“I also propose a two-tiered fuel system. We should reserve high-grade gasoline for the military and other defense needs. Regular citizens can use low-grade petrol, which does not require extensive processing. This will translate to more efficient operations.”
“I like what I’m hearing,” the President says, “but you’re lacking innovation. We need out-of-the-box thinking.”
Manos displays a photograph of a pine forest. “You’re right, Mr. President. We need a bold solution, a major shock that will disrupt markets and bring oil prices down fast. I’m showing you Tongass National Reserve in Alaska. At 17 million acres, it’s the largest wilderness in the country.”
Heads turn and the cabinet members steal glances at one another.
Manos continues. “The third part of my plan is to extract fuel directly from the trees. One of GoldRock’s companies, Gravitas, has patented a method to transform bark into gas. A single pine will power a missile to destroy a target five hundred miles away. I propose that the government subsidizes Gravitas to harvest the hydrocarbons locked away in Alaska.”
The room erupts in conversation.
The Commerce Secretary shouts above the noise. “You want to destroy America’s last wild refuge?”
Manos waves his hands. “That’s not correct, sir. We will not damage the Reserve. This one-time collection significantly increases our energy supply. The trees will grow back in a couple of decades.”
The Defense Secretary pounds the table. “I like it! It’s a sacrifice worth making for the War.”
“This is ridiculous,” the Commerce Secretary shouts. “It’s a scheme to make GoldRock rich!”
Manos defends himself. “We support companies with cutting-edge technology capable of disrupting industries. Gravitas is a true innovator—”
“What kind of subsidies are we talking about?” the President asks.
Manos clears his throat. “For $200B, we can harvest the entire forest.”
“And how much fuel will you extract?”
“About $1 trillion worth, enough to lower prices by 5-10%.”
The room grows silent.
“I like it,” the President says. “This is a bold plan. If you can cut oil prices by ten percent, you have the job.”
“Thank you, sir, you won’t be disappointed.”
A staffer walks into the room and whispers in the President’s ear. He turns and speaks to his Defense Secretary for a few minutes. Tension builds.
Gareth gives a thumbs-up and mouths Great job! Manos winks and returns a thank you.
“We have a problem,” the President announces. “The Chinese just launched a wave of cyberattacks. Looks like they’re retaliating against the Information Tariffs. All hands on deck. We’ve got a major situation ahead of us.”
14.
AUSTIN EXITS the Hyperloop at Hayward station. He unbuttons his collar in the 120ºF heat as thermal waves lift off the cracked pavement. Stepping over an emaciated rat chewing on a plastic bag, he passes an encampment with beggars panhandling for change.
Last time I was in East Bay, Matthew was alive.
Cameras anchored to street signs follow Austin as he heads to the entrance of the BART, a decades-old transit system that still operates in the inland valley. A woman wearing a VR headset barges into him. “Watch where you’re running!” she shouts.
Austin faces her. “You ran into me!”
“Don’t be an asshole.” She flips him off and runs down the street.
What is wrong with these people?
Austin enters the metro gate and heads downstairs to the outbound platform. “Isaac, how will I find Beth in Livermore? It’s an awfully large town.”
“Would you like me to call her?”
“Sure.”
As he descends into the underground station, the air grows hot and muggy. He reaches the terminal and grows woozy in the searing heat. Young panhandlers stuff their hands in his face begging for money.
“Austin, Beth is not answering the call. She is not carrying her device.”
“How the hell will I find her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Give me your money!” someone screams. Austin spots a robbery in progress and quickly darts to the opposite end of the platform. The thief wields a knife and steals someone’s VR headset before running off. Austin cowers behind an electrical box. A train arrives.
“Express line to Livermore now arriving.”
Austin hops into the lead car. He sits next to a middle-aged man wearing a red jumpsuit and headgear. The guy laughs hysterically and rotates his hands in the air as if driving a vehicle.
An ad loads in Austin’s smartglasses. “When you’re in Hayward, visit the OASIS center, home to the world’s largest VR gaming community. First player shooters, role-playing, team deathmatch—OASIS has them all. Join other gamers in online communities to fulfill your wildest fantasies.”
This must be Virtual Reality Land.
Austin turns to find most of the passengers wearing headsets, playing out their lives in alternate realities. People mumble, laugh, and shout to themselves. A man holds out his palms and screams while a girl strokes a virtual pet. Someone behind him yells, “There’s a bus in my lane!”
A half-hour later, Austin arrives in Livermore with a migraine. He exits the train and hits a blistering wave of dry heat. A woman with an ice chest stands at the exit.
“How much for water?” he asks her.
“$1000.”
“For a bottle of water?”
He shakes his head and stretches his soaked collar, wiping his sweaty forehead with it. He leaves the train station just as a police officer chases a group of teenage boys. A burning trash can rolls down the street behind them and explodes a few feet away. Austin jumps and runs.
So this is the East Bay.
“Isaac, call Sara.”
