Re: Life - Business & Technology

Chapter 120 - The Crystal Palace

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Vince was kept busy with multiple successive meetings regarding the different divisions across the corporation.

He spent time between appointments writing programs on the Infinity Code Editor for the Augmented Cyberspace initiative. These days, however, he wrote less and less as his CEO responsibilities took the forefront of daily life.

There was no point in exerting energy into trivial programming if negotiating deals and capitalizing on his future knowledge would obviously be more effective.

Vince Dalton's public image as a young business and technology savant was arguably more valuable to his corporation than his time as a code editor.

His focus was interrupted by a soft voice saying, "Why aren't you eating lunch? I've been waiting in the dining room for ten minutes already."

Vince saved his work as a force of habit and replied, "Haiz, I forgot you wanted to eat together. But I'm making good progress with this side project, so I'll continue if you don't mind."

Hailee wasn't too happy but replied, "Alright, we can eat out with the others for dinner instead. You better show up, though. I'll have Aiya bring you some snacks." before kissing his cheek goodbye.

An hour later, a Mexican-American man in his early 30s appeared on Vince's Hypervisor on a NetServ video call.

Andreas and his division, Hive Mind Manufacturing, worked at max capacity after the power grid upgrade concluded and were ready to produce more assets for the corporation and its' clients.

Vince logged off the code editor and cleaned out his table as he said, "You mentioned something about needing my opinion during the executive video conference this morning. So what's up?"

Andreas procured his notes regarding the issue and replied, "President Karzai is performing a national visit to every major city and community in Afghanistan and noticed the lack of proper housing, so he asked Price to connect me with him. My division owns the necessary equipment to build low-rent condominiums in cities like Kabul or Kandahar. Still, all our projections for small family homes have failed, primarily due to logistics cost."

Vince analyzed the problem for a moment and pondered, [Pre-fabricated homes are pretty popular in the States, but those would be too difficult to transport all the way out to the Middle East.]

Andreas observed his young CEO close his eyes and think deeply, like every time he came up with a brilliant idea or concept, so Andreas wasn't too anxious.

Vince was focused on recollecting housing innovations he'd seen on the news or learned about during his previous life and remembered a peculiar tweet Elon Musk posted in 2021.

It was about living in a $50 thousand pre-fabricated home located in his Boca Chica SpaceX facility, which brought media attention to an upcoming housing firm, Boxabl, that aimed to provide customers with economical and sustainable dwellings using recycled materials.

Vince described a system wherein a small house or sections of a larger structure could be manufactured locally into a box the size of a shipping container that could be disassembled on-site and easily transported.

He initialized the Infinity Unreal Engine computer-aided design plugin, spent a few minutes visually laying out a few examples and shared his Infinity Workstation display with Andreas over the NetServ platform.

The executive director was astounded by the simple but effective boxed structures, and Andreas thought, [Wow! We can probably apply this concept to our larger construction projects and sell them to local customers too. This guy is truly a boy genius!]

Vince explained a few requirements, such as using child-safe recycled materials and manufacturing processes, aiming for an affordable price for the small family units at around 30 thousand US dollars or Bitcash.

Andreas was relieved to find a solution for President Karzai's request and said, "It may take some time before a specific Hive Mind suite is developed to produce the boxed homes efficiently, but I'll contact the local prominent pre-fab companies like Westchester Modular Homes to sub-contract some assistance."

Vince dismissed the successful meeting, freeing some spare time before his weekday homeschool session began.

Meanwhile, at the Tech Campus offices, Andreas contacted his important client regarding a feasible solution to his citizens' housing issue and would update him the following week.

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The visually stunning Austin Biosphere complex with its natural sunlight was where Future Tech housed multiple containment facilities to grow vegetables, breed edible fish and raise Angus cattle.

SpaceX and Future Education built it based on testing results from the successful biosphere program in Afghanistan.

