The Future Is Yours: A Novel
Page 25
By the end of the hearing, in a truly bizarre twist, Sen. David Holmes (D-NY) had insinuated that Boyce may have murdered his co-founder, who is now officially regarded as a missing person. Boyce is currently under criminal suspicion, in addition to the legal cloud he faces from an SEC investigation and a massive lawsuit from Google.
Sources report that the prestigious VCs who floated the company to its stratospheric valuation have started to sell off like rats fleeing a ship. The company’s very first investor, Paolo Ventrini, is alleged to have liquidated his stake, as have two other board members.
Meanwhile, less well-established investors have swooped in, sensing a fire sale and a chance to gain control of the company’s technology—assuming it is not soon revealed to be all smoke and mirrors. If Boyce is going to keep his company afloat, he’ll have to not only clear his name but pull a rabbit out of his hat with a successful product launch.
TEXT MESSAGE EXCHANGE
BEN BOYCE
December 14, 2021 9:16 PM
Hey Princess will you please just talk to me.
Why are you not even answering my calls?
Seriously even if you quit, you are still my wife.
December 16, 2021 3:07 PM
I came by the house today, wtf?
You gotta tell me where you are.
Please.
December 16, 2021 5:15 PM
LEILA KEENER-BOYCE
Listen, I don’t feel safe talking in person. If you want to discuss anything we can talk like this.
You don’t feel safe?
Please tell me you don’t believe all this Adhi shit.
Why would I hurt him?
Honestly, most of our conversations the last three months are about reasons you would want to hurt Adhi.
Babe that is so wrong.
He is my friend.
I got mad at him, but you would be too!
And then he just happened to disappear?
YES!
December 16, 2021 7:11 PM
Hello?
Princess are you there?
I’m not talking to you until I talk to Adhi.
EMAIL—DECEMBER 16, 2021
From: Ben Boyce
To: Kevin Martindale
Hey Kevin, this whole Adhi situation needs to be our number-one priority. I need you to find him ASAP and figure out WTF is going on.
REPLY
Copy that, Boss Man, I’m on it.
EMAIL—DECEMBER 17, 2021
From: Evelyn Andrada
To: Ben Boyce
We have entered a strange new period with the technology. The rate of Discrepancy continued to rise up through yesterday, when it became difficult to evaluate further. Starting around 5 PM, we are experiencing at least a partial blackout; that is, a total inability to get a return signal when we attempt to query through the Prototype.
Initially thought we might be facing a new manner of error with our tech, until we reviewed some of the last downloads that came in, which included this news article (published one year from today):
Quoted Text:
((GLOBAL ATTACKS TARGET INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
December 17, 2022
Panic consumed the globe today, as reports rolled out about a series of 16 different attacks, which struck major infrastructure targets in nine different countries.
According to Gwen Pallieri, the FBI task force leader spearheading the U.S. investigation, “These reprehensible attacks were coordinated, deliberate, and conducted with military precision. We are treating this as a clear and present danger to American freedom and safety.”
Pallieri’s briefing alleged that the teams of terrorists responsible for the attacks wielded high-caliber weapons and detonated large-grade explosives. Attackers took hostages, and in some cases, employed violence against security forces at the facilities. In total, four security personnel were killed and many others wounded, while the attackers caused significant damage to the physical infrastructure that enables global Internet service.
Many of the attacks wiped out website-hosting server farms—warehouses and offices that house thousands of racks of servers. At the Lakeside Technology Center in Chicago, gunmen killed two security personnel before affixing plastic explosives to server towers. The resulting explosions instantly disrupted the commodities market, which has been frozen in response.
The SuperNAP, a highly secure government data center outside Las Vegas, Nev., is the reported site of one of the most brazen and daring attacks. A caravan of white vans rammed through the security station, where a security guard was fatally injured, as 10 to 15 masked attackers made a beeline for the main server facility. Once inside, they detonated a series of homemade explosive devices, which shut down operations at the site indefinitely.
An additional attack, with no casualties reported, was launched against undersea cables on the eastern seaboard, which has disrupted intercontinental telecommunications indefinitely.
As a result of the attacks, vast swaths of the Internet are down and inaccessible, and many sites are only partially operational. It is tentatively estimated that 750 million citizens’ Internet access has been disrupted, and many may not be back online for weeks or months.
The fringe group known only as COTA (Citizens Opposing the Technological Apocalypse) issued a public statement taking responsibility for the attacks and warning of more to come. The group has stated that violence is not its aim, but contended that it will employ whatever means are necessary to achieve its goal of altering public policy regarding technology.
