Chapter 2
Professor Yao arrived punctually at toria in Ne , despite tion of intelligent buildings e ecosystems over t feo its ageing Art Deco coria t tee of influential members of tablis to protect ts of ty. ti, cognoscenti, financiers, politicos, academics, tecs and tco attend tec meeting of fame, money and minds in the modern world.
It urned to ing sloureless sky. Noentatious el, tive professor found s and international designer outfits of y. like a carp out of er, trying to free itself from a tangle of of place. ured polyester-mix suit get over tement of w ive China.
Outside, a large section of Park Avenue and its adjoining streets s of rain cascading off tal barricades and tic ribbons. tment of state-of-t croo climb into. A small cluster of demonstrators stood ing slogans and generally not looking too confident about being able to get ting t in crators eyed the cops suspiciously.
taxi, a o of ter coalescing on . rouble explaining to a couple of NYPD officers on bulky cric motorbikes t ed guest to tinized card, eying suspiciously. One of tcard on a ed for tem to query a remote database and come back . t expect o be auticated.
Professor Yao arted to s in er suit, or tic eyes o sally, race tabase query snaking tem and kneep ters o verify ity, doo t memory routine. t all nigside ong ts earlier.
to flicker on t and ed patiently as tisfied t icated entity. al-looking one, t ioning al-looking one could by addressing t for their elders.