Beth’s assistant answers the phone. “Austin, are you in Livermore?”
“Yes. How do I find Beth?”
“Head over to the riverbed. She’s wearing a blue dress.”
Austin loads a navigation browser and looks for a river on the map. An ad begins and he removes the glasses from his face.
Are you kidding me? I’m sick of these commercials.
He sees a high-heeled woman standing on the corner and approaches her. “Can you tell me where the river is?”
“I’ll take care of you for $1000.”
He hands her a $100 bill. “Where’s the river?”
She takes the money and points in a direction. “Ten-minute walk that way.”
Austin heads north and spots a boy playing in the dirt, his face and hair covered in filth. Someone hollers through a screen door. “Matthew, you better not be playing in mud again!”
Matthew?
Tears flood Austin’s eyes.
I miss my boy. Olivia, I wish I could hear your voice.
He gives a dollar to the youngster and continues walking north. Minutes later, he sees an estuary stretching to the horizon. A shantytown runs along the bank, its homes constructed with spare metal and old aircraft parts. He bumps into a line of people waiting to fill empty plastic bottles at a pump station.
Guess there’s no running water here.
Austin sees a woman with a blue garment and approaches her. “Beth?” he whispers. She turns around and shakes her finger in his face. “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
A frustrating hour passes and there’s no sign of his boss, so he takes off his shoes and walks into the river to cool off. Plastic bottles and debris float downstream. He notices sludge in the water and turns to leave just as a soccer ball slams into his face, jerking him back and casting him into the creek.
A boy appears over the bank. “Give me my ball back!”
Austin rubs his head. “You stupid kid!”
“Get it, old man!”
He gathers himself and reaches for the ball, walking ashore towards the youngster. “You need to learn some manners, litt
le guy.” As he scolds the teenager, he notices something on his arm. “Is that a Google band on your wrist?”
The boy spits in the air. “Shut up, old man.”
Austin takes out $100. “Do you want this?”
“Give it to me!”
“Who gave you that wristband?”
“Some lady.”
He approaches the teen and waves the bill. “Where is she?”
The boy points. “She’s over there.” He punches Austin in the gut and grabs the money and soccer ball from him.
Austin rolls on the river bank in pain, groaning in agony. He slowly gets up and heads along a mud-caked road in the direction of a tenement camp, clambering over a downed tree and past a metal scrapyard.
Feels like a third-world country.
He finds himself in the middle of a vagrant community. Families sit in makeshift shelters staring aimlessly at the sky, their faces withdrawn and empty. All eyes turn to him.
Austin tenses and shouts, “Beth, are you here? I came to get you!”
A hooded woman steps out from the shadows. She removes her blue headscarf and reveals a gash over her forehead. She limps forward in pain.
Austin leaps. “Beth?” He races to her and hugs her. “What happened to you?”
“Let’s head back to San Francisco,” she says meekly, her voice shaky and hoarse. Bruises cover her arms and legs. A scab marks an injection site on her right shoulder. “I don’t want to be seen.”
“Who did this to you?”
They head towards the town. “The military. They kidnapped me and forced me to confess.”
Austin’s jaw drops. “The government?”
“Yes.”
“That’s shocking and not to mention illegal! What are they trying to do?”
“I don’t know. Silence me, I suppose. I can’t be seen in public after what happened.”
Austin stops walking. “They’re trying to push you out, Beth. You can’t quit now. You’re still our CEO!”
She turns and points her finger at him. “I’m not backing down. No one is taking my position, but I have to operate from hiding. They’re planning something big against us.”
“Are we in danger?”
“Yes.”
He grows pale. “You mean they want to take control of Google?”
She rubs her shoulder and writhes in pain. “Yes, I think so. My hijacking could be a preview of their bigger intentions.”
“Let’s fight back, Beth. We have to sabotage their plans.”
She continues walking. “We can’t fight fire with fire. We can’t wage the government’s type of warfare and expect to win.”
“So how do we counter?”
They walk silently and approach a water pump. Austin buys an empty plastic bottle from someone and fills it, then hands it to his boss. They slowly make their way back to the Livermore Station, where he purchases two fares. They board the inbound train for Hayward.
Beth takes a window seat and closes her eyes. “It feels so nice to sit.”
“You’ve been through a lot.”
She looks at him. “I just thought of something.”
“What?”
“Do you remember Project Bodi?”
Austin’s brow rises. “Of course I do…that was our code name for the Google Vision smartglasses. How long ago was that?”
“Almost forty years.”
He looks down. “That was the best accomplishment in my career.”
“Mine as well. That was our first project together, remember? You were my first hire.”
“I can’t believe that was four decades ago!”
She sighs. “Do you remember how innovative we used to be?”
“I do.”
“What happened to that?”
Tears fill up his eyes. “I don’t know.”
“We developed the world’s best Augmented Reality smartglasses. We had so many breakthroughs for Project Bodi. I wish we could go back in time.”
