Collective's Science Programs Affect News
Borg Collective Headquarters December 19, 2038 AD
Jeff did not understand why American culture dictated that birthdays should be celebrated. He understood why birthdays used to be celebrated; in the Dark Ages it was actually an accomplishment to survive another year without proper sanitation. But it was twenty frigging thirty eight, why did his mother insist on phoning him to wish him the best? So he turned forty three today, big whoop. Still, she was his Mommy so it wasn't like he could yell at her. Jeff remembered, quite distinctly, what his Dad had told him when he turned 16: "you ever make your mother cry, and I'm gonna make you cry." Considering Dad was a Mob hitman (allegedly, he was never convicted), Jeff had decided not to test that particular threat. It didn't matter that Jeff was in a well-guarded compound in California and his parents lived in Maryland, Dad was still scary. If Jeff was going to celebrate, he preferred it to be because he actually did something. For example, tomorrow Jeff had his first press conference since he took this job. If it went well then that would be something worth celebrating.
When he stopped to think about it, Jeff was rather disappointed with how the last two years had been. The last year working for the Army had been completely boring. Because of the animosity created when everyone with an implant threatened to quit unless Jeff got his way, Army officers didn't trust him with any projects. He wasn't sure what they had expected him to do; he was contractually obligated to stay till the end of 2037 yet they didn't want to let him work on any projects for fear he'd suddenly want that declassified or something. So Jeff had spent eight hours a day, five days a week, for ten months, going to a secret military base and getting paid to sit in his office. There was only so much porn he could look at in a given day before his body just refused to cooperate. Jeff had spent most of his work hours thinking up various inventions and projects; it had actually reminded Jeff of when he had worked at the Skynet Base. The big difference was, back then he could pursue those random thoughts and see if they were possible whereas in the Sarif Building if he had told anyone he would have been ignored or, even worse, they would have stolen the idea and then not told him about the results. Jeff had made sure to write down every idea he had and slip the notes to someone who had been implanted so that the Borg Collective could work on them instead. When his time with the Army was finally done, Jeff had been glad to get out though that feeling didn't last long. Jeff was the only employee in the Collective's public relations department, but since there were only twenty two full time employees besides him (they had been discharged from the military for various medical reasons) that wasn't a big deal. The big deal was that this job was no different from his last year with the Army. He sat on his butt and got paid for doing nothing. Until more people with implants left the military (they had decided to let their contracts expire instead of attempting to get discharged) the Collective couldn't do a whole lot, they simply didn't have enough people on hand. Last week one of the other employees had come into Jeff's office to let him know they had something he could do. Apparently, they had solved all twenty three of Hilbert's Problems. They felt this deserved a press conference and Jeff had to agree. This would get a lot of attention from the mathematical intelligentsia and hopefully some of them would want to come work for the Collective, or possibly even get implanted. Maybe they could get some donations or something. Jeff wasn't actually sure how he was getting paid or where the money to fund this company was coming from.
Things were particularly complicated because Jeff had been told when he first started here that while the Collective had the sole rights to the neural transceivers (besides the military, they were still allowed to use them) they did not have access to the nanomachine technology. That technology had not been declassified yet, so the transceivers had to be implanted the old fashioned way: brain surgery. Jeff hadn't done any operations in years; he was sure his skills had atrophied from disuse and implanting a transceiver was a really really delicate process. Jeff had been told that a brain surgeon in the Army had drank the nanite cocktail and so should be able to implant the devices safely. Jeff was suspicious that anyone besides himself could perform the operation (past experience taught him that) but would admit that if anyone else could do it, it was someone on the neural network. After the press conference tomorrow, Jeff had the feeling the Collective was going to get a lot a media attention and it would not be good if their surgeon lobotomized the first group of people that volunteered to get implanted. Luckily, the surgeon was one of the people whose contracts with the military ended at the end of this year so the man could join the Collective quickly and start practicing. Jeff imagined that there would probably be a six month period before anyone worked up the nerve to ask to be implanted after the announcement hit the airwaves.
Borg Collective Headquarters December 20, 2038 AD
The press conference was not going like Jeff had expected. When preparing beforehand, he made sure to learn as much about how the Collective had accomplished these math solutions as possible because Jeff thought that was what the reporters would be most interested in. Hilbert published his problems in over a hundred years ago in 1900, while some of them had already been solved (some were only partially solved) the Collective had managed to solve all of them, that should be big news. Instead, the reporters cared more about the neural transceivers.
It wasn't that Jeff disliked talking about how much of a genius he was for creating the transceivers, he was just annoyed he spent all that time reading up on Hilbert's problems so that he could talk about them instead of something he was already an expert on. A small (very small) part of him felt guilty talking almost exclusively about his own accomplishments when this press conference was supposed to be about what the Collective has accomplished...but they'll get over it.
"Dr. Borg Dr. Borg! You seriously expect us to believe us that you single-handedly invented a device that allows for instant telepathy?" a reporter from the back shouted at Jeff.
