The Future Is Yours: A Novel
Page 1
The Future Is Yours is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Moon Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Del Rey is a registered trademark and the Circle colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Frey, Dan, author.
Title: The future is yours / Dan Frey.
Description: New York : Del Rey, [2021]
Identifiers: LCCN 2020024418 (print) | LCCN 2020024419 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593158210 (hardcover ; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780593158227 (ebook)
Subjects: GSAFD: Science fiction. | Suspense fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3606.R4864 F88 2021 (print) | LCC PS3606.R4864 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024418
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024419
Ebook ISBN 9780593158227
randomhousebooks.com
Book design by Elizabeth A. D. Eno, adapted for ebook
Cover design and illustration: Faceout Studio/Spencer Fuller
ep_prh_5.6.1_c0_r0
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Conclusion
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Also by Dan Frey
About the Author
CHAPTER 1
EMAIL
From: Ben Boyce
To: Ben Boyce, Adhvan Chaudry
My Dudes,
IT WORKS! Seriously. You did it.
This is so weird—I’m sending this on Feb 28, 2022, knowing that I’ll receive it (already DID receive it) on Feb 28, 2021. Pretty trippy, right?
So listen up, Past Ben…First of all, high-five! You were right to believe this whole time—in yourself, in Adhi, in all of it. Your dream of becoming the first Black CEO to launch a billion-dollar company is gonna come true…and I can say that with certainty, because for me, IT ALREADY DID.
And Adhi. Bro. You’re the brilliance that makes it possible. I always said you’d do something to change the world and I was right. It’s crazy—you’re sitting across the room as I write this, but I still remember your face the day you read it. Pick up your jaw and keep reading.
Now, I know you’re both about to flip out and start using the Prototype to look up everything you can, so lemme just save you a little suspense.
1: Stanford’s season is gonna be terrible, so just detach yourselves from that shitshow right away and save yourselves the heartache.
2: Stock tips–wise, yeah, of course, you COULD get into some foolproof investments today. But I promise you’ll be better off not mucking around with all that, cause the main thing you gotta do is invest in your motherfuckin SELVES.
I just wanna take this moment to say: everything is gonna be fine. The Prototype works (obviously). And whatever happens, don’t trip. Not about money or respect or prestige, any of it. Just pop that cork and enjoy the best shitty champagne of your life, I remember it well. From here on out—trust the process, enjoy the ride, and most of all, stick together.
Sincerely and eternally your friend,
Ben from the future
EXCERPT FROM TRANSCRIPT OF CONGRESSIONAL HEARING—DECEMBER 1, 2021
SEN. GREG WALDEN (D-OR): The Committees on the Judiciary and Commerce, Science, and Technology will come to order. We welcome everyone to today’s hearing on the new commercial venture known as “The Future,” and the potential legal, ethical, and policy ramifications of its technology.
Though not unprecedented, this hearing is a unique opportunity to anticipate and address serious social consequences of a new consumer technology. This legislative body has a history of playing distant catch-up to new innovation, as evidenced by last year’s hearings about social media and privacy issues. The hope is that we can be ahead of the curve—especially in light of the recent whistleblower leak, which seems to suggest that this technology may pose an existential threat to our nation and our people.
BOYCE: Mr. Chairman, I object to characterizing it as—
SEN. GREG WALDEN (D-OR): You have not been invited to speak yet, Mr. Boyce. And regardless of your objections, we have seen data, from your own company, which many reputable scientists interpret to mean that we are on a course toward the obliteration of civilization as we know it, on a time horizon of less than two years. Now if that’s not an existential threat—
BOYCE: I just think it’s irresponsible to call it that, without proper consideration of all the factors.
SEN. GREG WALDEN (D-OR): Do not lecture me on irresponsible, Mr. Boyce. And if you will not adhere to parliamentary rules of decorum, you will be charged with Contempt. Understood?
BOYCE: …Understood.
SEN. GREG WALDEN (D-OR): Good. Now, the members of this body have called two witnesses, the founders of the company called The Future: Mr. Benjamin Boyce and Mr. Adhvan Chaudry. However, let the record show, at the time of this hearing, only Mr. Boyce has appeared before the committee. Mr. Boyce, can you answer for the absence of your colleague?
BOYCE: No, I cannot. And I’m worried. If Adhi’s not here, clearly something is wrong, and it would be best if we can adjourn for now.
