Chapter 28

Joselyn looks at the clock at the front of the makeshift executive boardroom and it’s after two. 

She sits at the head chair now.

Before, she and Morgen would sit across from me and Everhet. 

And Hans’ chair would remain vacant in memory of his spirit as he travels the world. A visual reminder of his presence. 

You’d look at it and feel your decision moving to a place that would please him even if the chair were empty. The chair holds the power not the person. A person is a worthy and willing conduit of what their seat represents.

Morgen held her hand over the table. She says, “Shouldn’t we still wait for Everhet? The rule is we wait fifteen minutes.”

Joselyn looks at Morgen’s outstretched hand and crawls up her arm with her eyes. She says, “Where is that written down?” Then looks over at me with an are-you-going-to-jump-in-here-or-what kind of face.

I say, “No.” To both of them. As in, I’m not dealing with you two today. We got into this to make money not work. All I deal with is egos and emotions. It’s like splitting two quarreling sisters apart. But it’s clear Joselyn is ruling the floor.

Sometimes facial expressions feel like spells or incantations. The arrangement of muscle groups manipulated in a specific way to illicit a specific feeling. Example: I look disappointed, so you feel guilty.

Then I say, “Let’s just start.”

Morgen pulls her hand back off of the tabletop slowly. Realizing her dynasty has ended. 

I was relieved but heartbroken; the type of bittersweetness you feel when dealing with having or not having children, there is absolutely a positive side to either end. 

But she was too hesitant. 

Although I am contractually obligated to provide an heir, it has shifted to an expectation that I don’t think I have to meet, I’ve already become too vital to the functions of the Arto behemoth. And now Joselyn has replaced her in every single way.

All this was processed by Morgen and I glancing at one another.

Joselyn clued us in on some new studies that have been getting published in peer-reviewed publications such as America Scientific and Elysian. 

She folds her arms. 

She says, “These doctors are saying that with such low risk and high reward, plus near perfect success rate, the brain’s reward system involving masturbation and dopamine is like living on painkillers. Apparently.”

She said doctors with finger quotes.

Morgen asks, “Are these our doctors?” We have a third party to seed published reports on studies that never took place to try and quell a small portion of the bad publicity.

Technically you could just keep working out karma forever.

There’s no shortage or overage of it.

Fake damage. 

All contra.

I flipped through and looked at the templates they were using in their reports. What kind of copy was under the pictures. Constantly searching for the perfect feeling.

PPL’s app was designed to be what your mind’s polar opposite was in real time. Using algorithm predictors to meet you where you were. To invoke the extra special experience of a smooth natural attraction of opposites. 

A perfect experience where the user will be brought into the presence of our app like magnetism. To where lifting their device is like starting a ritual that can’t pause.

We are very specific about fonts. Futura Medium, only.

Each device that is active is a collection of dots. The first being the device’s location.

Morgen looks at the graphs like she’s never seen one before. She looks over at Joselyn and says, “What about it?” Then flicks invisible dust off her fingers.

I silently tap the face of my phone in my lap and message Butler to use the Location Service Device system to find Everhet. 

I’m worried.

Morgen made a wall with her hand and put it in front of her abdomen on the table. Then turned her palm facing down and did gentle sideways karate chops horizontally just above the tabletop’s surface. She says, “I can explain it to you, but I’m going to speak slow so that you can really take in what I’m saying. Because what I’m going to say. Is going to sound simple. But trust me, it is very, very complex.”

Morgen puts both hands flat on the table, “This could be very bad for us in the next FMCA cycle. Maybe we should consider quietly deleting some of the content or at least restricting it.”

FMCA became synonymous with election cycle, software update, cultural shift, evolution, revolution, etc.

There is no law against voluntary brainwashing. You are free to practice any craft or religion.

She explained how the update of the definition of VCO(s) was about to become so broad that we were going to be liable for the development of an individual’s personal tastes. But when does brainwashing become involuntary?

We would be the fingers pulling the strings.

Joselyn waited for a response.

I say, “But we’re not going to do that.”

I don’t have time to listen to this. I need to go check on Evy.

Morgen’s eyes were looking at the center of the table in a fugue state. 

Unresponsive to me saying her name. 

After tapping the table she jumped and came back to the present tense.

I say, “How are we going to avoid this?”

Morgen shook her head and turned to Joselyn who shrugged and gestured her hand, giving Morgen the floor.

Morgen says, “The definitions are so muddled and vague. It’s…It’s like…There’s nothing we can do. We can’t ban any users because there’s no restricted material anymore, and it violates the subscriber agreement. Conversely, if we don’t take down a suicide video, we would be prosecuted on behalf of the victim’s families.” 

Joselyn tapped her index finger on the tabletop. She looks at the same center spot on the table Morgen was fixated on before.

We did not delete any content, no matter how horrific. That’s the rule.

I can hear Joselyn’s hands rub on the arms of the chair as I look at the phone in my lap. Butler pings me a text that says, “We have a problem.”

The swell of Joselyn taking a deep breath gives me a little shock.

She says, “It’s going to be a free for all.” 

And when I look up at her she’s smiling. 

 

James Jacob Hatfield is a displaced engineer, a painter, and many other contradictions. His work has appeared in X-R-A-Y, Maudlin House, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Barely South Review, Chaleur Magazine, Havik, and others. His ekphrasis poem “torrents of lahar, No. 36” was anthologized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. He is a Sterling Fellow and a Weymouth Fellow. He is the creator and curator of the Gemini Sessions Substack. He lives in Durham, NC.

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