TOA Chapter 11: Mass Production

Calgary, Alberta CANADA | Monday, April 7, 2070 | 3:00 am MDT

Zeke Sabates sat in his office as he had so many early mornings before.  Over the weekend the transmitter had  not tracked any negative or suicidal thoughts out of Newton.  Zeke was pleased.

Suddenly Gene Cleveland appeared before him as a holographic image.

“Zeke.  The testing is done.  Everything appeared successful.  What did you think?”

“Everything looked great to me” said Zeke.

“Excellent!  Inform your staff that they can start making the units en mass.  Get ready to make a lot of money!”

“Stupendous!” enthused Zeke.  “I’ll get right on that!”

Zeke ended the HOLO call.  He left messages with everyone in ZSoft’s hardware division informing them that they must come in as soon as they get this message.  Everyone that was except Newton.  Zeke would allow Newton to come in at his normal time considering all he had been through in the week before.

Zeke HOLO delivered the design for the transmitter to the desktops of all his hardware employees.  After that he proceeded down to the Hardware common area to personally greet everyone as they came in.

Within a half an hour, Zeke’s entire hardware division, minus Newman, was assembled before him.

Zeke addressed the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen.  Today we have the chance to make history as a corporation.  Today we can eliminate suicide forever.”

The crowd cheered.  This was certainly an initiative to get behind.

Zeke waved his hand.  “Work hard, and you can make this happen!  I’ve sent the plans to your offices.  What are you waiting for?  Let’s get this done!”

The crowd roared with delight.  The hardware engineers then dispersed to their offices to work diligently on the new project.

By then it was 4:00 am.

Zeke retreated to his office.  He was personally going to work on an advertising campaign to be filmed and sent out to major hospitals throughout the country so that they would know what was coming down the pipe.  If all went well, they would be able to send it out later this morning.

By 8:00 in the morning, the advertisement was ready and sent out.

Zeke Sabates had no idea how much of a ripple effect this would cause.

***

Ottawa, Ontario CANADA | Monday April 7, 2070 | 10:00 am EDT

James Slone relaxed with a coffee in his office on Parliament Hill.  It was a rare break for him.  He was still grieving over the loss of his son Grant.  He flipped through the channels on his HOLO Television.  He came across an advertisement for the Thought Transmitter.  James Slone was transfixed on the ad.

Suddenly Prime Minister Slone became angry.

“Why couldn’t this device have been invented a week ago!!!” he screamed at himself.

However, another part of James became fiercely interested.  A world without suicide where family and friends could intervene with their loved ones long before it was too late.   He began preparation on a bill to make it manditory for all citizens to have this device installed as soon as it became publicly available.  After all, he was the Prime Minister and he could do what he wanted.

***

Calgary, Alberta CANADA |Monday April 7, 2070 9:00 am MDT

Nicholas Fyfe sat ensconced in his bunker of an office in downtown Calgary where he would normally bark out orders as necessary to his various battalions who were expanding the territory of Canada.  He was a vigilante and did not need James Slone’s approval to go on military escapades.  To Fyfe, Slone was a puppet.  He could take him out any time he wanted to.  He was the one with the biggest army.

He currently had nothing pressing, so he scanned the UltraNet, plotting ideas for his next big endeavor.

Suddenly he came across an advertisement for ZSoft’s Thought Transmitter.

“Calgary Health Unlimited is going to be able to scan people’s thoughts?” Fyfe laughed to himself.  “Imagine the power they will be able to have!”

Fyfe HOLO messaged this ad to his hacking goons with the following tagline.

There must be receiver software somewhere.  Come up with a plan to hack ZSoft and Calgary Health Unlimited.  We can’t let them have all the fun.

Fyfe immediately received a reply from one of his top hacking goons Arthur “The Worm” Lotus, a man who needs no physical description as he can barely be described as a man at all.  He was all about the code, and Nicholas Fyfe benefited greatly from his hard work.

What if we could manipulate the software and reverse engineer it to put thoughts into the heads of the population?  Think of the power we could have if we did that.

Fyfe smiled when he read that.

“That’s why I hired you, young man” he thought.  “For ideas like that.”

***

Newton Hiltz woke up from a restful weekend.  Jenny was nowhere to be found.  He was late for work for the first time in his life.  He hoped  his boss would recognize the trouble he had been through.  Little did he know, lateness would be the least of his worries by the time the day was out.

 

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