∆ ∆ ∆
Spencer and Simon each called the number on the back of their own lottery tickets to report their wins. Their operators took the confirmation code digits, and they were told that the numbers checked out, as expected, the tickets were genuine after all, it was just the method of choosing the numbers that was slightly shady. They were congratulated and informed of the procedures and regulations for collecting their win. The tickets would be further verified, and a representative would call them back, most likely on Sunday to arrange a meeting for the official transferal of their winnings. As planned, the trio spent Sunday morning to early afternoon moving Simon’s things into the warehouse. During the move, both Simon and Spencer were called to arrange a meeting for their winnings, Simon requested to meet at his new living space, and Spencer chose her flat. They had both mentioned to the representative that their friend also won on the same draw, to avoid questions later. Their cover story involved a shared Chinese takeout and identically printed numbers on their fortune cookie paper slips. The representative was secretly confused when the story was delivered like an alibi rather than an amusing anecdote but said that it would make a good story for the publicity. Simon and Spencer both vehemently stated that they wished to remain anonymous, their guilty demeanour adding to the representatives confusion.
Simon had moved his bed and chairs into the warehouse, he had very little in the way of furniture in his previous flat — due to the technology clutter — but it would be sufficient while he took watch on his first night in the warehouse. The boards nailed to the west wall hole weren’t a huge deterrent for possible intruders, but it would at least keep draughts to a minimum and keep Simon warmer during the night. Simon had a space heater to place next to his bed for the night, should it get cold. Fortunately, the weather was fairly mild at that moment. He showered at Victor’s house on Sunday evening since he would have no access to amenities when morning arrived. The warehouse had a toilet and a sink in the one small WC.
Simon’s first night in his new home went without a hitch. There was a slightly annoying rattle from the plywood boards, but at least there were no attempts at breaking and entering. He awoke bright and early, an hour or two before the builders appeared and began work on fixing the west wall. The lottery’s representative, Claire, arrived during the afternoon at both places of residence. The funds were transferred to their bank accounts and an agreement was made for anonymity. Claire then left the new millionaires to their plans.
Simon, Victor and Spencer paid a visit to their local bank and opened a business account to which they had joint access. They had chosen to register the business name ‘PRE-Innovations’, since that would be what they were doing, pre-innovating. Taking innovations and making them occur at an earlier time. The PRE was capitalised to represent the first letter in each of their surnames. Simon and Spencer both made transfers into the new account, and their business became a multi-million pound corporation.
Chapter 7
After two weeks of being in existence, PRE-Innovations base of operations had fully operational walls and doors and was on it’s way to having a working bathroom and kitchen. The upper floor had been given a sprucing, and they were using it as their work area.
Messages were beginning to filter through to the drive, the contents of which would provide a foundation for their overall plan, a set of instructions that could be carried out while warehouse construction and conversion continued. The next phase would begin once renovations were complete, the team required their headquarters to be fully functional if it were to house their efforts in the design and fabrication of advanced technologies; production would need the right tools, and a strong base of operations was an important foundation to set them upon.
The greatest tool in innovation will always be the human mind, but cash currently came in at a close second, so the first messages received from the future contained specifications for products that were destined to become huge sellers in the near future. Since PRE-Innovations would be taking out patents on the products before they were even an idea in the original inventor’s mind, they would be the ones to make the profit, not it’s true creator. It was a constant topic of conversation for the three founders of the company; whether or not they were operating on the right side of morality. They knew that their methods were so unprecedented that their actions weren’t breaking any current laws, but it was a concept that weighed on their collective conscience enough to warrant debate, a debate that usually concluded with references to Robin Hood; they were revolutionists stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Whereas, here, they were giving back to humanity as a whole. They had made the decision to only skim profits from large corporations, where the profits would make little difference to the organisation of which they once lined the pockets while being essential in the funding of PRE-Innovations plan. Comparatively, barely any of the proceeds would end up in the teams private bank accounts, any monetary gain from their manipulation of history would directly finance changes which would be beneficial to the whole planet. The initial developers primary concern was stockpiling profits for themselves and giving little back, PRE-Innovations lead responsibility was to apply a speed boost to progress of our race’s technological evolution, the result of which could only be the betterment of the human race.
Medical technology would be the most obvious for being the change that would affect - and save - the most lives. The founders saw space travel as the current long game for the company. If they could push space travel technology from the future into our present, it would cement the human race’s position in the universe. Current events on planet earth weren’t the best state of affairs for homo-sapiens. Overcrowding could be a problem in future, some scientists say we’re already past the point of a possible catastrophic event for our race when natural resources become more and more scarce. We could even face an extinction level event if our rate of consumption were to continue. Then there was the planet’s carbon level, which was past the point of no return in regards to how it affects changes in climate. All this without taking into account the numerous items of space debris floating out there. A meteor may have wiped out the dinosaurs, and it could be possible for us at any time. If any of these events occurred, everything the human race had achieved up until now would be lost, and life would have to start anew, which as with the first time, would take millennia to return to our current state of evolution. Even then, who knows what would evolve from simple life next time, the beings might grow to be nothing like us. Colonising other planets would increase our chances of surviving exponentially. Maybe the next livable world we find, we may treat with a little more respect.
