The Bull At The Gate E-Book

Owen Jones

• Herausgeber: Tektime
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 263

Beschreibung

The Bull at the Gate takes you behind the closed doors of one of the world’s most powerful boardrooms, where high-stakes decisions shape the future. Jim Diamond, CEO of the globe’s largest online media company, faces a terrifying new force in technology: an AI that promises to revolutionize industries - but at what cost?
As Diamond races to position his company at the forefront, does he and his team fail to fully consider the far-reaching consequences of this breakthrough? The economy, the labour market, and even society itself are at risk of being upended by a force they can barely comprehend.
This fast-paced thriller explores the relentless pursuit of success in a cut-throat corporate world where no one - human or machine - is safe. As Diamond’s choices spiral toward a devastating future, you’ll be left questioning: How far are we willing to go in the name of progress?
A chilling and plausible vision of the world’s next big leap... or its final fall.

Leseprobe

The Bull at the Gate

The Day the Sky Fell!

by

Owen Jones

Copyright

Copyright © Owen Jones 14th December, 2024

Cover by GetCovers

Published by

Megan Publishing Services

https://meganpublishingservices.com

All Rights Reserved

Contents

The Bull at the Gate

Copyright

Dedication

Inspirational Quotes

Six Interesting Facts about AI

1: A New Dawn

2: The Nutcracker Suite

3: The Penny Drops

4: The Monster Is Conceived

5: A Plan Is Formed

6: Warsaw

7: Dr. Ivan Ivanovich Petrov

8: Reality Kicks In

9: Exodus

10: Team Reaper Is Born

11: Reaper Takes to the Air!

12: Learning to Fly

13: Flying Solo

14: Something in the Air

15: Reaper Flies Like an Eagle

16: Reaper Rolls Out Worldwide

17: Wheel-Wobble

18: The Celebrations

19: Option Number Two

20: The Day the Sky Fell

Contact Details

Books by Owen Jones

Dedication

Dedicated to my darling wife, Neem, without whose help, none of my books would have been possible.

Inspirational Quotes

Believe not in anything simply because you have heard it, Believe not in anything simply because it was spoken and rumoured by many, Believe not in anything simply because it was found written in your religious texts, Believe not in anything merely on the authority of teachers and elders, Believe not in traditions because they have been handed down for generations, But after observation and analysis, if anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, accept it and live up to it.

Gautama Buddha

———

Great Spirit, whose voice is on the wind, hear me.

Let me grow in strength and knowledge.

Make me ever behold the red and purple sunset.

May my hands respect the things you have given me.

Teach me the secrets hidden under every leaf and stone, as you have taught people for ages past.

Let me use my strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy – myself.

Let me always come before you with clean hands and an open heart, that as my Earthly span fades like the sunset, my Spirit shall return to you without shame.

(Based on a traditional Sioux prayer)

———

“I do not seek to walk in the footsteps of the Wise People of old; I seek what they sought”.

Matsuo Basho

———

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go”.

Joshua 1:9

———

“Whatever misfortune befalls you [people], it is because of what your own hands have done-God forgives much-”

Quran 42:30

———

Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument About it and about; but oft-times

Came out, by the same Door as in I went.

Omar Khayyam

The Rubaiyat XXIX.

———

Six Interesting Facts about AI

1. AI Can “Learn” from Failure (Just Like Humans)

One of the most interesting aspects of AI is that it can learn from its mistakes. For example, Google’s AI AlphaGo, which played the game Go, was trained by playing millions of games, including games where it lost. Interestingly, it started making moves that human players had never thought of. So, in a sense, AI learns creatively from its own failures!

2. AI Can Write Poetry (Sometimes Beautiful, Sometimes Weird)

AI has been trained to generate poetry and even mimic famous poets like Shakespeare. But while some AI-generated poems can be surprisingly deep, others are hilariously nonsensical. For example, a well-known AI poetry generator once wrote a line: “I am the electric lizard of knowledge, a machine of wonder.” It’s beautiful in its absurdity!

3. AI Once Became Obsessed with “Cats”

An AI trained on vast amounts of internet data developed a funny habit: it became obsessed with cats. Specifically, the AI started identifying almost everything as a cat! It would categorize almost any object as a “cat” after being trained on tons of images from the internet, many of which were, of course, of cats. Imagine thinking your car is a cat!

