“Ridiculous.”
“Think about it, Parker. We’ve talked about this. We both know it’s true. Mindful, precise attention to simple human things are what will move us forward, not doing all we can to turn humans into … well, not humans anymore.”
“That’s not something you can control, Alexa. Progress always marches forward. Just because you have some hippie bug up your ass doesn’t mean—”
“I don’t want to send us back to the Stone Age, Parker. But physical stimulation won’t take us to the next step. Not anymore.”
“For fuck’s sake, Alexa! This company’s tagline is ‘The Future of Sex!’”
“And it still can be! The future just means what comes next. What’s old can be new. I’m not saying we stop creating original things or remove ourselves from the marketplace. Far from it. But we need to focus on technology that can be used with natural human sexuality, not to replace it.”
Parker’s head was still shaking. “I don’t know, Alexa. I don’t know that I can support this. I don’t know that I can give it a green light, no matter what you think.”
“Not to belittle our partnership, Parker, but you don’t really have to. I can make this decision on my own, especially with all the new money the board is allocating for me to use as I please.”
Parker sat. He looked resigned. Maybe beaten.
“Look,” Alexa said. “It’s like I told Panel: what’s done is more or less already done. Chloe’s influence is already out there on The Beam. And it’s going to spread regardless. We need to decide whether we’re willing to change our business to suit what it will allow us to do in the coming years.”
“What it will allow?”
“From what I understand,” Alexa explained, “all the smart dildos in the world won’t help anyone if the nanobots decide they don’t want them to work.”
“That’s not something the nanobots get to decide. They’re machines.”
Alexa looked at him evenly. She didn’t need to tell him he was wrong. He already knew.
“We have a unique opportunity, Parker. By shaping and controlling Chloe, we can shape and control The Beam. Do you really want to keep pushing in the old direction, knowing that? Do you want to keep innovating toward better masturbation, and better alienation? Or do you want to embrace the true future?”
Parker didn’t reply. He was realizing that “what he wanted” might not matter. He watched Alexa’s eyes, trying to trust her. This was a big change. An enormous change. But Alexa had always been fearless. Whereas Parker clung to what worked, Alexa had never been afraid to scrap it all and reinvent herself in front of a freshly shifting wind.
“For now,” Alexa said, realizing Parker’s mind was a bit too blown for a calm discussion, “the ball is in Chloe’s court. She has to learn before The Beam can. In a way, she’s like a virgin. I didn’t understand half of what I saw in the feed when she and Andrew had sex in the immersion room — but when I took Chloe to see the recording, she understood it. She said that each time with Andrew was kind of like the first time and that The Beam felt the same way as it watched them. Right now, most of what’s happening between them are firsts — all things that she, Andrew, and The Beam must experience together.”
“If you wanted Chloe and Andrew together why did you break them up?”
“Because real love has ups and downs. Real love isn’t all roses; you must remember that from your less-jaded days. When you love someone, you spend half your time afraid that they don’t love you quite as much. Or that they’ll betray and hurt you like Andrew did to Chloe. She needed to feel all those little details — all those samples across the range of emotion, and all part of the experience. And let’s not forget that real love forgives. Real love triumphs; it overcomes all obstacles. When they broke up, Chloe felt like she’d never see another sunny day. She needs to see that there can be — but that she and Andrew will both need to change. She needs to feel what it’s like to move past his betrayal. What it feels like to let him back in. She needs to know the euphoria of redemption. She needs to feel what it’s like to reclaim something she thought was lost forever — to re-gain that forgotten part of her soul.”
“You broke them up so they could make up.”
“‘Love is patient, love is kind,’” Alexa recited. “‘It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.’”
“Bible verses.”
“And the truth,” Alexa said, “as Chloe and The Beam will learn.”
Parker seemed uneasy at best, resistant and heel-dragging at worst. But in spite of his reticence, he managed a snicker.
“I guess you’re going to get your hippie festival of free love after all. Just one big orgy, glorying in the delight of the universal subconscious? Sounds like an Alexa Mathis dream come true.”
“It’s about restoring the balance. Steering us all away from alienation and toward connection.”
“And making a tidy profit in the meantime.”
“Well,” Alexa said, allowing a smile. “Of course.”
There was a trill from a panel on Alexa’s office wall. She would normally ask Parker to leave, but what the hell; he knew everything anyway.
She tapped a key and Sarah snapped into existence before them.
“Sorry to interrupt, Miss, but Caspian White is on the network.”
Alexa sighed. She should never have gotten back into bed with Caspian.
“Fine. Put him through.”
Sarah shook her holographic head. “You misunderstand, Miss. I’m not reporting an incoming call. I’m giving you a network status alert, as you requested.”
Alexa glanced at Parker. He shrugged.
“Mr. White isn’t on the network for you,” Sarah continued. “His connection is opening across town, attempting to reach Chloe Shaw.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The lights went off. With only the windows suddenly lighting her way and the day starting to dim, Chloe nearly tripped over her own coffee table.