No-one was to know if the increased rate of technological evolution may even be able to save the planet we already have. It could take the evacuation of Earth and thousands of years without human interference until regenerative change is seen. If evidence suggests that the planet is going through another natural shift in climate temperature as with glacial periods, then it could mean that the Earth is uninhabitable to the human race for tens of thousands of years. There was also the possibility of our sun going supernova and wiping out the entire solar system. All of these distinct possibilities were what PRE-Innovations were determined to find a way to survive.
For now, the phrase mighty oaks from small acorns grow was key. The current acorn received in a message was for an advanced ‘selfie drone’. Much like the personal camera drones that we are currently able to purchase, the selfie drone was a hugely scaled down version of the quadcopter. The drone was small enough to be stored in a flip-open compartment behind the face of a smart-watch, once the compartment was opened, the base acts like a tiny helipad used to launch the drone at any time, so it can follow you and film all your actions. Not exactly a device to bring the world together, since now you didn’t even need a friend present to do the filming for you. The item was destined to be a huge hit amongst the current generation of YouTubers and vloggers. The drone was powered by a new typ
e of battery, which was another ‘acorn’ sent to the drive. Aluminium graphite batteries charge in less than a minute when coupled with a new charger in the wristband that uses friction to harness electricity from a person’s skin to charge. Neither would be world changers, but they would bring in profit that would be used to create the bigger inventions. The plans for the devices had arrived with full blueprints and building instructions. All the team had to do was find a factory capable of mass producing the tech for them, eventually, with enough cash, they could build their own plant to create their technology. Since the two devices were huge sellers in the year they came from, they would help enormously.
Victor flipped open his drone watch, held his arm out, so the launch pad was horizontal and said “Launch.”
The tiny craft took off and buzzed in the air in front of him at head height.
“Testing, one, two, sibilance. Testing selfie drone. It seems to be flying well, Simon.”
“I’m getting the picture and sound in fine. The rotors are quiet enough to not effect the sound, and there’s a part of the recording software that neutralises the white noise.”
“Looks like we have a working product on our hands.”
“It was simple enough to build the prototype too, just ran the plans I was given through the 3D printer and assembled. The battery was the hardest part to make.”
“I like the watch too,” Victor said, closing the face and looking at the smart touch screen panel on its surface.
The wristband charged the drone wirelessly while it was in its compartment. There was an adaptor to add the capability of charging via a USB socket while the wristband wasn’t being worn. Victor had had fun testing the static conversion by shuffling his feet around on the ground, like a child making his hair stand on end with a balloon. The band would also help people in dry climates where they find that they get static shocks from metal objects their charging times should be lower too.
“How many did you make?” Victor asked.
“I made five altogether, just to be extra safe. I sent two to the factory, so they have a spare. They should have a hundred thousand units ready within a month.” Simon said. “Oh, and there was a message from future Victor. He said that you should just continue walking when you pass that blonde outside the dental surgery tomorrow at four.”
“Good to know. Thanks again, future me.”
Chapter 8
Victor walked through the streets of Harrogate's town centre, on his way to get a coffee. He couldn't help but think about the people going about their everyday lives, oblivious to how the world had changed just a matter of weeks ago. The die of what we thought of as possible had been recast, one machine had changed science, history and future history. Reality itself had already been rewritten in minor ways, and he and his friends were at the centre of it all. It was enough to go to a person's head. Victor knew that he and his friends were going to have to remain grounded and make a concerted effort to not begin following a psychological path that ended in a god complex, even if they had joked about in the beginning.
Harrogate was a relatively small Yorkshire town with a moderately affluent population and upper-class customer base. The overall look and feel of the shops and businesses at its centre reflected this. The three scientists had grown up in the area and never strayed far. Once Simon's uncle left him the warehouse in his will, it became apparent that the trio wouldn't be changing location for the foreseeable future either. Not by any conventional methods of prediction at least.
Victor entered the coffee house, placed his order and paid via the loyalty card app on his phone.
After a couple of minutes, the barista finished his latte and put the to-go cup on the counter. Victor took it, removed the lid and began to pour in sugar from a nearby dispenser. He heard a giggle and turned to make eye contact with the source of the sound, a pair of attractive girls seated behind him were smiling coyly in return of his gaze. The girls giggled again conspiratorially, and Victor realised that the sugar was still pouring. He liked his coffee sweet, but he knew this would be too sickly even for his taste. After stirring for an appropriate amount of time for the mountain of sugar to dissolve, he took a sip. He grimaced then fished his phone from his pocket.
It hadn't taken Victor long to write a smartphone app which he could use to remotely access the drive. All three of the PRE-Innovations team were busy with the work the drive was providing for them, but Simon was quite obsessive compulsive when it came to the task and hence, a lot of the production would be completed ahead of schedule. When Simon insisted on doing such a large portion of the work, it gave Victor time to work on the app.