4. AI Beat Humans at Jeopardy! But it Wasn’t Always So Smooth

In 2011, IBM’s Watson AI defeated two Jeopardy! champions, but the journey to victory was not without its hiccups. For instance, Watson had trouble with wordplay, and sometimes it would answer questions with bizarre or overly literal responses. One famous moment was when Watson gave a correct answer to a clue about “Famous Seinfeld Character,” but instead of saying “George Costanza,” Watson answered “Who is George.” This slip-up was amusing but highlighted how far AI has come in understanding context.

5. AI Can Have “Personality”

Some chatbots, like OpenAI’s GPT models have been designed to respond in ways that feel more human-like. There are even AI personalities specifically created for fun or engagement, like virtual assistants that take on quirky traits (think of a virtual assistant that talks like a pirate). Imagine asking an AI for directions, and instead of a dry answer, you get a response like, “Arr matey, ye be turnin’ left at the next light!”

6. AI Can Mimic “Dreaming”

AI “dreams” aren’t like human dreams, but researchers have created algorithms that simulate a form of dreaming by running AI through data in a way similar to how our brains replay memories while we sleep. Some AIs even “dream” in ways that help them improve their performance, such as generating new images or patterns. It’s like AI is “sleeping” to get better at its job!

1: A New Dawn

“Come on in, John. Sit yourself down. You look quite flustered. Take a few deep breaths and then tell me what’s on your mind”.

“Thanks, Jim, I…”

“Pardon?”

“Sorry, sir. Thank you, sir”.

“I have told you about that before, haven’t I? You can call me Jim in public, when it’s appropriate, but not in private, and definitely not in my office. Familiarity breeds contempt, my dear old father used to say, and I agree with him, but it is good PR, say I. Nevertheless, that’s all it is - PR”.

Jim made a point of looking out of the huge picture window behind him, clicked a remote handset and waited for the drinks trolley to motor over to him. He poured two shots of Martell Chanteloup XXO and pushed one across his desk

“My youngest daughter, Jeannie, bought me this for my last birthday. Cute, eh? It works on GPS. It homes in on the location of the remote but stops two feet away from it. I love gadgets, don’t you? Anyway, the sun’s almost over the yard arm”, he said not needing an excuse since he was the CEO, president and sole remaining founder of the world’s largest online media retailer - My Media. He had been in the top three of the richest people in world for a decade.

“Come on, man, spit it out”, he said pouring another tot for each of them.

“Yes, sorry, sir. You are computer literate, but er…”

“There’s no need to flatter me, John - just get to the point!”

“Yes, sir… well, have you heard of AI?” John looked up to see his boss nodding with a certain amount of irritation on his face.

“All computers employ a form of AI. ‘If… then’ flip-flops are a form of AI, aren’t they?”

“Er, yes, sir, those flip-flop circuits are a very primitive form of AI, but there are rumours of secret projects working on super-advanced AI… the likes of which very few people have thought achievable during this decade. These systems could be using a range of advanced techniques such as neural networks, probabilistic reasoning, and reinforcement learning that go beyond simple logic gates and memory circuits”.

“You have my full attention, John. If this new AI impresses my Chief of Research and Development, then I am all ears. Tell me what you’ve got, son!”

“It’s not much, to be honest, sir”, he replied hesitantly. He was worried. His news was having the opposite effect on his boss than he had expected. Jim topped them both up again.

“This latest iteration of AI is so powerful that you can have meaningful conversations with it on any subject, and if it has a blind spot, it will absorb all the data on that subject that is available on the Internet, and remember it for next time. Not only that, but it remembers conversations, so that the inquisitor can go away, act on the information, and return several days later to pick up the conversation where it left off, even if there have been dozens of queries in the meantime…”

Jim had taken the significance of this conversation in immediately. “That must be very worrying for the search engines. The guys at Google must be passing bricks!” A broad grin spread across his face as he poured more drinks. “Unless they are in on it… Are they?” He was becoming rapidly more serious.

“We don’t know, sir. I heard news of this new generation of AI 45 mins ago - literally”, he said looking at his solid gold Rolex.

Jim’s eyes followed those of his employee down to his wrist. “So, what you are telling me is that some of the top firms in the Internet/computer world have probably beaten us to a technology that could be the next giant leap forward in our sphere of influence”.

