I must say it’s one of those glorious days today. You know when you’re in the backseat of your armored car and your experienced driver has the car humming at high speed, passing the street crews and work vans like they are pylons; the sun kissing your face so that it feels warm and comfortable in response, drawn to that glow of life. You feel like you could maybe fall asleep, but there is too much to be done. Rest will have to wait.
Today I’m on my way to visit the new lab. It’s been in development for two months now. We moved different parts of the business there as different areas were built and secured accordingly. I made sure to take all the necessary precautions to protect my investment and create an environment where my new people could thrive in taking this beautiful thing to the next level.
Which is something I’ve debated with myself during this transition. I wanted the discovery to protect a certain order, a way of life, maintain the social equilibrium. I had planned to roll out a more coherent social framework with the help of some interested friends in the political and media establishment. This tech in their hands could do a lot of great work. But then I got to thinking about my own role in that scenario. I would probably have to take a back seat. Sure, I’d reap most of the economic windfall, but I’d be anonymous and defanged in the public mind. What’s the point of having all the money in the world if you can only hope to be a puppeteer in the grand show I jokingly refer to as real-life at dinner parties and other events. I want more than that. No, I deserve more actually.
I decided to be the guy behind the scenes and the one out in front. I’ve brought leading figures in the establishment under my control and they’ve set up in a wing of the new lab. They assure me the planning is well in motion for my ascendence. We’ve had the algorithms turned on and running since we had a proof of concept in the old lab. The groundwork continues to be laid while we learn more and I can focus on playing the savior and the villain at the same time.
When I get to the outside of the office my driver slows down to protect the car from the protestors who have been amassed here since I started building it out. The National Guard does a good job of cordoning them off and neutering their worst instincts. All they can do is shout inane slogans or hold up signs. They still think their little actions have a chance of making the news, driving like minded citizens to their cause. They haven’t learned that the jig was up a long time ago. I mean even before we turned on our algos they had maybe a minuscule chance of any success. They had a few sensitive ears in the right places, people who could trumpet their plight and at least enter the national conversation. I’m happy to say those days are virtually gone. My great invention has taken over. I can create the facts on the ground, change them if I care to, and drown out everything that doesn’t serve my interest with surgical detail.
One of the protestors hits the car with an egg and I laugh to myself. They of course can’t see me through the tinted windows of the car. I’m sure they use these tactics on everyone that comes through this gate. It just strikes me as sad. Do they really think an egg is going to do anything to a car that can withstand a barrage of tank shells? I scan the crowd and I think I see Lomax holding up a sign. Poor bastard. This is what happens when people can’t stand on their own. I gave him a great job, pushed him far beyond where he could ever imagine going, and let him off with a very fair severance package. Did he take that and do something productive with it? Of course not. He’s here with the rabble, complaining about what was always inevitable. We can’t stop the flow of progress. We can only ensure that we harness it for our own personal ends at the expense of anyone and everyone else.
Inside I walk as fast as possible to avoid any talk other than a passing hello. I refuse to be drawn into conversations with these people. I’m the boss and they are my employees. That is the relationship I’m comfortable with. I don’t even care that they don’t know who I am yet. They should know from my well-dressed appearance that I’m not some drone around here. I’ve cultivated a particular style of dress and demeanor to stand apart and not be approachable at the same time.
I pass the wing where we continue to study C. I hear he’s learned to enjoy the space we’ve provided for him. He gets a cloistered life of some leisure and we get important data in return. I think it’s fair trade. He wants for nothing. He has a small attentive staff of people he thinks serve him. I pass the wing where my crack team is working on my ascendance into a seat of perpetual power, but I don’t dare enter. I need to watch them from the confines of my adjoining office, confer with some trusted sources, and otherwise vet them before I can allow them to play a critical role in this thing. So while I said this was a soft-launch, it’s actually a requisite quality assurance check. You can never have too many of those.
As the crew works I turn on my loudspeaker microphone and let the buzz of that new sound sink in. Everyone comes to a halt and looks at the speaker in the corner of the room, awaiting what they sense is an important announcement.
“This is your captain speaking…”
[The End]
