Cryptonomicon

"Listen. The Dentist has at least a billion dollars of his own, and another ten billion under management--half the fucking orthodontists in Southern California retired at age forty because he dectupled their IRAs in the space of two or three years. You don't achieve those kinds of results by being a nice guy."

"Maybe he just got lucky."

"He did get lucky. But that doesn't mean he's a nice guy. My point is that he put that money into investments that were extremely risky. He played Russian roulette with his investors' life savings, keeping them in the dark. I mean, this guy would invest in a Mindanao kidnapping ring if it gave a good rate of return."

"Does he understand that he was lucky, I wonder?"

"That's my question. I'm guessing no. I think he considers himself to be an instrument of Divine Providence, like Douglas MacArthur."

***

Rui Faleirois the pride of Seattle's superyacht industry, which has been burgeoning, ever so discreetly, of late. Randy gleaned a few facts about it from a marketing brochure that was published before the Dentist actually bought the ship. So he knows that the helicopter and the speedboat came included in the purchase price, which has never been divulged. The vessel contains, among other things, ten tons of marble. The master bedroom suite contains full his and hers bathrooms lined with black marble and pink marble respectively, so that the Dentist and the Diva don't have to fight over sink space when they are primping for a big event in the yacht's grand ballroom.

"The Dentist?" Ernesto says.

"Kepler. Doctor Kepler," Randy says. "In the States, some people call him the Dentist." People in the high-tech industry.

Ernesto nods knowingly. "A man like that could have had any woman in the world," he says. "But he picked a Filipina."

"Yes," Randy says cautiously.

"In the States, do people know the story of Victoria Vigo?"

"I must tell you that she is not as famous in the States as she is here."

"Of course."

"But some of her songs were very popular. Many people know that she came from great poverty."

"Do people in the States know about Smoky Mountain? The garbage dump in Tondo, where children hunt for food?"

"Some of them do. It will be very famous when the movie about Victoria Vigo's life shows on television."

Ernesto nods, seemingly satisfied. Everyone here knows that a movie about the Diva's life is being made, starring herself. They generally don't know that it's a vanity project, financed by the Dentist, and that it will be aired only on cable television in the middle of the night.

But they probably know that it will leave out all the good parts.

***

"As far as the Dentist is concerned," Avi said, "our advantage is that, when it comes to the Philippines, he will be predictable. Tame. Even docile." He smiles cryptically.

"How so?"

"Victoria Vigo whored her way up out of Smoky Mountain, right?"

"Well, there seems to be a lot of nudging and winking to that effect, but I've never heard anyone come out and sayit before," Randy said, glancing around nervously.

"Believe me, it's the only way she could have gotten out of there. Pimping arrangements were handled by the Bolobolos. This is a group from Northern Luzon that was brought into power along with Marcos. They run that part of town-police, organized crime, local politics, you name it. Consequently, they own her--they have photographs, videos from the days when she was an underage prostitute and porn film starlet."

Randy shook his head in disgust and amazement. "How the hell do you get this information?"

"Never mind. Believe me, in some circles it's as well known as the value of pi."

"Not my circles."

"Anyway, the point is that her interests are aligned with the Bolobolos and always will be. And the Dentist is always going to obediently do whatever his wife tells him to."

"Can you really assume that?" Randy said. "He's a tough guy. He probably has a lot more money and power than the Bolobolos. He can do whatever he wants."

"But he won't," Avi says, smiling that little smile again. "He'll do what his wife tells him to.

"How do you know that?"

"Look," Avi said, "Kepler is a major control freak--just like most powerful, rich men. Right?"

"Right."

"If you are that much of a control freak, what sexual preferences does that translate into?"

"I hope I'll never know. I suppose you would want to dominate a woman.

"Wrong!" Avi said. "Sex is more complicated than that, Randy. Sex is a place where people's repressed desires come out. People get most turned on when their innermost secrets are revealed--"

"Shit! Kepler's a masochist?"