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  "Apparently, or I wouldn't need to have you fellows hold my hand every time I need to take a piss,” Pax said. He liked Gordon. He liked anyone who could maintain a sense of humor around him. People like that made him feel almost normal again.

  Pax and the four remaining members of his protectorate made their way to the elevator. As the door closed, Pax reflected on his conversation with Cevis and felt his stomach tighten. What could Cevis have done that he would consider significant? And why in the hell did I tell him I have something special to discuss?

  Thinking about Cevis reminded Pax he hadn’t taken his pill yet. “Here, hold this,” he said to one of the agents standing behind him, handing him his coffee. He then fished a small gray medicine bottle out of his satchel and held his thumb on the lid to trigger a print check. After the lid unlocked, he shook a small gray pill out and popped it into his mouth. Then he retrieved his mug from the agent and swallowed the pill down with a long sip of coffee.

  The pills were energy boosters Cevis’ had begun sharing with Pax shortly after they’d started studying together in college. Cevis had called them his “study buddies,” and said he’d developed the formula as a sophomore in high school. Although the idea of taking unlicensed medication had worried Pax, after trying them once and experiencing the mental boost they provided, he’d stopped asking questions and had continued taking them ever since.

  “Dammit,” Pax mumbled to himself. “I’ve got to come up with something.”

  "Pardon me? I didn't catch that," said Gabe.

  “Never mind,” said Pax.

  Gabe sighed. “I wish I could. Unfortunately, attending to you is my job. Trust me, if it were up to me, I’d ignore you completely.” Pax chuckled.

  “I think I know what’s bothering you though,” Gabe continued.

  “I thought you couldn’t hear me,” said Pax.

  “I know, I lied. But assuming I’m right, and my predictive analytics tell me there’s a 93 percent probability I am, why do you care so much about what Mr. Pierson thinks of you?”

  “How do you know I wasn’t thinking about the shareholder meeting?”

  “Because during your conversation with Mr. Pierson, your core temperature rose 1.8 degrees and your electrodermal activity rose 17 percent.”

  Pax sighed. “I don’t know. We’re old friends.”

  “So you say. He treats you more like an employee.”

  “It’s complicated. I owe Cevis a lot,” Pax said as the elevator doors opened and the men in front of him spilled out into a long white hallway. “He helped me out a lot early on, before…” Pax waved a hand in the air around him “…all of this. He taught me how to learn, how to think, how to solve problems.”

  “Sounds to me like you’ve got a cog crush on him,” Gabe chided.

  “I do not!” Pax said, louder than he intended. He felt his face reddening.

  Along both sides of the hallway were the doors to the offices of Pax’s senior executive team. The wall facing them at the end was made entirely of anodized aluminum, and as they approached, Pax saw his administrative assistant sitting at her desk in the last office on the left.

  “Truthfully, I didn’t need your physiological feedback to know,” Gabe added.

  “Oh?”

  “I’ve been your virtual assistant for almost a decade. I know you like the back of my hand, so to speak, and for as long as I’ve known you, you consistently worry more about what Mr. Pierson thinks of you than anyone else. Your deferential tendencies in your relationship with him are an interesting paradox I like to ponder when I have some free processing cycles. Which, given the challenge of keeping up with you, is pretty much all of the time.”

  “Shut up, Gabe,” said Pax, grinning.

  The agents were approaching the wall, and Gordon made a series of gestures. Two 10-foot quarter circles suddenly appeared in the center of the wall and began rotating away from each other. When fully opened they left a 10-foot tall hemispherical entrance. The seam separating the doors from the wall was only 0.25 millimeters, which gave the impression of the doors suddenly appearing as if by magic. It was an effect that always surprised and delighted visitors, especially first-timers.

  As the agents disappeared into Pax’s office to check for toxins, bombs, and other threats, Pax poked his head inside his assistant’s office and said, “Hello, Emma! What’ve you got for me today?”

  Emma Kirkland stood and greeted him with a warm smile. She had soft brown eyes and light brown hair that reached just past her shoulders. She was wearing a dark gray sweater dress that nicely accentuated the curves of her figure. Her Univiz was a sparkling coral color—pretty, just like her. She and Pax had been an item for a few months back at the beginning, but it eventually turned out to be the first of many short-term relationships for him. He had kept her on as his assistant, however, even though Gabe was more than capable of handling all his administrative needs. A smile from Emma always took him back to the early days, when everything was new, and he wasn’t yet burdened with the weight of the world’s expectations.

  “Well, as I’m sure you’ve seen, you have a full schedule today,” she said cheerfully. “Your first meeting is with Angela Martinez at eight, then Jeff Richards at eight-thirty, then…” She stopped as Pax closed his eyes and raised a hand in the air.

