146: Writing the Future (LIVE at Kelly Writers House!)

You and Megan walk away from the center of the hall and the looming bulk of the whale over to a corner where there's a coral reef exhibit with tiny little clownfish and other tropical fish whose names you don't know pinned into place as they would have swum in life against a backdrop of preserved coral.

I got your message, you say.

The one you sent to Yujin.

That's YJ's instance.

I guess you were obliquely asking if I'd gotten it the last time we talked.

Why did you give this to me? I appreciate the heads up, but it seems...

You watch Megan, who is watching the fish who aren't moving.

I am going to tell you something too sensitive for the USB drive, Megan says.

I can provide proof once your clearance goes through if you agree with me on how to handle the situation.

Okay, you say.

I didn't tell you how the conversation between Drew and I went when we were trying to figure out what to do with mitosis.

Drew is YJ's new boss and used to be Megan's boss.

Drew wanted to take the product to market before reporting it.

The whole package, total capabilities, and I wanted to take everything to IIS so they would bury it, Megan says.

I hadn't thought what we'd develop would be so deployable, so unobtrusive.

It's the sort of tech that can be hidden in doorways, in lampposts.

Hell, you could get two guys to hold them while walking down the street.

So we argued about it.

Me, Drew, a couple of others, but really mostly just me and Drew.

Because the concept of taking the whole thing to market was his baby.

He wanted to follow the tech playbook.

Move fast, break things, change the world.

Or at least secure your exit before the authorities have a chance to regulate.

I thought this would get us all put in jail.

And, you know, I didn't want to work in a world where Drew was in charge of the entire phenomenon of instancing.