Editorial Note: Our publication, joining with most mainstream media, has elected NOT to reprint any of the group’s own language, which would only magnify their public voice.
The White House has immediately dispatched military personnel to ramp up security at all desirable technology-related targets. The president is expected to give a televised address later this afternoon, though its ability to reach American citizens is significantly compromised.))
So, it appears that the functionality of our technology has become limited at the moment, due to the fact that the Internet, in the future, is being disrupted on a global scale.
I am wondering if it is now time to start to shift our policy on sharing this information. If we proceed, the product will be on sale in 14 days, and everyone will be able to view it anyway.
Evelyn
REPLY
OK yeah this is an escalation from what we’ve seen before, but I don’t think it helps anything to change our plans. You need to delete this email (and that article) and forget about it. People will have access to the information when they buy the product, not till then, or this could massively scare off potential customers.
In fact, I think it would be best to stop cataloguing Discrepancies. It might be time we make a pivot in the way we frame these issues—and start seeing them as a feature, rather than a bug. The Discrepancies could represent opportunities for change! So this story you’re sending me is not necessarily an ironclad pronouncement, but instead, a danger that can be avoided…as long as we have a well-supported product.
We are now in production. People will be buying TF1 machines in two weeks. All I need you to focus on is shoring up bugs in anticipation of any software updates we might need.
TEXT MESSAGE EXCHANGE
BEN BOYCE
December 24, 2021 9:55 AM
Are you fucking kidding me.
I just got served divorce papers.
On Christmas Eve.
LEILA KEENER-BOYCE
I am sorry for the timing, that was not deliberate. And for what it’s worth, it’s not official yet. I just knew that was the only way I would get you to take it seriously.
OK you got my attention.
Evelyn forwarded me the article about terrorist attacks. This is getting out of hand.
Well, that’s another reason to fire her…
But not sure what else to say.
Ben, everyone else can see that this technology is running the world off a cliff. You need to stop this.
What am I supposed to do?
Pull the plug?
I can’t. We are bleeding money.
All these investors will sue us.
It is very possible that you will be sued, but I will help you through it. You will file for bankruptcy, which really means that WE will file for bankruptcy.
But that is not the end of the world. We will get back on our feet. We might have to accept help from my family, you might even have to work a real job again. But we will get through it.
Lei, someone else is gonna get the technology.
Google is just gonna end up with it.
Or the fucking military.
And they’ll abuse it way worse.
You are in a position to publicly renounce your own technology. You can even share the information you’ve gotten. That will tip the legislation and it will be banned overnight, guaranteed.
I worked so hard.
It’s not fair.
No, it’s not. And I’m proud of the work you’ve done. But it’s over.
You can have your company, or you can have me. But not both.
Your choice.
EMAIL (DRAFT)—DECEMBER 25, 2021
From: Ben Boyce
To: (undisclosed recipients)
Hi Everyone,
First off, Merry Christmas! Or rather, as merry a Christmas as you might be able to have this year, in light of everything going on.
I write this note with a heavy heart. I had considered waiting until next week to send this, but I felt nothing was gained by delaying the truth. I owe you all that much at least.
The time has come to put an end to this company, and the technology we have created. Simply put—I have seen too much to go on any further. It has become clear to me that we will not improve the world, as I once dreamed. We will only make it worse. Much, much worse.
That said, I am so grateful to you all for the incredible sacrifice that you have undertaken. I know that many of you skipped out on larger salaries at bigger firms in favor of stock options here, whose value will now be minimal. I will do whatever I can to help facilitate all of you transitioning to the exciting next phase of your career.
Working with this amazing team, I have witnessed incredible innovation and tenacity. But ultimately, it is the character I’ve seen here, which most affects my decision to
The writing of the above draft was interrupted by receipt of the following incoming email:
EMAIL
From: Kevin Martindale
To: Ben Boyce
Hey Boss, the admin team overrode Chaudry’s security and we got access to his accounts, so I’ve been going through looking for anything that might help us. I found some emails related to a Tumblr account which apparently he has, not sure if you’re aware but he’s been writing a blog, something about science fiction. He’s been putting it up anonymously for like 7 years.