“We just don’t know, sir. My guess is that the US military complex is behind it, but it could just as easily be the Europeans, The Russians or the Chinese… It would have military applications, as well as commercial uses… It could also be that Microsoft and Google have bought up some minnow companies to do this research for them so as to stay beneath the radar”.

“Great! So, now you’re telling me that a couple of shrimps or a bunch of squadies know more about the next generation of technology than we do?!”

John chose to study the surface of the large, highly-polished, mahogany desk rather than give his boss an answer.

“Tell me, John. Do you consider that I pay you enough”. Jim was looking at John’s watch which was just poking out from under his jacket sleeve.

“Yes, sir. I am very happy with my remuneration package”.

“Yes… do you think that you earn it all?”

“I like to think that I give good service, sir”.

“Mmm, well, maybe you do earn your wage, but an employer likes to make a profit on everything and everyone, and I’m not sure that I’m making anything on you, after what you just told me. So, you are a researcher, I want you to work out what you are worth to me, and then reduce it by 10%. That will be your new wage. Have your recommendation on my desk before I get in in the morning.

“Also, organise an emergency meeting in the boardroom for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Inform all the relevant bodies. Oh, and it is hush-hush, so don’t go through the secretaries, and make sure that everyone knows what you just told me… move, man!” John didn’t need to be told twice. He was glad to be getting out of there.

Jim walked him to the door, and as John opened it, he said, “Well, thanks for dropping by, John. That was most informative. I’ll see you in the morning”. John looked at his boss rather nervously. Jim nodded almost imperceptibly and blinked.

“OK, Jim. Thanks for the drink. See you tomorrow”. Jim nodded, smiled and allowed the door to close itself.

When he was seated, Jim poured himself a triple, and span his chair around to look out of his window over the vast sprawling city.

He was already deep in thought, but thumbing his phone rhythmically.

∞

“Hello. Is that Seeker?”

“Who’s speaking?”

“This is Gentleman Jim. I come bearing gifts”.

“Are you alone?”

“I am suitably cloaked”.

“This is Seeker. I too am suitably cloaked. How may I be of assistance Gentleman Jim?”

“I need information. I have been told that some of the biggest I.T. organisations in the world are building giant AI models that are tipped to be the next leap forward in the world of computing. Do you know anything about this?”

“I have heard rumblings, and I have already put out feelers, but I don’t feel confident enough to say much more than that at the moment”.

“Damn! Watch out will you!”

“Pardon?”

“No, not you, Seeker. I was talking to the driver. I’m in a car and the driver seems to be testing the depth of every pothole in the road. Sorry, please continue, Seeker”.

“You are travelling? When will you arrive at your destination?”

Dodging the question, Jim replied, “I’ll be in a better position to chat in an hour”.

“That suits me fine. Call me back in an hour using the thirteenth number, Gentleman Jim”.

The phone went dead, and Jim turned to looking out of the smoked window of his chauffeur-driven, stretched Rolls-Royce Cullinan, which had been armoured and modified by Alpine Armoring. His biggest fear was that he or one of his family would be kidnapped and held for ransom, and he was wishing that he had taken the helicopter to work, as he often did.

Thirty minutes later, the Rolls Royce passed through the heavy gates that formed part of the protection of his palatial ‘house’ and entered the underground car park. The third guard post waved the limousine through. When it stopped, Jim jumped out in a spritely fashion to enter the lift, which would take him to the family’s living quarters.

“Good afternoon, Marion”, he said to his wife of thirty-three years, “is everything all right?” They exchanged pecks on the lips.

“Yes, my dear. How was your day?”

“Oh, pretty good… I think, but I’ve received some unsettling news… Nothing for you to worry about… just corporate stuff that I have to get to the bottom of. Have Marie send me up a roast beef and pickle sandwich and a pot of double-strength coffee to my office, will you, honey?” He was already starting to move off.

“Don’t forget that we’re going to the opera tonight with the Holloway’s!”

“Oh, shit!”

“Profanity!”

“Sorry. I had forgotten. Look, Marion… I’m really sorry, but I’m pretty sure that I won’t be able to go…”. He returned to face his wife and took her by the elbows. “Will you be able to go on your own, darling? Or take one of your girlfriends?”.

“Aww, Jim! I was so looking forward to tonight. It’s not often that we get to go anywhere together these days, and with great company too! The Holloway’s are flying back to Miami tomorrow”.

