Although Henry was someone Betty Ross had brought in, before leading him into the empty laboratory, the female professor still said seriously, "Mr. Brown, thank you very much for being willing to help.
"This is a personal request, so there will be no formal written commission or compensation. But if you ever need my help in the future, please do not hesitate to ask.
"But I want to make this clear: the computer you will be accessing contains a great deal of unpublished material. It is not official classified information or patent-protected content, but I still hope you will not copy or leak it at will. Is that all right?"
Henry put away his slightly flippant expression and answered solemnly, "Of course. I understand all that. I did not bring any storage devices with me. I am only helping investigate what is inside the computer."
This all-American woman really understood how to handle social dynamics. She was completely unlike the naive, sweet young lady Henry remembered from the movies.
Thinking carefully about her background made it understandable. When parents in an ordinary family threatened to break their child's legs, the child would usually gamble that they would not dare. But when parents from a military family made the same threat, the child would be wondering how many pieces their legs would be broken into.
Her old father had risen through the U.S. Army to become a four-star general, a man who would later run for and become President of the United States. That meant he had countless supporters within the establishment, and being politically adept was the bare minimum.
Perhaps her mother had once acted as the family's mediator while Betty was growing up. But after her mother died when Betty Ross was twenty, she had practically been going head-to-head