“Of course it is!”
✦ ✦ ✦
On that day, the saga of Money (Game) Master came to a close.
The secrets of the program code were stolen and all authorization rights rewritten.
✦ ✦ ✦
It had been a rough day. Pushing open the glass doors, the boring young man exited the concrete building and found his sister waiting for him.
With a cheery smile, she said, “They told me they won’t press charges, though they didn’t explain why.”
“You don’t sound so concerned,” the boy replied. “You realize that if word had gotten out, you would have been branded the sister of a kidnapper. That’s the sort of title that follows you around for a lifetime.”
He walked through the cracked provincial streets, side by side with his sister. Despite their ten- or eleven-figure bank accounts, they didn’t think to use a private helicopter or even hail a cab. For all they’d been through, their values remained unchanged. Perhaps this was exactly what they had been fighting to protect.
“Meiki’s talking again now.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. It turns out Uriel really was possessing her all this time. That weird static is all gone, too.”
“How’s Takamasa holding up?”
“Not well,” replied his sister with a mischievous grin. “He’s got Celsa giving him a beating in the virtual world, and when he logs out, his entire family starts lecturing him. Ah-ha-ha! I guess that’s what happens when people find out you’ve been trying to control the entire world. He should’ve kept it all secret.”
“Serves him right,” the boy replied.
Takamasa was wholly unsuited to playing the mastermind. If you did your good deeds in secret, then you could hardly expect other people to be sympathetic.
No doubt he was learning right now just how many people had been worried sick about him.
Today, as ever, wirelessly connected self-driving cars still roamed the streets, vending machines still harvested customer eye motions to come up with potential sales data, and advertising screens still marketed the optimal product to whoever was looking at them.
The papers, which nowadays did nothing but parrot headlines from the top-visited news sites, eventually settled on a few stories.
“Owing to an increased demand for robotic pets that can be used alongside education apps, the rare earth semiconductor sector has seen an upshoot in economic activity. This industry forms the core of the government’s new ‘AI in Education’ initiative, which promises to…”
“Discussions are underway on how best to treat Robot Loss, a sort of trauma experienced by young children when their beloved educational robots break down or official support is dropped by the manufacturer. Local watchmakers have begun offering aftermarket repairs, and in a column on the Foxbrain website, a company best known for creating AI-driven forms for school counseling, PR spokesman Norikazu Okabe had this to say…”
“The discovery of knock-on effects owing to fluctuations in the exchange rate of the euro have caused some market regulators to reevaluate the currency’s relevance. The lack of clarity surrounding the cause of the fluctuations has led many investors to transfer their funds to other accounts, bringing the virtual currency snow back into discussion. There are concerns that transferring money out of regional banks and onto the decentralized web could hyperinflate the currency of that region, and so…”
Even now, the intangible specter of snow had its claws deep in the world’s economy. The only difference was that now someone trustworthy was in control.
“I think I understand now.”
“Hmm?”
“Why Mom and Dad still work even though they don’t need to. I can earn 1.7 billion snow in a single hour. I could rule the world if I wanted to…but that wouldn’t bring me peace. When I think about it, all we’ve done is waste our time. How much would it take to feel satisfied? Billions? Trillions?”
The boy looked away slowly before fixing his gaze directly ahead. He remembered something Tselika had said recently.
“You could shut down Money (Game) Master, but that would not end the encroachment of AI society. There are more objects of human greed than just money. Whatever form it takes, the AI can control it through their ever-changing games and apps.”
Supposedly, Money (Game) Master had been nothing more than an incredibly detailed digital world. Humans had merely found it and convinced themselves the aim was to make as much money as possible. If that was true, and their desires shifted, then…
“In fact, I daresay the change has already begun. Perhaps the next trend will be looking for hidden items in an augmented reality or uploading dance videos and competing for views with your rivals. But the next one won’t be about fighting one another inside the game. The next era will see game pitted against game, battling for users. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you humans to get some sympathetic AIs on your side, just in case.”
“…How’s Midori doing?”
“She’s fine,” the girl replied, raising a finger. They were nearly home now. He could see the roof of their apartment building. “But Tselika said there were a lot of holes left after Uriel possessed her, and she had to do something about that to prevent a chain reaction causing her to collapse. Oh, I’m not talking about her physical body, by the way. Tselika continuously fills the holes from inside Money (Game) Master.”
He heard a noise and looked up. Someone was there, standing before his front door.
His sister took her raised finger and pointed at the figure.
“Why don’t you find out the rest yourself? See what the world you created is like.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The twin-tailed girl was waiting for him, along with what looked like a pair of giant, translucent wings.
No, they were the arms of the demon pit babe, gently embracing her.