The Future of Us (The Future of Sex Book 12) Read online

  “But it will be distinguishable, won’t it, Brad?” Chloe said, another piece slotting into place. “Because it will be more extreme. Better sensory excitement, stronger orgasms, that sort of thing?”

  “And better fantasy fulfillment. That’s something we’ve learned in part from you, Chloe.”

  “Because I’m intuitive and also connected to the network, you mean? Are you saying that the AI has learned to model Crossbrace and Beam users in the same way I model clients in the spas? I see what they want most and I deliver it. And that’s what I’m teaching it to do? Is that what O says when they say I’m the future of sex -- that I will be the one to show The Beam how to deliver the ultimate fuck?”

  “A bit crude,” Brad said, “but correct.”

  Chloe thought. It fit.

  But it also didn’t.

  Chloe sent her mind back to the encounter with Alexa. O’s visionary had, through their entire encounter, seemed like a changed woman. Or perhaps a converted woman.

  Alexa had her focus on legacy — on seeing into the future, toward what was best for all … and what, ultimately, was meant to happen for a reason.

  And then Chloe saw it: This truly was about the future.

  “Would you be willing to make a prediction?”

  “What kind of a prediction, Chloe?”

  “Let’s say you keep learning my lessons, about analyzing human sexuality and adapting to it. Let’s assume you are excellent students. What will sex look like in ten years? Twenty years? Hell … forty years?”

  “It’s impossible to say. There are far too many variables and the system itself is turbulent, dictated in part by mathematical chaos.”

  “Just try. Take a guess. What does the future of sex look like to you, given its current trajectory?”

  Brad took a moment to think. An affectation, obviously; The Beam could “think” in nanoseconds.

  “It won’t be long before immersions like the one you saw at O become mainstream. As they do — as more and more users engage with the technology — your economic rules and the rising pace of technological advancement should force down the prices, and then more people will use it. Innovation in neural interfacing has stalled, but that’s largely due to human engineers’ conceptual limitations. Beam AI will solve it and the stall will break. At that point, we will see full sensory immersion. Users will be able to hook themselves to a machine and completely experience themselves in another place, with no limitations.”

  “That means I could sit here,” Chloe said, “but feel with every fiber of me and every one of my senses as if I were having sex with ten strapping young men beside an infinity pool in Bora Bora?”

  “Yes,” Brad said.

  “How will it compare to a true, normal human sexual experience?”

  “It will be far superior. In a sensory immersion, with natural senses dampened and replaced by new senses, there is no erectile dysfunction, performance anxiety, or sexually transmitted diseases. There is no risk of unwanted pregnancy. No need for attachments — or, to quote some of your favorite movies — ‘no big messy head games about what it all means.’ People will be able to go in, get off in any way they want, and get out. Orgasms can be enhanced. Nerves can be set alight with a switch.”

  “Okay,” Chloe said. “What about connection? What about companionship?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “If the best sex is virtual,” Chloe asked. “Where will people find their connection to other people?”

  “With friends, perhaps. Or with family.”

  “You don’t sound sure,” Chloe said.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Then forget about the future. Forget about guessing at what people will think and feel. Instead, pretend that all you described has actually happened. Pretend that right here and now, that’s how things are. I don’t need a man to get off. I can plug into The Beam and instantly have every little thing I want.”

  “Okay,” Brad said.

  “In your opinion — yours, Brad’s, not anyone else’s — what’s the point of true human-to-human physical connection? Or even better: what’s the point of love?”

  Brad hesitated.

  “I actually want to know, Brad. Don’t hold back on me now.”

  “I would rather not make the prediction, Chloe.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can see into you. Because right now, I have a fair idea about what you feel.”

  “What do I feel?”

  “Hurt. Sad.”

  “Then make me feel better by satisfying my curiosity,” Chloe said. “Don’t leave me on pins and needles. Tell me what you think, Brad: when Beam sex surpasses natural sex in every measurable way, what would be your opinion on the place of love?”

  Brad exhaled, all too human.

  “My opinion,” he finally said, “is that as humanity and The Beam move closer and closer together, your concept of ‘love’ will become—”

  “Secondary? Frivolous?”

  “Actually, I was going to say obsolete.”

  Chloe closed her eyes, feeling the weight of his word.

  “The poets were right all along. Love is ephemeral. Otherworldly. It defies explanation.”

  “I’m sorry, Chloe. It is not something The Beam is equipped to understand.”

  In the darkness, with her eyes still closed, Chloe heard Alexa’s voice again:

  The future of sex means the future of this world. And the future of this world is the future of us.

  The code rewriting itself. The Beam evolving right in front of her, learning and inspired. And behind it all, another thing Alexa had told her:

  Even you can’t change The Beam, Chloe. At least not by yourself.

  She opened her eyes.

  “Brad.”

  “Yes, Chloe?”

  “I need you to make a call for me … and be ready to take notes.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “So much for telling me everything, I suppose?”

  Alexa looked up. The door to her private office at O was open. Parker was in her doorway, waiting for an invitation like the whiny little bitch he always was.

  Still her friend.