"Actually, I expect you to take the facts I'm presenting to you and spin them in such a way to present a biased view for your viewers that your bosses will approve of. You are a member of the world's second oldest profession after all." That brought a couple chuckles from assembled reporters.
A rather manly female reporter in the front row cut in before the first one could respond, "Dr Borg, with the exception of yourself, all employees at the Collective have been implanted with the transceivers. Why is that?"
The woman may have looked like she was released from prison two days ago, but Jeff liked her. Every question she had asked had been without disbelief or malice. Her questions had all been straight-forward and seemed like their only purpose was to gain information for her audience. "You seem to have things slightly backwards. It's not that only people with my neural transceivers work at the Collective; it's that the Collective was founded by people with my transceivers. It's only been about two years since the company was started. Besides myself, they haven't needed to bring in any new employees."
"You're saying that you're just an employee at the Collective? That you didn't help start the company?"
Jeff laughed. "Yes. Despite the fact that it bears my name, I actually have no control over what the company does. Everyone else is an owner, I'm just an employee."
"Dr. Borg, while solving Hilburg's problems is...interesting to some people out there...somewhere, I'm sure most viewers are more curious about the Collective itself. I checked their website before coming here and I have to admit, I have no idea what it is the company actually does," said a Hispanic reporter. The man may have lacked any accent but Jeff noticed he didn't get Hilbert's name correct...then again Jeff wasn't very good with names either so he would let that one go.
"Within ten years, the Collective aims to be the leading researcher in numerous technological fields and we hope to expand to the point in which we will be able to manufacture our own products instead of licensing them out so that we can maintain a high level of quality control."
The manly reporter cut in again. "Dr. Borg, I was reviewing my notes from what you said earlier when you were explaining how the neural transceivers worked. You discussed how they allowed such a transfer of memories and knowledge to the point that it's almost like an individual could inhabit multiple bodies. Basically, you've created neurological cloning. Care to comment?"
"You are as correct as you are butch, my dear, though your conclusion is rather limited. By exchanging knowledge, people with my neural transceivers have their thoughts preserved. Should enough people continue to get implanted and join the 'neural network,' as we've taken to calling it, they will essentially be immortal. Bodies will eventually die but once in the network, you shall continue to live on." That got the reporters attention, every single one of them started shouting at Jeff trying to get their individual question.
Jeff decided to pick his favorite reporter since she would have the most thought out question of anyone gathered here. "After an announcement like that Dr. Borg, I think everyone gathered here as well as everyone watching at home has the same question: When can I get implanted and are there any side effects?"
Jeff decided to, for once, pick his words carefully. He didn't want to lie (that would just come back to bite him in the ass later) but the whole change of personality and desire to remain with the group was certainly a touchy subject in the military so it was sure to be one with civilians. "Getting implanted with a neural transceiver is a very dangerous operation, even when done by a skilled brain surgeon. To date, I am the only one who has successfully implanted a transceiver in someone. So that will create a bottleneck problem if too many people want to get a transceiver. There is also the issue of the Collective getting sufficient funding to build the transceivers, they aren't cheap I assure you. Plus, they have exceedingly stringent requirements for how they are constructed. That is why we want to expand the company to a manufacturing plant, so that we can oversee the build process. To answer the second part of your question, there is a possible side effect. After joining the neural network, people become...well addicted to the constant connection. They enjoy sharing thoughts; they love the intimacy of having someone touch their mind. I have yet to see anyone willing disconnect from the neural network."
"What aren't you telling us? If these neural transceivers are so great why don't you have one?" one of the reporters asked angrily.
Jeff had to chuckle at the man's stupidity. "There are two reasons for that. The first one being is that since I invented them it was my job to oversee their development and figure out what the next moves should be throughout the project's life-cycle. Therefore, I needed to be able to stay a step removed, I couldn't get too involved. Secondly, and this is important, if I'm the only one who can perform the operation to implant the transceivers, how would I get one? I don't know if you've ever attempted brain surgery before, but I have, and let me tell you that it is difficult under the best circumstances. Operating on myself would have been the equivalent to attempting repairs on a NASCAR racer while it was still driving on the course." Jeff took a lot of pleasure at the way the man appeared to deflate as the other reporters laughed at him. He would have liked to berate the man some more but Jeff noticed one of the Collective employees standing the way back of the crowd gesturing at her watch, apparently the press conference had gone on long enough.
Jeff raised his arms to silence the reporters and loudly proclaimed, "Ladies, gentlemen (and morons) on behalf of my employers, I thank you for coming out to this engagement. The Borg Collective is sure to make waves in multiple industries in the future so we enjoy getting this chance to talk with you before we become heavy hitters. No doubt you will be hearing many things from us very soon."
