The collapse came on a Tuesday.
Not with fanfare or the kind of dramatism movies associate with financial markets. It came the way most inevitable things do: with the silent punctuality of something that was always going to happen.
Ethan had been awake since five.
The positions he had built in the previous weeks were ready. Exit points calculated. Execution layers distributed so that no individual movement was visible enough to draw attention before the whole was complete.
At nine oh four he executed the first exit.
Kai: (who had been silent all morning) Already?
Ethan: Already.
Kai: How long does it take?
Ethan: The main positions close in four hours. The capital arrives in forty-eight.
Kai: And Marcus?
Ethan: He executes his part in parallel.
Kai: You coordinated without me noticing?
Ethan: We coordinated yesterday while you were processing Mira's chemistry problem.
Kai: (pause) That's invasive.
Ethan: It's efficient.
Kai: (sigh) How much comes in?
Ethan: Enough for the first three points on the list with margin. Plus the mortgage.
Kai: Wait. You already processed the mortgage?
Ethan: The process started last week.
Kai: Without telling me?
Ethan: I told you. You were processing the meeting with Marcus.
Kai: That doesn't count as telling me.
Ethan: It produces the same result.
Kai: (three seconds of silence) No. It doesn't produce the same result.
Ethan executed the second exit without interrupting the conversation.
Ethan: The mortgage generates capital without transferring the asset. When the situation allows it, it is canceled. That's what we agreed.
Kai: We agreed you would tell me before.
Ethan: In the future I will indicate when there is information of this category pending.
Kai: (long pause) Did you just ask me to tell you when I'm available to talk to myself?
Ethan: For high operational relevance information, yes.
Kai: That's the strangest thing anyone has ever told me. And I'm sharing a body with someone from the future.
The capital arrived on Thursday.
The mortgage on Friday.
And Kai's savings, distributed across three different accounts with the discretion of someone who knew their origin was better not kept in a single visible place, were consolidated into the same system.
Kai: How much do we have in total?
Ethan: The number or the operational capacity it represents?
Kai: The number.
Ethan told him.
The silence that followed lasted four seconds.
Kai: That's the number?
Ethan: Yes.
Kai: My savings weren't that amount.
Ethan: Your savings were eighteen percent of the total.
Kai: (quietly) I spent four years… and you did that in three weeks.
Ethan: Eighteen percent is not irrelevant.
Kai: (pause) That's the kindest thing you could have said about that.
Ethan: It's precise.
Kai: It's also kind.
Ethan: Both can be true.
Kai: (light laugh) Look who learns.
Marcus arrived on Saturday with the same calculated punctuality as the week before.
This time Ethan chose a temporary office in a coworking building in the financial district. Privacy without permanence.
Location says things, he had explained to Kai on the way.
Kai: And the café said what?
Ethan: That either of us could stand up at any moment without it meaning anything.
Kai: And we've passed that phase?
Ethan: We've passed that phase.
Marcus entered, evaluated the space with his usual scan and sat in the position with the best angle of view of the room. Ethan opened the laptop.
Marcus: What are you going to show me?
Ethan: The complete system. Not the market. The system that contains it.
Forty-two minutes of data in silence. Marcus took no notes.
Marcus: This vulnerability pattern. Is it replicable?
Ethan: Under specific conditions. But the vulnerability is not the objective. It's the door.
Marcus: Door to what?
Ethan: To what comes after the collapse. Capital is not the end. It's the first resource.
Marcus: For what?
Ethan closed the laptop.
Ethan: The game that will be launched in less than a year is not just a game. The capsules are not just immersion technology. The complete system was designed with a purpose almost no one knows.
Marcus: How do you know that?
Ethan: Because I was part of the original design.
Marcus: How old are you?
Ethan: Twenty. The body is twenty.
Marcus processed that distinction without pressing on it.
Marcus: What do you need from me?
