Since early that morning, New York had been experiencing alternating rain and sunshine. As the Cooee wheeled onto the easternmost runway of JFK Airport, it became cloudy again, and a light drizzle began. It parked in one of the bays next to the runway. On the tarmac, in the private jet area, five other planes were preparing for takeoff. The Cooee was third in line, waiting for two passengers who had yet to board.
The interior of the Cooee, the private plane of Richard Archee, head of SunCo. and the president of the entire WISE Corp. holding company, was brightly lit, and the windows of the passenger cabin were curtained. Sitting next to Rick—known affectionately as ’Real’ to his friends—in one of the armchairs was a tall, thin, slightly balding man. He was humming softly, almost silently, and tapping the rhythm with his fingers on his right knee. In contrast to his anxious boss, he seemed very relaxed. He held a glass of amber liquid on the armrest and glanced at the weather forecast displayed on the table in front of him. He looked at Rick, who had risen from his seat and was pacing around the cabin. The man with the glass grimaced, shook his head disapprovingly, and closed the display with a wave of his hand. He stretched his legs and took a large sip of the amber liquid. This was Steve Brighton, board member and Chief Technology Officer of SunCo., and one of the Tech Bros.
“It was worth flying with you just for this brandy,” he remarked, raising his glass and studying its contents.
Archee merely nodded.
“Just as we’re about to take off, it stops raining for two hours, but… so completely… that won’t happen until the evening,” Brighton added, pulling up the window shade next to his chair.
“Then the only thing I’ll be interested in is the weather in Shanghai.” Rick Archee slumped back in his chair in front of his manager. “Now, too, by the way,” he sighed, looking out the window. “Rob says it’s going to be sunny, with ten percent cloud cover, and wind from the sea at three…,” he rubbed his hands over his face. “The weather promises to be perfect.”
“And it will be perfect because how could it not be? After all, we are the sunniest corpo in the world!” Steve winked and patted the wide armrest of his seat.
“If you say so.” Archee smiled faintly at the former advertising slogan but his gaze remained distant, quickly darting away.
“Relax, Real. Your tension is getting to me, too. Have a drink of your brandy… Stress shortens life,” Brighton muttered, glancing out the window. “Oh, I guess they’ve arrived.”
A dark van pulled up to the plane, and two men stepped out with suitcases and carry-on bags. They went first to the rear of the plane, where the baggage compartment door was lowered. After placing their suitcases inside, they walked toward the stairs leading to the passenger cabin with their carry-ons. The first man was a handsome, slender Indian with a narrow face and a small goatee framed by wavy, spiky hair. The latest model of Enviro’s slim, angular XR glasses rested on the bridge of his slightly hooked nose, the rainbow reflections perfectly matching his lavender shirt, pastel sneakers, and blue jeans. His rolled-up, elbow-length sleeves and the blue cotton scarf around his shirt’s stand-up collar complemented his swarthy skin. His entire outfit confirmed that Vanad Lahar, chief engineer of SunCo.’s solar farms, was rightly considered the best-dressed of the five Tech Bros.
He was followed by his opposite—a much shorter, stocky Chinese man, also around forty, though his age was difficult to determine at first glance. With a black T-shirt hugging his small but visible belly, black jeans, sneakers, and an ever-present Buddha-like smile, Ti Lee Wang, chief engineer of optoelectronic processes, could have been in his twenties, thirties, or forties. His fashion sense leaned toward T-shirts with slogans like ’it works on mine’ and the sleeveless hoodies popular among the futures, which earned him the nickname ’Hoodie’ among company employees. Today, he wore a black sleeveless hoodie and a black T-shirt with the words ‘WISE inside.’ His Enviro XR goggles were an older model from three years ago, which he still considered the best Ava’s company had produced. He never missed an opportunity to remind her of this whenever she offered him the latest model.
Vanad Lahar ran up the stairs to the open door of the plane. He stopped suddenly and raised an eyebrow, seeing a person whose presence he had not expected. He had every right to be confused, as the official delegation to the opening of the Solar Umbrella—a giant photovoltaic farm over Shanghai—consisted of three people: Rick, Vanad, and Ti Lee. As this was to be the biggest PV farm in Asia, and WISE’s largest investment in China in a decade, the opening had to have the appropriate setting and celebrity. Still, Brighton’s unannounced presence on board was surprising. So was yesterday’s announcement that instead of a corporate jet from Sun Francisco, they would fly to Shanghai on Rick’s private jet from New York.
“And what is he doing here?” Lahar turned to Rick and gestured with his head to Brighton, who was sprawled out in his seat.
“Steve?” Ti Lee asked in disbelief as he climbed the stairs and stood behind Lahar. The Chinese man’s expression was one of unabashed stupor. “Are you flying with us? You were supposed to be in Tokyo.”