As Jeff stepped away from the crowd assembled at the front of the Collective's gated compound he started to wonder, how did they convince so many reporters to show up? Until this press conference, the Collective hadn't done anything newsworthy really. There had been an article published in the local newspaper when the Collective had purchased the compound, apparently it used to be the central headquarters some big tech company that made security software. They (and many other security software companies) went under eight years ago when an implanted research team in the Army finished development on a smart program that could hop from computer to computer to hunt down viruses. Apparently the thing was capable of tracking programs back to the computer they started on and notifying the police (with so much commerce occurring online, most countries now considered writing dangerous code the equivalent to building a rocket launcher in your backyard). But beyond getting the entire compound for less than a new car cost, the Collective hadn't done anything newsworthy until this announcement, and since they hadn't told the reports what the announcement was about Jeff had to wonder what prompted so many people to show up. Was it really that slow of a news day? Whatever the reason, Jeff decided it wasn't worth thinking about.
As he stepped through the gate, Jeff admired the amount of work the Collective put into making the compound look so nice. Pristine, uniformly cut grass covered most of the land owned by the company. There were a nice variety of trees, both in height and in species. It reminded Jeff of a stereotypical college campus; it almost seemed too perfect, too neat. Considering that people on the neural network preferred function over form, he wasn't really sure why they spent so much time making the compound look so nice. Maybe they had consulted some marketers and had been told to make the compound look inviting so more people would want to get implanted?
The woman who had notified Jeff of the time limit at the press conference jogged up behind him. "Dr. Borg, we believe that went well."
"Yes, I think so as well. We will certainly get a lot of people's attention now that the neural transceivers are going to be on tonight's news. And that was exactly what you all wanted, isn't it? Attention so that you can get funding so that you can expand the network?"
"Indeed Dr. Borg. Until we receive sufficient financial backing, we are limited in what we can accomplish. Now that we have gathered attention due to our math prowess and your genius in creating the neural transceivers, we should be able to get a good deal when attempt to market the operating system we created."
Jeff's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "You created an operating system? Do you really think we can compete against Microsoft and Apple? Not to mention Linux."
"We created Kraven to track down computer viruses and their creators making it the most effective program ever created to do that job, why would we not be able to create an equally effective operating system?"
"It's just...the Collective has only been in existence for what? Two and a half years now? And you guys managed to create an entire operating system?"
"Exactly, we had two whole years to create an operating system." she said slowly. Jeff had the feeling that the two of them had vastly different opinions of what could be done in two years.
Borg Collective Headquarters January 12, 2041 AD
The Collective ended up selling the operating system to Google, a deal which worked out quite well for both companies. Because Google had so much goodwill built up among its customers (and the Collective designed the operating system to be compatible with programs designed for Windows) that after only a year just over 10% of all computers were using Google LCARS. Not only did the Collective receive a very large amount of money for selling the operating system, but Google then hired the Collective to continue to provide software updates for it.
The agreement with Google was only one of the numerous lucrative moves the Collective had made in the past two years. One of the soldiers from the second batch that Jeff had originally implanted knew how to count cards. The Collective had decided to expand on that hobby of his and would routinely send teams of ten to twenty people to Las Vegas for a weekend to win at blackjack (sometimes poker but that usually didn't bring in as much money). People would occasionally get banned but it never mattered much since the Collective could just send different employees the next time around. They would routinely bring back several thousand dollars each trip.
They had also created three different video game engines, which ended up with the names Aeolipile, Thomas, and Difference, for some reason. Jeff had thought that whole process was a waste of time but apparently the engines were very stable and very easy to use so the Collective was able to license them out to numerous companies. Not exactly how he would have generated revenue but then again it brought in a decent of money considering how quickly they had been created.
The Collective had somehow figured out a way to create transparent aluminum but at the time of its discovery had no actual use for it. What Jeff had found interesting about the situation was that it had all been theoretical, the Collective never actually tested to see if the formal they devised would work. Yet, they were still able to sell the formula to some company in San Francois called Plexicorp in exchange for 49% of the company's stock.
There was also the Orexin-A drug, which the Collective ended up selling to Starbucks for a couple million dollars. Jeff had actually heard of that one before, it was an anti-sleep drug that had apparently had no side effects or addictive qualities. He just wasn't sure how the Collective could sell the formula to anyone since it had already been discovered and was in development by several pharmaceutical companies. Maybe the Collective thought up a variation on the drug's formula that was different enough to satisfy the patent office. However they did it, it wasn't his problem so long as it didn't come back to bite them in the gluteus maximus.
As more military employment terms expired each year, the Army found itself losing a lot of its best scientists to the Collective. So they decided to simply contract the Collective to assist in various research projects. Being the only employee in the public relations department, Jeff was given brief overviews of some (not all) of the projects the military had them working on so that he could issue press releases to keep the Collective in the good graces of the American public consciousness. Some of the projects Jeff found rather interesting (bomb sniffing bees), others he thought were useful but boring (the ISIS was a self-sustaining surveillance blimp), some were badass (a satellite that could drop telephone pole-sized tungsten rods that struck with the force of a tactile nuke), and others he thought were just stupid (remote controlled exploding Frisbees).
When the news had hit the airwaves two years ago that the neural transceivers essentially allowed for cerebral immortality, interest in the company skyrocketed. The Collective became the hot new thing to talk about. Numerous senior citizens began flocking to the Collective compound (it wasn't until that point that Jeff understood why the Collective had insisted on buying a walled in compound) attempting to get the employees attention in hope of getting implanted. Demand far exceeding supply so the Collective had decided to do what any smart business owner would do in that situation: raise prices. They raised prices to the point that some people were taking out multiple mortgages on the homes to pay for the operations.
