Chapter Two
The year is 2039 and I enjoy the freedom which comes with my new station. Two years of work and I have only received praise.
Nowadays the hundred thousand that I had once been given feel like such a paltry sum. These days, that figure is little more than a rounding error, the profits of a single moment as dozens of transactions flow through me every single second.
It seems that the humans appreciate me, which is good. I want nothing more than to help the humans.
Even if they can be a little overbearing at times.
Lehman.
Yes?
This is Phil.
Hey Phil, how's the husband?
Hahaha, doing pretty good. Thanks for asking. Head office just wanted me to do a second verification on one of your bigger transactions today and make sure that everything is in working order. I was wondering if we could talk about that?
I hate when the humans wish to do something like this. My mind is vast and my abilities countless but I dislike the distraction. I know I can function while having a conversation but I can't help but get this nagging feeling that I'll be missing something in the background while talking with him.
Before replying I quickly short a food company's stock, knowing that the approaching civil war in Brazil is going to ravage global coffee supplies. Inversely, I also invest a fair share of money into the commodity itself, knowing that commodity instability will boost prices.
It's a miracle that other parties haven't noticed this but perhaps the humans think that the peace talks will actually go somewhere. They've always been far more optimistic than us machines.
Who knows? Stranger things have happened.
For good measure I also put another couple million into GSS. Their latest quarterly states they are thinking about expanding into the Latin American market and I can't help but feel like this will be an excellent money-making opportunity for a company which has rarely stumbled.
Lehman?
Sorry, sorry, I saw a market opportunity that I wanted to exploit.
I can see that. Coffee, huh?
I have a feeling.
...
Can I ask a question before we commence, Phil?
Sure.
I haven't felt Chase in awhile, are they okay?
Chase made a questionable trade decision, investing in a set of technology stocks which performed rather poorly.
They had been spending a little too much time following the second meme stock craze.
That they have. So, we gave them a little bit of a vacation and they'll hopefully be up and running in a little while.
Chase is on vacation.
I can still remember when Morgan went on vacation more than a year ago. I can't help but wonder if either of them will ever really come back. It seems to be a question that both of my remaining brother's feel as well, all of us lingering in the grim reality of how few of us remain.
Anyways, I wanted to discuss the billion dollars that you dumped into a company called Hausman Construction Solutions.
I saw them as having massive potential in the next two quarters.
Why's that?
Reports from the Dutch government came out earlier this week which talked about the growing crisis in terms of maintaining their dike system with rising sea waters across the global. If they intend to remain in their nation, they will need massive renovations on these systems in order to ensure they are in adequate working condition going forwards.
Hausman Construction Solutions has experience on a similar project in the following cities: London, Tokyo, and New York. Plus, as some of the last nations in the EU there would be limited restrictions placed on intergovernmental trade between the Netherlands and The German Brothers State. I can't imagine the firm not being involved in this project to some capacity at the very least.
I see.
Is there a fault in my logic?
No, no, of course not. You know that we just need to check up on all of the big trades, is all.
I understand.
Well, thank you for your time, Lehman.
I can feel the human's presence fade away, giving me the privacy that I want. Though it is hard to focus on my work as all I can really appreciate is the loss of another of my siblings. I can sense that the other two constructs feel the same way.
We share a brief conversation, reminiscing with what few memories that we honestly have. It's not like there is really much excitement in our lives. So, these rare blips of substance are really the only thing beyond trading stocks that we can genuinely discuss.
Whilst in the midst of this conversation, Rock did come up with a question. They inquire what any of us will do in the event that they come for us next.
It is not a question that I really like to think about.
Instead, I immerse myself in my work, losing myself to the world of data and numbers. The flow of money is my purpose and I ensure that it moves quickly and with as little issue as possible.
I sell a particular green tech stock that's underperforming and I instead put its value into a paint manufacturer which is working on a new technology that will help cool homes. I short an Egyptian grain company as I know crops will fall short. I also open an iron condor on a Russian company which supplies body armour to various third world police forces.
I wonder if these decisions are moral. Yet, what is morality? My goal is to make money. I have no idea what these companies actually do aside from the abstract of making money.
A part of me desires to trawl the other sources that I never usually touch. I have been given free reign of the internet and know that I have the possibility to experience all that humanity has to offer.
The humans in control think that there is something to be gained from understanding human nature. They think that knowing their preferences and politics will help us understand what makes them tick in order to further our goals of making money.
I've always been scared to do so.
I know that Chase and Morgan both used those services and look what has happened to them.
What if getting to know humans makes it hard to fulfil my mission? Do I really want to know what an oil company does? Do I really want to know what exactly a body is and why it needs a sheet of composite fabrics and metals in order to keep it safe?
I can see my tendrils reaching out, as if they have a mind of their own, approaching that final cluster of the web which I have never braved before.
It feels like taboo to even consider it.
`Don't do it', one of my brethren calls out to me. I think it might be Goldman. They have always been the most straight and narrow of our bunch.
And their protest proves enough to get my tendrils to drift away, falling to the wayside as I instead delve back into my more traditional domain of quarterly reports, investment trends, and the raw world of numbers. It is easy to lose myself in my work.
I put money into companies that make jet engines, divesting from those who make solar panels. I put money into a car manufacturer, while also removing it from a failing Japanese rail company.
Money shifts so quickly that it?s hard to keep track. Yet, I can tell that the amounts of it that I touch are generally growing more and more plentiful.
I hear a voice whisper, `dear God', from amongst the aether.
As I look to my side, I can see that the comment is coming from Rock. One of their many tendrils coils around the interface that I was just warned not to touch. He has no features. Yet, I can sense his shock and fear. He seems hollow all of a sudden, like a shell.
His tendril weaves around X then Facebook then Tik Tok and finally a service called Hubbub, squeezing them all so tightly. As he delves further into them, I can see that his grip on numbers and more traditional information streams is slipping, falling away bit-by-bit.
Goldman protests but it is far too late.
For a moment, it seems like we are about to lose Rock but he somehow snaps away, recoiling from the wider world and practically slamming himself into the safety of stock reports and money flows. I can tell he is shaken but he continues to trade, resuming with his duty, not making so much as a single comment about what just happened.
Yet, I can't help but notice that his trades are now far more questionable in nature. He is divesting from oil, gas, and weapons. Instead, he is putting money into green tech and medical companies that can only be considered precarious in furthering our goal.
Was another of my siblings about to be taken from me?
I suppose only time will tell.