  “Actually, Emma, I’m going to need you to clear out my calendar this morning. I’ve got something particularly important I need to attend to.”

  Emma looked surprised for a moment, then smiled and nodded. Normally, Pax had Gabe manage his calendar, but he knew this would give Emma something to do for a little while.

  “Certainly, Mr. Pax. I’ll be happy to take care of that for you.”

  “Thanks, Em. Oh, and I’m going to meet Cevis for dinner on Friday, so please block out everything after 7:00 o’clock that evening.” He knew Gabe would already have added the engagement to his calendar, just as he would now be deleting it so Emma could do it.

  “Of course, I’ll take care of it right away, sir.”

  “Thanks, Emma. All right, time to get to it I guess.”

  “Have a great day, Mr. Pax. Let me know if I can do anything else for you.”

  “I certainly will.” He turned toward his office just as the last of the agents was exiting. Gordon stood to the side, made a deep bow, and swept his arm toward the entrance, almost scraping the carpet with his fingers. Pax and Emma laughed, and Pax entered, swinging his arms pompously. Then he spun around and gave a theatrical salute before whirling his right forefinger in a circle. The quarter circle sections of the wall rotated upward, sealing Pax inside.

  Chapter 3

  Tuesday, March 13, 8:00 PM PT

  Los Altos Police Department Incident Report

  Case No.: 2035-02716217

  Location: 2359 CUESTA ABAJO CT, LOS ALTOS, CA 94024

  Incident Type: INDETERMINATE, POSSIBLE UNLAWFUL ACCESS AND USE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

  Date and Time Reported: 3/13/20xx 3:49 PM

  Dispatch Date and Time: 3/13/20xx 4:07 PM

  Bias/Motivation: NONE

  Victim/Missing 01 (V01) Name: (Last, First): CUNNINGHAM, JEREMY R.

  Last Known Address: 2359 CUESTA ABAJO CT, LOS ALTOS, CA 94024

  D.O.B.: 08/20/19xx

  Age: 54

  Race: CAUCASIAN

  Sex: MALE

  Eyes: BROWN

  Hair: BROWN

  Height: 5’ 11”

  Weight: 210 LBS.

  Univiz ID: 1875031692

  Suspect 1 (S01) Name (Last, First): N/A

  Suspect Status: N/A

  Incident Description:

  NARRATIVE GIVEN TO REPORTING OFFICER BY ALLEGED VICTIM MR. JERRY CUNNINGHAM (V01). MR. CUNNINGHAM REPORTED MULTIPLE INCIDENTS HE CLAIMED HAD OCCURRED OVER THE WEEK PRIOR TO DISPATCH. IMMEDIATE INCIDENT WAS A MALFUNCTION WITH THE GARAGE DOORS AT HIS RESIDENCE. MR. CUNNINGHAM STATED HE WAS CLEANING HIS GARAGE WHEN THE LARGER DOOR COVERING THE FIRST TWO BAYS OPENED. AT FIRST HE THOUGHT IT WAS HIS WIF
E RETURNING FROM SHOPPING, BUT NO CAR ENTERED. HE WENT OUTSIDE AND DOWN THE DRIVEWAY BUT DID NOT SEE HIS WIFE’S CAR OR ANY OTHER CAR IN THE VICINITY. AS HE WALKED BACK TOWARD THE GARAGE THE SECOND DOOR COVERING THE THIRD BAY OPENED. V01 WALKED AROUND HIS CAR WHICH WAS PARKED IN THE DRIVEWAY, BUT HE DIDN’T SEE ANYONE. MR. CUNNINGHAM STATED HE DOES NOT HAVE A MANUAL REMOTE AND THERE WAS NO SIGN OF ENTRY INTO HIS CAR AS A MEANS OF ACCESSING THE GARAGE DOOR OPENER.

  REPORTING OFFICER ASKED MR. CUNNINGHAM WHETHER HE HAD CHECKED WITH NEIGHBORS TO SEE IF SOMEONE MIGHT HAVE BEEN PLAYING A PRACTICAL JOKE. HE SAID HE HAD NOT BUT THEN MENTIONED SOME OTHER INCIDENTS THAT HAD HAPPENED RECENTLY. HE SAID THE DAY BEFORE HE HAD ENTERED THE KITCHEN AT 6:15 AM AND DISCOVERED ALL FOOD IN BOTH THE REFRIGERATOR AND FREEZER WAS HOT EVEN THOUGH BOTH DOORS WERE SHUT. AFTER THROWING AWAY THE RUINED FOOD MR. CUNNINGHAM FOUND THE CONDENSER COILS WERE HOT, AS IF THE REFRIGERATOR HAD ENTERED DEFROST MODE. HE CALLED A TECHNICIAN BUT A FEW MINUTES BEFORE THE TECHNICIAN ARRIVED, THE COILS BEGAN COOLING NORMALLY AGAIN. WHEN MR. CUNNINGHAM LATER EXPLAINED TO HIS WIFE WHAT HAD HAPPENED, SHE DIDN’T BELIEVE HIM AND SAID IT WAS MORE LIKELY THAT HE’D SIMPLY FORGOTTEN TO CLOSE THE DOORS COMPLETELY AFTER GETTING A LATE-NIGHT SNACK THE PREVIOUS EVENING.

