without effort, so they're hiding something else. But for now, play it out. If...
He had to wait before speaking; a high speed VTOL approached, transitioned into level flight just about directly overhead, and arrowed up and over the steep g...
She shrugged. "Louis didn't tell me much-"
So, Consuela: Helger is "Louis," despite being four tiers above you on the chain of command? What is he: a friend you made back home, or a friend you made on ...
"-but I gather he didn't have much choice left, in your case. So here it is: our deep, dark secret."
"It'll be dark enough when the Commonwealth and the Union learn about it."
She shrugged. "Possession is nine-tenths, Mr. Riordan. And what are they going to do: impound the site? It will be months before they can get new work crews o...
"Why?"