Steve raised his glass in greeting, welcoming his colleagues with a broad smile. The new arrivals boarded and made their way to the rear of the plane, toward the galley kitchen and luggage lockers.
“Did you miss me, buggies?” Brighton called after them. “I didn’t miss you at all… It’s tough… so make yourselves comfortable. Somehow, I’ll survive these few hours with you.”
“I saw you the day before yesterday, unfortunately,” Ti Lee said, rolling his eyes and turning to his boss, pointing at Brighton. “Real, we should get some kind of bonus for being in his company so often. This guy is a danger to my mental health.”
“Ti is right. Your presence should come with a health warning,” Vanad added, placing his bag in the hatch behind the bar and taking a seat opposite Brighton. “Well… quite a crowd we have for this inauguration.”
“We’re flying to bow down to the Shanghai Stoxx for letting us into their backyard,” Ti Lee said, taking the seat opposite Lahar. “So, we are taking most of the board…”
“As your direct superior, I graciously give you permission to have a drink,” Steve said, gesturing to the back. “Today is self-service, and the drinks are, I hope, free. Since Rick has offered me a ride via Shanghai in his own jet, enjoy my company, buggies.”
“Eight hours on a plane with you is definitely too much,” Ti Lee remarked.
“Nearly ten hours. We have a stopover in Barcelona,” Rick interjected, still pacing restlessly between the cockpit and the passenger cabin.
“You could have warned us that Brighton was traveling with us,” Lahar said, shifting in his seat. “Had I known, I would have brought something for a quick fall asleep.”
“Robert flew from Frisco this morning…” Ti Lee checked something on his XR glasses as the pupils of his eyes moved once to the left and once to the right. “I saw his plane. I called him… but he didn’t pick up. He texted back that he was in a hurry. Are we still waiting for him?”
“No.” Archee stood in the aisle between the seats, leaning against the headrest of an empty seat and watching his executives carefully. He placed a small black suitcase on the armchair. ”Robert changed his mind at the last minute and decided to supervise the inauguration from our headquarters in Dyker Heights. Just in case, as he put it.”
“Just in case of what?” The Chinese man looked at Rick in surprise.
“I don’t know, but I agreed.”
“All in all, it’s a shame Robert’s staying here.” Ti Lee closed his browser and pushed his glasses back up on his forehead. ”All the Tech Bros should be at the opening of this farm, especially the head of this project,” he said.
“Someone has to oversee the startup process,” Rick countered. “I will not leave it to the bots alone. Robert won’t be there, but almost the whole board will, as we are picking up Meg in Barcelona. She will be there with her eleven-year-old son… I cannot remember his name… um, I guess it is Nicolas.”
“Huh,” Brighton snorted. “Is the company implementing some kind of cost-cutting program, as our carbon footprint seems to have been reduced to zero?”
“It’s just that Spitzmann and his son are back from vacation. And that’s a good thing because we have something to discuss, and she should be here.”
“Oops… I understand already… The Council is going to cut our budget again to throw money at some Sassy’s crap project.” Steve spread his hands. “I hope we’re meeting to discuss a strategy to fight this, not to concede to the whims of the lovingly reigning Ava Rita the First. God don’t save the Queen.”
“You’ll find out everything when Meg joins us. Now, for security reasons, please turn off your BNI biochips and set them to ‘Do Not Disturb’ or ‘Can’t Talk’ notifications, so that your loved ones will be at ease if they try to contact you.”
“I guess we can leave the biochips active in telepathic mode?” Steve looked at his boss, concern written on his face.
“This time… no. Block even the telepathy. I can’t control it, so please, take this as my request. I know it’s unusual, but I have good reasons. Turn off smartcoms, glasses, e-jewelry… anything that connects to the network. And set notifications on them, too. I do not want anyone disturbing us until we land in Shanghai. This is important, okay?”
“Are we hiding from anyone?” Ti Lee glanced at his colleagues but met only equally confused faces. ”Is there something wrong?”
“A matter of security. I’ll explain everything when Meg joins us. Now please do what I ask. And when you are done, put all the devices into this black case. They will remain there for the entire flight. I’ll return them before we land in Shanghai.”
“This is getting a little weird,” Brighton muttered. “Forgive the harsh honesty, Real, but I feel a little uncomfortable…”
“Steve… Ti… Vanad…” Archee’s gaze swept across his subordinates’ faces. “We have been working together for many years. I understand that you trust me?”
The three Tech Bros exchanged uncertain glances, then nodded hesitantly.
“Since I am asking you to turn off the devices, I have a reason for it. I have gathered you here for more than just saving money on flights or discussing next year’s budget. We are about to have a very confidential meeting, and the details must not go beyond the Cooee. But that will be after Barcelona. Right now… gents, have a drink and relax. Drinks are free.”