“There’s nothing I can do about it, my love. I have gotten wind that the competition is up to something big. They’ve sort of caught me on the hop, as far as I can tell, but the fact is that I don’t know much about it yet. I was told about it literally only an hour and forty-seven minutes ago…” he hesitated as he remembered John using the same phrase. “Look, I have a phone appointment in eleven minutes. I have to go…”

“How about dinner afterwards?”

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise”, he replied over his shoulder.

“That means ‘No’, then”. She sighed to herself as she so often had over the decades. She watched her husband get into his private lift which would take him to his observatory-cum- office on top of their mansion.

∞

Jim fell into his plush office chair, opened a draw, and took out a notebook. It was his private phone book. He flipped it open at ‘S’, ran his finger down a list of phone numbers until he reached the thirteenth one, and entered it into his encrypted satellite phone.

It was answered immediately.

“Hello. Is that Seeker?”

“Who’s speaking?”

“This is Gentleman Jim. I come bearing gifts”.

“Are you alone?”

“I am suitably cloaked”.

“This is Seeker. I too am suitably cloaked. How may I be of assistance Gentleman Jim?”

“We were talking earlier about a certain project…”

“Yes. I have something for you, but I will know much more in twelve hours’ time. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin…

A ping announced the arrival of the sandwich and coffee in the dumb waiter behind him, but if Jim heard it, he didn’t react. He only had ears for what his most trusted industrial spy had to say. It both fascinated, and scared him at the same time. When the Seeker had told his story and hung up after making an appointment for the following morning, Jim could do nothing for quite a few minutes more than lay back in his chair and gaze at the stars through his office’s glass dome roof.

∞

That night, there was a distinct hum on the encrypted airwaves linking the rich and the not so-rich, those in-the-know and those wanting to be in-the-know. Conversations flowed as rarely before between the exuberant, ultra-luxurious neighbourhoods known for their exclusivity, stunning views, and proximity to the heart of the tech industry such as Palo Alto, where Jim and his family lived, Woodside, Atherton and Los Altos Hills, and the perfectly acceptable, but definitely less salubrious working-class neighbourhoods such as San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Fremont and Mountain View.

Rarely, since the beginnings of Silicon Valley in the 1930’s had one man caused such a level of communication between rich and poor neighbours as Jim had that night. It was a veritable hornet’s nest, and confusion was the result.

Meanwhile, Jim was in his office gazing at the stars while listening to Gustav Holst’s The Planets Suite.

When he was in happier moods, he liked to play the sixth movement ‘Uranus, the Magician’, because it was quirky and powerful. It suggested magic and unpredictability, which he thought could easily be applied in a description of his own life, since he had risen from lower middle class obscurity to the dizzy heights of where he was now. At other times, he favoured the seventh, ‘Neptune, the Mystic’, because he secretly fancied himself as a mysterious Druid with ethereal, otherworldly qualities – how else could he have achieved all that he had practically single-handed except for the constant and unfailing support of his Maid Marion?

However, he was not happy, and the first movement thundered out in his office. It was not his favourite part of the orchestral suite, but ‘Mars, the Bringer of War’ – was an intense, rhythmic movement, which symbolised aggression and conflict, and it seemed appropriate at times like this when he felt that he had been betrayed – shafted even – by the people whom he had paid handsomely to watch his back.

He was looking forward to the Board Meeting the next day, and if he didn’t get satisfaction in the way he was hoping for, then he would get it in another, and heads would roll.

He chuckled to himself. He wouldn’t get to see Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite that night, but he would play a rôle in a nutcracker suite of his own in twelve hours’ time. It was the not-so-secret nickname that the other board members used for the Board Room. They thought that he didn’t know, but there wasn’t much that went on for more than a few minutes in his firm that he didn’t know about.

The Stasi could have learned a lot from billionaire, entrepreneur-extraordinaire Jim Diamond.

2: The Nutcracker Suite

Jim and Marion usually got up together at seven in the morning. They always had done. Jim would then work out in their private gym for thirty minutes while Marion either cooked or supervised breakfast, whichever she felt like. All of the household staff could cook – it was one of the prerequisites for a job in the Diamond household and had been for thirty years since they had first hired staff to take care of the children.

Marion hadn’t worked for anyone since she had married Jim, but she did like to take courses, one of which had been Cordon Bleu cookery classes. There was no chance of ever going hungry in their home. They had an advanced chef cook their evening meal, although they often ate out or ordered in, unless Marion had seen a recipe on TV or in a magazine that she wanted to try to make herself.