Ethan: Three things. First, cybersecurity infrastructure. Not only defensive.
Marcus: What kind of actors?
Ethan: Organizations with considerable resources and motivations to stop what I'm building.
Marcus: Second.
Ethan: Participation in the market operation that closes in five days.
Marcus: And the third?
Ethan: That you're available for what comes next. Not as an employee. As part of something still under construction.
Marcus: What exactly are you building?
Ethan: A base of operations. A team. And coverage for the energy consumption the capsules will generate.
Marcus: What kind of coverage?
Ethan: An operational company on top of the installation.
Marcus: What kind of company?
Ethan: A glass factory.
Marcus looked at him.
Marcus: A glass factory?
Ethan: Melting furnaces have one of the highest consumption rates per square meter of any light industry.
Marcus: And who operates the factory?
Ethan: Real employees. It produces real glass. It has a secondary purpose they don't know.
Marcus remained silent for a moment. Then he tilted his head slightly.
Marcus: Are you telling me we're going to build a functional glass factory as a cover for virtual reality capsules?
Ethan: Yes.
Marcus: That's either very intelligent or very excessive.
Ethan: They are the same thing in this context.
Kai: (in the background) He liked it.
Ethan: I noticed.
Marcus: Do you have a location?
Ethan: I have criteria. You have the instruments.
Marcus: When do you need it?
Ethan: Two weeks.
Marcus took out his phone and typed something.
Marcus: Give me the criteria.
Ethan gave them. One by one.
Marcus: Two weeks.
Ethan: Two weeks.
Marcus: (standing up) You're paying for the office?
Ethan: It's already paid.
Marcus: Good.
Kai: (after Marcus left) That was his version of a joke.
Ethan: I noticed.
Ethan: It's consistent.
Kai: (pause) You just analyzed Marcus's humor.
Ethan: It was an observation.
Kai: A very detailed observation.
Ethan: (no response)
The way back had a stop that wasn't in the plan.
Ethan stopped in front of a second-hand clothing store.
Kai: What are we doing here?
Ethan: The wardrobe is not adequate for the meetings that are coming.
Kai: My clothes aren't good enough?
Ethan: They communicate scholarship student.
Kai: (pause) Second-hand?
Ethan: The right pieces are indistinguishable.
Kai: Makes sense.
Ethan moved through the racks. He pulled out a dark blue shirt.
Ethan: This one?
Kai: Yes. That works.
Ethan: Why?
Kai: Dark blue says you made a decision. Black says you followed protocol.
Ethan: (processing) You learned that at work?
Kai: Four years of first impressions.
Ethan left four pieces on the counter.
He paid. Walked out.
Kai: Hey. The last piece. You didn't need it.
Ethan: I know.
Kai: Why did you buy it?
Ethan: Because you wanted it.
Kai: (very quietly) Thank you.
Ethan: It doesn't require thanks.
Ethan: What.
Kai: Thank you.
Ethan walked half a block before responding.
Ethan: You're welcome.
In front of a bakery Kai took control.
Kai: Can we go in?
Ethan: It's not on the route.
Kai: It's two minutes.
Ethan: What do you want?
Kai: The cheese bread Mira always ordered.
Ethan processed that for a moment.
Ethan: We go in.
The employee packed four pieces.
Employee: Is it a gift?
Ethan: For Saturday.
Kai: (very quietly) For Mira.
Ethan: For Mira.
The apartment at six had the stillness of days that produced more than expected.
Ethan left the bread in the kitchen and sat at the desk.
Three hundred fifty-three days.
Ethan: What.
Kai: The cheese bread. Did you buy it because it was efficient or because you wanted to?
Ethan: You wanted it.
Kai: Yes. And you?
A pause.
Ethan: And I found a reason for it to be efficient.
Kai: That's also learning.
Ethan: Three hundred fifty-three days.
Ethan: We're doing well.
Kai: (quietly) Yes. We're doing well.