[This is a chapter from my latest novel, a sequel to The Fall of Doc Future and Skybreaker’s Call. The start is here, and links to my other work here. It can be read on its own, but contains spoilers for those two books. I post new chapters about every two weeks, and the next chapter is planned for around December 15th.]

Previous: Chapter 14

“…and should be less frightening once all the big multinationals are gone or have agreed to restructure,” said Black Swan. "I’m not trying to take over the world.“

"That doesn’t sound like ‘I’m not trying to take over the world’ to me,” said Chuck Shiner. "It sounds more like 'I’ll give it back when I’m done fixing it.’“

She laughed. The sound was like the rest of her–self-assured, compelling, and human-like without giving the impression of imperfect human mimicry so many humanoid robots did. She seemed perfectly at ease, comfortable atop the mountain she’d constructed for herself on the other side of the uncanny valley.

They were talking at a table in the restaurant. Black Swan had created a bit of a stir. The other patrons were trying not to be obvious about watching and recording them with phones and handcomps–it was a fancy place–but they were still doing it. The vids were sure to go viral on social media. Chuck wondered morbidly if, after a long career, he was about to become most well known as the guy who spilled salad dressing on his shirt while having dinner with Black Swan.

"The internet and the global financial system are not the whole world,” she said. "I understand that well, even if many people don’t.“

She glanced out the window in the direction of the conference center. "Did you ever have to update a software system that had been accumulating cruft for years or decades, with kludges and workarounds for new requirements gradually turning it into a lumbering monstrosity with obnoxious side effects, because that was always easier in the short term, and there was never any consensus on a long term solution?”

“You know I have. You see it with security systems all the time. Until–”

“Until some external change finally decisively breaks it. And then, as long as you’re replacing it, and everyone has to learn a new system, there are a whole bunch of other, overdue fixes you can finally put in, because it’s all changing, and that shifts the tradeoffs. It’s disruptive to do everything at once, but you don’t have the choice of doing it any other way.”

“Yes…”

“That’s what I’m doing to transnational capitalism.”

“Economics isn’t my field, but that sounds pretty ambitious. Trashing the present system will create a lot of resistance and resentment.”

“True, but it would break no matter what I did. I just realized that it was inevitable first, so I’m pushing things along to reduce the long term damage. The Xelian invasion attempt and war, and contact with Grs'thnk technology and economics, are the decisive changes.”

“Maybe. But you’ll get blamed anyway, and forcing a sudden switch to an untested new system, any new system, is a recipe for–”

“It’s not untested. That’s the beauty of the Grs'thnk transition framework. They’ve done this before, and it’s based on a system that’s had clever, greedy lizards trying to break it for personal advantage–just like humans will–for over a century already. And it’s adapted for a society with ubiquitous computing and automation, which ours isn’t.”

“People are already calling the framework a form of neocolonialism.”

“It’s actually the opposite of that, but it doesn’t really matter for this purpose. I’m not trying to get countries to adopt it, just corporations. Because that means I don’t have to kill them all. It’s how the Grs'thnk have avoided the problem I’m protecting Earth from, by removing the incentives for corporations to be incubators for hostile AI.

"But no one on Earth understands it yet.”

“DASI and I do. And no one human understands the entirety of Earth’s present system, either. They just concentrate on their particular part, and rely on historical precedent–or worse, untested theory–for the rest.”

Chuck leaned back in his chair and looked at her skeptically. "Okay. You’re pretty convincing. But it’s still going to be a very hard sell to get people to trust you.“

"I don’t expect most to, not right away. They’re more likely to be receptive to DASI. But I’m following a specific set of rules and laws that everyone will have free access to. People can watch me, and pay attention to what I do and don’t do–and what those that oppose me try to do. And see how well what I say matches what actually happens. Trust can come with time and reliability. That’s the best I can hope for.

"Most of the 'important’ people, those with current positions of power in big business or government, will fear or hate me. But a lot of them aren’t going to stay important for much longer. And those who do… I expect they will learn that I keep my word, and that if I make an offer, it’s an honest one, and if they turn it down, they will learn their mistake rather quickly.”

Chuck frowned and hesitated. "Does that include… Did you really make a tender offer for Egomag at five dollars a share yesterday? I assumed that was a hoax.“

"I did. I was willing to buy them out for their data centers at that price, to resell them to the UPP. And it would have been much less traumatic for their employees. The offer expires in two minutes.”