He nods. “Honestly, we’re shadows of our former selves. Insights were effortless back then. New ideas came naturally.”
“We took it for granted.”
The train races towards Hayward. Austin sits upright. “Why can’t we innovate, Beth? Why are we stuck in such a rut?”
She shrugs. “We live in a state of war. It’s impossible to take risk when you’re terrified and oppressed.”
He dries his eyes with his sleeve. “I think of Olivia all the time.”
“Your ex-wife?”
“Yeah. I have dreams about her and Matthew every night. My psychiatrist says I’m depressed.”
“Why don’t you contact her?”
“She blocked me from messaging her. She doesn’t want to hear from me.”
Beth touches his shoulder. “Listen, what happened to Matthew was not your fault. You can’t blame yourself for it.”
“I know that...at the time, I was so angry and upset and I took it out on Olivia, and now I wish I could apologize to her.”
“Give her a call, Austin. Let her know how you feel.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t do that. She has already moved on.”
The train stops at Hayward. They disembark and make their way back to the aboveground Hyperloop station. Beth covers herself with a headscarf and keeps a low profile.
Austin leans over and whispers as they walk. “I just remembered something. Did you ever read Shiv’s book?”
Her tension eases. “Shiv Patel, our former CEO. What an intelligent human being. I wish he was still around.”
“The world needs his vision and compassion. If only our leaders had his qualities.”
“What was Shiv’s book called?”
“‘Awaken the Power of Insight.’ It was the most important work I’ve ever read.”
Beth smiles. “I do remember that. Wasn’t it a guide to improve your innovation?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Do you have a copy?”
“I have it here on my smartglasses. Let me read the preface to you.” He clicks on an icon and opens the book in his viewer. “Dear Google employee—”
“That’s right,” Beth interrupts, “Shiv wrote it as a guide for our new employees. He wanted them to harness their innovation and be as productive as they could be—”
“Which is why it’s pertinent. Listen to this.” He clears this throat and continues reading. “Dear Google employee, the human mind has infinite potential. Every one of us is capable of being successful and innovative. If we are willing to listen, the subconscious mind will give us the insights we need to solve our most pressing challenges. The key is to listen to our minds and receive this intuition. Our grandest ambitions can be achieved if we listen to our inner mind.”
Beth contemplates as she walks. “Shiv was such a visionary. He knew how to uplift his employees to their full potential. That’s the true quality of a leader.”
Austin beams. “His book changed my life. I learned how to tap into the deepest part of my brain and extract the answers to my challenges. That’s how I unlocked the innovations for Project Bodi.”
“You tapped into your subconscious mind?”
“Exactly.”
She looks at him. “How did you do that?”
“Mindfulness exercises and the Four Noble Truths, just like the book described. I learned to abandon my ego and listen for insights. I reached an awakened state and saw the world as it truly is, not as I want it to be.”
Beth strides faster. “That’s it!” Her eyes light up. “That’s exactly what we need right now. We have to go back to our core values. We need to awaken our spirits and access our creative roots. We have to fight hatred and terror with patience and compassion.”
Austin chuckles. “You sound like Shiv. He always said that in the eyes of an angry foe, patience is a superpower. You defeat your enemies by taking the higher road.”
Beth removes her headscarf and exposes her face in public. “Listen, it’s time to stand up for ourselves.
We have to innovate and return to our pioneering soul. That’s the only way we can defeat Manos and the CIA.”
Austin tries to keep up with his boss. “But Beth, there’s nothing left to solve. We can’t stop the government with technology.”
“That’s not true!” She throws her hands in the air. “What about Project Titan?”
They take an elevator up to the Hyperloop station and board an inbound train to San Francisco, sitting alone away from the other commuters.
She whispers to him. “We have to solve nuclear fusion. Clean energy is the solution for our world.”
“Yes, but—”
“Hydrocarbons are the root cause of this mass extinction we’ve created for ourselves. We should have ended our addiction to fossil fuels decades ago.”
Austin groans. “I understand, but a nuclear plant won’t be easy to build. The odds are against us.”
She stares into his eyes. “Was it simple to construct the world’s first engine, airplane or rocket? Was it easy to send a man to the moon or sequence the genome? It will definitely not be easy to build the world’s first functional fusion reactor, but we can’t let that stop us.”
“You’re right, Beth.”
“Innovation is a minefield fraught with failures and disappointment. Only the persistent will succeed. We must keep our eyes on the goal and stay motivated.”
“I’m with you,” he replies, staring out from the train window. “We need to invent like we used to. I’m just not sure how.”
“Let me ask you this. What’s the primary issue holding back Project Titan?”
He stumbles. “…we need a laser source to heat the zirconium shell to 100 million degrees and ignite the reaction…”
“And?”
“Well, there’s no laser on earth capable of doing that.”
Beth frowns. “There must be another solution. I refuse to give up hope.”
Austin spots a metro map and glances at the next destination—Palo Alto. He remembers something. “You know, on my way here I got a call from Anil Anaya.”
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