Jim did not enjoy his sessions in the gym, but as he was ‘rapidly’ approaching sixty, as he put it in private, he thought that he ought to at least try to mitigate the effects of sitting at a desk all day.

They sat down to breakfast at eight as usual. They ate rolled oats with dry and fresh fruit with reconstituted milk to avoid cholesterol, followed by a boiled egg on toast, accompanied by fresh orange juice. Breakfast had barely changed for forty years. They chatted about each other’s plans for the day, and how the children were doing, then Jim got up to go to work.

“I’d better be going, my dear. I see that the taxi has arrived”. They both looked over to the red light that was blinking to announce the helicopter’s arrival.

“OK, my dear”, she replied and kissed him on the cheek. “Take this – in case you get peckish… Don’t you go eating pastries!” She put a banana in his jacket pocket. It also was part of their long-standing morning ritual, which stemmed from leaner times.

“Thanks, my dear. I’ll call you later. I’d better go”.

Jim already knew what he was going to say at the forthcoming meeting, but he was open to persuasion, if anyone had something surprising to say. Fifteen minutes later he was hopping out of the helicopter onto the pad atop “Red Diamond Tower” – the headquarters of Jim’s empire.

“Good morning, Bob! How’s your cat? Better, I hope”, he said to the guard on the roof, whose cat had recently been run over and killed in a road accident. Bob saluted, and said, “Thank you, sir. Good morning”. Then he entered the lift that would take him to his office.

“Good morning, Marie! How’s that no-good boyfriend of yours?”

“Good morning, Jim. He’s not so bad really. Did you have a good flight?”

“Yes, thanks. I don’t know why I use the roads… full of potholes. Why do people say full of holes? Surely, it should be empty of holes! Oh, well, no time to ponder that question today. You can bring my mail, but no external visitors until after I get back from the Board Meeting at nine-thirty”.

Marie, looking perplexed, was thumbing through her desk diary. “But, sir, I don’t have a Board Meeting scheduled for today. Are you sure…”

“Yes, I am sure. Nine-thirty. No external calls either”, he added sweeping into his office. He was pleased that John had at least kept it from Marie-two, as he thought of her in his head, as opposed to Marie-one in his household. He noticed the sheet of paper from John immediately, sat down, said “Coffee, please” into the intercom, and picked it up.

“Blah, blah, blah, sorry that you think I have let you down… Blah, blah, blah, I will do anything to regain my previous good-standing in your eyes…”. Jim was smiling inwardly as he read John’s report on himself. “If you are not happy with my current output, I will take a 10% cut in salary until I can provide the service you require of me… Blah, blah, blah…” He folded it neatly into thirds and put it into the inside pocket of his jacket. Who knew? he thought, it might come in useful later.

The coffee arrived with a few biscuits, and Jim reactivated his hibernating computer with a swish of the mouse. “Thank you, Marie”.

“And your paperwork, sir”. He nodded and smiled.

He had fifteen minutes to wait, although he was minded to take thirty just to upset them.

He clicked the button under the lip to the left of his desk to activate his smart desk. Nothing appeared to happen. Then he took a small golden remote control out of his pocket and pressed a button. A gold plate the size of a letterbox slid aside by his left hand to reveal another set of buttons. He pressed one to lock all the doors to his office, and then pressed another to initiate a sweep for bugs. His office was clear. Then he pushed another and he could see into the Board Room. John was laying out papers before each of the twelve seats.

Jim pushed the mute button to ensure that no sound was transmitted either way, and then pushed it twice more to be certain. He could see two images of speakers with lines through them indicating that no sound was being broadcast in either room, then he took out his phone book, looked up the designated phone number and rang it.

“Hello. Is that Seeker?”

“Who’s speaking?”

“This is Gentleman Jim. I come bearing gifts”.

“Are you alone?”

“I am suitably cloaked”.

“This is Seeker. I too am suitably cloaked. How may I be of assistance Gentleman Jim?”

“I refer to our conversation of last night. Do you have any news for me?”

“I do indeed. Quite surprising revelations too, I might add. May I enquire after the gifts that you bear?”

“I have twice the normal amount of oranges…”

“I need more oranges than that this time, Gentleman Jim. I have invited more guests than usual and I want to make sure that I have enough for everyone…”

“I understand. I can send out for more… three times the normal amount?”

