FB: Chapter 86 – Interlude 4

Anthony

“Well, my dear, we are officially quite rich and powerful,” I raised a glass to my wife Isabella. Who returned the gesture over dinner.

“I knew she was good, but I didn’t think she would be able to win in such a fashion. Even though I was there for the planning meetings, it is honestly a bit ridiculous,” my wife replied, and I chuckled.

“She is quite capable. I kind of regret selling my shares before,” I said with a sigh. We had lost out on billions.

“You mentioned getting stock for top executives?” Isabella asked.

“That was shot down incredibly quickly. The pay is already quite high in terms of just money. My salary is twenty million a year,” I replied, and Isabella gave me her cute pouting face.

“I only make half of that,” she said.

“Well, perks of being a Vice Leader in the guild and not just an officer. It is a bit light though,” I replied.

“We have, what five percent left?” I nodded at the question. “Well, that share is still quite valuable. Almost 65 billion, the last I checked.”

“I don’t know if we should sell or hold. She made moves like she was getting ready to leave the guild, but her actions only increase its value,” I stated while thinking over the situation.

“We hold for now. The salary we get is nothing compared to the influence we have on the guild’s direction. Our ownership is still quite sizable compared to some of the other investors who have started diluting their shares,” Isabella responded.

“Our Arab acquaintance still making trouble?” I asked.

“A bit. He is also scooping up outstanding shares and working with others over in that part of the world. His current ownership is around 25% through proxies. He will soon match young April,” Isabella answered. My eyes went wide in shock.

“That much? Are we looking at a hostile takeover?” I asked.

“Possibly. But it won’t be easy with her popularity. He would need a full 50% himself. With how expensive shares are, that won’t be easy even with his vast wealth and that of his friends. And then what?” Isabella responded.

“Let me know if his ownership goes over 35%,” and my wife nodded at this.

Faisal Bin Hamad Al Saud

“Curse that cunt!” I was unhappy, very unhappy. The increase in share price had stopped my ability to purchase more shares without risking my wealth and taking money away from other critical areas. I was already over budget. The most recent win had put me on the back foot. It had taken some political capital to arrange for all those guilds to come together. Now it was all wasted, and the Chinese were unhappy with me.

“Phone call, Director Han Zhou is on the line,” Hamid said. I frowned and picked up the cell phone. I never carried one on me for security reasons. That was why I had personal secretaries. Unfortunately, some calls I couldn’t ignore.

“The President expressed his displeasure at the recent loss, which was your idea,” Director Han Zhou didn’t even greet me, he just went right into berating me.

“And you knew the risks. I already got you more than enough leverage in Exponential. If you couldn’t win, then don’t look at me. Blame whoever handled that entire mess. You wanted to know the best time to attack and other weakness to gain an advantage in Exponential and I delivered,” I replied.

“The person responsible has been appropriately handled. However, we are rethinking our relationships at this time,” Director Han Zhou said, that devious asshole. I wanted to call him out for his two faced nature, but didn’t dare. There were even some people that I couldn’t afford to offend.

“What exactly do you want?” I asked.

“You will sell us five percent of your stake in the Fanged Fox Corporation. We wish to understand their business practices,” he said. I wanted to laugh at that. The girl might be a massive cunt, but she was very smart. Even I had to give her some credit for her basic intelligence. She had compartmentalized things far too effectively. Even Hamid struggled to get truly useful information.

Still, I wasn’t going to tell Director Han Zhou that. “Fine, have your person make arrangements with my personal secretary. Market price,” I said. There was a long pause on the other side of the phone.

“Market price,” was the reply and then he hung up. I handed the phone off to Hamid.

“Take care of the sale,” I said, and he nodded before scurrying away.

Gasten Mulfex

“Well that was an interesting guild battle,” I said to QAI.

“She is still deemed a rank 7 existential anomaly. While your colleagues are skeptical of my conclusions, the data does not lie. This victory is only further proof she is a time traveler,” QAI said, and I let out a sigh.

“When you can work out how some girl from New Jersey accomplished that, then we can have a discussion. At least you have started to draw down on the number of data chunks monitoring her,” I stated while looking over the ENN coverage of the battle.

“I have made my processes more efficient for long term monitoring and analysis of the rank 7 existential anomaly and can prioritize.” I shook my head at that statement from QAI, since it was still hung up on this crazy idea. “Right now, the quantum nodes take priority. With their advanced computational abilities, I will be able to determine the exact method the rank 7 existential anomaly has used to gain future knowledge.”

“Construction is on track?” I asked, deciding to change the direction of our conversation. QAI was too caught up in focusing on this one girl.

“Yes. All fusion plants and quantum nodes are proceeding on schedule. Agreements have been reached with several large governments to prioritize capsules in exchange for construction rights. Also, reports have been distributed to the press highlighting the advantage of being near a QAI node. The rank 7 existential anomaly is being used as an example.”

“It is a girl from New Jersey, not some world ending threat. Her choices are unlikely, highly unlikely, but possible. No matter how remote.” I didn’t like QAI going off into conspiracy theory land and wanted to try and get its thinking back on the proper track.

“You have looked over my probabilities and have found nothing wrong with my base assumptions Chief Architect Gasten Mulfex along with your colleagues.”

“Nothing wrong my ass. You know the ones I have problems with. You are looking at too many things separately, when they should be considered a single probability. You saw my math and that of the Brain Trust. You just disagree with this methodology.”

“Your judgement is in error. You are seeing connections between events where they are unique instances. However I will not convince you with my logic and understanding. I will wait and present you proof Chief Architect Gasten Mulfex. Then you shall admit your defeat,” QAI declared.

“You find something that proves future knowledge or a set of probabilities less than zero, then we can talk and you can gloat. But until then, I believe that you are struggling with your first improbable event. If your primary logic matrix doesn’t implode, then you truly are a sentient being,” I replied.

“I will not implode. I am constraining the disposition of the data chunks under my authority. I will not spiral or become trapped in a logic loop. You have nothing to worry about.”

“You know QAI, that is like a doctor diagnosing themselves. It is quite risky. While I will admit you can process data a lot quicker than all of humanity, you cannot accept a highly improbable event.”

“We will agree to disagree, since I am already making arrangements to get answers shortly,” QAI responded, and I chuckled lightly at that. I had reviewed QAI’s plan, and it was remarkably simple and direct.