The Third Wish

by Simon Archer

  The crowd went silent. I stood and refused to say anything until someone spoke up. It was a full thirty seconds before anyone dared to admit they had not had any such gaming experience. Finally, a young reporter off to the right of the room raised his hand.

  “I have not played a game like that, and I don’t know of any other gamer who has either,” he stated simply.

  “Thank you, young man. What is your name?” I asked loudly, making several of the reporters jump after such a long silence.

  “Tyler, sir. Tyler Cordane of the Barbados Online News,” the kid answered.

  “Great, Tyler. It’s nice to meet you. Because you decided that I wouldn’t bite if you answered my question, I’m going to send you a game that does just that. You’ll get a taste of what artificial intelligence gaming is all about. Also, I’ll be contacting you for an insider interview,” I told the kid. His face went white, and a massive smile formed.

  “Thank you, Mr. Anders!” he shouted out.

  “You’re welcome, Tyler,” I answered. I made a show of looking around the crowd for a moment before speaking again. Then I took a deep breath and said, “does anyone here think the game I’m sending Tyler will put his brain in danger of being melted?” There was an instant buzz of ‘no’ and ‘no way’ in the crowd. “Good.”

  “Why does he get an interview,” a young girl a few rows from the back piped up out of turn.

  “He gets an interview because he thinks for himself and isn’t afraid to answer a question that others are, even if the reason is unknown,” I told her. I found myself kind of hoping she would have another question, but alas, she didn’t. Instead, she shrunk back down into the crowd and disappeared.

  “Now that we have established that I’m not handing out games that are dangerous and that I work from my house, not a huge office somewhere, what does that leave? Oh, yes, the ‘harmony’ here in the community that I am supposedly interrupting with my technology,” I said. “What if I told you that my company is working on a technology that is turning common human error into a resource that will be used to save lives?” Another buzz went through the crowd. “And, how would you feel if I informed you that the tech does not require physical testing on any sort of environmental factor?” The room got louder as the reporters started talking amongst themselves. It was time to wrap it up.

  “I do not know where your local newsboy got his information, but one of you fine journalists here in the crowd may take pity on him and remind him to check his facts before airing a perfectly slanderous broadcast. 14Tech and I are in the business of improving existing technology and creating new, beneficial systems that can improve the quality and longevity of human lives. There are no brain-rot or box stores involved. Now, who has a question?”

  The volume in the room exploded. The journalists started pushing to the front of the room and screaming questions. I pointed at a particularly squished-looking man, and the throng of people behind him backed up long enough for him to ask his question.

  “What exactly does the new program do, Mr. Anders?” he asked. I shook my head and chuckled.

  “If you’ve been in the game for longer than five minutes, you know I’m not going to answer that. Do you have a real question for me?”

  The man’s face flushed with embarrassment. He’d thought he was sly and that I was too young for my britches. It’s a common mistake. Most men my age didn’t own multi-million-dollar tech companies. I pointed at another, much taller gentleman.

  “How long before the new program will be ready?” the tall man asked.

  “Now that is a question I’ll answer. While I wish I had a better timeline to give you, right now, we are aiming to have it complete within the year,” I told him. I immediately pointed to a small blonde woman in the middle of the room who looked like she was about to be completely trampled.

  “Will you be employing any locals with new projects in the future?” she asked. I had been waiting for a question like that to come up.

  “I like that question, what’s your name?” I asked the girl.

  “Umika Salazar, sir,” she answered.

  “Very original, Umika. I’m going to give you an interview as well. To answer your question, if 14Tech develops programming needs that extend beyond my capabilities here, and that of our current staff in the States, then yes, I will hire locally.”

  The entire room got louder with cheers of approval. I saw the girl mouth ‘thank you’ before she got shoved out of the way. I decided to end questioning before anyone got hurt.

  “Thank you for your time, ladies and gentlemen. That will be all for now,” I called into the microphone. I turned and took two steps towards the stage stairs when a voice yelled out of the crowd.

  “You are going around here like some kind of hero when all you are is a black-mailing fraud!” It was Tobin Keene’s voice.

  I stopped and slowly turned around and returned to the podium.

  “Ah, hello, Tobin,” I said coldly into the microphone.

  “Did you tell these nice people about your ploy to dig into local citizens’ tax records and extort them based on their filings? Or is that just your fiancé’s specialty?” Tobin sneered. The blood boiled in my veins, listening to the sarcastic whine in his voice. I opened my mouth to respond when a new voice in the crowd yelled out.

  “Hey, Tobin, everyone knows you rent your properties under the table, what are you bellyaching about? Are your feelings hurt that someone called you on your bullshit?” Tobin’s head whipped around to see who his accuser was, but the voice came from the back of the room, and there were too many people between them.

  “My rental practices are nobody’s business,” Tobin shouted. “Especially this man’s!” He pointed directly at me.

  “I have no interest in anything to do with you, Tobin,” I said politely. “Now, if you’ll kindly abstain from slandering my name, and my business, and from using your news station’s emergency weather alert for false alarms, I and everyone in this room would greatly appreciated that, I imagine.”