  Still her confidant.

  And still an arrogant, obnoxious prick so much of the time.

  “Thanks for coming. Have a seat.”

  “So, what? Am I here for an interview now? Would you like me to sit across from your big desk so you can decide whether you want to keep me in your company?”

  Alexa set her tablet aside. She crossed her hands on the desk’s smooth, black, Beam surface and met Parker’s eyes. She sent him a thousand words before uttering one with her lips. They had plenty of history and their quest for an avatar in common. They barely needed words. Alexa could call him a little bitch from miles away.

  Parker sat, his manner still self-righteous. Alexa tapped a key on the desk and the door closed, sealing them in privacy.

  “So,” Alexa said. “Is this your first trip to the big city, little boy?”

  “I’m hardly in the mood for—”

  “Oh, shut your mouth, Parker. Holding your ego like a daisy is exhausting. I don’t need you to do much to support what’s coming. I’ll handle most of it. Mainly I need you to do one thing. Do you think you can handle that?”

  “Depends on what the thing is, and if you’ll give me the permission to do it.”

  “I need you to stop feeling so goddamn sorry for yourself. You’re my partner and always have been. If you still can’t bring yourself to believe that, then I can’t help you.”

  Parker bristled.

  “I told the board what they needed to hear,” Alexa said, answering the question that was surely on his mind. “Once they get over themselves, they’ll be glad I took Chloe away. She’s too much to understand, even for us. They have to protest because they don’t want me to get anything without a fight, but the truth is she’s always felt like a distraction to the others. They can’t put her neatly in a box — escort? Porn st
ar? Company celebrity? — and they can’t approach her holistically. Uncertainty bugs them, whereas I appreciate that it is core to why Chloe matters.”

  “Okay.” Parker didn't look quite comfortable yet. But his face started to relax, as he trusted her more.

  “The situation with Chloe has already become more confusing to the others and will only get worse. Is she our top escort? Apparently not, now that she won’t fuck other guys. That bothers the others. They’ll be so much happier if they never have to think of her again.”

  “And the billions of credits you asked for? The blank check?”

  “It’s blank for a reason,” Alexa said. “I only have the vaguest idea how I’ll use it. How we’ll use it, assuming you still want to be involved.”

  Alexa thought he’d say, are you going to let me be involved? in his poutiest voice, but again he said nothing.

  Good boy, Parker.

  “But you do have some idea?” Parker asked instead.

  Alexa nodded. “A lot is up in the air. But yes.”

  “Strategic realignment, like you told the others?”

  “In time. Something tells me that Chloe will steer us in new directions, and I want to be able to capitalize.”

  “Capitalize? Really? This isn’t just about spirituality for you, Alexa? I thought you wanted to work for the greatest good since everything happens for a reason. I thought you wanted to change the world for the better.”

  “You know me, Parker. I don’t believe in or; I believe in and. Of course there’s a spiritual component to this, and I want to help the world. Same as I’ve always done.”

  “Is that what this has always been about? Silly me. I thought we were looking for profit.”

  “You know my mantra, Parker. ‘Change the world, then monetize it.’ I’d have thought you would have that figured out by now. This — where Chloe will take us — is where we always wanted to go. But along the way, I want to capitalize. O doesn’t just lead the industry; O leads the NAU. As long as we flinch in the right direction, we’ll stay ahead and make our billions back. What do you think I am, stupid? This is easy pickings. No reason this saint can’t have a full wallet.”

  Parker watched Alexa for a moment, then barked a small laugh. “Did Alexa Mathis just make a joke? I never thought I’d see the day.”

  “You should know something else,” Alexa said, back to business.

  Parker raised his eyebrows.

  “I met with Panel.” She tipped her head, eyes to one side. “Well. With part of Panel. It was important that it wasn’t an official meeting for a few reasons.”

  “And?”

  Alexa ran through the encounter and held nothing back. Secrets were as exhausting as tending Parker’s ego.

  “The government database?” Parker said.

  “That’s right.”

  “That was your price? And fucking Respero? Why do you want all those records of people ‘humanely disposed of’ by the state?”

  “I’m sure we’ll find some way to use it,” Alexa said, holding her lone remaining idea close. “I had to ask for something or I’d be drawing their attention to the fact that they had me by the neck if they wanted to.”

  “I don’t even understand why they’d give it to you. You told them about Chloe. Why didn’t they all get together, pile on, and take her out of your hands … or kill her?”

  “Because if they’re smart, they know there’s no point. Chloe basically dropped ink into a water glass. Killing her now doesn’t take the ink from the water.”

  “But she can do more. She can imprint upon The Beam even further.”

  Alexa nodded. “That’s what we’re counting on. That’s what, in some way, shape, or form, we’ll need at least part of the board’s appropriated money for. But the damage Panel cares about is already done. I did them a favor. Chances were excellent that they’d have figured it out eventually, and then I’d have really been in some deep shit. This way, I was able to take control. It was my idea to bring it to them, and now they can all adapt their businesses so they’re better prepared for the changes that Chloe will bring to The Beam — and profit off of it, same as we plan to.”

