MANBOT

The Game Begins.

       Xavi looks around as he moves up the elevator. He is full of thoughts about his future aspiration and quests for money. The elevator stopped at the floor he was going to. Slowly he walked out of the elevator and into a room, a large million dollar office to be precise. There, all the most important billionaires in the states sat, waiting for him.

       His body guards left him and went to the room meant for escorts. Xavi was a bit tense. He was used to having people under him, but not people like this, who could sign his death with the snap of a finger. All the men present rose and exchanged pleasantries and Xavi took his seat.
       "Dear men of due honor, this is Mr. Eric, the man who brought up a certain investment that needs our sponsorship." Mr. Stack, his old friend said signalling towards his seating position. Ever since Stack knew Xavi, he had thought his name was Eric, because that's what Xavi made him believe.
       All the men present looked at Xavi in expectation of his words.
       "Good day dear honorable members of the society. It is a great pleasure having you attend my......." Xavi was saying when he was cut short.
       "Tell us why we are here" Lady Gaga, the only woman present said.
        "Sorry for wasting your time. The investment we are talking about is no ordinary one and it can fetch us extra billions of dollars if we follow it up." Xavi said, his voice a little bit shaken.
        All the men's faces were indifferent as they sipped their drinks. Thousands of people seeking sponsorship had said this exact  thing to them and nearly all ended in disaster.
        " So here's the plan." Xavi continued." I am planning to make a very smart AI virus that would attack and sieze control of the entire internet. No websites would function, no apps would run, no calls would go through, no information from satellites would come down to Earth. All the information in the world would be under my control. By the time big internet based organizations start losing billions of dollars, they won't think twice to start paying me millions of dollars per month to keep their platforms running. Likewise paper companies, network companies, and even individuals would have to pay us levies per month to access the internet......"
       " I have a paper company." Mr. Book said raising his hand from one part of the table. Everyone burst out laughing.
        Xavi smiled. "By investing, your company would get a free ticket. So imagine when all the online companies, websites, malls, database and 8 billion people on our planet would have to pay us per month...... PER MONTH!!..... to access the internet. We've hit the jackpot. We would all become multi billionaires."

       By now, all the men's faces were bright and positive, exactly what Xavi wanted to see.
       "So, Mr. Eric" Mr Bright spoke. He was probably the richest present. " You know we don't have money to burn. In as much as your concept appeals to our spirits, they also sound impossible....... totally."
       All the men nodded in concur, probably because Bright was the one speaking. That was a fatal blow to Xavi's confidence, because he thought he had captured their minds already. Convincing billionaires was not an easy thing.
       "I came with backup." he quickly defended. With the snap of a finger, he signaled to one of his bodyguards who brought a large suitcase. It contained highly sophisticated gadgets that would easily appeal to a lay man. They looked as if they were brought from the future. Amongst them was a compilation of paper designs. The men saw that he was actually serious.
       "I have already started working on it" Xavi continued." In fact, I have already built an AI with such powers, but because of limited resources and low funds, it's abilities are badly limited. To build an ideal version of it, I would need tons of money. The job is so complex that I would have to buy software engineers and programmers, and it is made of so many rare elements like acronicum that will cost you A lot to get. It is a secret mission, we all know so I can't bring it to the public. Therefore I will need informants, Architects, secret agents, you know........ all that kind of expenses.
       "Uhmm, last time I remember, that acro....acrono........ Whatever, is not on my periodic table" Mr. Book said, making everyone laugh. It's no wonder his papers always sell. Xavi explained everything thing step by step to their understanding,yet hiding any area of inconvenience. After an extra thirty minutes, Mr. Bright hit the table and asked
"How much do you need?"
"Around $3 billion" Xavi said quickly.
" I'll give 1.5" he said and stood to leave. Everyone applauded and started throwing their amounts until the money was complete. After thanks, which they did not wait to hear, they all left , except Stack.
       "Hey man, you've got your project rolling." Stack said, slapping Xavi's shoulder. Xavi turned smiling.
"Yup man." He said
       "Now let me advice you my friend. When you get that money, don't you dare play with it. These men are demons as much as they are humans. I don't mind losing my cash, there's tons more, but don't play with their money if you don't want to have your bones in the museum." Stack said and turned to leave.
       " Thank you very much for organizing this for me, I truly appreciate." Xavi said.
       " What are friends for?" Stack replied and they shook hands and parted ways.

        * * * * * * * * *
       In the limousine on the way to his lab, Xavi pondered on Stack's words. He knew he could build the AI, but he knew it was impossible without a particular material called the ACRM chip. The chip, a very tiny and complex device, had already been made and used in a military satellite (which Xavi considered a terrible waste) and it had no duplicate. But it did have a blueprint.
       Now the only problem was that the blueprints were stored in one of the computers in the national military research and development blueprints archive, which was more protected than the white house. The armed forces had done a good job keeping their vital resources from enemy spies and engineers. And that meant that they couldn't reach Xavi's hands.
       As the limousine cruised down the road, Xavi began planning his strategy. He had two choices; one, to send someone to space to tamper with that satellite, which is unknown to many. It was a task with a high risk of failure, need for skilled expertise and needing tons of dollars to carry out. On the other hand, the second alternative was to get the blueprints through any means, which sounded much more impossible than bringing corpses back to life. Having to manovuer the security and ethical hackers was like cracking a nut with an egg. You are sure to lose, because those men were DIFFERENT. They were something else.
       But there must be a way around the situation, Xavi knew.
       Maybe he could contract a good hacker to open the computer system and steal the blueprints. That wasn't a good plan though, because all hackers back out on the hearing of "National military research and development blueprints archive". Plus, the military,if they had an idea of what he was doing, would pay more for his head than he could pay for the chip, and he knew better than sell himself so easily.
      Would getting the chip from space be much easier? maybe not. He would need a highly skilled astronaut who would board a spaceship and find his way to that satellite, get the chip and at the same time cover his tracks. That would have been a good story line for a sci-fi fairy tale, but this was reality, and no one could do the job. So going to space was out of the question.
       Xavi cracked his skull with thoughts. Then it hit him; he could actually use one of his secret agents to do the job. He would have to penetrate the facilities and bring back the blueprints. That seemed to be a good idea. Before the blink of an eye, Xavi had already planned whatever skills, escapades, tactics and routes the executor was going to use to ensure a good delivery. He was beginning to enjoy the ride.
     The more he thought of it, the more the thought of a man continued to persist in his head. One of the best men in his fold, who was as stubborn as he was efficient, daring as he was good, the only one of his men that spoke to him with reckless abandon, could challenge his orders, choose what to do and what not to do, and yet too important to be disposed. If he was any other man, Xavi would have long killed him. And now his presence was needed to sort some problems. He could carry out any task, deadly or dreadful.
       We are speaking of no one else but GIOVANNI.