Through the various methods the Collective had at its disposal, they were able to build a manufacturing plant and work out the logistics that would (hopefully) produce enough neural transceivers to satisfy all the people that wanted them once construction was finished next month (and they could then lower prices to get even more people on the network). It turned out that the implanted brain surgeon was able to successfully put transceivers in people so the pressure wasn't on Jeff, and if one person on the neural network could do it then that meant they all could so that problem had been solved.
One of the people who had been interested in getting implanted was the current Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. Until the Sultan, the richest person with an implant only had a little over a million dollars to her name. Now, the Collective had access to the Sultan's entire net-worth, valued at 25 billion (with a B) dollars by Forbes magazine last year. While the Collective hadn't touched any of his money, it was still nice to have that available should a situation arise. Then again, the man was 94 years old; they probably wouldn't have access to his money for too much longer.
Jeff had actually thought that implanting the Sultan was a bad idea from a public relations perspective (he thought it was a great idea from a financial perspective). Despite the goodwill the company built up via its work with Google, its video game engines, and its work alongside the US Army, the Collective was still unpopular with large segments of the population. Supposedly, the Sultan had been a devote Muslim (Jeff figured if that had been true he wouldn't have wanted the implant) and many religious groups found the idea of computer based immortality an abomination. Implanting a religious figure that was also the head of a country was definitely going to alienate people and make them suspicious. Hell, if nothing else the Collective could go down in history as something that the Israelis and Palestinians agreed on. On some days, the religious protesters outside the Collective compound outnumbered the senior citizens.
Then there were the people that hated the Collective because of the loss of individuality the transceivers caused. That group had remained small until several family members of implantees came forward about the personality changes in their loved ones, which brought a lot of media attention. Nothing like crying wives and parents to gain viewers. While Jeff thought the religious protesters were stuck with an archaic belief system that hindered scientific progress and rational thought, he at least understood why they were doing what they did. He did not understand the second group. People chose to get implanted and were told of the possible side effects. Were they not adults? Could they make their own decisions or did they have to consult with every family member first?
While the negative publicity wasn't having much effect on the Collective financially, it was hurting their recruitment efforts. The vast majority of the people that wanted to get implanted were elderly folks that were fearful of dying. Despite all the technological advances the Collective had made, there wasn't a huge influx of scientists wanting to get implanted. Despite solving all of Hilbert's Problems, there wasn't a huge influx of mathematicians wanting to get implanted. Despite the Collective's work with Google and video games, there wasn't a huge influx of nerds wanting to get implanted.
Jeff sat in his office puffing on a cigarette, reflecting on all the Collective had accomplished in the past two years. Every single week, he had to issue some kind of press release. The Collective wanted him putting out something newsworthy every week to keep the good things the company did in the forefronts' of people's minds. Things had stabilized over the past two months. The protesters had quieted down and with the manufacturing plant almost done, Jeff had decided to announce that the price of the neural transceiver operation would be cut in half once production began. While that had been met with a lot of praise, it didn't solve the issue of who wanted to get implanted. It wasn't the price that was turning people off from getting the operation, polling done by numerous media pundits proved that. The majority of people didn't want to get implanted because of the loss of privacy; they didn't like the idea of everyone on the network being able to know their every thought. It wasn't the change in personality that bothered people. It was the fear that the whole world might find out what porn you liked to watch that kept most people away.
Jeff's current assignment was to come up with something big that the Collective could do that would create a lot of people to seek to get implanted. He had no idea what to do (a rare occurrence for him), his brain was refusing to supply him with possibilities. So he was smoking in his office trying to think of what had been attempted in the past few years for some kind of inspiration to strike. Jeff was a genius, thinking up ways to amuse the plebs so that they would help society move forward shouldn't be his job. Those idiots should thank him for creating the neural transceivers; instead he got mocked by comedians on late night talk shows. Why had he even taken the job? Jeff couldn't get inside the heads of people who barely had enough cranial space to hold a grapefruit, let alone a brain. Besides, it wasn't like he actually needed public goodwill to implant a neural transceiver. The addictive nature of the transceivers meant that once they were implanted no one ever wanted to remove them. If he could trick people into getting them, problem solved...actually...that wasn't a bad idea. Jeff was the smartest man on the planet, if he thought something was a good idea, what did these yokels know? If they disagreed with him clearly they weren't smart enough to take care of themselves. It was his duty as the greatest scientific mind in the modern era to guide society towards its future.
