Crisis In The Cold

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

The next day, Jackson was at the office at 8 a.m. meeting with Payne, the CFO and his best friend.

"Are you calmer today?" Payne peered at Jackson through the rimless glasses he wore when he went over his numbers.

Jackson frowned. "What's that about? I'm always calm and cool."

"Sure, you are." Payne smiled and waved a sheaf of papers at Jackson. The two were sitting on leather chairs in the conversation pit of Jackson's office. He had kept the same one used previously by Maxim Blax, the late CEO of JPI. Blax had succeeded Jackson as JPI CEO and had moved into this large, corner suite at JPI headquarters after his brain tumour had given him the personality of a Nero without the musical ability. "I don't blame you for the odd outburst, Jackson, old man..."

"Don't call me that, Payne. After coming back here; what was it? Eight months. Anyway, after coming back here, I'm like a kid again. Even my knees feel young."

"They should," grinned Payne. "Take a look at these. They're orders for Version 3.0 and our security solutions won't be ready for another four months. It's running at twice the rate of orders last year at this time. The income projections are obscene, even when you consider clients will be getting installation and configuration services at cost."

Jackson glanced at the numbers on the pages Payne had tossed on the table between them. There were so many numbers, they blurred together and Jackson pushed them aside. "Wow," he mocked Payne's enthusiasm. "It's hard to believe."

"Okay, Jackson, but you'll be sorry when you have to go back to your little cabin in the woods and re-retire."

"Is that even a word, Payne?" He lost the grin. "Mariah mentioned last night that she worried about all the criticism of Artificial Intelligence and that we might get tarred with that brush." Payne's brow furrowed. "She says even China is feeling the heat."

Payne rubbed his hands together. "I was at a conference last week. The one I mentioned to you, about AI and civil liberties. I agree with Mariah up to a point. Facebook, Twitter, Google; they've been worried about this for quite a while. They are countering the criticism. That's what we discussed at the conference. A guy from Huawei was there. And Tencent is doing a hell of a lot to protect its lead and commitment to AI."

"I have to admire Tencent's mission statement," Jackson interjected. "To become the most respected internet enterprise." And, that slogan, 'AI in all'. That's quite the statement for a company in one of the world's most repressive society. But, when you have a billion users just on WeChat, I guess you can say anything."

"There's a lot at stake in AI," Payne said looking at the pile of papers on the table. We're looking at about a billion dollars resting on JPI's AI just over the next year and that's pocket change to Tencent."

"Yes, Payne. But think of it this way. If Mariah is right and the critics can cause wholesale regulating of AI, the whole development movement becomes shaky. We're insulated in a way because we build military solutions but that means we're major targets for both AI critics and the people our customers are going to meet on the battlefield. I still think about the damage the Russians could cause if they stoke up the fury with their hacking. They elected Trump. They could destroy our lead in AI."

Payne sank into his chair and signed. "God, Jackson. I've been thinking about the numbers and how good we're looking. Maybe I should be scared silly. Thanks a bunch."

Jackson slapped Payne's leg. "Come on, buddy. Let's get out of here and have some lunch." And they did.

It was after 2 p.m. when Jackson returned to JPI with Payne. They went to Jackson's office to pick up Payne's notes. As Jackson reached for the papers on the table in the conversation area, his cellphone chimed. It was Graham Carde and he was in Jackson's cottage on the bay.