Page 102 of Trip Me Up

36

SAM

The morningafter the prize ceremony, I stumbled, drunk with exhaustion, to the university. The expression on Niall’s face just before those nice women pushed me into the cab had haunted me all night.

I’d hurt him. Qiana, too. I had to make it right.I could make Dr. Martell understand that.

I knocked before I opened the door to his corner office.

“Samantha.” He stood, arms out, welcoming me like a hero returning from war.

I hung back near the door. There was an extra guest chair. And two of the chairs were occupied. But neither of the guests was Heidi. For a heart-stopping second, the man’s broad shoulders and auburn hair made me think it was Niall. But this man’s hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, and the hands that rested on his knees were smooth, not callused. Paul Swift turned his deep green eyes on me and gave me a slow smile.

Then I saw the last person I’d ever expected to see in Martell’s office.

“Mother?”

The corners of her mouth tightened in a not-smile. “Samantha.”

Shit. If I was having a hallucination, it was auditory, too.

“What are you—”

“Samantha, sit down.” Martell gestured at the empty chair.

I dragged myself over and flopped into it.

“Samantha!” Mother snapped.

Automatically, I straightened my spine and folded my hands in my lap. I crossed my combat boots at the ankles.

I scanned Dr. Martell’s face for a clue. “What’s—”

“Samantha.” He spread his hands wide. “The first literary prize earned by output of an A.I. What an achievement.”

I had to stop him. Convince him to stop using CASE to hurt humans, people I cared about. “But that’s—”

Martell continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “I received many calls after last night’s announcement, but Mr. Swift’s was the most intriguing.”

Paul Swift let out a bark of laughter. “I’m sure you mean the most lucrative.” He turned to me, but I couldn’t look at his face, so similar to Niall’s and yet so much more austere. Even his smile was flinty. “I hate to admit it, but you fooled even me. When I readMagician,I thought someone had ghostwritten it. I had no idea it was A.I. And then, when I heard the announcement, it clicked into place. And I knew I had to have CASE.”

“But—but why?” I asked. Paul Swift had made his fortune in well designed, flashy phone hardware for wealthy people and early adopters who used tech as a status symbol. Not low-tech readers like I’d met on tour.

“Did you know that 30 percent of people who have access to the internet—internationally—read books daily? Of course, that’s much lower than the percentage of people who play games every day, but the gaming market is saturated. Reading, on the other hand, is virtually untapped. We’re going to gamify reading. Through this.” And he held up his Swiftphone.

“Gamify reading?” Was he talking about making videogames based on books? Because that was hardly revolutionary. Even I’d had that idea, and I was no business mastermind like Paul Swift.

“With CASE, we’ll have an unlimited supply of stories, customized to the user’s preferences. Sci-fi, horror, thrillers, romance, mystery, whatever they want. I think, with time, we could customize it even further. Favorite types of characters or plotlines. Delivered to their devices as a serial. People will earn points and badges for reading.” His eyes weren’t the color of moss on a stone. They were the color of money.

“But there are thousands—millions—of authors,” I said. “Your son is one of them. Couldn’t you just deliver their books? Why do you need CASE?”

He waved a hand. “After the initial R&D, the long-term output and margins will be better with CASE.”

Dr. Martell leaned forward. “We’ve proved creativity isn’t a uniquely human characteristic. Sure, we’ve seen A.I.-generated music and visual art. But literature—people laughed at the early trials. Now we’ve shown its feasibility. That’s an impressive accomplishment, Samantha.”

I’d sat in this same chair, months ago, excited about the possibilities of CASE. But I wasn’t excited now. A cold, hard ball of dread sat in my stomach. Back then, I hadn’t known any writers. I hadn’t given a thought to how CASE might affect them.

Martell continued, “With funding from SwifTech, we’ll be able to bring on additional team members to scale up CASE quickly and to produce the type of results Paul is seeking. With multiple instances of CASE running, imagine the output. The cost savings over the traditional publishing model. The reductions in employee salaries and royalties will easily offset the cost of a CASE installation. All Paul needs is another demo to fully commit.”

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