Alex's Point of View
"There. All done!"
Alex clapped his hands and admired his work. Their apartment was clean again!
Teri had been so helpful, finding a contract manufacturer that could assemble the e-abacus 2.0 in bulk. Much to his chagrin, they were actually turning a larger profit per unit than when the four of them were assembling the abacuses by hand on their apartment floor. After a short foray into in-house production, Mr. Math LLC was once again a pure digital media/software company. Story of his life, really.
Alex had always wanted to be a hardware guy. He made so much cool stuff for projects at MIT, not terribly practical stuff, but you stuff you could touch. Lockhole-Merlin immediately turned him into a programmer, and this new startup (he could hardly call it a side hustle anymore) was going the same way.
The Mr. Math companion app was now a fully functional AI math tutor that could guide students from "1+1=2" to pre-algebra, and damned better than Kuhn Academy and that common core bullshit if he did say so himself. The best part? The app was only getting better as their install base grew, the AI adjusting to the needs of their users as more data came in.
Major media outlets were already emailing him, asking for interviews. Things were blowing up faster than he ever imagined possible. They were saying one month using Mr. Math could raise a child's math ability two full grade levels. Was it really true? He had no way of knowing. It was a nice thought, though.
Alex had a lot of ideas, like introducing logic and discrete math early, at least for the advanced kids. Integrating math and science problems as early as possible was another priority, to really show how math could be used to represent things happening in the physical world. He wanted to show kids what math could do, maybe pique their interest.
His "Elementary School Math Speed Run" video on Youwatch was already at five million views. It was a compilation of all his material so far, edited into one big presentation. There was so much more he could do and nobody there to tell him no. For the first time in a long time, Alex felt really free, like he was working for himself, and for Alice. Speaking of which...
His girlfriend's boobs were pressed into his back and she was kissing his neck.
"Well, hello to you." Even after three, about to four, years together, she could still make him flustered.
"Good morning, babe. Working already?" she asked, the remnants of sleep still audible in her voice.
"Never not working, Alice!. I'm locked in!" he said gamely, channeling his friend Terry. Terry didn't sleep, or at least Alex had never seen him sleep, and they used to share a room back in college. That guy could just code for hours. They were collabing that very instant.
She leaned on him. The weight felt pleasant on his shoulders. "Doesn't look like you're coding right now. Is that a script?"
"Yep," he confirmed it. "The title is 'the math of real life'. Mr. Math isn't just for kids. I'm going to make this one for everybody. Key topics will be credit, interest, mortgages, paying taxes, budgeting, even some basic bookkeeping to show people how running a small business works. I think this one has a good chance to be our second viral video."
Alex had a good feeling, a really good feeling. He was on a hot streak right now, plain as day.
Alice pointed to something on the screen. "Who else is editing this Oogle doc?" she asked.
"Terry," he answered. "The boy," he added hastily when he felt his girlfriend tense behind him.
"Good," Alice said. "I thought I was going to go crazy with her in our apartment."
The way Alice sneered the word "her" was funny, but also a little concerning. Alex turned to face her. "You know she's nothing to me, right? Teri is just my best friend's twin sister."
If he was hoping that would mollify Alice, his hopes were in vain. "The Tsai twins are a package deal. Terry was playing wing man, parading his sister in front of you. You had to have noticed."
Alex looked down, suitably chastened. "I know," he said softly. "I've been a bad boyfriend, letting you feel jealous like this, letting a woman that is trying to take your place get too close to me. But Terry and I have been friends for years! He's like my brother, Alice! And they've really pitched in and helped me get Mr. Math off the ground. I can't just abandon them!"
There was a fire in Alice's eyes, and for a moment he feared the scolding would continue, but something shifted in her expression, something he couldn't quite identify. Concern? Grief? Calculation?
"There's something you can do to make it up to me, something that might help the Mr. Math brand." She had a strange, far away look in her eyes. He didn't like it at all, felt like bad news.
"Anything," he promised. Anything for Alice. I'll make this right.
His ready agreement didn't appear to please her. "You might not say that, once you know what it is."
Alex wondered what could have Alice acting so serious. "Try me."
His girlfriend sighed and looked away, chewing on her words and swallowing them a few times before she actually spoke. "I've tried to keep my work and our private life together separate, as much as I can. You've been patient with me, so patient, and I love you for it." She paused as if to gather her courage. "I fucked up, babe. I killed Chip Lackland," she said directly.
Alex physically recoiled. That was...that was...a lot. He'd suspected, of course. Alice came home with blood in her hair and Chip didn't come to work the next day. He'd hoped...
"I'm sorry!" Alice had tears in her eyes. "I didn't mean to do this to you! You lost your job because of me! I'm just awful!"
She was trembling, tears were really flowing now. Alex was too surprised to be mad. Maybe anger would come later. Maybe not. Chip was an asshole.
He stood up and crushed her in an embrace. "Shush, shush, it's all right. I'm never going to stop loving you, but this is a huge problem."
"Bigger than you know!" She sobbed into his shoulder. "The Corps doesn't want my head. The Corps wants you!"
He froze. What the hell could an organization of assassins want with him. "Really?"
Alice sniffled in his arms. "Yes. You know how Dick infiltrated the Rebecca Rodriguez-Cooper campaign? Now they want somebody with Aaron Hacker. They want you! Us!"
Alex pulled away. His emotions were all jumbled. Alice killed his boss and now her boss wanted him to pretend to be a Republican? How the hell did that chain of reasoning work out? "What do they want, exactly?"
Alice's watery eyes met his. "Aaron Hacker is going to have a rally in Norfolk in a few weeks. He'll also be filming an episode of his podcast. The Corps can pull some strings, make you his guest. Mr. Math is the hot new thing!" She had a brittle smile on her face.
"What then?" Alex pressed.
Alice pulled out her phone. "I've got notes. Let's see here, okay. Talk about education, how you would fix it if you were in charge. Talk about your time in the Marines, bond with him. You can challenge him; he'll respect that. Our psychological profiler says he'll be able to tell if you just flatter him and pretend to agree. They want you to impress him, maybe even try to change his mind on something. Ultimately, this is a job interview."
Alex was taken aback by that. He thought this would just be a one time thing. "What do you mean, job interview?"
"If he brings you on, as an advisor for example, you can bring me on. I don't have much reason to tag along otherwise. You can feed Hacker advice, maybe even good advice, redirect his more destructive impulses. I'll be around, gathering intel, maybe taking targets if they let me. The Corps gets eyes and ears inside the Hacker campaign and a certain amount of influence. Think about his audience, Alex! Tens of millions of people watch him every week. That's a lot of Youwatch views, a lot of e-abacuses."
His blood ran cold. "At the price of my immortal soul, Alice? Hacker is fucking evil. You want me to help that madman?"
"If he really is that bad and has to be stopped, it would be better to be close than far," Alice said reasonably. He hated how reasonable she sounded. "You don't need to be home to run Mr. Math. I'll help you make videos on the go, whatever you need. Please, for me?"
Alex knew he was going to regret this. "Once more unto the breach, then. Let's see what Mr. Hitler thinks about my little math videos."