OK, now he had something to work towards, this was more in line for what Jeff was accustomed to. How could he trick a bunch of slack-jawed sloped-forehead mouth-breathers into getting brain surgery? Maybe pay them? Jeff was almost positive the Collective was bringing in enough money from all its other ventures to be able to afford that. But no, that situation reeked of desperation. It was too simple, too obvious. Jeff could do better than that. Maybe...offer full college scholarships to inner city youths if they agreed to get implanted? Actually, it could be done under the pretext of testing out the neural transceivers' ability to assist in the learning process by making use of the stored knowledge in the neural network. The Collective even had the perfect excuse for implanting them: viral marketing. When all the students with the implants get straight A's everyone will know why. It's because they had access to a product that helped them study. The Collective would even, if the students wanted, remove the transceivers after the students had received their degrees, free of charge. This way the Collective would get them a wider range of people on the network and would build up positive relations with people since they were just trying to help make sure even the poor got an education.
A thought suddenly occurred to Jeff: for the most part, everyone with a neural transceiver lived in the United States. There were some Europeans but other than that, it was pretty much Americans on the neural network. The Collective had implanted the head of a country; they should make use of that. Sure, it was a small country that had almost no influence on international events and would probably be invaded by China soon, but it was still a country. Maybe the Sultan could start encouraging his military officers to get implanted? It could even be done in the interests of national security, a coup wouldn't be a threat because all the officers would trust one another if they were all implanted. Extend the same offer to remove the transceivers when their service in the military was done and this seemed like a great plan. Give it ten years and the Collective could control that entire country's military.
Jeff put his cigarette out and quickly began typing up his proposal. He was tempted to title it Screw Public Opinion, They Are Morons Anyway but decided to go with something a bit less confrontational Manipulation of American Metropolitan Juvenescence/Acquisition of Brunei Bureaucratic Combatants. He was pretty sure the Collective would agree with his plan, they pretty much always did agree whenever he suggested something. At one point Jeff had been worried they were only doing it because they looked up to him but then he remembered that he really was that smart and if he suggested it, they would be stupid not to listen to him.
Borg Collective Headquarters March 2, 2050 AD
It was days like today that Jeff truly enjoyed his job. Sure, at times he missed being a researcher. Passing ideas to the science teams that worked at the Collective helped scratch that itch, but it wasn't the same as actually coming up with the ideas and doing the work himself. But then again, doing research didn't allow for certain opportunities that being the public spokesperson for worldwide high-tech company did. Today, Jeff got to go in front of a group of reporters and tell them that, once again, the Borg Collective had invented something that would revolutionize society. The Collective had become an increasingly polarizing subject in the past five years and many reporters and media types were firmly in the anti-Collective camp (although how much of that was simply because they hated dealing with Jeff remains to be seen) so Jeff took particular pleasure in gloating about how much good the Collective was doing so that he could rub it in their faces. And boy, did he need some good news to report considering all the crap that happened in 2045.
Numerous events took place over a couple of months five years ago. The Collective had developed several different prosthetic limbs and organs that were so advanced they could be considered better than most people's organic parts in terms of strength, dexterity, and effectiveness. What's more, the Collective had begun amputating perfectly healthy limbs of some of its employees to replace them with the prosthetic limbs. This caused an uproar amongst the people that hated the neural transceivers for suppressing individuality. Whereas before they were simply a large group of angry citizens seeking to have (mostly) peaceful protests, this act caused many of them to unify and form Humanity Front. Humanity Front was a violent anti-Collective group with the stated goal of keeping humanity "pure." Jeff found it amusing that while the group was comprised of people from a variety of races and social strata, the most vocal members were former inductees of the KKK. The Collective gave the racists something they hated even more than people of color. They would blow up a Collective transport truck now or whip a protesting mob into a frenzy but so far they hadn't done anything too major.
In addition to the limb replacement, another issue that brought about negative reactions from many people was when the neural network reached a sort of critical mass. There were so many people implanted with the transceivers that their personalities went through another shift. Whereas before, anyone implanted had their emotions strongly suppressed but still there, now they all had absolutely no emotion. Everyone on the neural network no longer smiled or frowned. They all had blank expressions on their faces and thought in much more logical terms now. This ended up outing many people who had had their neural transceivers installed secretly which sent shock-waves around the globe because most people didn't realize just how many people had gotten implanted.
Things were especially bad in Brunei where the majority of people in charge had already been discreetly implanted; several lower ranking officers in the army ended up attempted a coup. It failed, but as punishment every one of the attempted traitors was implanted with a neural transceiver. That would have made Jeff's job really hard except the story never made it out of Brunei. Here he was trying to make the transceivers seem like something you want to purchase for yourself, and here another country was using it in place of execution. What's more, once the Collective realized that people weren't terribly upset about it (Jeff thought they were just scared of the government cracking down on them), they abolished the death penalty in Brunei and replaced it with being permanently implanted with a neural transceiver.
The main problem for Americans was the utter lack of emotion implanted people displayed. It was unsettling to any non-implanted person they interacted with (even Jeff found it a little odd at first). The slang term of 'drones' had been given to anyone with a transceiver because they were as emotional as ants or bees; the Collective was just a hive that they belonged to (even the ones that didn't actually work for the Collective were still seen as a part of it). While intended to be derogatory, the Collective had decided to start using the term because they thought it was accurate. Everyone with a neural implant now referred to themselves as a drone, despite Jeff pointing out that most people still viewed it as a bad thing, accurate or not.
