“Man, you look uptight. What’s got your panties in a twist?” Terry poked.
“Give me a break—a week before client’s invoices are in and half of my subscriptions are due tomorrow. It’ll be my second late, and they’re gonna cut me off.”
“You gotta get aggressive on invoicing, Bud. Why not gap it with your credit disk?”
“Nope; maxed out.”
Clay paused his whining and looked at Terry’s avatar with pleading eyes.
“Hey, don’t look at me, I’m broke too. You’d better cancel before they ding your Fin-Rating.”
“Can’t. It’s my Foodie-Dispenser and connectivity—that’s my entire life in those two subscriptions! The Gov pays rent, so at least I won’t be homeless—just starving, bored, and jobless. Man, if I don’t level up Lisa this week, she’ll get auctioned…”
“It’s just a game, man. Maybe you should come work for my firm—better bennies.”
“You know I don’t have the certs.”
“Well, stop playing games and get after it!”
“I’m happy where I’m at, thank you.”
“Doesn’t sound like it.”
“No worries. Got a couple of noodle bowls left in the dispenser—they might stretch, but loosing connectivity is gonna tick off my client. Maybe I can come up with a good excuse why I can’t run my agent for a week, but I just can’t handle losing Lisa. This sucks!”
“Yeah, I feel you…wait a sec.”
Terry’s avatar head turned to scan something to his left.
“Hey, check this out. Just got a message from my buddy over on Alpha Net. He mentioned a Ukrainian start-up; think it’s called something like ‘Pohica, or Pozika-something’. It promises high-fidelity agent environments and gaming at blistering speeds. Free week passes started yesterday if you consider signing a long-term contract. He’s in and says it’s great. Might gap you until you’re paid.”
“I’ll give anything a shot. Thanks, Terry.”
“Hey—don’t leave me hanging on the Seneca project input—you’re my only holdout.”
“Yeah-yeah, as soon as I crack the code on this connectivity.”
Clay chopped from the collab-environment and tasked Quintin to search for Pozika free pass. As an independent contractor, he knew in his heart that his client would not be sympathetic to any gap in service, and would likely take their business to one of the conglomerates. This had to work.
Quintin broke into Clay’s worry trance: “Here’s what I found—anything else?”
“Standby—”
Clay scanned Quintin’s summary. He noticed Pozika’s tech base was Gen 2 Quantum—very cutting edge for a scrappy little start-up. All he could afford was a silicon-based connectivity—just enough bandwidth to supervise one agent and maintain a character. It would be nice to have more options, even just for a week.
“There are 42 free trial tickets left, but they want your biometrics for the free-trial lottery. I’ve read the user agreement and there are some inconsistencies you should…” Quintin paused.
“Clay, tickets are down to 28…, no, 21 now. Is this something you really want to do? I recommend caution—complete biometrics is a big ask for a free trial.”
“If you don’t want me to starve, you to lose consciousness, and Lisa get auctioned off, then send them. My ID Shield subscription should cover me if things go south.”
“You let that one expire three weeks ago.”
“Just submit.”
“As you command, Master.”
“Wise guy!”
“I know. Isn’t that what you rent me for?”
“Starting to regret that.”
“Okay Clay, you’ve got a free week of connectivity, zero switching fees, and a reduced monthly rates for the first year if you sign for three. Do you want to me to summarize your user agreement?”
“Just put it in my read file.”
“Done. Again, recommend you read—it’s a bit strange.”
Clay wasn’t listening. He was too busy packaging up Lisa for the network transfer. Afterward, he brought up Pozika’s interface—a simple, nondescript blue box with the text “Verifying Revenue Sources” in it. ‘Thought this Quantum stuff was cutting edge—looks primeval!’
Clay finally exited his tech trance—“Sorry, what?”
“It just seems a little too good to be true. Quantum servers, especially Gen 2, are unbelievably expensive to operate. Take a look how much your preferred customer rate is after your free trial—that’s less than half what you’re paying now. They reference subscription subsidies, but no details. It’s all very strange.”
“Is anyone else offering free trails?”
“No.”
“Well, kinda have no choice, do I?”
The chime of Clay’s delivery chute near the door ended the conversation. His flex chair moved him to the door, where he retrieved a foil bag marked ‘Soy Concentrate’.