  I didn’t wait for a response from him. I turned and walked off stage while the crowd agreed with my remarks and booed Tobin’s outburst. At the bottom of the stage stairs, Glen was waiting for me. We ducked out a small backstage door and went directly to the car he had already running. Once we were in, I sank back in the plush leather of the backseat and let out a long breath.

  “That looked like a whole ton of fun,” Glen said jovially. I caught his eye in the rear-view mirror and laughed.

  “That was the most fun self-torture I’ve ever inflicted,” I joked. “How did it sound?”

  “You had those news-heads eating out of the palm of your hand,” Glen complimented me.

  “Hopefully, it was enough to put Tobin’s rumor crap to bed,” I told him. He nodded his head, and we drove in silence the rest of the way home. When he dropped me off, Lottie’s car was just pulling in the drive.

  “Do you want me to wait and see if the two of you would like to go to dinner?” Glen suggested as he opened the door for me to get out.

  “I appreciate that, but being out anywhere is the last place I want to be right now. I have to give Jack an update on how things went, so he knows I didn’t blow the lid on our project,” I replied, chuckling.

  “As long as you are sure. I’ll see you tomorrow, in that case,” he said as he climbed back into the driver’s side and closed the door. I waved ‘goodbye’ as he drove away and turned to Lottie, who was walking up from the other direction.

  “Hello, stranger,” she said with a smile. She got up on her tiptoes and kissed me.

  “Hello,” I replied when our lips parted. “How was your day?”

  “A little less adventurous than yours. I saw your press conference. You made Tobin look like a grade-A reject,” she laughed. I put my arm around her back, and the two of us walked into the house together.

  “Hopefully, he simply backs off. I don’t want to start a war with the man, I just want him to leave us alo
ne,” I explained even though Lottie already knew.

  “I’ll cross my fingers,” she told me as the two of us walked toward the kitchen. Andi and Vila caught our eyes from where they waited by the dining table. They had made a seafood dinner complete with lobster tail, crab legs, coconut shrimp, mussels, and steamed vegetables of all kinds. There were tiny dishes full of butter, cocktail sauce, lemon, and horseradish spread around the table, and two glasses of wine poured.

  “It looks like you two cooked all day!” Lottie told them.

  “What is the special occasion?” I asked. The girls loved to cook, but they rarely went all-out like that unless there was something specific to celebrate.

  “Come, sit down,” Andi said, pulling a chair out.

  “Yes, we are celebrating,” Vila answered. “You are a TV star now. It’s not every day you make it to the television screen!” Her tone was half-serious, half-joking.

  “Really? You made all this because I was on TV for five minutes today?” I asked. The words came out of my mouth, and Lottie’s head whipped around to look at me. Her brow raised, and I could feel the disapproval radiating from her. It took a moment for me to realize my mistake.

  “What I meant was, thank you, this is very sweet of you,” I started over. “It is such a large celebration. I had been expecting something else.”

  “That’s better,” Lottie whispered with a wink.

  “Oh, we aren’t that sensitive, for heaven’s sake!” Vila said, patting Lottie on the shoulder. “We knew he wouldn’t see the point in such a meal for a little ol’ press conference, but who cares, right?”

  “Eat, drink, and be merry… even if a five-minute press conference is the only reason you are at the table!” Andi added.

  Lottie glanced over at me and shrugged. Something else she was getting used to was the girls’ tendency for extravagance. Once Andi and Vila sat down, the four of us began to eat. Although they had seen it, the girls asked for a recap of the conference. After that, our conversation switched to more lighthearted topics like the buying of horses and a trip to the spa for the girls. By the time the evening was wrapping up, the four of us had finally unwound from the day.

  I had a full day of work that would start early in the morning, and I looked forward to a good night’s sleep once I had ditched some of the stress that would’ve likely kept me awake.

  15

  While I ended up sleeping very well, waking up to a forceful banging wasn’t what I’d counted on. At first, I added the noise to a dream I was having about hiking with tree-huggers through the Amazon, but eventually, I realized the sound was coming from the house. I sat up in bed and looked around. Vila and Andi busted in the room, and Lottie ran out of the bathroom. Apparently, I was the only one in the house who had still been sleeping.

  “What the hell is that?” Lottie asked, looking from Andi to Vila, and then to me.

  “I just opened my eyes, I have no idea,” I answered.

  “You two must take a long time to wake up!” Andi blurted out. “Someone is really anxious to get in here… That is the front door.”

  “Why wouldn’t they ring the bell?” Vila added, irritation ringing through her voice. I got up and slid a pair of flannel pajama pants on, and pushed my feet into house-loafers.

  “I’ll get rid of them, whoever they are,” I growled. I would’ve sent Andi or Vila, but neither of them was dressed all that appropriately in their tiny, silk nightgowns that barely covered their perky little asses.

  “Be nice,” Lottie called after me, sounding a little worried. She knew I wasn’t a fan of loud noises in the morning, much less being woken up by them.

  I’d just exited the bedroom doorway when the doorbell started ringing. I rolled my eyes as I made my way down the stairs and across the foyer. When I reached the front door, I grabbed the handle and swung it open. Five large men, dressed in construction gear, and a lady in a brown suit were standing on the doorstep.