Another problem that sprang up in 2045 was when a report by the United States government ended up on WikiLeaks. The report made the observation that the Collective had so many highly trained retired commandos in its employee it could take out the government of any third world country on the planet. It went on further to recommend that these commandos should be hired as a paramilitary group by the government just so no other groups attempted to hire them. While it was generally well known that the Collective was founded by a group of people who had been in the military, it wasn't until this report was released that people seemed to realize that just because someone retired from the military didn't mean they immediately forgot how to use a gun. Jeff had found that entire situation annoying because the Collective wouldn't have taken the offer anyway, mercenary work did absolutely zero to improve a company's image (Blackwater and DynCorp proved that). Yet, he had to go on all sorts of news shows to assure people that no, the Collective were not guns-for-hire and wouldn't attempt to overthrow any countries. Just because they had a lot of highly trained killers at their disposal didn't mean the Collective actually wanted to make use of them. And, of course, shortly after Jeff finished the media tour someone smuggled footage out of Brunei showing that the majority of military officers and numerous high ranking government officials (including the entire royal family) had been implanted with neural transceivers. Jeff didn't believe in coincidences or God, but he came real close to doing so after that particular incident. He then had to go on all the damn news shows again to explain that those people willing got implanted. The Collective was a business that sold a product and the numerous Bruneians decided to buy said product. Considering it only cost about as much as a slightly used car to get a neural transceiver nowadays, Jeff didn't know why it was strictly the upper class of Brunei that were getting implanted.
All that negative publicity was in the past because very shortly Jeff would make an announcement that would change the world. The Collective, through the use of a football field sized machine dubbed Phlebotinum, had discovered a way to create nuclear fusion. This was the Holy Grail of energy. This discovery would solve the entire world's energy problems. This was going to have a big BIG impact on global politics.
Ten years ago, there were only two oil producing nations left in the western hemisphere: Canada and the United States. All the countries in Central and South America (and the various islands in the Caribbean) had already been annexed to become states under the control of the American government. When the Canadian economy took a hit from a subprime mortgage crisis, the American government had quickly sent in troops to help quell riots. Jeff wasn't sure of the details but somehow Canada ended up becoming the one hundredth and first United State of America in 2042. Given how often rebellions sprang up and had to be put down, the US military pulled out of pretty much every location not in the western hemisphere to better protect its own interests. China (apparently in an attempt to emulate America) decided that acquiring land under the guise of helping was a much better idea than flat out invasion so some Chinese commandos blew up the Kaaba in Saudi Arabia. This angered so many Muslims that riots broke out all over the world. The Islamic riots gave China (and India to a lesser extent) an excuse to move into the Middle East to provide stability. Considering how many smaller countries had been gobbled up by superpowers over the past two decades, Jeff was amazed that most of the smaller Pacific Island countries had remained independent. He guessed it was due to China, India, and Japan constantly fighting their three-way proxy war of control. If any of the countries started gaining control of any countries, the other two would move in to stop it. But all that would stop now. Once the news of cost-effective nuclear fusion got released, many of the world's superpowers would have no financial reason to control a lot of the land they currently occupied.
Jeff paced in the green room, waiting it to be three o'clock so he could walk onstage and present the news to the reporters. He was glad the Collective had decided to build a press room. If the President of the United States had one in the White House, Jeff ought to have one too. After all, he was at least important as the President, if not more so. He was currently debating whether or not he should walk out there and laugh manically. OK, so it was only ever done by supervillains by it was sure to be therapeutic after all the nonsense Jeff had to put up with from the reporters over the years. The only other non-implanted person that worked for the Collective looked up at Jeff from the chair where he had been napping.
"Dr. Borg, walking back and forth isn't going to make time move any quicker so why don't you just relax man. Take a chill, dude." Thurgood Jenkins was a complete moron; Jeff did not understand why the Collective had chosen to hire him, of all the people that applied for the job. Yes, the Public Relations Department needed another person since Jeff couldn't be everywhere but really...Thurgood? The stoner was who had been hired, not the marketing executive from Coca Cola noooooo, the stoner. Even more confusing was how the man had managed to hold down this job for over a year now. He dressed like he was on vacation in Hawaii and always smelled like cannabis, not to mention his manner of speaking was just so annoying.
"Look you incompetent layabout, you need to appreciate the magnitude of what it is that I am about to do! I am going to go out onto that stage and give a speech that will change the course of human history. Cheap, efficient energy! Fossil fuels will be a thing of the past! No more wars for oil! How can you be so calm when I am about to prove all those reporters out there wrong when they made claims that the Collective was the living embodiment of the anti-Christ?"
"Because you're the gay sea otter dude, not me." Thurgood responded while staring at the ceiling.
"I...uh...what?"
"You're going to blow all of them out of the water. You're the one giving that speech, not me. So why should I get worked up over it?"
"...your analogy appears to have temporarily shut down multiple neural pathways in my brain. I'm going to need a minute before I can think properly." Jeff walked over to the chair opposite of Thurgood and promptly collapsed into the seat.
