Kill Switch: Chapter 50
The Heir Apparent
Vonn Senior leads me to a wall of pixelated profile pics, all of which are framed NFTs.
“Every single one of my sponsors is on this wall,” Vonn Senior says. “Vonn 1 through Vonn 656, who was just advertised yesterday, after the unfortunate death of Vonn 354 in a highly random and unlikely mass shooting at High Times.”
Each pic is framed, and above each frame is a plaque with a number. In typical narcissistic fashion, my gaze floats to 19. Below the number is my profile pic. I wonder how many followers I’ve gained since I unGlassed. Probably thousands. Which is hella cool, I have to admit.
Some of the profile pics have an X over the face. 1, 5, 13, 24, 58, 69...And I guess, judging from the fact that 354 has an X over her face, that these Xs represent vaporized Vonns.
“The sponsor program is highly efficient,” Vonn Senior says. “In its infancy – no pun intended – it was conceived as a way to control population size. And then I had the brilliant idea to monetize the test tube babies. Auction off the names and DNA, I said, to generate revenue. It was a stroke of genius. It paid for the program and then some.” Vonn Senior glances at his watch. “Oh, time for another round of supplements.” He snaps a finger, and one of the security guards brings over a tray. Vonn Senior takes a bottle and a glass of water off the tray. The bottle says Six O’Clock Supplements. Vonn Senior starts swallowing the pills one by one. As he does so, he keeps talking:
“This was before I started researching immortality, of course, [swallow] and at the time, the thought of living on through my children really appealed to me. [swallow] Of course, I was a very busy man [swallow] overseeing the largest and most successful corporation in human history [swallow] and since I’d never known my own father, having lost him to the third world war [swallow] I didn’t think I’d make a very good parent. I therefore decided to remain hands off when it came to my sponsors. I fund my sponsors generously, of course [swallow] and make sure that they have all the best opportunities in the world, as you can surely attest to, but my involvement is strictly practical [swallow] When the program first launched, I purchased a very generous allotment of sponsors – three hundred in total – and we keep that number optimized by advertising a new one whenever an older sponsor dies, most often through random and entirely unexpected mass shootings.” Vonn Senior sighs. “I’ve lost a few to overdoses as well [swallow] and a handful to cancer and other diseases. It’s always hard, when you’ve invested so much money into these sponsors, to see them die young, but such is the life of a generous philanthropist [swallow].”
Vonn Senior finishes his last pill and tosses the plastic bottle on the ground. One of the security guards scurries over to pick it up.
“And the glass!” Vonn Senior shouts, holding up his empty water glass.
“Of course.” The security guard kind of cower bows before taking the glass from Vonn Senior. “I’m sorry, Mr. Vonn Senior.”
“Not very efficient,” Vonn Senior says, “making me tell you to take my glass. This process needs to be automated.”
“Yes sir,” the security guard says. “I will talk to the automation team about doing so.”
“Thank you,” Vonn Senior says. “Your job is to make yourself redundant, Smitty, so that I can fire you. Is that understood?”
“Yes sir,” Smitty says before cower walking back to his place by the door.
Vonn Senior whips back to me. “Did you notice how I thanked him, Vonn 19? Did you hear me say thank you? If I, the great Mr. Vonn Senior, can say thank you to one of my direct reports, then I’m sure it’s not too much to ask of you, Vonn 19, given all that I’ve done for you?”
So he hasn’t forgotten about his tirade against my ingratitude…Well, he’ll just have to keep waiting, because I’d rather eat my own shit than thank this simul…
“Not to worry,” Vonn Senior says. “I think you’ll be showing me gratitude soon enough, once I show you what I have in mind.” He looks across the room. “Smitty! The moon model! Now!”
Smitty runs over to the far wall and pushes over a table. Even in the dim aquarium light, I can see that it’s a layout of the moon’s surface with all these plastic dome replicas.
“Automation,” Vonn Senior grumbles, as Smitty steps away. “I need your job to be automated, like, yesterday.”
“I’m on it,” Smitty says, once again cower walking across the room.
Vonn Senior glare watches him cower walk. Then he turns back to the moon model.
“I’ve just returned from Vonnville,” he says, “and progress is running very efficiently. Within the year, I expect that we will be transporting our first civilian cruiser to the moon’s surface. And what I would like, Vonn 19, is for you to be CEO of Vonnville. How does that sound to you?”
He whips around, his dead eyes staring at me.
I’m so confused. Just an hour ago, I attempted to overthrow his entire operation, and now he wants me to be CEO of Vonnville?
“I know this is unexpected,” he says, “but I’ve given a lot of thought to the matter. In fact, for years, I’ve been toying with the idea of handpicking one of my children to be not just a numbered Vonn, which is an honor in and of itself, but to be Vonn Junior. My successor. My heir apparent. How does that sound to you, Vonn 19? Would you like to shed your number and become Vonn Junior?” His eyes light up, his smile broadens.
He strokes his chin, clears his throat, checks his watch. “Twenty more minutes,” he says, “before I need to go to the cryochamber. You know, I can see you’re still a little perplexed, Vonn 19, and I understand that. After all, I bet you’re wondering why I picked you to become CEO of Vonnville. It’s not as if I don’t have tons of sponsors to pick from.” His arms sweep across the framed NFTs. “Well, I’ll tell you why, Vonn 19. The one thing you’ve shown, which your brothers and sisters haven’t, is independent thinking. Now, independent thinking in a vacuum can be a dangerous thing indeed. But when independent thinking is done in a controlled-environment, well, that’s how innovation happens. It’s remarkable, what you pulled off out there, initiating the Kill Switch Protocol. Think what the two of us could do together. If we put your ingenuity to good use, we could build the best moon this world has ever seen.” Vonn Senior’s teeth chatter.
“Is Vonnville going to be glassed?” I ask.
“Naturally,” Vonn Senior says.
“So Vonnville is what? The Within 2.0?”
“Well,” Vonn Senior says, “I wouldn’t describe it as The Within 2.0.”
“How would you describe it?”
“It’s Vonnville,” Vonn Senior says. “Plain and simple. You should know, having worked at a content machine, that a new venture’s branding needs to be fresh and original. Nobody likes a copycat.”
I take a step back and look toward the security guards. “I see how it is. Now that The Within has been exposed, you want to rebrand. Is that it?”
“Well…” I can see that Vonn Senior’s patience is wearing thin. “Vonnville will be an extension of The Within. A new, exciting, fresh take on a familiar theme. That’s the key…”
“But how can that be,” I interrupt. “I mean, how can Vonnville be an extension of something that doesn’t exist?”
Vonn Senior’s eyes narrow, and I watch him compute what I just said. Then he bursts into laughter, nearly falling over the moon model. His laughter travels down to his belly, then comes back up to his throat before dissipating with a thrill hiss.
“Do you really believe that The Within doesn’t exist anymore?” he asks. “Do you think, Vonn 19, that your little stunt – what did you call it, Digital Disruption? – had any real effect on Withiners, aside from killing their vibe and pissing them off royally?” His eyes implore me, but I say nothing. “Oh, this is too good.” He snaps a finger. “Smitty! Push my cryo time thirty minutes. I need to show my son something.” He turns back to me. “Follow me, Vonn 19. It’s time for you to get a lesson in human behavior. The knowledge will be invaluable when you become CEO of Vonnville.”