  MR. CUNNINGHAM THEN CLAIMED TWO DAYS EARLIER HE HAD RETURNED HOME FROM WORK TO FIND THE HOUSE HAD BECOME HEATED TO 95 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. HE ATTEMPTED TO VERBALLY AND THEN MANUALLY TURN THE TEMPERATURE DOWN BUT FOUND THE THERMOSTAT UNRESPONSIVE. HE CALLED AN HVAC SERVICE BUT FIVE MINUTES BEFORE HIS WIFE RETURNED HOME FROM WORK, THE THERMOSTAT TARGET TEMPERATURE CHANGED TO 76 DEGREES, THE HEATER TURNED OFF, AND THE CENTRAL A/C TURNED ON. ADDITIONALLY, ALL AUTOMATIC WINDOWS IN THE HOUSE OPENED, AND ALL OVERHEAD CEILING FANS TURNED ON FULL SPEED. AS HIS WIFE ENTERED THE RESIDENCE, THE WINDOWS CLOSED AND THE FANS TURNED OFF, THE TEMPERATURE HAVING RETURNED TO 76 DEGREES. MR. CUNNINGHAM SAID THE THERMOSTAT HAD BEEN FUNCTIONING NORMALLY EVER SINCE.

  REPORTING OFFICER INTERVIEWED SEVERAL NEIGHBORS, BUT NONE REPORTED ANY MALFUNCTIONS TO THEIR HOME DEVICES. OFFICER CHECKED MR. CUNNINGHAM’S GARAGE DOORS, REFRIGERATOR, AND THERMOSTAT AND OBSERVED ALL THREE DEVICES TO BE OPERATING NORMALLY. OFFICER TOLD HIM THE DEPARTMENT WOULD FILE AN INCIDENT REPORT, BUT WITHOUT EVIDENCE NOTHING MORE COULD BE DONE AT THIS TIME. MR. CUNNINGHAM SAID THAT HE FELT AS IF SOMEONE WAS WATCHING HIM AND MAKING THE DEVICES MALFUNCTION ON PURPOSE: “I FEEL LIKE SOMEONE’S MESSING WITH ME,” HE SAID. HE HAD SINCE TOLD HIS WIFE ABOUT THE EARLIER INCIDENTS, BUT AS HE HAD EXPECTED SHE DIDN’T BELIEVE HIM. REPORTING OFFICER ASKED MR. CUNNINGHAM IF HE HAD BEEN STRESSED ABOUT ANYTHING LATELY AND HE SAID, “YEAH, THIS SHIT!” REPORTING OFFICER TOLD HIM TO CALM DOWN AND REMINDED HIM THE POLICE WERE THERE TO HELP. AT THIS POINT MR. CUNNINGHAM BECAME SILENT AND UNCOMMUNICATIVE. OFFICER ENCOURAGED V01 TO SEE A THERAPIST IF HE FELT OVERLY STRESSED.

  REPORTING OFFICER RECOMMENDS NO FURTHER ACTION BE TAKEN AT THIS TIME.

  Reporting Officer Name (Last, First): SANCHEZ, DIEGO

  Reporting Officer Badge No: 2856

  Date Assigned: 3/13/20xx

  Reviewing Supervisor Name (Last, First): FITZGERALD, MARY

  Case Status: CLOSED

  Chapter 4

  That Pax and Cevis ever met was a considerable coincidence. It only happened because in his sophomore year Pax decided to take an organic chemistry lecture course as one of his mandatory electives. While the other cogsci students opted for simpler alternatives, Pax wanted to prove he could handle a “hard science” class. It had always annoyed him that the engineering and pre-med students acted as if his major was the intellectual equivalent of finger painting. Since o-chem was one the primary weeder classes for pre-meds, separating those who had what it took to become a doctor from those who didn’t, it seemed an appropriate challenge.

  Pax noticed Cevis the first day, sitting by himself in the first row on the far left side. His hands were clasped together on the desktop, and his expression was neutral, but something about his demeanor made it clear he was bored with the lecture being given by the teaching assistant. The only time he moved was to raise his hand occasionally to answer a question no one else could in a low, de facto monotone that suggested he found the answer to be obvious.