Before Future Tech arrived in the region, the US soldiers were forced to wait patiently for weeks before getting resupplied with proper meals.

Feeding US soldiers in faraway lands like Afghanistan was expensive. However, the military had saved plenty of money by purchasing food from local biospheres to much of the soldiers' delight.

Tourists who find themselves in the 'City of Tomorrow' would often visit the Tech Campus, Downtown, and the new Biosphere complex, aside from the hiking trails and nature spots.

Marco and the military officers visited a recently opened biosphere called the "Crystal Palace," the size of a mega shopping mall and geared towards providing visitors a sense of nature while strolling through its beautiful landscapes.

Future Tech earned additional income from renting out spaces to local businesses like high-class restaurants and storefronts and the entrance fee of 20 dollars or Bitcash per adult.

The leisure version of the biosphere had been flourishing in Austin and Kandahar, so the jealous California state government immediately contracted SpaceX to build one in LA and San Francisco in exchange for $1.5 billion and tax deductions.

Daylight turned to dusk as the uncountable LED lights turned on, powered by solar energy absorbed and stored by the biosphere's auxiliary systems during the day.

The night lights allowed customers to experience the ambiance amongst the flowers and the vegetation throughout the night while shopping or eating at their favorite spots.

General Douglas reminisced of his time in the wilderness as a soldier while his entourage made their way towards "Eden Garden", a Michelin-star restaurant recently featured on Gordon Ramsay's Instagram video series located on the mall's top floor.

The eatery's architecture leaned heavily towards the nature aspect of the Crystal Palace and featured 17th-century water fountains, koi ponds, and an atrium with dining tables for customers.

Rain, snow, or too much heat wasn't an issue for the climate-controlled environment within biospheres, which the customers appreciated.

An elegant young hostess welcomed the esteemed guests to Eden Garden and led them to a VIP area with the best view in the restaurant.

While they were finding a table, Marco noticed Vince and his rowdy group of friends eating dinner while having a great time, as his FS escort remained on alert.

Kyle caught a glimpse of his buddy FS operator from their good times on The Longhorn and hollered, "Hey, Marco! Come and join us. We can have the staff add more tables."

The hostess accommodated the Future Tech executive's request and immediately instructed her colleagues to expand the seating arrangement.

The General and his officers were unfamiliar with dining with people much younger than them but had to comply for the sake of mutual respect.

Hailee graciously said, "General Douglas, it's good to see you again."

Douglas remembered meeting the princess of Future Tech the night prior and amicably replied, "Likewise, Hailee. I hope we aren't disturbing your meals."

Vince interjected and honestly said, "Not at all, General. Eden Garden has a few meat dishes because we are in Texas, after all. But the vegan and vegetarian options are delicious. Ramsay approved!"

Marco introduced General Chris Bogdan to Vince before the officers took their seats.

They ordered more food for the table like vegetable rolls, salads, and Angus beef brisket for protein.

The officers couldn't share much of their day because it was classified but listened to stories from Fortis, Jaden, and Alice about their Austin adventures a few hours earlier.

The content creator couple live-streamed their time at the Tech Campus while Fortis visited the University of Texas ACL team as a special guest.

After eating, Douglas felt emotions spending time in The Crystal Palace in stark contrast to a long day of weapon and armor demonstrations at the FS Barracks.

He curiously asked, "Vince, when did you get the idea of building something like the biospheres?"

The young CEO took a moment before answering, "I spent an afternoon in Central Park when I visited New York City more than a year ago. The beautiful scenery compelled me to share the same experience with everyone, no matter the place. So I conveyed my idea to Elon, and here we are."

Afghanistan had problems with food sustainability, but the introduction of biospheres provided a fresh supply and an extraordinary tourist destination for locals interested in horticulture and husbandry.

General Douglas slowly understood what made the ambitious Vince Dalton distinct from other entrepreneurs.. Future Tech wasn't afraid to fail in their attempts at achieving success, even in a conflict zone.