SEN. GREG WALDEN (D-OR): This is not a meeting held at your convenience. You are answering a subpoena before forty-four members of Congress. Since one of you has failed to appear, a warrant will be issued for the arrest of Mr. Chaudry, and he will be charged with Contempt of Congress. Now, if you wish to avoid similar charges, are you prepared to proceed with the hearing?
BOYCE: …Yes, sir. I would just like the record to reflect my request for postponement.
SEN. GREG WALDEN (D-OR): Duly noted, and we can all hope that at some point today, your co-founder will deign to join us. He is certainly earning his reputation for intellectual hubris.
BOYCE: I just want to point out, it’s not really hubris if it’s earned, is it? No offense or anything, but Adhi is smarter than anyone in this room.
SEN. GREG WALDEN (D-OR): That may be the case, Mr. Boyce. But this body is convened because trusting people who are ostensibly “smarter” has gotten us in quite a bit of trouble in the past. No doubt the data scientists at Cambridge Analytica were very proud of their intelligence, as were the eugenicists of a century ago.
BOYCE: Come on, is that really
a fair comparison?
SEN. GREG WALDEN (D-OR): We are dealing with a technology that apparently has the potential to end the world as we know it. So excuse me if my comparisons offend, but it is well worth discussing how Mr. Chaudry’s intelligence has created problems in the past.
ADHVAN CHAUDRY’S COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY
Submitted January 12, 2012, to Stanford University
Education is bullshit.
I know it may be ill advised to say so in this particular forum, but I hope that Stanford recognizes rigor and rewards honesty. Allow me to explain how I reached this particular conclusion.
My parents came to this country shortly before I was born. They were seeking to escape the caste system of India. It had been formally abolished in 1950, but was, for practical purposes, still firmly in place twenty years ago. Since my parents were Shudras (poor laborers), they never had any hope of becoming Rajanyas (rich merchants). But they believed in America they could.
When they arrived in San Francisco, they tried their best. But they were frustrated to discover it is just as impossible to move up in the world here. Not only that, they learned that the Indian system had been preferable in a way—because no Shudra is ever made to feel guilty about being poor. It is their lot in life. But in America, poverty equates to failure. It is a source of deep and abiding shame.
So they pinned their hopes on me. They sacrificed and worked long hours. They instilled the value of hard work in the hope that I would go to a great college and win for myself a job better than either of them had the privilege of having. They saw education as the way out.
However, from my experience in the academic world so far, I have seen that it is all a facade. A rigged game. A system of smoke and mirrors, to separate the wheat from the chaff, and perpetuate an oligarchic system that rewards privilege generation after generation, just as much as the caste system did. At the “prestigious” prep school that I attend (on a full academic scholarship), the vast majority of my fellow students are from wealthy families. And cheating is rampant among my peers. Most parents are complicit in a system that values perfect grades, test scores, and a robust résumé of activities…but does not give a damn about integrity.
We are admonished to be scholars and gentlemen “at all times,” and students are threatened with expulsion for their conduct on the weekend. Of course, when our school president’s son (one of my classmates) got so drunk at a school basketball game that he stumbled onto the court and vomited on the foul line, he was merely given detention, and the incident was swept under the rug.
With all this said, you are probably wondering—does this kid even want to attend Stanford? And the answer for me is unequivocally yes.
I know that my low opinion of education will always sound like an excuse, unless it is backed up with experience. I know my earning potential will be bolstered by the diplomas, even if they don’t mean a thing. I intend to get the best schooling I can get, all the way through a PhD, so I can assert with utter confidence that education, top to bottom, is total fucking bullshit.
EXCERPT FROM CONGRESSIONAL HEARING—DECEMBER 1, 2021
REP. CORINNE SOTHEBY (R-NE): Mr. Boyce, I’d like to discuss the origins of your connection to Mr. Chaudry. I understand that you met in college.
BOYCE: Yeah, that’s right. Freshman year. Well, Adhi was actually a year older than everyone, but he still had to come in as a freshman. He’d been rejected by Stanford his first time applying, believe it or not. Even though he had perfect grades, SATs, all of it, they turned him down. Because of his essay, supposedly. Which really just means, he didn’t know how to play the game, how to tell people what they want to hear.
So he did a year at a junior college, somewhere in the East Bay, and then he applied again. And since he was out there publishing math papers as a freshman at a JC, Stanford saw they’d missed out on something, and they let him in the next fall. He was not happy about having to take all his core requirements again, or being a year older than everyone else. But under all the bitching, I could tell, he was happy to be at Stanford. And so was I.