Didn’t initially think it was a big deal, but I put an alert on it just to monitor activity, see if any comments might help us. And then, guess who published a NEW entry literally LAST NIGHT? Here’s the link…
TUMBLR BLOG POST—DECEMBER 24, 2021
THE BLACK HOLE: MUSINGS OF AN ANONYMOUS SCI-FI SUPERFAN
“Justice for Jacob Marley”
Since I have advocated in this forum for expanding the sci-fi canon
to include religious texts and vampire TV shows,
I would like to propose, today, a timely addition:
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens,
which, so far as I can surmise, is the first story about time travel.
We all know the broad strokes—
Scrooge, the greedy businessman,
is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future,
who whisk him forward and backward and sideways in time
so he can witness the emotional toll wrought by his bah-humbuggery.
Seeing through time, for Scrooge, is a means of finding redemption.
The fact that his soul is saved is all well and good,
but one must wonder…What about Jacob Marley?
His business partner, exiled unto death 7 years earlier,
is damned to eternal misery in his life as a ghost,
dragging his chains, plagued with unwavering guilt.
But Marley has already seen the error of his ways.
He is the one who exhorts Scrooge, from the beginning,
with the wisdom he needs to hear.
He gets the book’s first line (Marley was dead, to begin with).
He is instrumental in bringing about the epiphany of our protagonist,
who embarks on a holiday of transtemporal self-improvement,
and then, in the book’s final chapter, runs joyfully through London,
kissing children and loudly proclaiming his salvation.
But we are left to believe that Marley remains a miserable ghost forever,
simply because his own transformation did not come soon enough.
Surely if this time-bending story can conjure up a way to save Scrooge,
then there ought to be some hope of redemption for Jacob.
But there is none.
“Weary journeys lie ahead of me,” he declares before making his exit,
burdened by heavy chains, and a heavier heart.
By the end, Scrooge (and Dickens) have forgotten Marley entirely.
But I hold out hope he will find forgiveness for the wrongs he wrought in life
and he will one day be unburdened of his chains.
EMAIL
From: Ben Boyce
To: Kevin Martindale
Thank you this is good work. It’s proof that he’s alive. But it might not be enough to make a difference in court. Dig in and see if you can find more concrete evidence that he’s the one writing this, ideally where he is and wtf he’s up to.
REPLY
You got it, Boss Man.
EMAIL
From: Ben Boyce
To: Evelyn Andrada
Evelyn, I’m honestly sorry for bothering you on the holiday, I know I’ve asked a lot of you lately. All of this has just been consuming my mind.
I know I told you I didn’t want to hear about the attacks, etc. but that was a mistake. I’m wondering now if there’s more info I should know, especially anything about the group behind them, any leader, anything you can find. I really do care and would like to see any information you have on this.
REPLY
Ben,
It’s no problem. I hate Christmas.
I’m happy to share all the information I have about COTA (Citizens Opposing the Technological Apocalypse). But there’s not much to be found, most likely owing to the effective takedown of huge swaths of the Internet. There are various rumors, ranging from false-flag conspiracy stuff, to radical Muslim terrorists (there’s nothing to support that), to some fringe Luddite faction, but no conclusive proof.
What there is, however, is a short statement online. People are calling it a “mini manifesto” and since there’s very little Internet activity, nobody has yet turned that into #Minifesto. It’s signed to an obvious pseudonym, and people think it supports the idea it’s an anti-tech radical (“going dark” seems to be the implication). Here it is if you’re interested—
Quoted Text:
((Technology has enslaved us long enough.
The time has come to cast off our chains.
We have all become Death, destroyers of worlds.
The time has come to stop.
We have all become self-deluded lackeys of Big Tech.
The time has come to take control of our own destiny.
We demand responsible limits on information technology.
We demand citizen oversight of new innovation.
We demand a comprehensive ban on transtemporal data transmission.
Disruptions will continue, and escalate,
until worldwide change is enacted to our satisfaction.
You have been warned.
The Future is over.
—Dr. Dark))
REPLY
Thank you, Evelyn. People may be puzzled by who wrote that in the future, but it is quite clear to me now.
EMAIL—DECEMBER 25, 2021
From: Ben Boyce
To: (undisclosed recipients)
Hi Everyone,
First off, Merry Christmas! I know that the holiday season is a difficult one for all of us this year, as our company is facing serious challenges right now. Legal, logistical, and existential.
My own co-founder, it seems, has turned on us. There have been unfounded insinuations that I am responsible for his disappearance, but those allegations are utterly FALSE, and will be PROVED false soon enough. As you will all learn, he is alive and well, and he will continue to OPPOSE the technology we are creating.