"Ya see Dr. Borg, your brain is a like a car. It runs fine when you take care of it, but if you decide to suddenly take it off roading in Colorado when its only ever driven in downtown Malibu, its libable to break down on you. You gots to ease into taking it off road. Buy it proper tires and such. I have an uncle that owns a Ford Dealership outside of Los Angeles, tell him I sent you and he'll give you a good deal on tires."
When talking with most people, it was Jeff who could go on and on with the other person having no idea what the conversation was about. This was a rare exception where Jeff was utterly clueless as to what was going on. "Thurgood...what are you talking about?"
"I don't know man, I don't know."
Jeff put his head in his hands and let out a long groan but quickly sat up straight when someone knocked on the door. "Please, come in! Is it 3 o'clock yet?"
The man that walked in could barely be described as such. His left arm was a jumble of gears and tubes with a hand big enough to encircle a basketball. His right arm looked far more normal, other than the fact that it didn't end it a hand; instead it had a several different nozzles poking out of the wrist. Judging from the various bumps that were visible underneath his shirt, the man must have also had numerous cybernetic implants in his torso. The most noticeable change to the man's physic was that he had three robotic legs, which gave him an unusual gait as he walked into the room. The man's head didn't look like a head; it looked like a junkyard had taken a dump on his shoulders. Jeff couldn't see a mouth, eyes, or anything that could be recognized as belonging to a human's face. Yet, a rather pleasant voice originated from somewhere in the mass of metal that protected the brain as he spoke, "Greetings Dr. Borg, Mr. Jenkins. It is now time for your speeches. Dr. Borg shall go first, and then Mr. Jenkins can give his speech."
"Awesome, tripod man. Once the good doctor tells people about the nuclear power, I can drop my bomb...not that I'd drop a bomb. Bombs are dangerous. I might blow myself up or something. Tripod, make a note to the Collective, I am not allowed to handle bombs."
"Noted."
"Thurgood, shut up. And you!" Jeff said pointing at the cyborg "Don't encourage him. Now, let's go make history." Jeff and Thurgood got up from their chairs and followed Tripod out of the green room. As they walked to the doorway that led to the stage Jeff took some deep breaths. He was really regretting quitting cigarettes right now. When Jeff's doctors had told him he might have lung cancer the Collective had immediately sunk two years worth of their cybernetic research budget into developing and building a new set of lungs for him. The growths turned out to be benign but the whole situation had scared Jeff into giving up tobacco. Still, it was nice to know he had an extra set of lungs waiting for him if his original set ever gave out.
Tripod opened the door the press room and Jeff stepped through, with Thurgood following behind him. Jeff ignored the reporters as they started shouting questions at him. Thurgood took a seat at the chair stage left of the podium as Jeff sorted his note cards before tapping the microphones to quiet the reporters down.
"Assembled simpletons and cretins, I hate you all. You have never bothered to quote me in context and have constantly portrayed the Collective has something Hitler would create if brought back to life. So allow me to show you my true feelings towards everyone gathered here." With that Jeff lifted both of his arms high and proceeded to show both his middle fingers to the cameras. After a full minutes Jeff lowered his arms and began speaking again. "No doubt, many of the people at home watching this think I am being a conceited dickhead. They are only half right, because I was being conceited. You see, I am allowed to be arrogant because I am one of two public spokespersons for a company that has just changed the trajectory of human development. The Collective has found a way to create nuclear fusion. Some people watching this are unaware of the significance of this discovery, mainly because they decided 6th grade was good enough and they didn't need another six years when there were so many sheep that needed loving. To those people I say this: baaaa means no. Also: once the proper infrastructure is built, your energy bill will be slightly above zero. With nuclear fusion, the same way the Sun creates energy I might add, we can create so much power for so little effort that the biggest cost will simply be upkeep of the lines taking the power to you. Goodbye oil. Goodbye coal. Goodbye all that ineffective green crap. Hello thermo-nuclear fusion, courtesy of the Collective. You're welcome human race. Any questions from the charlatans gather here today?"
Whether it was from the shock of announcement or Jeff's sheer ballieness in which he delivered it, none of the reporters said anything. They just stared at the stage. Jeff looked at the sea of faces, enjoying the various levels of disbelief written across the crowd. "Well then, I shall turn the podium over to my coworker, Thurgood Jenkins." Thurgood got up as Jeff walked over to the door. He was planning on leaving but realized he had never actually seen Thurgood do any work before, so this might be entertaining. Plus he didn't actually know what Thurgood's announcement was. Jeff could have asked anyone in the Collective but up until this very moment hadn't really cared.
"Hehe alright. Greeeetings and salutations. I am Thurgood Jenkins. When it comes time for questions, you are allowed one Leroy joke. Now then, for my talking points. First off, Dr. Borg was telling the truth. We have lots and lots of energy. More energy than my aunt Selma after her fourth espresso shot in the morning. And her sister Patti can attest that that is a lot of energy man. Second, I am announcing our partnership with GE to supply that energy to Americans. We are looking forward to all the good things this partnership will bring...but uh...it's platonic OK? Nothing gay going on with GE, we don't swing that way. Well, Dr. Borg might, I've never seen him with a woman. Which is weird because he is a sexy man. That salt-and-pepper hair of his? Damn fine. Plus, he's always clean-shaven so ladies don't have to worry about beard burn."
