Re: Life - Business & Technology

Chapter 115 - AV Shopping

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Announcement: Please check the glossary/characters auxiliary chapter for updated concept art! 

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A group of Indian college students was having a good time and partying at a friend's place until one of the young women found a shared Instagram video on her timeline with an attractive thumbnail of a vast mansion. At the same time, the footage scrubbed through the content of a house party as she hovered her thumb over the Infinity Phone.

Mike Krieger and the Instagram software development team had already implemented plenty of suggestions from their CEO, like the scrubbing feature and the automatic Infi-AI text translations depending on the region, based on Vince's experience from 2021.

The young Indian college student queued 'Party Pop' as she gathered her friends to watch the viral music video recorded at the lavish Dalton Manor.

A similar situation happened throughout Future Tech's various social media platforms promoting the music video. For example, Google welcomed generous advertising revenue from their competitor in many ways, Future Tech, to push their media products on YouTube and the search engine.

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It was a peaceful Sunday morning at the Barton Creek neighborhood as a Chinese-American man in his early 30s jogged around the culdesac with an FS guard and noticed Anthony's CAV landing at the manor.

Dollar stopped running for a moment and thought, [Oh, it looks like Vince is at home. He usually lives at the penthouse, so I wonder what's going on.]

Ever since he sold the Bitcoin Market Exchange to Vince, Dollar has been living the high life at Austin, buying a mansion around the corner from Dalton Manor and working primarily from his luxurious home.

Dollar hadn't seen Vince in person in a while and decided to visit his young CEO after freshening up from his morning run.

He arrived at the Dalton Manor around thirty minutes later and was welcomed by an FS operator assigned to secure the area outside.

Dollar noticed a bunch of young people watching a music video in the living room and said, "That's a catchy tune.", as he garnered everyone's attention.

Vince was surprised to see one of his earliest executives visiting and replied, "Dollar, come join us. We're watching the music video Oliver and his team filmed yesterday.", before introducing him to Tom and the others.

Dollar was happy to meet his UFC lucky star, Tom, and excitedly said, "I made $10 million betting on you winning against Lyoto Machida last month. So don't even the odds too much but keep up the good work!"

Dollar's favorite past-times these days was sports gambling in Las Vegas over the weekend, and the UFC was one of the more entertaining ones to watch. He dabbled with APL betting but wasn't familiar with the players like Fortis.

Dollar sat down on the couch and asked in banter while watching the video, "The party looks like a blast. Thanks for the invite, by the way."

Vince bantered back and replied, "It's supposed to be a college house party, not a Silicon Valley convention. The video would've been odd with you in the background."

Dollar bounced back and said, "Like you're any different, Vince. I remember you looking like a tech start-up suit when we first met. It takes one to know one."

They both shared a laugh while the other guests were confused about how nonchalantly Vince dealt with his executives.

If they understood correctly, Dollar led the highly lucrative Bitcash network worth hundreds of billions, and they were casually bullying each other with banter.

The University students present, like Yui, took mental note of how such a successful person like Vince acted with his subordinates, as young people learning how to become successful themselves.

Vince Dalton was the prime example of accomplishment, but it didn't stop him from treating his staff with mutual respect and rapport, an attitude of a true leader.

The music video ended, and Alice commented, "I love it, sis! The song itself is a banger of a track, and the video fits perfectly."

Soon after, the other guests shared their agreements to much of Hailee's relief, and she said, "Thanks for the cooperation, everyone!"

Tom had to leave for his daily training session and said his farewells before noting the phone number of his ZTA night companion.

Vince stood up and declared, "The rest of you can stay or do whatever while Fortis and I head to the Tech Campus to do some AV shopping. Join us if you'd like.", before heading to his bedroom.

Dollar chose to return home, while Yui and the other two ZTA sisters decided to head back to the UT Campus to finalize their Fall semester registrations but left their contact information for more parties in the future.

The Japanese-American student gave Vince a long French kiss right in front of Hailee and whispered, "Last night was fun. Let's do it again sometime.", before leaving with her sorority sisters. 

Jaden and Fortis were so bewildered and coughed in confusion before Alice forced them to stop.

While all this was going on downstairs, Jessica was in her room, trying to forget the awkward situation she found herself in earlier.

