The Core Patents Leave With Me

Chapter 4 The Illusory Paradise

Alexander poured me a drink and took the chair opposite mine. His glass-and-steel office overlooked the city; the leather under me probably cost more than my first car.

His wall screen refreshed a grid of social posts in real time. #StarTechLuau. #NewEra. #HawaiiVibes. Mia posed in a bikini with a cocktail and Liam’s arm around her. The team raised glasses on the deck of a cruise ship.

Every post carried the ship’s Pacific location. None mentioned the notices already reaching StarTech’s corporate inbox.

Alexander read from the legal team’s message. “Your resignation triggered the key-person clause in our funding agreement. We can recall the entire investment effective immediately.”

I tasted smoke in the liquor. “And Horizon Tech?”

“Their general counsel called an hour ago. They’re invoking termination for cause. Loss of the core IP is a material breach, so they’re out. Expect a damages claim.”

Alexander forwarded the recall notice while I copied Horizon’s letter to counsel. Liam had reduced five years of work to a branding problem. The contracts reduced his decision to dates, signatures, and money due.

The atomic clock on the wall showed 11:59 PM, Pacific Time. In sixty seconds, the daily update would call three algorithms that had been removed from StarTech’s licensed library.

The clock reached midnight.

My private monitor stayed green for several seconds. One service turned red, followed by authentication, inference, and deployment. *Nexus* went offline region by region.

Liam texted before the last region failed.

*Serena, this tantrum has gone on long enough. Turn the servers back on. We’ll talk when I get back from my vacation. Don’t make this uglier than it needs to be.*

He called the legal revocation a tantrum and still expected me to repair it before he came home.

I left the message unanswered and watched the incident counter rise.

A few minutes later, the head of engineering texted from the ship.

*EMERGENCY. Complete system failure. Can’t access anything. What did you do?!*

I forwarded it to Alexander. He set his glass down and saved the message with the other records.

Mia’s latest i********: story showed a five-star restaurant aboard the ship. Liam stood at the head of a long table with his glass raised. The post was only minutes old.

“To a new era!” Liam called over the table. “To a future free of negativity! To us!”

The story ended before the bill arrived. I pictured the waiter leaning over Liam’s chair while the table waited.

Liam would reach first for the black corporate card. He used it whenever an audience was watching.

This time, the terminal would reject it.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Carter. The card has been declined. In fact, all cards associated with your company’s account have been frozen by the issuing bank.”

Then my assistant, whom I had paid personally to monitor the fallout, forwarded the travel agency’s email to every StarTech employee on the cruise.

Subject: URGENT: Your Return Travel Has Been Canceled

*Due to non-payment and the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings by your company’s primary investor, all return flights booked for the StarTech corporate retreat have been voided. Please make your own arrangements for your return journey.*

On the wall screen, the vacation posts kept refreshing. The return-flight reservations underneath them all read *voided*.