“Egomag’s stock was at more than a hundred! You can’t have seriously expected anyone to take you up on it. Even if they knew you were about to do something awful to Egomag, they’d sell on the open market first. And a lot of people would be very unhappy if you disrupt Egomag–it’s the biggest social network, and they depend on it.”

Black Swan smiled, and Chuck felt a chill run down his spine.

“It was trading at over a hundred yesterday. It was at seventy this morning. Fifty when we walked in the restaurant. And it’s still dropping. There seems to be some nervousness about what I’m going to do.” She paused for a moment. "Down another ten in the last thirty seconds–a lot of people watching this live just sent out 'sell at market’ orders.“

There was a clatter from a nearby table. A heavyset man in a business suit had dropped his fork, and was tapping frantically at his handcomp. His face was white and he was visibly sweating. His companion, who had her phone propped against a water glass facing the table where Chuck and Black Swan sat, watched him with concern.

Black Swan cocked her head, as if waiting for something. "And that’s it. Offer expired with no action. Say goodbye, Egomag. You moved slowly and got broken.”

“Wait, what?”

“Every Egomag server in the world just went down. And they won’t be coming back up until I let them. As for the users… You have an account and an UPPfone, do you not?”

“Yes, but I don’t use it much–it’s mostly to prevent impersonation. I don’t think I’ve ever set up the app.”

“Doesn’t matter. Try logging in.”

Chuck pulled out his phone and tapped at an icon, then frowned at an unfamiliar popup. "Secure database version? What’s this? Will it really stop surveillance, ads, harassment, and spam? And I thought you said their servers were down.“

"It does and they are. You aren’t connected to the Egomag database, but to the UPP copy of it that I had DASI set up. Which is now the definitive one.”

“She can’t have a copy of everything in their database, can she?”

“She does, down to the last cat picture. There are so many of them that she found it worthwhile to design custom compression algorithms just for pictures of cats, dogs, and humans. Her version doesn’t take up nearly as much space.”

“What about people who don’t have UPPfones?”

“Most of them started getting redirected at the router level as soon as my offer expired, the trade war started, and I took the servers down.”

“Trade war?”

“Their business model is an extraditable felony under Grs'thnk transition law, and they are in violation of online privacy laws in every Earth country that has them. I gave formal warning–which they ignored–so after the expiration of my offer, transition law permits a trade war. Ninety-five percent of their users will get redirected, and a lot of them won’t even notice until they realize how much better the UPP version works. And all their friends will be there, too. Which means they won’t go back.”

“Uh… What about the other five percent?”

“You mean the spammers, scammers, sock puppets, corporate accounts that use push advertising, and people who should already have been suspended for harassment or other forms of misconduct? They can have fun shouting at each other in the wasteland of the original Egomag after I let their servers come back up.

"Have you heard of lemon socialism? Egomag’s management is about to find out how lemon capitalism works. Their advertising revenue stream will stop because they can no longer deliver their formerly captive user base. They’ll be walking dead by tomorrow, and everyone will realize it by next week.”

Chuck stared at her as he tried to work out the consequences. "So you stole their database, then hit them with a denial of service attack to grab all their customers?“

"Egomag’s customers are advertisers. They treat users as product. Their product just went away. And they don’t own the data in their database. Asserting ownership of social networking data for monetary gain, while deliberately blocking portability and interoperability, is the extraditable felony I mentioned. The Grs'thnk call it something that translates as 'virtual kidnapping’.”

“What if Egomag sues?”

“They won’t have any luck with Grs'thnk arbitration, and if they try to get, say, the US government to do anything, I’ll have a little talk with the State Department about what I’m allowed to do if a non-compliant government entity attempts to enforce a local judgement on me that violates transition law.”

Chuck frowned again. "What will the UPP do with their Egomag clone?“

"DASI will run it as a public utility. Most Grs'thnk social networks are, and they all have interfaces that make them transparently interoperable. But you should really talk to DASI or Sam about that.” Black Swan smiled. "I’ve been busy with finance and creative destruction.“

"Where will the money to keep it running come from, without advertising?”

