Remy Smiley was led through the restaurant by the waiter, and took his seat opposite Control, at a secluded table near the back.
'Ah Smiley, `excellent restaurant choice, the lamb's divine. Waiter, another bottle of this Burgundy please.'
They searched each other's face for signs. Nothing. After a long pause, Smiley asked 'Do you remember HTML4, Control?'
HTML4 was the most reliable agent the Service ever had. Smiley and he had worked together many times before, on the Safari, Firefox and IE affairs. He had the knack of rendering jobs cleanly, if a little imprecisely.
'Yes' replied Control, in measured tones. 'His mark up was always excellent.'
'Indeed. He slipped up though recently sir, on assignment in California so we're replacing him with a new chap: HTML5. HTML5 has been pitching on the Open Web as a competitor to Flash and Silverlight for the last few years, and the Browsers are picking it up. He's got new technology we can exploit - APIs, JavaScript, but particularly native video. If it's as good as we're led to believe, our Flash Developers will have to raise their game.'
Control lowered his fork, and furrowed his brow. 'Has the Foreign Office vetted this character, Smiley? We're co-operating with Police and government officials, and our Flash boys have maintained even keel for years now. I'm not about to rock the boat without some proper intelligence.'
'Quite so, sir. I've arranged a meeting at central HQ, next Tuesday at seven, so you can see for yourself. Come along!'
Control sipped his wine and nodded thoughtfully back at Smiley.
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