Page 38 of Ideal Life

Or maybe that Palo Alto sushi is the secret fuel for startup breakthroughs.

Let us know what you think in the comments. In the meantime, we’re going to try to book ourselves a table at Sugiyama.

Jody helped herself to a donut from Erin’s box. “It’s wild. I hear the nanobots are ingested via a pill. Then they go into your gut and get a close-up view of the bacterial population there—both the good bacteria and the bad.”

“BiomeLabs will be able to use that information to tailor nutrition to the specific needs of each person’s body,” Erin said. “They’d probably recommend we don’t eat donuts.”

“Yeah, but holy shit,” Talia said. “This is going to revolutionize health care.” Studies in recent years had already shown links between gut microbiome health and everything from the immune system to Alzheimer’s to depression. If BiomeLabs could help change the bacterial makeup of the digestive system to maximize health… no wonder their stock had shot up like that.

“If you’ll excuse me.” Talia wove her way through the common area to her office, where she shut the door. She immediately called Sam.

“Hey, look at you, calling without prescheduling a time,” he said when he answered.

“Oh, hush,” Talia said. “I have something important I have to talk to you about.”

“Go for it. I’m just arranging the display of new releases.” Tuesdays were always the day that new books came out. The publishers sent their boxes a week or two in advance, and on Tuesdays, Sam would open them and set the books up in front of the store. Unveiling new releases was a special treat he reserved for himself, and Kenneth was happy to cede it, since it meant he got to sleep in late on those mornings.

Talia sat behind her desk. “Okay, so you know BiomeLabs?”

“The company above you that IPO-ed last year with disappointing results?”

“Yep. Well, get this—they’ve been in stealth R-and-D mode, but now that research and development has been revealed: They have nanobots.”

“What?” The sound of a stack of books crashing echoed through the phone’s speaker.

“Uh, you okay over there, Sam?”

“Forget what’s going on here. They actually made nanobots? That work? Hold on—I’m looking this up.”

Talia fired up her computer and did the same.

“Oh my fucking god…” Sam said, half to himself.

“Incredible, right?” Talia asked.

“That’s an understatement. I thought this technology was still a decade or more away.”

“So did everyone else. And BiomeLabs’ stock has already shot up this morning. They’re worth five times more today than they were yesterday. Which brings me to the reason I’m calling you.”

“What does that have to do with— Oh.”

“Yes. Exactly that, Sam.”

“You want to rewind and buy their stock.”

“It’s okay, isn’t it?” Talia stood up and started to pace the length of her office. “I mean, it’s not insider trading, right? Because the laws only cover stock trades taken before, like if the CEO of BiomeLabs acted on this information before the announcement was public. Whereas I’m actually buying the stock after.”

“Er, sort of after,” Sam said. “Because you’re in the after now, but you’re going to rewind to the before.”

“Yeah, but the law wasn’t made to cover that scenario, because it’s impossible.”

Sam made a noncommittal noise.

“Also,” Talia said, “I’m not an officer of BiomeLabs, so it can’t be insider trading if I’m not an insider.”

“I don’t know, Tal. Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s ethical.”

But it wasn’t like she was taking today’s winning lotto numbers and then going back to buy a ticket. There was something icky about that, something closer to the line of cheating. Buying BiomeLabs stock, though, didn’t seem bad. It wasn’t hundreds of millions of dollars. It was only bending the rules a little.