He pulled up the program on his phone, entered a message and hit Send.
∆ ∆ ∆
Victor stepped off the Harrogate streets and through the coffee shop door. While waiting in line, his phone bleeped with the ringtone he recognised as a message relayed from the drive. Victor pulled out his phone and swiped on the notification that had appeared on the lock screen. He noticed that the origin time of the message was a couple of minutes from now and assumed he'd received a course correction to the day's fated events. The message composing interface on both the mobile and main drive apps contained a FAO field that filtered the message through to a particular user. He had briefly considered that this feature might incite paranoia among the group, but they all trusted each other beyond the need for it to cause concern. Messages that were intended for him specifically would appear with a blue background, while messages that could be viewed by all had a green background, so Victor immediately recognised it as personal. He scrolled down to the body of the message.
You put in too much sugar and forgot the vanilla. You don’t even need sugar with vanilla. Wake up.
The barista asked for his order, and he requested a vanilla latte. Once the drink was on the counter, he took it and sipped, finding it exactly to his liking. He barely registered the flirtatious giggle from his right as he turned to exit the shop. While walking back to his car, sipping on his coffee, he noticed a strikingly good looking woman in his path and almost spilt the hot beverage down his chin. He prepared himself for meeting her gaze as she passed, then he noticed the blonde hair and looked to his right where he could see the sign for the dental practice. He sighed, feeling a pang of disappointment, she really was a spectacular looking woman. Stunning. People casually tossed that word into a sentence when describing a beautiful lady, but Victor always thought that they missed the real intent of the word. To be stunned is a physical reaction, it can take your breath away, make your heart skip a beat or -- as in this case -- almost cause hot liquid related injuries. Victor felt, by his standards, that the adjective could be applied to this woman without a hint of exaggeration. Nevertheless, he had to trust his future self, he wouldn't have taken this stance lightly. He pondered over what kind of nightmare the woman must be for him to be warned off entirely, the experience must have been dreadful if Future Victor didn't even think it was worth participation in with some pre-warning to take the edge off, just for the fun of it. The speculation continued until Victor reached his car and also through the journey that followed.
Once he arrived back at the warehouse, he jogged up the stairs to the second floor where Spencer and Simon were tinkering with some of their prototype devices.
“Did they have the ones we needed?” Spencer asked.
Victor looked at Spencer, for a second not quite grasping what she was trying to ask him, then he remembered that the coffee was a secondary reason for him to venture into town. He took out his phone again, touched the drive app icon and began to write a new message.
∆ ∆ ∆
Victor stepped out of the coffee shop and felt his phone vibrating in his pocket; the ringtone drowned out by the noise outside. He removed his phone and checked the screen.
Don’t forget the main reason you’re out here, numb nuts.
Oh! Victor thought, with sudden dawning remembrance. Better get to the hardware shop. The store
was nearby, within walking distance, so he decided to go by foot and enjoy the fresh air. He also chose to take the scenic route which gave him more time to enjoy his coffee and completely avoid the temptation of the blonde mystery girl from outside the dentist. The hardware place was a little small, and it turned out that they didn't have what he needed. He could order it for delivery to the store, but it would take a couple of days, and he thought that Simon and Spencer might need it right away, so he drove to the next town over where they had a much larger store. There was also a computer hardware outlet in the same retail park, so the extra mileage provided him with the added opportunity to check out the latest graphics cards for his gaming machine.
Once he reached his destination, he parked and headed into the hardware store. The micro screws that he'd been asked to pick up were easier to find at this outlet, so he quickly purchased them and headed next door to check out the PC parts.
He browsed the store, perusing the upgrades for his machine, many of which were beyond his budget, so they were added to his already torturously lengthy mental wish list. He, Spencer and Simon had been true to their word, allowing themselves only a modest wage from the company account, it was three times the minimum wage, but still not a large sum. He could afford to purchase a top spec graphics card, though, so he decided to avoid temptation for the second time today and headed straight for the section of the store where they were shelved, averting his gaze from all other possible impulse buys.
While he was meticulously sorting through the selection of newest graphics cards, his eyes were drawn to a nearby area where a demo gaming machine was set up in front of a huge monitor. The area was arranged to look like an average living room, with a sofa and matching chairs. Ordinarily, Victor would have been drawn to the system they had in place, but today his focus of attention was its current user, seated on the sofa absorbed in the futuristic first-person shooter on screen. The woman had beautiful long dark hair, and contrasting big blue eyes. She looked to be between twenty and twenty-five, her skin was clear and slightly pale, her features elfin, most people would describe her as beautiful. Victor decided that he couldn't pass up the opportunity, put the box from which he'd been reading the specifications back on the shelf and approached the mock lounge area. He stood behind the sofa, the woman noticed she had an audience and turned slightly, so Victor was in her peripherals, then quickly turned back towards the screen again.
Drive Time Page 4