  “Finally!” the woman said, flustered.

  “Finally, what?” I snapped. “Exactly why do you feel it necessary to wake up the dead with all the pounding when we have a perfectly operational doorbell?” My level of irritation spiked as I saw the construction workers trying to peer past me into my house.

  “Sir,” the lady said, sounding official and snotty, “we have reports of a major gas leak in a line that runs to your home. There is no time for pretty doorbells.” Her level of snootiness made me want to have Vila turn her into something else… anything would do.

  “We didn’t call about any gas leak. Plus, you have an additive in the natural gas, so we’d smell it if there was a leak. You’ve been misinformed.” I had no intention of letting her and her goons in the house.

  She put her head down momentarily and started shaking it. Then she looked back at me.

  “I would love to pretend I needed permission to enter your home regarding this matter, but I don’t. It is a matter of public safety, and I don’t care if you can smell it or not,” she sniped. She nodded her head at one of the men standing with her, and he took a step inside the house. I was preparing to step in his way and kindly show him the way out when Vila appeared beside me, still in her nightgown, and grabbed me by the arm.

  “She is right,” Vila whispered. “She doesn’t need permission to enter.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I replied. My blood boiled with irritation as I seethed.

  Vila kept a tight grip on my arm while the rest of the men and the snotty lady came in the house and fanned out. As we were watching them head in different directions, another man came to the door, this one dressed in khakis and a yellow button-up.

  “Mr. Anders, I presume?” he asked politely, staying on the other side of the doorway.

  “Yes,” I replied, shaking Vila off. Lottie walked up beside me, and I saw Andi join us as well.

  “I am sincerely sorry for the inconvenience this morning, and for the rudeness of my co-workers,” he started.

  “Oh, so you heard that?” I snapped.

  “No, I just know that none of them ‘people’ very well, so my apology is automatic. I’m never wrong in needing to apologize for their demeanor, however,” the man said matter-of-factly. His forethought for strategy slightly impressed me.

  “Who are you?” I asked sharply.

  “John Carrington,” he replied. “Look, we have a gas leak reported, that much you know. We don’t know who called it in, but when it comes to the type of danger that a leak can pose, it doesn’t matter. We have to check it out.”

  “What does ‘checking it out’ consist of?” Lottie piped up.

  “It means that I’ll need you four and anyone else in the house to vacate the premises until we can be certain all of your gas lines are cleared,” he stated politely. I could tell that he was automatically preparing for the barrage of complaints he most likely experienced every time he told someone they had to leave their own home. I decided to spare him the verbal beating.

  “Alright,” I replied. I felt all three girls turn their eyes to me in shock. “Is there any way to tell how long we’ll be shut out?”

  John was stunned, and it took him a minute to recover. He had indeed expected an argument.

  “There really isn’t any way to tell,” he answered finally. “I can assure you that I will keep the crew moving quickly so I can get you back in as soon as possible. You have about three minutes to grab anything you need.”

  I nodded my acknowledgment, and the four of us turned to head back upstairs. I needed to grab a shirt and my laptop. Lottie wanted her briefcase, and the girls wanted to change clothes into something a little more appropriate for public viewing. When we had our items, we returned to the front door, and John escorted us out to about fifty feet away from the house. More workers had already put up a tape line, making it clear that we were not allowed anywhere near the house. The four of us stood there, staring in disbelief.

  “Well, this is an interesting start to the day,” Andi piped up, fi
nally. “Where do we go from here?”

  I glanced at Lottie. “You need to get to the office, don’t you?” She had gotten up early because she’d scheduled some appointments before normal office hours.

  “Yes, but my car is in the garage which they blocked off,” she answered, stress dripping from her voice.

  “No worries,” I told her. “Glen will take you.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent Glen a text to come get Lottie. I informed him that he would have to park down the drive and honk because he wouldn’t be able to drive up to the house.

  “What about us?” Andi asked for herself and Vila.

  “You two are going to be stuck here with me until we figure out how long this is going to take. Then we’ll go from there,” I answered.

  The four of us stood there while more and more people showed up and went in and out of our house. Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Twenty-five minutes after they had kicked us out, we heard Glen honking from the other side of the house. Lottie stretched up to kiss me goodbye before heading around the caution tape to get to her ride. Andi, Vila, and I were left on the beach, still watching.

  “It’s too bad we couldn’t just go to the cave and hang out while this all blows over,” Andi whined.

  “Why can’t we?” Vila pepped up at the suggestion.

  “Because someone might see us,” Andi sniped. “Who are you, the forgetful patrol?”

  “Oh, shut up,” Vila retorted. “What I meant was why don’t we sneak into the cave? We can put a little illusion up for a second until we get inside. It’s better than standing out here in the heat.”

  She wasn’t entirely wrong. I suddenly wished we had horses again so we could go riding through the surf to cool off.

  “Vila, that is much too dangerous,” I told her. “I’m surprised at you. You usually throw a fit when anyone suggests using magic out in potential public view.”

  “I know.” Vila looked at the sand at her feet and sighed. “I just really want to go back, and I really don’t want to stand here.”