“Thank you… So… I was twenty-one when I started at Neurovance. I was just finishing my bachelor’s, and my father offered me a part-time internship position, which I needed for the practical part of my degree.
“My dad and I have always tinkered with tech together. He has this cottage in the mountains, and we used to spend wholesummers there just messing around inventing stupid shit.” Jay smiled wistfully, looking so happy as he remembered spending time with his dad.
“I always looked forward to those times. It was always just the two of us. My mom passed away when I was little, and the cottage was just for us. Luke and Seb don’t even know about it.”
“How did you meet them?” I asked, and Jay shrugged.
“My dad and Luke got their PhDs together. They founded Neurovance shortly after they completed their doctorates. They’d been friends for as long as I could remember. Seb’s mom was…iskind of awful. I think Luke was trying to avoid home a lot in the beginning. My dad was recently widowed, so they threw themselves into the company.
“It was good when I was a kid. Having Seb around all the time felt like I had a brother, and helovedmy dad almost as much as I did. Seb was always artsy. Drawing and designing shit while my dad and I messed around with computers.”
“I feel like there’s abutcoming.”
Jay gave me a sad smile and nodded.
“But,as the company grew and started to see a lot of success, things changed. Luke was always really ambitious, and he wanted to take the company in directions my father wasn’t comfortable with.
“I remember them fighting a lot when Seb and I were in high school. By the time we both started our internships here, Luke was trying to get my dad to let him buy him out.”
“Why?”
Jay was staring down at his lap, his thumbs brushing over my hip bones nervously.
“When I came up with the output system we’re currently using for the extractor, Luke wasreallyexcited. The original technology was really invasive and required brain surgery for thought acquisition. Once I was able to make it this easy, portable thing, we had a lot of interest from investors. Some more… sinister than others.”
I felt a chill roll through me as I thought of all the unethical ways memory technology could be used in the wrong hands.
Jay glanced up at me, his eyes swimming with pain.
“My dad and Luke got in ahugefight when a private buyer from a massive insurance company wanted to use our product to remove claimants’memories of events and reduce liability. My father wasfuriousthat Luke would even consider selling to them and flat out refused.”
My jaw gaped at this as I shoved my glasses nervously up my nose.
Jay’s grip on my hips tightened as he continued.
“There was a fundraiser a few nights later, and my dad took one of Neurovance’s self-driving cars since he knew he’d be having a few cocktails… the car… something was wrong with it. It drove itself off the road and into the ocean with him in it. It took days for search and recovery to retrieve his body…” Jay’s voice cracked, and I cupped his face gently, running my thumbs over his cheeks to wipe away his tears.
“I’m so sorry…” I whispered, and his sad eyes turned angry.
“Our cars areso safe,Milo. That shouldn’t have happened. NOVA does checks on all our vehicles’ operating systemsdaily.If there was something wrong with the car’s navigation system, she should have caught it.”
“Do you think… Do you think Luke…?”
“I don’t know,” Jay croaked. “I just don’tknow.NOVA and I ran diagnostics on the car after it was retrieved, and we couldn’t find any evidence of foul play… It just… it feels so convenient, you know? My dad’s will was written in such a way that his shares went to Luke in the event of his death before I turned twenty-five. Once I turned twenty-five, I was technically supposed to inherit his shares, but Luke did some legal bullshit so that he still holds majority control. It all just feels so…messy.
“I don’t want to believe Luke would literally go so far as tokillmy father, but after the meeting this morning, I’m feeling less and less sure.”
“What happened this morning?”
Jay recounted the entire meeting with the DARPA rep, and the cold feeling in my bones continued to grow until I was quivering in Jay’s lap.
“There’s no telling what they’ll use our tech for if Luke sells it to them, Milo. We can’t let them have it. I know this is your dream, and I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll be able to get the product working. I just… Maybe the world is better without that kind of technology in it, you know?”
I had to agree.
This was… so insanely sinister. I hadn’t even really thought about how nefarious people could use this tech for evil like this. It had so much potential tohelppeople… It sucked so much that we had to worry about things like this.
“So… what do we do? I don’t want to quit, Jay.”
