Loraine watched the boardroom from her monitor. Something funny was going on. It wasn’t her job as security guard to meddle, but Mr. Constantino hadn’t moved for a solid two minutes. She was sure the new CEO had done something to him. The board was in danger. She pinged the boardroom, but got no answer. She patched herself into the audio feed.
“King? I want nothing so small. Sizemore had so much access, so much control that he never utilized. Myself? I will be a god!” She had to get the board out. But the conference room door had vanished.
The City: 049: Loraine
December 4, 2014
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The City: 048: Jake
December 3, 2014
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On the other side of the city, Jake, a data entry clerk for one of Midas’s competitors, took his fifteen minute break. He couldn’t fully log out of the system, which made getting up to use the restroom a challenge, but at least he could check his email. There was a message from Midasoft announcing a new patch. It was a verified download, but the content just had a vague message about performance and stability upgrades. He wasn’t supposed to download during hours, but he was on break, so Damn The Man. He skipped through the EULA and hit ‘Install.’
The City: 047: Emma
December 2, 2014
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Something was happening in front of the building. Emma tried to check her feeds, something she had added for herself when she built the system. She couldn’t read them. Babbage looked at her. He knew! How could he know? And what had he done to Roberto?
“You’ve hacked The City! I didn’t think it was possible.” The rest of the board watched in horror.
“Hacking is such an inelegant word for what I’ve done. I almost needed to make a new City myself. Sizemore’s access was the last hurdle.”
“What are you going to do? Crown yourself king?” Babbage laughed.
The City: 046: Tyrone
December 1, 2014
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Downstairs, the situation was getting tense between City Police and the Midas Private Security. Commissioner Jenkins had practically fought his way inside, and all available security was converging to stop him from entering the building. The problem was, nearly all the cops were unbootable and unbanable, which made Tyrone’s weapon useless. But if the cops’ were, so were the security guards’. They were at an impasse. Some twit, a suit low enough on the ladder to get thrown to the wolves, identified as Abner Lanning, appealed for calm as the meeting continued on Mount Olympus. He was bootable. Tyrone fired.
The City: 045: Raine
November 28, 2014
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“An explanation? Of course.” Babbage practically oozed unctuous charm. Raine considered the confrontation with interest. The whole board did, but they weren’t going to get involved. There was a time to get your hands dirty, and a time to keep them clean. Most of them knew which was which. “I believe you’ll find a document in your folders which explains the situation quite clearly.” Roberto ripped out the paper in question and held it up.
“This doesn’t tell me a goddam thing!” Holding the paper, Roberto’s avatar suddenly glitched and froze in place. Babbage smiled.
“Now, we can truly begin.”
The City: 044: Roberto
November 27, 2014
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For Roberto, the stock sale was the final insult. He had never been a loyal soldier to Midas Corp. Their takeover of his company had been all but openly hostile, but the price had been too good to pass up, and The City needed his translation algorithms and messaging capability to become what it could be. Sizemore had never trusted him, and he admitted it was probably with good reason. But to sell his shares without consulting the board, Roberto included, was unconscionable. He banged his fist on the table. “I demand an explanation,” he shouted to the grinning idiot.
The City: 043: Dani
November 26, 2014
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Dani watched the rest of the board, waiting for the resentment to break the surface. She wondered who would crack first. Would it be Victoria, Sizemore’s able second in command? How much did she know about this deal? Or would it be Raine, the angel investor who kept Midas afloat when it was the whipping boy of a phalanx of international justice probes? Or would it be Trey and Linda, the venture capitalists that got The City off the ground without knowing what it was? It turned out to Roberto, the Brazilian social media wunderkind, who threw the first punch.
The City: 042: Sam
November 25, 2014
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Sam was an oil baron. His daddy had been an oil baron. His son, if he didn’t bankrupt the company or buy a baseball team or some damn thing, would be one too. Sam knew there was a lot going on in this, room. It wasn’t a real space, but with his gloves and goggles on, it might as well have been. Everything else was fake, too. The smiles, the platitudes. The board was a nest of vipers, but this new guy, Babbage, he was different. His frozen face just as fake, but he wore it openly. Sam liked that.
The City: 041: Ilyana
November 24, 2014
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Ilyana took careful notes as the man began his presentation. The first five minutes were all bland platitudes, as cheap and hollow as his avatar. He introduced himself as Alan Babbage, a pseudonym so facile it was insulting. He continued to deflect the question of who his backers were, which made it all but certain that something about the deal was illegal. And while The City had risen by being a digital haven more secure than a chain of Cayman Islands stacked on top of Dubai, there would come a tipping point. She would have her records when it did.
The City: 040: Gene
November 21, 2014
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Gene was the last member of the board to arrive. The retired entertainer was used to making people wait for him, so he was not particularly bothered by the ten pairs of glaring eyes staring daggers at him. He was even less interested in the man in the cheap avatar up front, the mysterious bag man for whoever had bought Sizemore out. Gene had headlined The City’s first live concert, a proof of concept that elevated it from nerd hangout to International hot spot. Let them stare and fight each other for scraps. His seat on the board was assured.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 