“I pay taxes. And getting back to your question about my offer for Egomag…” She raised a synthetic eyebrow. "Next time I make an offer for a company that seems low, people will listen.“

Chuck shook his head slowly. "I… should have stuck to asking you about encryption.”

Black Swan tilted her head. "Why? Have I not answered all your questions?“

"That’s the problem…”

All pretense that the other patrons were paying attention to anything else had ceased. A passing waitress glanced their way uneasily as she threaded her way between them and the next table with a tray of drink refills–and tripped as someone adjusted their chair for a better view at exactly the wrong moment.

Black Swan rose in a sudden blur, her hand shooting out to catch the tray before the drinks could more than slosh a little.

The waitress turned red as she retrieved control of the tray. "I–I’m so sorry, I didn’t–“

Black Swan smiled. "It’s all right. Not your fault.”

She turned back to Chuck. "And I’m afraid it’s time for me to go. It’s been interesting, and I hope I’ve given you a few things to consider.“

"That you have.” He waited while she settled the bill, thinking about what he’d learned, and whether he could possibly give his original presentation tomorrow, after all this.

They walked out together, and Black Swan stopped on the sidewalk, just clear of the entrance. She flexed her wings and curved them forward, and seemed to scan the sky for a moment.

“Chuck? One last thing.”

“Yes?”

“Cover your ears,” she said softly, stepping closer to enfold him with her wings.

Her body and wings shielded him from the worst of the heat and flash, and he’d gotten his hands up just in time to keep from being deafened by the explosion.

He staggered back, blinking as she released him to stare at the sky again.

“What was that?!?” he shouted over the ringing in his ears.

“Hellfire missile, fired from an NIA Reaper.” There was a sizzling crack as she fired twin laser beams from her eyes at some target he couldn’t see in the darkened sky. "Which will now crash somewhere that won’t hurt anyone, but will let the public get some nice pictures of the wreckage before the authorities can cordon it off.“

"Why… Who…”

“The Cook brothers used bribery and political influence on a black ops NIA team, assuming that national security classification would be enough to keep anyone from tracing it back to them. They’re upset at my plans for the coal industry. I went outside because I wanted the missile to hit me instead of something fragile like the building. They’re trying to frighten people away from meeting me.

"I think I shall send the State Department a sharp note about aiding terrorists and endangering bystanders. And the Cook brothers and the NIA team will get to find out what weaponized privacy removal is like.”

She turned to look at him, faint wisps of plasma still rising from her eyes. "Sorry for the fuss. Are you all right?“

"I think so.” Bits of still smoldering debris were scattered around the sidewalk and street, and several car alarms were going off, but no other people had been nearby. Black Swan had probably planned it that way.

“Then you should get back to your hotel before you get mobbed. Everyone will want you to repeat the same story over and over to no purpose. I’ve already sent the authorities any information you could possibly provide.”

“You… make a good point.”

“Thanks again for the conversation about trust, and good luck with your talk.”

He looked around. "I think whatever luck I needed, I already had.“

She laughed. "A healthy attitude. Take care.”

“You too.” He watched as she took off and disappeared into the night sky, then turned and started walking.

He got about a hundred feet before his phone vibrated. It was his coworker in Japan, who he’d promised to call back, so he decided to answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I finally got through! Have you really been talking to Black Swan?”

“You’re a little behind the curve, but yes. Yes, I have.”

“So, um… What’s she like?”

Chuck laughed a little unsteadily. "She eats Capital 500 corporations for dinner and Hellfire missiles for dessert. You think I’m exaggerating. I’m not.“

He took a deep breath. "You know I don’t believe humans are going to be replaced by a race of superior AIs…”

He glanced back the way he came. A crowd was already gathering, but he appeared to have made his escape in time. He kept walking. "But if we are, I just met the first one.“

Chuck spent quite a bit of time back at the hotel with his phone and messages off, watching online reactions roll in as he tried to calm down. He didn’t care to watch the vid clips, and the news about the explosion and Egomag came in fragments that seemed oddly distorted to someone who’d been there. But it was a post on Chirp by the waitress at the restaurant that left the biggest impression on him. It was a picture of her tip–two fifty-dollar bills with a note:

It doesn’t have to stay a bad day if you don’t want it to.

Black Swan

Chuck thought about that for a long time, and was finally encouraged enough to be able to sleep.

Next: Chapter 16