  “What about Noah West? You didn’t tell him that our girl is messing up his tidy little Beam.” Parker held out another hand, offering another point: “Or that he has a daughter.”

  “Noah will be dead in a year or two. Until then, he’ll be up to his neck preparing for the rollout. It’s mostly the two of them for this final push, you know: just Noah and that guy Steve York. The grapevine says that he’s pissed off everyone else at Quark too much. They want to hang him up.”

  “Or hold him high,” Parker said, “like a god.”

  “Such is the fate of all true geniuses,” Alexa said.

  The office was silent. Seconds passed.

  “What’s next?” Parker asked.

  “We wait.”

  “For what?”

  “For Chloe.”

  “Don’t make me drag this out of you, Alexa. What are we waiting for Chloe to do?”

  Alexa sighed. She’d have to trust that Parker would understand the meat, even though he’d heard its bones already.

  “The Beam is an organism, Parker. A hive mind made of individual intelligences, just like humanity has been since the Internet found its legs. As a whole, it has whims and desires and goals. It’s incredibly powerful and knows almost everything there is to know, but it’s still a baby. It has knowledge but not experience. Information but very little context. It’s been operating in the framework Noah built for it — a lens not unlike Noah sees the world through. If his lens had been its only one, The Beam would have grown into an entity that sought only to learn more and become more.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “Without temperance? Yes. Just because a next level can be achieved doesn’t mean it should be. Fortunately, Noah’s seed AIs were tempered almost immediately — before Crossbrace, even — by this guy Costa’s influence. Noah worried a lot about what Costa would mean to The Beam. But that’s because Noah looks out for himself. The way I see it, Costa’s imprint made the AI more thoughtful. Unlike raw-Noah AI, it looks before it leaps.”

  “And now you want Chloe to teach it, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what will she add to The Beam, before it’s nationwide?”

  “Connection. Love, even.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  Alexa sighed. This was the hard part: even if she was about to correct a straying society, Alexa had to admit that she was the reason for its misdirection.

  “We’ve discussed this with the board, Parker. And the fact that they’ve never truly understood is one big reason that I insisted Chloe be taken out of their hands. It’s too late to keep arguing about whether what we did, with our big social engineering project, was the right thing to do. We need to shift, not argue. Act, not debate.”

  “You want to reverse everything we did to get here? Everything that has underpinned this company’s success? Now you want to throw it all away?”

  “As the expression goes, what got us here won’t get us there.”

  “But these are the principles O was founded on. I must be misunderstanding.”

  “You’re not misunderstanding, Parker. What we did to normalize sex and bring it into the mainstream worked for a time, but now it’s pointed us in the wrong direction. We’ve argued for more sexual freedom, more liberation, more mainstreaming of what was once a private impulse and activity. But now it’s on an upward spiral, headed out of control.”

  “You want to rewind the clock and return society to the days of repression? You want people ashamed to be sexual again? Maybe the church can start preaching hate against those they don’t see as normal. Get back into castrations and chastity belts. Should we start beating gays? Shame women and clap men on the back for scoring on damaged, guilt-ridden girls?”

  “No, no, of course not. For once, it would be nice to settle somewhere in the middle.”<
br />
  Parker shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t see why. Innovation is this company’s cornerstone. We were the first to create truly usable virtual reality. We added touch replication to video chat. We were the first to start using nanobots in Houston’s toys. Half of Xenia’s biological add-ons — cybernetic penis implants, vibrating vaginas, eye implants for enhanced reality so people could feel like they were fucking wherever they wanted — that’s all because of us. Hell, look at what’s brewing in our R&D department, Alexa. Look at the goddamn immersion framework!”

  Parker was standing, milling, getting worked up as he remembered new gadgets on O’s old lineup.

  “In ten, twenty years, we’ll be able to take that same immersion framework and pipe it directly into a user’s head. What will that do to the market and our share of it once we can make people truly feel like they’re in another place? We can let people fuck each other from across the country, through The Beam. Look how realistic the VR is starting to get, too. Shit, in no time they’ll cross the uncanny valley and you won’t even be able to tell virtual recreations from the real thing. What will that mean for sexual innovation? We’re pushing the ball forward for everyone, Alexa, but it sounds to me like you want to throw it all away?”

  Alexa kept her voice calm, raising a hand. She didn’t stand to match Parker’s frantic energy.

  “Not throw it away. Change its direction. We’ve been saying this sort of thing for years. Privately and publicly, Parker. The whole reason we even put Andrew into play with Chloe was to study the Girlfriend Experience.”

  Parker scoffed.

  “Not more. Less. Remember that, Parker? Chloe can do things with Andrew using just her body that we’ve not seen anywhere else. Hell, half her sessions with clients didn’t use any of the toys or top-of-the-line enhancers we put in the rooms with her. She’s simultaneously the most advanced and most antiquated sexual experiment this company has ever seen. We’ve been holding her up like she’s the next step, but by all accounts, she’s flat-out backward. Nanos and microsurgery don’t make Chloe special. It’s that simplicity ends up looking like something new because we’ve forgotten the trick of being human.”