That’s when we met. Randomly assigned to the same dorm. And right away, first day, we hit it off.
REP. CORINNE SOTHEBY (R-NE): Were you immediately interested in a professional partnership with Mr. Chaudry?
BOYCE: When I was eighteen? I wasn’t interested in professional anything.
REP. CORINNE SOTHEBY (R-NE): It’s just, the two of you seem like rather unlikely friends.
BOYCE: You’ve never been friends with anyone different than you? Personally, I liked that Adhi was quiet. These days we’d probably say “on the spectrum.” Which is why he’d never really connected with anyone before.
But I liked him right away. Even though not everybody saw it, I thought he was funny as hell. Since he wasn’t really the talkative type, we’d be at our computers, same dorm room, chatting over IM for hours while we were supposed to be studying, and I would just lose my shit cracking up.
What I’m trying to say is, we might’ve been different on the surface, but we were in the same boat at Stanford. Neither of us fit in. I wasn’t as smart as all the other superachievers around us…and Adhi, to be honest, he was smarter. Smarter than the other students, smarter than the professors. Too smart for his own good, sometimes.
It was us against the world. I helped him meet people, he helped me with my homework. Six months in, we were best friends.
REP. CORINNE SOTHEBY (R-NE): That’s very sweet. But it’s also when the trouble started, isn’t it? Even early on in your college career, you two seem to have developed an attitude that the rules did not apply to you. Would you care to elaborate on that?
BOYCE: You’re bringing up, what, the library thing? I don’t see what that’s got to do with any of this.
GCHAT CONVERSATION
MAY 4, 2014, 8:16 PM
Benjamin Boyce:
YO! Where r u bro?
Adhvan Chaudry:
Library
Art history final tmrw
Benjamin Boyce:
Laaaaame. Come back.
Picked up Nattys.
U gonna make me drink n Halo by myself?
Adhvan Chaudry:
I’m srsly gonna fail this class if I don’t learn all of it tonite
So annoying.
I took art history last year
But these snobs won’t count any of my transfer credits
Which, lets be honest, is bc I didn’t pay a Stanford premium for them
Benjamin Boyce:
Dude lets be honest, neither of us actually payin tuition here
Adhvan Chaudry:
It’s the principle that counts.
Benjamin Boyce:
Come on back bro
I have world myth final tmrw, don’t see me stressin
Adhvan Chaudry:
Not all of us can get by on charm
Benjamin Boyce:
Hey I bet we could both get out of our finals if the library floods
Adhvan Chaudry:
Haven’t checked the weather but seems highly unlikely
Benjamin Boyce:
Dr. Dark could make it flood tho
I bet Dr. Dark controls the weather
Adhvan Chaudry:
Hahaha yes.
And there’s nothing his nemesis Benny-Boy could do to stop it.
Benjamin Boyce:
Benny-Boy would join forces w him for that one
Adhvan Chaudry:
Actually…I think I could manage a flood in the library.
Or at least, a storm.
If called upon.
Benjamin Boyce:
Uh, conside
r yourself called upon then.
U serious? That would be so fuckin sick.
Adhvan Chaudry:
Worth a shot.
Meet me up on the 2nd floor
Benjamin Boyce:
Bro if this gonna work I’m gonna get the word out…
SOURCED FROM STANFORD UNIVERSITY STUDENT RECORDS
INCIDENT REPORT
Student Disciplinary Board
Student: Adhvan Chaudry
Major: Computer Science
Standing: Freshman (Transfer)
Time: May 4, 2014. 11:20 PM.
Location: Wilkes Library, 2nd floor stacks.
Nature of Offense: Student unlawfully gained computer access to building’s system controls and set off fire-control sprinkler systems in the library.
Actions were clearly premeditated, and plans had been publicly shared, as students were present in the library with bathing suits and water guns.
Damage to property is estimated in excess of $50,000 due to water damage to facilities and books.
Action also resulted in two students being treated at the Health Center as a result of falls sustained due to water present on tile floor.
University also incurred liability damage due to arrival of the Fire Department. Damage to systems and necessary investigation and patching of online systems vulnerabilities estimated at $12,000.
Actions were also disruptive to other students who were studying in the library during Finals Week.
Damage also incurred to University’s reputation and good public standing, due to news coverage and Internet circulation of “Library Water Party” videos.
Student Disciplinary History: This is the second time Student has been caught illegally breaching University computer protocol. First offense involved the projection of lewd messages on stadium scoreboard during Stanford–UCLA football game in Fall 2013.