Manual - Pandora: First Contact - Proxy Studios

my mouth to protest but he shushes me. “And you’ll be workingfor me until you find something better. It’s a social media startupcalled SpaceNook. You used to be a damn good programmer– and I need that. I can pay well”. In the dark, I smile. “Sure,Franklin. Sounds like a plan.” That was the start.Of course, as soon as the chance came for real power – realmoney – I seized it. SpaceNook, under my guidance, rapidlyachieved a global scale, absorbing the lesser social networks,and Franklin eventually was persuaded to step aside, lettingme become CEO. But power didn’t make me a better person.It’s important to remember that the gods are always watching.On the side, I’d started up another business, a religiousnetwork tied into SpaceNook, called Divine Ascension. Itwas just a simple application of economic principles to thereligious market. I made a religion for everyone, every variantof diseased mind and devotion, all built using off-the-shelf AIsand SpaceNook’s white-labelled back-end.It’s amazing how fervent worshippers become when they realiseyou’ve got access to all their dirty secrets, isn’t it, Dave? Andwhat did you do with that Vietnam-era grenade, anyway?At some point I was Mrs Maroon, CEO of SpaceNook and DivineAscension. I know, big leap. I sat in my glass-walled office on the90th floor of some architect’s penile fantasy, idly going througha fellow CEO’s SpaceNook page, trawling for dirt, when I heardshouting. Through the glazed double doors of my office, I saw afamiliar thin figure arguing with my secretary, Butch, unaware ofthe security apes coming up behind him. I buzzed through. “Lethim in, Butch.” I say. “And tell security to stand down. For now.”Franklin walks through the doors, flustered. “Franklin, mydear,” I start, before he cut me off. He was always doing that.21