Brave New Worlds

go to Sandra's, she has a data card for me.
    "What's this?"
    "A press release. It says CraveTech is voluntarily recalling all darts because internal studies have shown them to trigger heart attacks and strokes in a small but substantial segment of the population. We need you to send it out from the CraveTech network. "
    I hand the card back to her. "the media will figure out it's bogus. "
    "Not before the stock plummets. We're set up to trigger a small drop, and the release will do the rest. "
    "You know I won't be able to go back there after I send it. They'll trace it to me. "
    "I know. " I stare hard at her. She doesn't flinch.
    "And I'll have to break up with Tom. "
    "You need to do that anyway, Alex. It's been almost six months. That's too long. It's longer than you've dated anyone for real. "
    "Sandra, sending this press release is just throwing a brick through a window. It's meaningless in the long run. They'll replace the window. The stock price will readjust. "
    "But it will slow them down. "
    "Sandra, if it isn't CraveTech, it'll be. . . "
    "What?"
    "Nothing. " I take the card.
    "You'll send the release?"
    "I'll send it. "

    I put the few personal items that decorated my cubicle in a gym bag. I never had a picture of Tom on my desk. that would have been indiscreet.
    The press release glows on my work station, one twitch away from every major news outlet and the most incendiary of the minor ones. If I had a picture of Tom, I might have stared at it for a while, maybe even whispered Sorry to it.
    But I don't, so I just flick Send.

    I've come to break up with him. "You're early," he says when he greets me at the door. "I've planned something special. " I follow him out to the deck.
    "For what?"
    "Our six-month anniversary. " there's a cloth-covered table and dining chairs, a silver champagne bucket on a stand. "In another twenty minutes there'll be a sunset, too. " He says this like he paid for it. "But, you know," he looks oddly apologetic, "you're early. "
    "Tom, I'm sorry. . . we're not going to have a six-month anniversary. "
    I expect anything from him but the crooked Boy Genius smile I love so much. "this isn't about the press release, is it?"
    I sit, a little inelegantly in my surprise.
    "What press release?"
    He laughs. "this conversation will probably be less awkward if I just tell you I had all your CraveTech e-mails routed to me before they went out. "
    Ah.
    "I was a little surprised that you actually sent it, but I do understand. I appreciate your beliefs. I love you for them—I want you to know that. " He pours us each a glass of champagne. "And besides, you really helped me out with those counter-formulas. "
    I pick up my glass then set it down again. "Helped you out?"
    "Absolutely. My people made a couple of tweaks, though. Your group's design wasn't very cost effective at the ten thousand unit level. "
    "Wait, wait, wait. You're going to manufacture our counter-formulas?"
    "Oh, yes. The marketing campaign has been in development at a subsidiary company for weeks now. And the profit projections—Alex, you wouldn't believe it. Apparently people really, really hate the craving darts. " Oh, my oblivious darling. "they'll pay twice the cost of the actual food just to make the cravings go away. "
    "But they won't have to. We'll be giving away the counter-formula for free. "
    "Funny thing about that—the research shows people would rather pay a couple of bucks to get the antidote from a familiar, trusted source than from a pack of anarchists with a habit of blowing up buses. "
    "Blowing up buses? What're you—"
    "Oh, it's a little something we're planning for the fourth quarter. Disinformation campaign. It's ready for implementation now, but we think everyone will be more inclined to actively hate you during the holidays. "
    "Hate me?" I stand up and start backing toward the door.
    "Well, not you, your group. They'll love you, Alex. You'll be managing my charitable organizations, giving away money to worthy causes right and left. People love that. And they'll love me. People love CEOs whose wives do that kind of stuff. "
    "Wives?" He brings out a pistol and fires a dart into my neck. I pull out the dart and drop it on the ground.
    "What was in that thing?"
    He answers my question with a question as he pops open a little black velvet box.
    "Alex, will you marry me?"
    "Tom, you sneaky little—" I say, lost between admiration and horror. "Will I marry you?"
    Of course I will.

    Tom Jr. has a hard