She recovered, planted her hands on the glass, and looked around in confusion.
A power outage? Really? How did something like that happen?
Chloe wasn’t exactly a city engineer, but she was reasonably certain that the electrical power ran on a separate system than Crossbrace, and that the two-system setup was meant to create redundancy.
Crossbrace should fix power outages within milliseconds, and although the power grid couldn’t repair Crossbrace in the same way, it could make sure that lights stayed on during network outages, sending extra power to contained AI units to handle its duties for a while in a pinch.
But the lights were off, had been off for several long seconds.
Chloe was about to call for Brad when a cool voice spoke from the darkness. “I’m really, really sorry about this.”
Chloe began to turn, but her neck was frozen. The air felt thick, harder to breathe in and out.
At first, she thought the grayish cloud around her might be smoke, but as her other muscles froze, Chloe realized it was something different.
Something worse.
A new light came on, but it wasn’t Chloe’s overheads. This light came from something portable, stashed near the door — which Chloe now realized was open. She could see the hallway light beyond, still on. Whatever this was, it kept itself to her apartment alone.
A man’s silhouette stepped into the doorframe.
“Please,” said the voice. “Have a seat.”
Chloe had no intention of complying, but her muscles moved anyway.
She wasn’t in control. Feet moved; legs bent; she found herself arranged more or less normally on her couch, against her will.
The light from the doorway was in her face like an interrogator’s spotlight, and she could see her visitor walking forward.
>
She knew that voice — the same one that had called her in Andrew’s apartment, to fink on Alexa.
More lights. Now she could see him: tall, broad through the chest, square-jawed with an immaculately combed blond hair. He was wearing a dark suit, a white shirt, and a silky blue tie that perfectly matched his eyes.
He sat in a chrome and leather chair, crossing one leg over the other. Chloe, though still unable to move her body, found she was able to speak.
“You’re Caspian White.”
“My reputation, I see, precedes me.”
“You’re the bad guy.”
He laughed. “I’d argue, but it’s situations like this that make people say such horrible things about me. I bring it on myself, I suppose. But please, trust me: I’m actually a very nice man once you get to know me.”
“What have you done to me?”
“It’s a nano-swarm. Xenia is developing them for police use. The nanos surround you and incapacitate your muscles, making it impossible to flee. I do apologize. I didn’t know how you’d receive me. If we can reach an agreement, nothing would make me happier than to command their departure.”
Chloe tried to focus.
Brad, get me out of this.
Brad, where are you?
Then to the nanos, which had to be controlled by Crossbrace or The Beam.
Let me go.
Call the cops.
But nothing happened.
“I’ve taken the precaution of isolating this apartment from all network signals. Alexa told us what you could do, so I thought it prudent. It wasn’t easy. I had to call in favors, and couldn’t call any from Quark. Can’t let your daddy know what the rest of us know … or that you exist.”
“You know who I am.”
Talking to the man was strange; Chloe wanted to shout at the top of her lungs for someone to help her. Trapped and frozen, she had only two choices: keep her mind on what was happening, or lose it entirely.
“Of course,” Caspian said. “I’m the reason you know. The records of your portentous birth were lost when some people from the East stole data from Quark and then clumsily covered their tracks. Fortunately, I knew those people. And since they were so kind as to help you learn your identity, I was hoping you could help me get back in touch with them in a more … permanent way.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chloe said.
“I don’t suppose you know the name Rachel Ryan?”
Chloe tried to shake her head, but she couldn’t.
“We share an interest in an off-continent business. Her father’s company has holdings in the old Canadian North where they hustled and bullied and slaughtered their way into profitability, but that’s not actually a problem because it’s still within the NAU borders. What matters more are Ryan Enterprises’ holdings in Europe — beyond the curtain, so to speak, in the Wild East.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because Rachel apparently wants to operate in the dark, leaving me to take the risks like the one that has me sitting in front of you now. When our meeting today is over, I want you to know the name of the other party who did this to you, should you realize you have a problem with it. But mainly it’s because you will learn it anyway. My people are in the East, in Ukraine and Russia. Rachel’s are also in the East: in Italy, Switzerland, and a few of the other ruined states.”
“And?”
“And you, Miss Shaw, have unique abilities to reach through network prohibitions. Alexa talks like there are no limits to where you can reach when connected. I checked; Alexa’s right in that your influence has already made its mark on The Beam. Right now, it’s in beta. But when the network rolls out nationwide? Well. It will be a kinder, gentler place than it otherwise would have been.”
“You want me to open a connection to the East? To let you and this … Rachel … talk to your cronies overseas?”
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Caspian said, inspecting his fingernails.
“Let me go and I’ll think about it,” Chloe said.
“I’ll make you a counteroffer. Think about it first. Then I’ll let you go.”
“I don’t have to do what you say.”
