The Last Network - Chapter 22
The Last Network - Chapter 22
Future Time
Paolo lived in the future. Hitting milestones rarely mattered to him. They’d already been calculated into his equations, assumed and absorbed. Besides, there was always another problem set to be solved. He didn’t care about 500,000 concurrent pairs or all-time highs because he had to figure out how to double, then triple, those records.
One number absolutely mattered though. It was more the color than the number.
The Peared account was finally in the black.
He sat alone in his new office on the fourth floor and peeled the seal off of a Macallan 18. He uncorked it, shut his eyes, and inhaled the deep aroma.
Kendra had given it to him at the start of this engagement. Since then, it sat on his bookshelf waiting for their first profitable week. He’d wondered at times if they would hit it, but they had. The team had decoded human behavior, asked their AI the right questions, and then fed a playbook back into the AI.
There were no more spook sessions with people peering in on people. They were past that. The growth everyone backslapped themselves over happened because Paolo’s team had fully automated the mission, match, and push process. Once they automated it, they brought it to scale. Every user was now being guided by a machine that would only get better over time.
The amber gold swirled around his glass. He held off his first taste, teasing himself, delaying the gratification until he could wait no longer. Then there was the burn followed by the smooth heat.
He relaxed for the first time in forever. He’d risked so much on Peared. It was a more dangerous gamble than he was comfortable with, but it was also the most powerful product he had ever seen. At times he doubted his ability to tame the beast, but he never gave up. Now, the pressure was off, and they could go back to their usual cadence of efficiency above all.
Most of the products they managed maxed out a certain point. Markets are only so big, and inevitably a product reaches a point where it can’t acquire additional customers without losing money. When that happens, you top out, and the only thing left to do is squeeze blood from a stone.
Peared wasn’t like other products. It didn’t have a ceiling. It was for everyone. What encouraged him most was that regulars were switching over from missions to freestyle mode. After a while, Eyes found it normal to hire Hands to act as their real-life avatars. Can’t make it to a wedding? RSVP and send someone in your place. Want to get away? Microvacation. Fire up the treadmill, put VR glasses on and stroll the Champs Elysées while at the gym. It took a bit, but people were becoming comfortable with teleportation as an actual thing instead of a novel two-person game. With visas so tough, Paolo felt it was only a matter of time before people hid behind Hands to take jobs in other countries. Would employers even mind? After all, two heads are better than one.
At some point in time, there was only one television station in the world. There was only one telephone company. Right now, there was only one teleportation provider and Paolo operated it. No one ever gets a chance like that. Paolo had to get it out to as many people as he could as fast as he could before competition sprang up. There was an entire world for the taking, ready for real transformation. Paolo had turned Peared from a confusing, awkward experience no one would use to the brink of the mainstream success. What would happen once it really broke through? He took a second sip of scotch and tried to calm his runaway mind. Sleep would be difficult tonight. He’d need to tranquilize himself, either booze or pills, but his brain would have to be subdued.
He hoped that profitability meant that Rabbit and Kendra would back off and let him work. He had to start building out some trade secrets to hold over them. After Kendra had failed to take a bigger cut out of Rabbit’s end, she approached him trying to trade his earn out for stock options. He turned her down but suspected that wasn’t the end of it. She was starting to think very short term. It made Paolo wonder if her future at NAM was tied to turning Peared into a major account. Trouble for Kendra was bad news for him. She gave him executive perks like free corporate housing, an assistant, and most importantly, NAM sponsored his green card application. While Paolo was worthy of some of those, others were because of their long history together. Whether she stayed or went, he needed to make himself untouchable until he got his green card. After that, all bets were off.