40. Libby #2
“What are you doing here? I didn’t even know you were in the country!” Talia enveloped Libby in a hug, and Libby let herself melt into it. There were many times, growing up, when she’d needed the comfort of her big sister’s arms, and being here with her felt so right.
Libby squeezed her sister for a second longer before letting go. “I wanted to surprise you.”
Talia raised a brow, assessing her.
“What, I can’t fly halfway across the globe because I miss my big sister?” Libby said.
“Of course you can, but I know you too well, and the way you’re shuffling your feet means there’s something else on your mind. Is the baby okay?”
“Don’t worry; the baby’s great. But you’re right—there is something else I wanted to talk to you about. Can we go upstairs?”
When the elevator opened on the Ideal Life offices, a young woman with red hair stood waiting, bouncing on her toes.
“Oh my god, Libby, it’s really you,” she gushed. “I am such a fan. You and Jacob are living the dream. I want my future to be a combination of Talia’s and yours. You are, like, the most successful sister duo ever.”
Talia smiled. “Libby, meet Erin Berg, our intern. She’s whip-smart and has been such an asset to us this summer.”
Libby shook Erin’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Erin. And you must really be excellent, because Talia tends to attract the best people to work with her.”
Erin blushed. “Thank you. Um, sorry to bother you, I know you two probably have a lot to do, but could I beg you for a selfie? My roommate loves you, too, and she’d die to see a picture of us together.”
“Of course!” Libby was so used to posing with fans it only took a few seconds for Erin to get a variety of great shots.
They left her in the reception area furiously sending the photos to her roommate.
As soon as they reached Talia’s office and the door closed, though, Libby shed the public version of herself and got down to business.
“So, Sam called. He said you needed me.”
Talia sighed and flopped onto the purple couch. “I’m sorry. We’re… going through some stuff. But he really shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, actually, I think he did the right thing.” Libby sat down and took both of her sister’s hands.
“He’s worried about you. He told us everything, including this”—she tapped the watch face—“and about the Omni deal and that you need to get out of it. And Talia… honestly, you look like shit run over by a truck five times. Maybe ten. Only your sister can tell you that to your face. So it’s not just Sam who’s worried. I am, too.”
“I’m—” Talia began.
“No, please, let me finish,” Libby said.
“All my life, you’ve been the one who was fine.
It didn’t matter if you really were or not; for my sake, you had to be.
It’s impossible to count the number of times that you’ve been there for me, whether saving me from our parents forgetting they had to feed us, saving me from myself when I said yes as a freshman to prom with that asshole senior, or always being the first to like my and Jacob’s videos from the very start of our careers when we filmed grainy, shaky footage and didn’t know a thing about what we were doing.
“My point is, let me have my turn to help you. Sam said there’s a termination penalty if you walk away from Omni’s acquisition of Ideal Life.
Jacob and I want to help pay it. I know, I know, you’re surprised your baby sister has so much money, but being a creator can be shockingly lucrative, which is why it’ll be hard to walk away…
but I’ll get to that. We don’t quite have the million dollars to kill the Omni deal, but we have half.
And if you’re okay with it, we can start a fundraiser with our followers to get the rest? ”
Talia stared at her, unable to speak.
“Consider it an investment in Ideal Life. There’s no one I believe in more than you, Talia.
You’ve always had such a good heart, on top of being smart.
If there is anyone who can actually make a positive difference in this crazy world, it’s you.
Also, this can be my first foray into tech startups.
It’s something I’m interested in learning more about. ”
“You want to be an angel investor?” Talia said, still clearly trying to catch up in the wonderfully upside-down version of the world where Libby was saving her.
Libby nodded. “Jacob and I have decided to quit the creator life. It was a hard decision, but the industry has changed a lot from when we started, and we don’t want to compete with AI personalities anymore. Plus, we want to raise our family here, near you and Mom and Dad.”
“I would love if you were here,” Talia said. “But Libby, you don’t have to invest in Ideal Life. I-I took care of the problem, without using the watch.”
“You did? Where did you get a million dollars?”
“I didn’t. I figured out another way.”
“How?”
Talia got up, swiveled her computer monitor toward the couch, and pulled up a newsletter site called Your Gossipy Tech BFF.
Breaking News: Is Omni Auditioning to Be the Next Bond Villain?
Palo Alto, CA—If you could make a Hollywood film about a dastardly tech company trying to take over all the minds of humanity, what would it be about?
If you guessed a plot where the tech giant snaps up neuroscience startups and then combines them all into a mind-control app that hypnotizes you into buying boatloads of stuff you don’t need, manipulates your dopamine receptors into staying online longer than you want, and sells all your brain data to Big Brother, you’re right!
But you don’t need to head to theaters to watch this story unfold, my friends, because it’s happening in real time right here, right now, in our very own Silicon Valley.
OmnisZcience’s engineering team descended on Ideal Life’s offices today and—gasp!
—revealed their plan for total brain domination.
It’s no secret, either—it’s all over the startup’s internal Slack communications, and I have confirmed it with multiple sources.
So what do you think, Court of Public Opinion? Should we just sit back and let this happen?
Or should we speak up and stop this idea that nobody asked for, like how we put a stop to Omni’s ridiculous plans to plug us all into the Matrix to live out our lives there like we’re eternal Sims?
Let me know in the comments!
Libby whistled. There were already over three thousand comments in the less than one hour since the story had been posted. And Libby knew from her own posts online that that was a ton in so short a time.
“Other media have picked up the story, too,” Talia said. “It’s on Forbes, TechCrunch, everywhere. And the overwhelming public sentiment is that letting Omni acquire us and CerebraLink is bad for humanity.”
A notification chimed for Talia. She opened the message.
“Oh my god,” she said. “I didn’t think it would happen this fast.”
“What is it?” Libby asked.
“Raj Banerjee, head of Omni’s artificial intelligence division, wants to talk to me ASAP.”
“Well, call him!”
Libby watched as her sister sat down behind her desk and went into CEO mode. Sometimes, tech industry people got a bad rap. But there were also truly good people who worked here, who wanted to make the world a better place. Talia was one of them; she’d just gotten a little derailed.
When Talia finished talking to Raj, she was shaking. Libby hurried over to her side. “Are you okay?”
Talia nodded slowly. “Raj said that Omni is backing out of our deal. It’s not worth the PR headache for them.”
Libby squealed. “You’re free!”
“There’s more… Since Omni is the one choosing to walk away, it’s going to trigger the termination penalty in the contract for them. For five million dollars. They have to pay us.”
“Holy. Shit.”
“Yeah… Ideal Life can be independent for a lot longer.”
“Okay, but Talia?”
“Hmm?”
“Jacob and I would still like to invest.”
A grin broke out across Talia’s face, lighting up even the dark circles beneath her eyes. “Then welcome to the family business.”