The Last Resort(38)
Tiggy pushes forward, close to James. ‘What is it?’
‘It’s a camera.’ James holds it up. ‘They’re watching us. Listening too, presumably.’
Tiggy shrugs. ‘Well, of course they are. I tried to tell you all this from the start.’
‘Sneaky bastards,’ Lucy says. ‘I was kind of hoping that wasn’t true. I wonder how many others there are?’ She leans over the bar and grabs the small camera from James’s hand, then she drops it on the floor and stamps on it. ‘Right. Well, that’s one angle they’re going to miss out on from now.’
‘I’m sure there are plenty of—’ James starts to say, but he is cut off by a high-pitched screech, like the one that preceded the appearance of Tiggy’s projection.
‘Uh-oh,’ Scott says. ‘You’re in trouble now, Lucy. Bet that thing cost a bunch.’
‘I don’t really give a shit,’ she says. ‘I don’t remember consenting—’
‘Good afternoon, everyone,’ a booming voice says. ‘Please tap your ear or wrist devices to start the film. The best viewing platform is the clear blue sky, as you have no doubt realised from your earlier entertainment.’
Amelia looks around the group; everyone raises an eyebrow or shrugs or nods – all seemingly happy enough to go along with this. But is she happy? On the one hand, she feels like she’s missing out, having the wrist-tracker – not being able to experience the exciting, disorienting view of the memory feeds like the others. Maybe she should request a new tracker. Maybe that’s what they want her to do . . . But on the other hand, she’s freer than the others. The wrist-tracker is not clamped onto her skin. She’s not being forced to endure what is transmitted. On balance, it’s better that she keeps her mouth shut.
‘You still with us, Amelia?’ Lucy calls over to her, snapping her back to the present. ‘On three . . . One, two . . . three.’
They turn in unison and tap their trackers. Amelia’s holographic screen appears, hovering over the beach. It’s pixelated at the beginning, and it takes a moment to come into focus.
‘It’s Harvey,’ Amelia says, unnecessarily. She blows out a sigh of relief. She was expecting it to be one of them . . . maybe even her. After Tiggy’s public shaming, it’s obvious that they are all expecting the worst.
‘Firstly, a little piece of housekeeping . . . we do understand that you might have been somewhat shocked to find the camera there, and you’re right in thinking that it’s not the only one. But I’d like to assure you that it is there for your own safety. This little beach is quite perfect right now, but most of it will disappear very shortly, when the tide comes in. I realise that none of you have thought of this yet, no doubt caught up in the moment . . . considering what to do about the revelations you’ve had about a couple of your colleagues. But I’m afraid that despite our many abilities here at Timeo, we can’t yet control the tides.’
Harvey smiles, turns to face a screen positioned behind him and clicks his hand-held pointer. The screen changes from green to black, and the Timeo logo slides across it, followed by the tagline ‘Creators of the technology you didn’t know existed’.
‘I’m going to step out of the way for a few moments, and let you enjoy the presentation.’ With that, he clicks the pointer again and disappears from the screen – which is now fully taken up by the screen from behind, with the logo and the scrolling tagline.
‘This had better be good,’ Scott says.
‘Welcome to Nirrik Island.’ An unseen voice narrates as a drone-filmed aerial view of the island comes into shot. ‘This special place is the realisation of a childhood dream, for your host – the founder of Timeo Technologies.’ The image pans in, then tilts as the view of the bay where they are currently sitting fills the screen. The tiki bar is gone, as are the loungers and the sports equipment, and the beach looks calm and peaceful – and very, very isolated. Amelia shifts in her seat, not finding the stool particularly comfortable. The island looks vaguely familiar, but the aerial shot hadn’t stayed on-screen long enough for her to work out why.
‘Despite the various invitations you have all received, and the array of benefits and rewards you have agreed to, none of that is the true reason for your presence today on Nirrik. Your host has invited you here to showcase a series of products that are not yet available anywhere else in the world. The many, many exciting things that Timeo creates are not sold by Timeo. Although you have never heard of our company, you will have certainly heard of, and made use of, many of its ground-breaking technologies. Due to confidentiality laws, we are unable to reveal these technologies – but rest assured, many if not the majority of the companies that you believe to be the most innovative in the world have been made so by the products that Timeo has created, manufactured and developed – passing over full copyright and patents to the client companies involved.
‘Timeo is modern technology . . . and what we can reveal is that memory-mining and neural pathway programming are at the very forefront of our research . . . and now you specially selected few are part of this exciting research and development pipeline.
‘Congratulations! You are here to help make history. Please enjoy the rest of your day. Your host looks forward to welcoming you tonight to a party that none of you will ever forget . . . Oh, and please – don’t destroy any more of our technology. As I said before, the cameras are there for your own safety . . . And finally, do not attempt to remove your ear-tracker. The next image will demonstrate this in more detail.’