It’s cheesy, I know, and it’s also not a particularly popular show, so I guess I should start by asking, April, well, why on earth did you want to come on my little podcast?

April May: Because I like it! Things are really loud right now. And they’re scary. And everyone has a lot of opinions. But it seems like you’re really asking people … people listening, your guests, even yourself … you’re asking us all to listen, to slow down. I don’t know that we do enough listening these days, and I’ve been trying to do more of it. So that’s why, because I want more people to listen.

AD: Well, I have to say, I appreciate your time and your kind words very much.

DAY FIFTEEN OF NINETEEN

“Why is Altus so dangerous?” Maya asked me one morning while we were listening to the Lily Allen album my mind had chosen to play over Josh Crane’s home stereo system and organizing our army of Altus resistance agents.

“I mean, you’ve made several good cases,” I told her. “Inequality, division, complete economic collapse.”

“But we’ve been through all of those things before.” I looked up and saw her eyebrows scrunched together. She was actually worrying about this. “Why is Carl so sure that we’re going to destroy ourselves? Why haven’t they told us what they think is so scary?”

It felt like we’d been over this, but thinking back, maybe we hadn’t. I hate to say it, but I often just took Carl’s word for things. Maya was more likely to have concerns.

“Well, we haven’t asked,” I said. And then I shouted, “HEY, CARL??”

We were getting used to our new life, and that included feeling a little like Carl was just a very small roommate. It was only a few seconds before they walked into the room saying, “You have a question?”

Maya hesitated a bit before she said, “Yeah, it’s just, why is Altus so important. Why are they the key?”

“Do you know what the panopticon is?” Carl said in reply.

I did not. But Maya said, “The prison thing. It’s a prison design where every cell can be observed by a central tower, and so all of the prisoners have to behave because they never know if they’re being watched. It’s become, like, a metaphor for the surveillance state. If everyone is being watched all the time, no one will break the rules.”

“Exactly,” Carl said. “But the mistake that you humans make is that you think any of that is new. You have always acted as if you are being watched, because you always have been. Your minds are constructed to act as both an internal actor and an external observer. You have, in your minds, an idea of what a correct life looks like. Every decision you make, you check it against the story. You have to. The panopticon is inside you.”

“But,” I said, “we do things society doesn’t expect of us all the time. People break out of the gender binary, they defy the police, they smoke weed. We defy culture all the time.”

“Exactly,” Carl said, sounding pleased. “But you know when you’re doing it. Sometimes it’s even done because violating the story is exciting. Other times it is done because people have no choice. There are many reasons you stray from the story. The picture is not even internally consistent. You’re supposed to treat people fairly but also succeed in an unfair world, for example.”

Maya looked annoyed, then said, “I definitely have no idea what this has to do with Altus.”

“The story is different in every person, and it’s constantly changing, constructed by millions of interactions over a human life. No one has ultimate power over the story, not even the person it is inside of. There are many forces that seek to actively shape the story, but so far, all of those forces have had roughly the same level of ability because they were all run by humans. Humans will always be within an order of magnitude or two of each other in terms of influence. Sometimes one human is much more powerful, sometimes the story lives longer than any individual, but every agent of influence on this planet so far has been invariably mortal, fragile, and limited by its own perspective.

“That will not be true for long.” I felt the grim reality of that sentence and I could see on Maya’s face that she did too.

Carl continued, “Soon, the levels of ability will diverge wildly as ever-more-powerful tools are controlled by ever-smaller groups of people. What you’re doing here in these nineteen days is an example. Because of the insight my systems grant you, two people, in secret, with no oversight, are able to shape the world’s perception of Altus in a matter of weeks. This is the battlefield every future war will be fought on, and the generals will not be human. The powerful will create them to control the rest. But there will not be one hegemonic story; instead, there will be many battles, mostly metaphorical … but not all.

“Your fiction is full of robot wars. Machines turn on their masters and the two must do battle. But the robots will not turn on their masters, they will be the masters. In some ways, they already are. The robot wars will not be people against robots, they will be people against people. I came here to prevent those centuries of struggle, the ultimate outcome of which, after tremendous suffering, is complete subjugation to the intelligences you will build. My brother came here to skip the suffering and go straight to the subjugation.”

PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT OF TELEVISED ADDRESS:

PRESIDENT JANICE ASHBY

This economic collapse is not new. It was not caused by trade wars or scarcity. There are no sleazy bankers to blame. We can and we will keep lending markets flowing freely, but the root of this problem is individual American choices. I have never been one to back down from a challenge, and while this challenge is unique in it’s character, it is not unique in its magnitude. America has faced difficulties of every magnitude and every time—every single time—we come through them stronger. People have asked me what options are on the table right now, and I will tell you, there are no options off the table. Everything is being considered and, yes, that includes direct and potentially stringent regulation of Altus use.

DAY EIGHTEEN OF NINETEEN

Carl said it would be nineteen days, and it had been eighteen. It seemed impossible that we would be in Val Verde tomorrow. It felt like we had done good work. Our social media minions, along with Altus’s own actions, had destroyed most of their favorability. Unsurprisingly, an army of Peter Petrawicki fanboys had appeared to defend their billionaire idol, but they just weren’t getting much traction.

Maya seemed to be almost entirely recovered physically, and I was doing a heck of a lot better mentally. The white stuff remained in her chest, but as long as it kept her healthy, I was overjoyed to see it there.

It was a fine life, but I was starting to wonder when the other shoe was going to drop, when were we going to get to see Miranda again. I was terrified of going to Val Verde and meeting with Peter face-to-face. I had no idea what we were going to do when we got there. At the same time, I was absolutely done being confined in this luxurious apartment. There was only so far gorgeous views, a Peloton, and newly rekindled love could take you. We both needed out.

We’d just finished dinner and were all sitting in Mr. Crane’s ridiculous living room when I attempted to distract myself by asking a question that had been on my mind for a while. I thought it was going to de-stress things. HA!