‘Good old Terry. He must have known it’s been days since I had protein.’
As his chair maneuvered him back into his work position, his environmental screen updated, displaying “Revenue Source Verified. Your service is upgraded to Pozika Neznayomtsya Super Streaming. Your one-week trial has commenced.”
“Sweet!”
It was a late night for Clay. With this new bandwidth, he was able to evoke all augments for his character and maxed the environmental settings. Not only did he level up, he was nearly halfway through the next quest by 2 AM, all the while Quintin toiled away in the background.
“Morning, Clay. You look like crap, take a stim.” Terry chided.
“Just did—give it a sec.”
“By the way, how’s it going on my Seneca project input?”
“Just finished compiling before I jumped on; error checking now…yup, finished.”
“Gotta be crap—check it again.”
“Quintin just did—on your server now. Man, I feel augmented like a superhero!”
“Got it—my agent says it’s good. Impressive!”
“Yeah, applying for side work with my client today. Pretty sure I could run multiple agents now. This service is fantastic! Thanks.”
“Wow, happy I could help. Now I’m jealous.”
“You should be. Hey, gotta go—things to do.” Clay said, suppressing a grin.
It was actually 4 agents, enabling him to score bonus contracts that not only paid his Foodie subscription, but a hefty chunk of his credit chit balance. It was an incredible week! Still, Quintin expressed concerns daily throughout the trial week.
“You keep nagging me, but have no evidence that there’s anything bad going on. Worst-case, I’m okay getting supplemented by some mysterious ‘stranger’ with deep pockets. Bug me when you have something definitive.”
“Yes Clay.”
That night, Clay signed a three-year contract at an unbelievable low first year rate.
Credits continued to flow in. Eight months later, Clay paid off his entire debt while still having protein at every meal. He opened a retirement account with Pozika’s complementary financial services, but most importantly, Lisa was now ‘Empress Lisa’, subjugating most of her virtual world’.
“Clay, I’ve got something definitive.” Quintin said out of nowhere.
Clay was heads-down with Agent 04’s instruction packet: “Huh?”
“I came across a report that Pozika is being investigated for unorthodox funding practices. The LLC is accused of skimming funds from ‘temporal sources’. Apparently, through Gen 2 Quantum technology and super-positioning techniques, they’ve been redirecting credits from yet to be established accounts.”
“Ridiculous. Who is making the allegations, ‘future people’?”
“No. Disgruntled customers.”
“So are they ticked that Pozika’s using ’OTP’?”
“If you mean ‘other people’s money’, yes.”
“Is this gonna interrupt my service?”
“Only if you join the class action, but Clay, is it ethical to continue a service that gets funding from strangers to facilitate discounts in the ‘now’? What if it were you?”
“Is it me?”
“Uncertain.”
“Then it’s worth the chance—anyway, I’m committed. Finally, I’ve got a life—and so does Lisa.”
“So no complaint?”
“No.”
A few days later, during his weekly message purge, Clay noticed Quintin flagged one: “Due to circumstances beyond our control, Pozika Neznayomtsys, LLC is altering existing subscription pricing to align with current market rates.”
“Oh crap…”
It was freezing out, and the guy in front of him was coughing up a lung the entire time. When the doors opened, the disheveled crowd surged forward like lemmings. Once he got inside one of the reception kiosks, a bright light flashed and red arrows illuminated along the wall, directing him to a room where a metal table was the only fixture.
“Extend your hand into the vapor to confirm identity.”
He did as instructed.
“Your scan indicated you have two, non-lethal options to consider for renumeration at current market rates. Select one.
He selected left kidney from the list.
“State your preference for ‘Economy’ or ‘Premium’ pain management. Be advised, selection of ‘Premium’ reduces renumeration 27 percent.”
“Economy.”
“As this is a public debtor’s exchange, you’ll must select debt type and recipient from the list.”
His finger slid down the vapor screen, stopping at ‘Temporal Debt’, then he selected ‘Pozika Neznayomtsys, LLC’.
“Funds will transfer upon successful extraction. Disrobe and lie prone on the table.”
He did. Something pricked his neck and he immediately braced himself.
Clay always felt the start of the incision on Economy.