The Cartographers(23)

“There’s value in every failure,” a voice behind them said then, as if on cue. “It shows us what doesn’t work, and gets us that much closer to understanding what will.”

They all looked up from their monitors to see William Haberson himself standing at the entrance to their office, thoughtfully studying the mess on the big overhead screen.

“William! I didn’t know you were there,” Naomi said, surprised.

William smiled. “You know me,” he replied.

They all laughed, and Felix tried not to be starstruck, the way he was every time he was in the same room with William.

“Well, yikes,” Naomi continued, and pointed up. “You saw all of that?”

He shrugged, unperturbed. “I was young once too, you know. I remember how messy the early stages of a new project can be.”

“That one wasn’t the best, but we’ve been making progress,” Priya tried, but they all knew it was mostly an exaggeration. It was one thing to achieve perfection in a closed environment, but whenever they tried to force it in an open setting, using data from the real world, the scenario always ended up the way it had moments ago. A disaster.

William pushed off from the doorway where he’d been leaning to enter the room. “The failures don’t concern me. A hundred, a thousand, a million, doesn’t matter. We’ll get there.”

Felix found that he was nodding, despite the grim state of their project. He always found William’s calm, unshakable determination comforting.

“We will,” Naomi agreed. “We just need more data.”

“Tell me.”

“Weather, a plug-in for current events, or maybe even shareable sleep patterns from HabRest,” she mused. “I’ll know more after the workup.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll get it,” William said. “We’ll keep adding until everything is mapped. In fact, I have some good news on that front.”

“Oh?” Priya asked.

William crossed his arms and smiled. “Haberson is taking over database and inventory security for the New York Public Library.”

“What!” the three of them cried at the same moment.

Felix gaped, his mind racing. Did he know about the attempted robbery that had just happened?

“The library board actually voted in favor by a slim majority years ago,” William continued, gently waving down Naomi’s and Priya’s congratulations. “But Ainsley’s team has been stalled in talks over the actual implementation ever since. There’s been a lot of resistance from the Map Division.”

“Ah,” Priya said. “They see our own products as a threat?”

“Exactly.” William sighed. “Ainsley has tried to explain that this is about protecting their artifacts, not competing—I don’t think we can call ourselves a mapping company if we don’t do everything we can to help protect all maps, not just our own—but some of their scholars are quite old-fashioned. She finally managed to convince the library’s chair, Irene Pérez Montilla, to let us go ahead with the work just last week—but someone in the Map Division threw a huge fit and shut it down again. Didn’t want Haberson poking around their archives, copying and backing it all up on our servers.”

Felix could almost hear those exact words in Dr. Young’s voice as William spoke. He was certain the man had been one of the staunchest opposers to the offer.

But was there more to the stubborn scholar’s intransigence than just his distaste for technology? Had Dr. Young been afraid that Haberson Global would find the old, uncatalogued map he’d been secretly keeping all this time if they were allowed into the library?

It seemed absurd. And yet . . .

“What changed their minds, then, after years of disagreement?” Naomi asked.

“Last night,” William said, somber.

So, William had heard about the breakin, Felix sighed.

“Irene called Ainsley this morning to say she’d held a unanimous vote. They want us in there as soon as possible. There was a breakin.”

“At the NYPL?” Naomi asked, incredulous. “What were the burglars after?”

“We’re still waiting for the police report,” William replied. “But in the meantime, we’re going to secure everything, as quickly as possible. Scan and back up every specimen in every department, and tag all physical maps, books, computers, and art with micro RFID. We’re installing tracking devices in every room, so the instant anything is moved, we’ll be able to follow it right on our own Haberson Map. Something like this will never happen again.”

“That’s great,” Felix said, comforted. He knew it would be a rocky start, but once the NYPL’s scholars saw how much care Haberson put into its work, they’d come to appreciate the company.

“I’m glad we’re able to help,” Naomi agreed. “Their Map Division must have thousands of maps in its archives.”

William was grinning now—a jolt of excitement rushed through Felix as he realized why. “And after we finish, so will your algorithm,” he said.

They were going to have so much more data. It would add an entirely new historical dimension to the Haberson Map. And the tracking tags on the physical copies would provide yet another type of map—a real-time, constantly updating view of how everything moved in the library, and when, and by whom. Soon, Haberson would know the NYPL better than it did itself.