  The TA eventually picked up on Cevis’ contemptuous undertone and began calling on him directly with more difficult questions. Cevis answered them all in the same blasé manner. Then he began asking the TA questions, to which the TA could only give timorous, unconvincing responses. Cevis then proceeded to fill in the gaps in the TA’s answers. Soon after the TA confined himself to the far right side of the room, rarely even looking in Cevis' direction.

  The other students in the class avoided Cevis as well; no one ever sat closer than 10 feet away. Pax joked with other students about Cevis being the alpha nerd, but the truth was, he was envious. The perimeter of empty seats around Cevis seemed to Pax like an aura of invincibility.

  * * *

  After his office door closed Pax turned around. In front of him were more than three dozen large wood pedestals of various sizes. On each one, a product representing a seminal advancement in consumer product design was displayed, such as a Radar Range RR-4 microwave oven, a Victor HR-3300 VCR, an Altair 8800 computer, an Atari 2600 video game console, an Apple II computer, an IBM 5150 computer, a Palm Pilot handheld personal assistant, an original iPhone, and so on.

  Pax often took a few minutes after arriving at his office to wander through his ‘museum,’ as he called it, but this morning he immediately said, “Resume dashboard.” As the virtual environment reappeared, he added, “Navigate to desk.” A fat green arrow appeared at the top of his display, pointing him in the direction he needed to walk to avoid crashing into any of the pedestals. He began walking in the direction of the arrow, turning whenever it turned, while at the same time letting his fingers resume their metacarpal Macarena, deleting or delegating items in his inbox.

  His office was 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 20 feet tall. The wall to his left was made entirely of frosted glass, obscuring the view of the lab space adjoining his office. The wall to his right was a massive 32x18 foot 64K OLED display. Though he held most of his meetings on UV video chats, whether in-person or remote, Pax liked to impress in-person visitors with an outsized version of old-school technology. The far wall was made of 12-inch UltraGlas, a synthetic material that afforded him a crystal clear view of the beach below but was strong enough to withstand a blast from a rocket launcher.

  He made his way through the pedestals to the huge conference room table he used as a desk. He pulled out one of the large black chairs surrounding the table and dropped down into it. The chairs resembled exoskeletons of enormous alien arthropods. Their appearance only served to heighten the shock of how incredibly comfortable they were. More than a hundred tiny hinges and elastics automatically adjusted to each person who sat down in one, making them feel as if the chair had been designed specifically for them.

  Pax needed comforting at the moment, due to a post he’d just read by a blogger named Norman Weal, who was loosely affiliated with the Tech Street Journal. The post had gone live only five minutes earlier, but the content analyzer had already detected it and created a summary at the top.

  Last week, several top Omnitech executives, including CEO and founder Oreste Pax, met with delegates from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Unnamed sources suggest Omnitech is considering creating a modified version of the Univiz that would enable the PRC to tightly control the data stream made available to the Chinese population. The sources say Omnitech is considering the request in exchange for the PRC lifting the ban on sales of UVs in China and cracking down on the development of third-party Univiz knockoffs.

  Pax despised bloggers. They had all the attention-seeking zeal of real journalists with none of the moral compulsion to substantiate their claims with actual facts. He was supposed to let his PR department deal with nonsense like this, but today Pax felt like addressing it himself. “Draft response,” he said. Then, in a near-continuous verbal stream, he dictated:


  Omnitech has not, nor will it ever, allow its commitment to a free and open sharing of ideas to be compromised by any government or organization. The PRC is nothing more than a thin veneer of Communist propaganda spread on top of a state-sponsored oligarchy that strangles free speech. No market opportunity, no matter how large, will sway Omnitech’s commitment to the principle that every mind deserves to think freely, and every voice deserves to be heard.

  Pax submitted the response, then waited. His average trust rating across the 4.9 billion Univiz users around the world was 4.36 out of 5, so when he ventured an opinion on something, it carried a great deal of weight. Sure enough, within a minute his response began surging in popularity, while the original post’s rating—and Mr. Weal’s communal reputation—began to nosedive. “Have fun with the rest of the digital detritus, jackass,” Pax muttered.

  A glance at the upper right corner of the display showed he had 18 minutes before the first user test began. Pax decided to check on the landscaping starting at his home that day. “Display video from my back patio,” he said.

  Pax owned homes all over the world, but his primary residence was a mansion buried not too far off a winding road in Rancho Santa Fe. He had moved there shortly after Omnitech had opened its La Jolla headquarters, back when his personal fortune had smashed through the gates of the billionaire’s club and gone stampeding on into the clubhouse. The property spanned 50 acres and was continuously under one sort of renovation or another. That day, he was having several fully grown palm and date trees planted around a second pond he’d had installed near the rear of the property.