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An hour later, Jessica decided to join Vince, Hailee, and Fortis to shop around the Tech Campus, while Jaden and Alice IRL-streamed their time at Zilker Park.

The weather was perfect for outdoor activities on a Sunday, so the Tech Campus residents enjoyed the public parks scattered around the area.

Future Tech employees and their kids were having a great time at the playground as Vince, and his friends walked by.

FS Dragonflies secured most of the Tech Campus while the local Future Security operators were on stand-by and ready whenever they were required.

Most cars on the road were primarily electric vehicles like the Tesla Model S and Future Tech-brand hybrid trucks meant for transporting materials around the Tech Campus.

Their group arrived at the Koenigsegg dealership and offices, featuring a glass window design showcasing their different cars and civilian AVs available for purchase.

The building was a work-in-progress, but the manufacturing facility across the street was around ninety percent operational.

Christian's automotive company had transitioned well into the aerodyne vehicle market, and now most of their revenue came from luxury AV sales, bought by wealthy business magnates and famous personalities like Fortis.

Local governments quickly amended laws to allow AVs, especially in the Middle East, where plenty of oil billionaires was waiting to ditch their Lamborghinis and Ferraris for something that flew in the sky.

For example, in South East Asia, Jefri Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei's brother, recently ordered a custom gold-plated Flyga costing $20 million, adding to his already insane car collection.

It was no surprise that the affluent leaned more towards AVs to separate themselves from the plebians on the ground, dealing with city traffic.

A bald Swedish man in his late 30s welcomed the group as they arrived at the dealership lobby and amiably said, "Hey, it's always good to see you, Vince. You look lovely as usual, Jessica. How may I be of service?"

Vince introduced his friends to Christian before saying, "Fortis here would like to purchase a nice AV. He'd been earning too much money in the APL and wants to burn some."

Christian perked up after hearing of a potential customer and said, "You chose the best place to spend your money, young man. Unlike our competitors like Ford, we provide the best maintenance policies and even deliver Black Gold directly to your home. So come, I'll show you all around the factory."

Vince and his friends observed the various Hive Mind suites 3D printing, processing raw materials, and ultimately assembling the vehicle systematically.

Fortis was excited like a child in a toy store and asked, "Where do you build the AV engines?"

Christian quickly answered his customer's question and explained, "Future Tech has a special facility for engine manufacturing with restricted access. The design is proprietary, so we don't openly show it as the chassis."

Vince wanted to share a bit of insider information and added, "We build all the energy platforms, including the Starship Raptor engines near the FS Barracks side of the Tech Campus."

Christian nodded and asked, "Fortis, did you have a specific AV in mind, or would you like one customized?"

He retrieved an Infinity Tablet from his secretary and showed Fortis designs ordered by Barrack Obama, Madonna, and Tiger Woods, among other, presets while the others roamed the facility.

Hailee watched in awe as AI-driven mechanical arms assembled another electric vehicle without issue and heard Vince say, "Amazing, isn't it? The Hive Mind was Future Tech's first foray into the technology market. Now all my partners like Elon and Christian rely on it to manufacture their products."

Jessica overheard the conversation and interjected, commenting, "Yeah, the company was small back then, so we spent endless weeknights working with Patel to get the damn thing to work. But the money was good, so whatever."

Future Tech had plenty of software engineers assigned to upgrading the Hive Mind after expanding rapidly, leaving her time for other projects.

Hailee was curious and asked, "I want to get my brother a car, but it seems like these would be expensive to maintain. What do you guys think?"

Christian's hearing was sharp enough to detect another potential customer and left Fortis, who was busily customizing his own Flyga, to speak with Hailee.

"Young lady, I can assure you my vehicles are more than worth its annual maintenance cost, but we do have other options catered to fans of sports cars. As a Tesla partner, I can offer you the new Tesla Roadster. It features a similar Hybrid engine to the 2013 F1 cars, that can run on regular fuel, or Black Gold for increased performance and efficiency."

Vince agreed with Christian's suggestion and said, "Griffin will love it, Haiz. Young people don't appreciate fully electric vehicles yet, so a hybrid would be a good in between."

As Hailee thought about her decision, Jessica pondered, [Vehicle shopping is kind of fun, actually.]