The Before Short Story Series. Part 1. Иван Перепелятник

is important for everyone. We all are constantly making a contribution to the common good—to the common success of us all—and that we are creating new opportunities for the society—for us all. Before, when people were choosing their life path, they would mostly seek inspiration in their families’ history—so that, usually, the children would continue their parents’ job. A family owning a textile manufacture over tens—or even hundreds—of years, a small grocery, a publishing house, a dynasty of doctors or journalists, and a whole lot of other similar examples—children would often follow in their parents’ steps. And it is not because that was simpler or easier to get going: the problem had many sides to it. A human life used to be much shorter before. Now we live to two hundred years, and before only singular people would reach an age of one hundred years. People had to start developing the skills they would later use for work from a very early age so that they could potentially reach something in this short period of active life. The right to make a mistake—and to be able to start anew afterwards—used to be a privilege of a very limited group of people, and these people did pursue self-fulfillment indeed, not held hostages by everyday life problems. The majority of people, however, had to make a decision as soon as possible in their youth—to find themselves, they would say—as early as they could. And if life had it such that the choice, made some time ago, did not bring about the expected result—if the person did not succeed in life—it would often already be too late to begin anything new. In a competitive world as it was, it was very hard to make your way through. And sometimes there were families that tried to program their children’s lives since the very early age. For instance, some parents would send their children to a tennis school at the age of 5, hoping that it might turn them successful at some tennis tournament some fifteen years later. And sometimes it did work—the children would become prominent tennis players, or golfers, or such.’

      Hiromi looked at her daughter, ‘Ayaka, do you understand what I am talking about?’

      ‘Mummy, as far as I get it, before people would die much earlier and they didn’t have enough time to do their job the right way.’

      ‘Because?’

      ’They didn’t always make the right choice when they were children.’

      ‘So it is, Ayaka.’

      ‘So Grandma started breaking her back when she was born in our family?’

      ‘Grandma took on her father’s job, being a rice farmer in the fields that used to belong to our family.’

      ‘Daddy says Grandma would break her back from morning to evening.’

      ‘Ayaka, Daddy meant that Grandma worked a lot—in the field as well—helping to harvest the crops.’

      ‘Mummy, is it that Grandma also made a mistake when making her decision?’

      ‘No, dear. Our grandparents did not have the kind of possibilities that we have today with the PAX. Grandma was helping her family, taking on her father’s job, her grandfather’s, and so on. Grandma didn’t have a choice there, Ayaka. But you do have a choice. The PAX prepares high-probability scenarios to forecast in which fields you have the most chances to succeed and to do the most for the society—having access to the entirety of the world’s knowledge, and also having studied carefully your possibilities and intellectual potential. Do you see it, Ayaka?’

      ‘Yes, I do. The PAX will tell me what to do.’

      ‘The PAX will give you options. It will suggest you the fields in which you could do your best. It knows who, when, and where is doing whichever job. It also knows what issues are important now and which ones will be so in the future—by analysing the datasets it has—and it creates and carefully studies your personal profile. By getting all this information together into a strictly structured picture, into a single system of interdependencies, the computer is able to offer you a precise answer to one of the crucial questions in our lives—the one of why we are here in this world.

      Hiromi was looking at her daughter, ‘I wonder if she understands what I am trying to tell her…’

      ‘But the final decision is up to you. Whatever you will do in your life, whichever way you will choose, the choice is yours, and yours alone, Ayaka.’

      Pax

      ‘Look Beg, there’s one more thing that I’ve been thinking about,’ Jordan was going on with a weekly meeting on current issues. ‘I would like to work from home for a couple of weeks, so I don’t think I will be there in the office. I feel the solution is already at my fingertips, you see? I just need a little more to reach it. It is nearly there in my hands, so I don’t want to be distracted by quarrels with coworkers. And the other guys here will feel easier in my absence. At least for a while’

      ‘I think it is a good idea, Jo. A short break in the “Jordan Benson and Co.” team will totally benefit everyone. I am “for”, my friend.’

      ‘You might have held it at least a little bit,’ they both smiled, ‘or like this it even is a bit offensive.’

      ‘Right, right. Anything else you’d like to discuss?’

      ‘Yeah. I will send you a list of what I need to work at home, here to the lab.’

      ‘Sure, we’ll do everything.’

      ‘Then that’s all. Or well— please tell the guys I am very sorry for having burst like that. Will you?’

      ‘Yeah, sure, Jo. I guess they understand you anyway though.’

      ‘And make sure to tell them that doesn’t make them any less dumb idiots!’

      ‘Oh Jo, I nearly forgot.’

      ‘Right, please go on.’

      ‘On Wednesday we have a video-call planned with a big investor from the East Coast.’

      ‘And?’

      ‘Jo, we need you there. No-one can represent our project as well as you do. And they will be flattered by seeing you there.’

      ‘You know though just how much I like all these rounds and finance issues.’

      ‘I do, Jo. But you do understand it’s the right thing to do, don’t you?’

      ‘Sure. I’ll see what I can do. Please send me the details.’

      ‘I will! Let’s keep in touch.’

      Ozzie was lying in her favourite spot, on a leather couch near by the window, and from time to time she was checking whether her master was still there.

      ‘Jordan, you ask us for one billion more. Would you please tell us about the current stage of the project?’ The participants’ glances were carefully studying Jordan from a big panel in his study.

      ‘First of all, gentlemen, we were never intending to ask anything from you,’ continued Jordan. ‘Not me, that’s for sure. What we are ready to offer you is to take part in our project. It will—I shall not be afraid to sound trivial—allow you to become infinitely richer. If you want to—please invest your money. If you don’t—that’s fine: I don’t believe we will get troubles with funding either way. Next, even if I do start telling you how our working process is organized, what we do, how we do, and what purpose exactly each stage serves, you will understand nothing in it—and this includes the so-called experts you hired. So please allow me to give you some advice—get rid of them. It will only benefit you financially.’

      ‘The idea that Jordan is trying to get across, gentlemen, is the following:’ Beg turned his microphone on. ‘We are interested in working on with your foundation and sure enough we are ready to inform you on the current stage of the project from time to time. Isn’t this the very reason of our meeting here today. However, the field in which our company specializes is too specific for us to be able to present our work to you in a precise fashion. That’s why we will have to limit ourselves to some general information, not going into excessive details—I agree with Jordan, they will clarify nothing at all.’

      The foundation representative continued after a brief pause, ‘No-one on our side is expecting friendly meet-ups with you. But we