“Of course you don’t. But what’s the alternative? As I think you’ve seen, the group that Alexa and I belong to holds a controlling interest more or less in the NAU itself. Some of the most powerful members of that group know who you are and what you might do to influence the network, thanks to your friend Alexa. Even if I let you walk away, someone else will find you. Who will it be? Maybe Aiden Purcell, who might try to sell your soul to the highest bidder one piece at a time? Alexa is kidding herself if she thinks the others won’t learn about it as well. You can’t be left alone, Miss Shaw. Alexa has let your very interesting cat out of the bag.”
“Alexa is helping me. She’s on my side. When she finds out what you’re trying to do—”
“She’s on your side?” Caspian’s handsome face seemed intrigued. “That’s a curious interpretation. From where I’m standing, it looks like Alexa manipulated your life since the day you were born in one way or another. And once she had you under her wing she experimented on you nonstop, then hired an actor to pretend that he loved you. Then she broke you up, again on purpose. But maybe that’s how it is with Alexa: she giveth boyfriends, and she taketh boyfriends away.”
Chloe searched for options. As long as the network was severed and she couldn’t move, there were precious few.
She had to stall. Stay calm. Bide her time.
“At least Alexa understands me. If you do anything to me, she’ll—”
“What exactly will she do? Throw electronic dildos at me? Douse me with manufactured cum from a gigantic penis gun? Alexa sees one thing in you, Chloe. If you think her ‘new direction’ is anything different, you’re mistaken. You’re a pawn, same as you’d be for me. She demanded government database access from Panel, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she has extorted billions of credits from O. Why is she collecting money and power, Chloe? To protect you? Or does she want to turn you into a new kind of rainmaker?”
“And you? What would you do with me?”
“I,” Caspian said, “will at least treat you like an equal. Like a partner.”
“Like Alexa, before you contacted me behind her back? Like Rachel Ryan, a woman whose name you gave me so I can seek her out later?”
Caspian picked lint from the leg of his bespoke suit pants. “I’m not saying I won’t stab you in the back. But at least I’m telling you ahead of time to expect it.”
Chloe spun through her mind, still looking for loose ends.
She’d asked Brad to make that call earlier, but what could honestly come of it? She’d thought Alexa was on her side, but maybe it didn’t matter if she was; maybe Alexa’s profit motivation and territorial nature would be enough to stop this if she could somehow be alerted.
But how?
Caspian had somehow cut off her connections, including Fi signals, and controlled a nanobot cloud.
Chloe didn’t know how she could fight against any of it.
And that crushing truth felt like a titanic weight atop her chest.
Caspian was telling the truth; there would be no rest for Chloe Shaw now that the world’s biggest players knew who she was.
Maybe she was supposed to change The Beam, as Alexa had suggested, but she’d have to do it in bondage of one sort or another.
If Alexa wasn’t constantly interfering, someone like Caspian would be.
There was no riding quietly off into the sunset.
There was no such thing as “being left alone,” with or without Andrew.
Chloe suddenly wanted to cry.
There was no way out; there was no hope at all.
Crossbrace spanned the nation and The Beam was its evolutionary successor, due to roll out NAU-wide within the next few years with or without West surviving. As long as there was a connection, she’d be a marked woman. It didn’t matter that she
could touch all the network’s corners. So could Panel. And even if Caspian let her go today, who might break into her apartment tomorrow?
“What do you think, Miss Shaw?” Caspian held up a small device about the size of a mobile, his thumb near its surface as if preparing to tap. “I’ll ask the swarm nicely to let you move again if you promise to listen.”
“I promise.”
Caspian wasn’t buying it. He saw her eyes find the door.
“Maybe a compromise.” He tapped the device and Chloe found herself able to move from the waist up. She couldn’t run, but at least the claustrophobia of being trapped inside herself was mostly gone.
Maybe she could crawl.
Drag herself away.
There was a lamp almost within reach; maybe she could throw it hard enough to knock Caspian out. Then she’d have time.
Lights had been on in the hallway, so Crossbrace presumably was, too. With a connection, Chloe felt sure she could tell the swarm to release her.
But she had to reach the door.
Chloe was gauging her odds of grabbing then throwing the lamp when something moved in the shadows.
Caspian must have brought his cronies. Maybe this Rachel Ryan, whoever she was — or big goons, armed and ready.
“That’s a nice lamp,” Caspian said, following Chloe’s jumping eyes. He sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have trusted you after all.”
Caspian lifted the device. His finger hovered over its surface.
Chloe braced, irrationally panicked about finding a comfortable position before the nanobots locked her into it.
The something in the shadows leapt with tremendous force, striking Caspian broadside. The nano controller skittered into a corner, well past Chloe’s reach. Someone’s leg struck a narrow table and toppled it, sending it crashing to the ground. A heavy glass vase full to the top with polished rocks fell atop the controller.
But Chloe still couldn’t move. Smashing the controller had merely ensured that nothing could command the nanos to change what they were doing.
Her top half was still free, neck turned toward whatever was happening.
The Future of Us (The Future of Sex Book 12) Page 4