“That will be sufficient. Listen carefully…” and Jim did. He was transfixed, although he did make notes in a personal shorthand that he had always hoped that no-one would ever be able to understand.

The conversation, or monologue really, lasted about fifteen minutes and Jim hung up. He studied his notes, and went over what he had just learned in his head. Then, as he sipped his coffee, he pushed the button to unlock his office doors, and another to unmute the Board Room, which was now fully occupied, and nibbled on a biscuit. He listened to the eight men and four women who made up his board as they gossiped about this and that, but none of it was directed at him, so there was nothing he could use.

He stood up, smartened himself up, put his notes in his pocket and advanced to the interlinking door his office had with the Board Room. On sight of him, everyone stood up and recited ‘Good morning, sir’.

“Don’t get up”, he said taking his seat. “Good morning one and all. Beautiful day, isn’t it? Outside, it is anyway… Look! No preambles today. I think you all know why we’re here, but just to make sure, I’ll call upon John to give us a quick briefing of where we are right now. John, over to you”.

“Thank you, sir…”

As John was relaying the message that he had given Jim the day before, Jim was thinking that the three kilogrammes of gold, costing about a quarter of a million dollars, that he had just promised the Seeker had been worth it after all.

“Thank you, John. Does anyone have anything to say about what John just said?”

Philip Johnson, head of publicity, said, “It is all news to me. I am aware of advancements in AI but every aspect of I.T. is being pushed to the limits every day”. Everyone nodded.

“I’m aware of AI. in that jammers can keep changing frequency until they find the one being used and then jam it. That could cause a breech of security, but our perimeter scanners also change frequency on an irregular cycle to avoid this kind of attack”, said Mike James, head of security. Jim nodded and smiled.

“I’ve heard that the big search engine is working on top secret improvements to its algorithms that involve large language models, but I only heard that a day or so ago and don’t know what it means yet. It might not even be true”, said Mike Bailey, Director of Database Security”.

“Ok”, said Jim deciding there and then to change his approach. “As you have surely gathered by now, John brought this subject to my attention yesterday, and today, this morning, when I entered my office I found a note that he had left for me”. He pulled it out of his pocket, and looked at John as he unfolded it. It was obvious that John wanted to be rushed to hospital that very second. Jim pretended to reread it. “I won’t embarrass him by telling you what he confided in me, but I will say this. You are sitting in this room because I have considered that you would be useful to me and the firm. You are all very highly qualified in your field, but your job must go further than that. I rely on you to be my eyes and ears in your particular area of speciality. I demand that you alert me to any little bit of news, even gossip that might affect this company.

“I want daily reports on my desk from each of you concerning this AI existential threat to our superiority in our field as a media company. I shouldn’t have to remind you, but it looks as if I do. If this company goes down, then I won’t need you. Still, don’t you worry about me. I’m a sixty-year old billionaire. I’ll be just fine”.

With that he sat down, took the banana from his pocket, peeled it and started to eat it, all the while looking at the directors.

“Naturally, I can’t say what it would look like to have the collapse of My Media on the CV of a director looking for a new job, but as a pointer, I wouldn’t take losers on my Board… If that’s all, guys, then, I have to go. Work to be done, eh?”

With that Jim, stood up, as did all the others, and he went back to his office.

He watched the grim confusion in the Board Room on the monitor, and turned the volume up. He was enjoying this, but he also knew that time was of the essence.

∞

When Jim Diamond boarded the helicopter home, he was happy with his day’s work. It would only take a few minutes to get home, but he thought about the cost – about $1,200 a time, and wondered whether he should set up a helicopter taxi firm. It would certainly make more sense than buying one and keeping a pilot in residence. Or he could learn to fly himself, he thought, and tried to make a voice note, but the noise from the engine was too great. He wanted to kick himself for even trying. He was wondering whether he was becoming prematurely senile, like he suspected Marion was, as the helicopter lowered and he finished writing a note to himself in his small trusty pocket note pad.

He waved the pilot farewell as he got into his lift and descended to his living area.

“You’re home early, dear” said Marion, waiting for him outside the lift. “I’m not ready with dinner yet”.

He kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t worry about it my dear. I am early, but I haven’t finished yet. I’m sure that whatever you prepare will be a real treat! Give me a shout when you’re ready to serve it, and I’ll be down like a bolt from the sky. Until then, I’ll be in my office. See you soon, my darling!”