Sol 18, 2467
Corporation #8873 announced today the launch of a new vacation destination; the past. Using their proprietary space time technology developed over decades, they are able to provide customers a front-row seat to live events that happened since the beginning of time.
“We’re extraordinarily proud of the accomplishments of our engineering teams.” Mac Foley, Company #8873 CXO, addressed the media today from company headquarters in New Chicago. “We believe this will change lives, and history, as we know it. We have gone on too long not understanding history, and only inferring things about our past. Today, that changes. We will, for the very first time, be able to directly observe events as they happened. From the death of the dinosaurs to the birth of our nation, we will no longer be wondering what happened. We will be able to see exactly how it happened.”
Mac was met with cheers from the media and employee-only audience inside headquarters, but jeers from protesters outside.
“This is a completely immoral way to use this technology. It shouldn’t be for sale.” Duke Breer, a more ardent protester from today’s rally, spoke with me after the announcement. “It’s just incomprehensible,” he continued. “This should be used to study the past and learn from it. It should be used to solve crimes. It should be used to expand our understanding of the human condition. It shouldn’t be for sale and exclusive to the wealthy.” Many protesters shared Duke’s stance, but despite a crowd of nearly 70% of the city, Corporation #8873 will proceed, expecting to launch their first trips as soon as next month.
Each month the company will announce a destination and top bidders will win a seat on the trip. There are only 12 seats available and bidding starts at ₿12,000. The maiden trip will be to view Jesus’ birth. They will also offer exclusive, premium destinations to customers willing to pay for a personalized experience. These trips start at ₿230,000 and increase depending on the specifics of the request. Due to the sensitive nature of the events, and the possibility to undermine their entire business model, Corporation #8873 will wipe passenger memories after each event with a few “rare exceptions” as noted in their release documentation.
When asked about the ongoing protests and the memory erasing “exceptions,” I was assured by the AI assistant that I would receive a response in 12-16 weeks.
“Fuck.” Skott Stone slammed the paper onto the table. The screen glitched before bouncing back to a scrolling view of today’s headlines. He turned to the rest of the room. “How’d they beat us?”
Silence.
The hum of electronics grew louder.
The senior leaders knew better than to answer a rhetorical question from their boss.
The board would be mad.
Their investors would be mad.
Worst of all, Skott would be mad. It wasn’t a good day when Skott was mad, which was most days.
“I mean it,” Skott said. “I want answers this time.”
A bald man in back cleared his throat. All focus turned to him. “I’m sorry, sir, but we have not yet overcome the exotic matter issue that we last discussed in memo fourt-”
“I’m familiar with memo fourty-five!” Skott shouted, his face turning even redder. “And I was told I’d be kept updated until we got past that issue.”
“I’m sorry sir,” the bald man said. “I thought you were.”
“Get out of here,” Skott said, vigorously pointing to the door. The bald man hesitated. “Out!” Skott repeated. He paced at the front of the room until the bald man left, then dropped his fists on the table and took a deep breath. “So we just have to solve our little problem, right?”
The room nodded.
“So somebody please tell me how we’re going to do that.”
A woman seated along the side, who previously blended in with everyone else, stood. Skott’s eyes darted her way. “I have someone who can help,” she said. “I can ask him to do some work for us.”
Skott clapped his hands. “Excellent,” he said. “Thank you…”
“Joan,” she said.
“Thank you, Joan,” he said. “You’re running this now. I want an update tomorrow.” Joan nodded. “And the rest of you,” he scanned the room. “You report to Joan now.”
Joan stood in silence until the room cleared out, then scrambled for her comm. It rang only once. “I need your help,” she said.
For each .25 ETH raised, I will write another chapter of Bending Light and publish it. If I raise 25 ETH, I will mint the final book as an NFT and sell it at auction, with each backer earning proceeds relative to their proportional share.