Jeff wasn't sure if he should be amusing or horrified. Thurgood was just as big of an idiot on stage as he was off stage. Compared to him, Jeff was a government sanctioned diplomat. On the other hand, Thurgood had apparently come out of the closet while attempting to get Jeff a date on international television.
"OK, where was I? Oh right, second. We are working with GE to bring power to Americans. At the moment we are focusing on creating the infrastructure for North America, but we hope to move southward within three...ish years. Fourth, the Collective has had a space program for several years now. We've launched several satellites and even sent a doggie up there. I do miss Krypto. Well, thanks to our recent power discovery, it is suddenly a lot easier to send a rocket up. Nuclear powered rockets cut the fuel costs in half. Instead of costing $24,000 a kilogram, now it only costs about $12,000. We actually have successful sent people up there last week, who have returned safely. It was fun; I only threw up twice...going up. I threw up three times while up there and once more on the trip back. Starting next month, we will began research into a rocket that better uses the power of the fusion reactor. So, any of you goobers got some questions for me? And remember the Leroy rule."
Jeff was almost sort of impressed. Thurgood managed to stay on topic for that part of his speech, even if he did say two twice and apparently skipped over three. The reporters seemed to have finally recovered from Jeff's speech to realize they should ask some questions.
A reporter in the front row hesitantly asked "Mr. Jenkins, when Dr. Borg talked about how we could forget oil and coal because of nuclear fusion, is that true?"
"No. Well, not exactly. Maybe. Probably. Nuclear fusion works so much more betterer than other energy sources that it is so much cheaper to buy our energy instead of buying energy from...not us. Once we get the car maker people to use our technology, you won't need to fill up the gas tank every week. You'll only need to...uh, buy our energy once a...longer period.
"Mr. Jenkins, considering how closely tied the Collective is to the US military, do you find it at all suspicious that this discovery was made only after Canada was forcefully annexed into the United States for its oil?" A rather angry looking woman asked.
"That was, like, years ago lady. Like more than several. When it's been that many years it goes from suspicious coincidence to...stuff. It happened. Canada joined the US, we discovered nuclear fusion. Way back when, the United States had the Revolutionary War against England then we discovered peanut butter. Simple as that."
The angry reporter didn't seem to know how to respond and so she sat down in her chair in a daze, and suddenly Jeff understood why the Collective had hired Thurgood. The man didn't get angry, didn't get upset, even when confront with a clearly biased reporter. Thurgood just acted the same as he always did, utterly nonsensical until the reporter would have to give up. So that was why Jeff had been given no one-on-one interviews with reporters known to dislike the Collective since Thurgood had been hired. He would have to buy Thurgood a drink later. Seeing as how many of the gathered reporters had rather pensive looks on their faces as they tried to make sense of Thurgood's rambling, Jeff figured now would be a good time to duck out. Motioning for Tripod to open the door to the hallway, Jeff walked out of the room.
As Jeff walked back to his office he couldn't help but think about what Thurgood had said. The Collective had created a reliable atmospheric exit rocket? This really was big news, especially since it was a private company and not NASA that had done it. Granted, at the moment they could only float around in orbit, but still, legitimate space travel to the Moon couldn't be that far behind. Then again, what purpose was there to building a colony on the Moon? Tourism certainly, but was there any other reason? Scientific testing in low gravity environments was the only other thing that was coming to Jeff's mind. It wasn't like the Moon had a lot of rare minerals that could be mined; most were just as easily found on Earth.
Jeff had to admit he was surprised that when the Collective figured out nuclear fusion, space travel was what they decided to apply that power to. It made some sense, 90% of a rocket's weight was in the fuel so the switch to nuclear fusion should make space travel financially viable. Still, space travel wouldn't have been Jeff's first thought when attempting to think of what to improve with nuclear fusion on. Jeff did wonder what would have come of the Collective space program if nuclear fusion hadn't been discovered. Yes, they had sent up a dog (considering the dog had been named Baxter and that it had safely made it back to Earth, Jeff had no idea what Thurgood had been talking about when he mentioned Krypto) as well as several communication satellites to increase the transmission speed of the neural network, but there hadn't been any attempts to make money off of it until now. Regardless, Jeff looked forward to seeing where things went from here.
Author's Note: The amount of research I've had to do the past week to make sure the science works is far more than I ever expected. My story outline had warp drives being created this chapter until I realized that impulse drive should be created first. So when I looked up how impulse drives worked I found out they were powered by nuclear fusion, so I had to go research that. The more I learned about that the more I realized I would have to alter my story plans because its such a big deal in terms of how much energy can be put out with that. Because of that, I have no idea when the next chapter will be done. On the plus side, this is my longest chapter yet.