A man seated at his office desk appeared on a small screen next to the newscaster. “Good afternoon. I’m glad to be here to help clear this up as best I can.”
“Mr. Lorn, let’s put it out on the table. Is Ren Tech on the path to a monopoly?”
He said, “Well, the issues is that they have introduced something that is killing their competition at a rapid speed. No one can keep up with them and no one was ready for this. When all other competition dries up, a monopoly may accidentally form. In this instance, I am sure the antitrust department is looking at the aggressive pricing and distribution of services, which is causing this to happen. So,…”
Nova pressed a button on a tablet, and the screen muted.
Chase stood next to him, looking at the screens. The main monitor had the business reporters still interviewing the expert. The other two screens had various numbers and data on the business details of Ren Tech.
“Why are we worried about this?” Chase asked.
Nova said, “Normally, I leave economic details to the rest of the world. As long as it doesn’t interfere with our work, I leave it alone. But, Ren Tech is destroying all their competition. Those spheres have made every other communication company obsolete. I’ve seen companies do this over time, but there is one aspect that makes even less sense.”
“Why are the glasses so cheap?” Chase stated.
Nova smiled, “You picked up on the problem. When any company begins to truly corner the market, they can raise their prices and gouge with abandon. Regulators control monopolies mainly for that reason. Instead, Ren Tech is likely losing money with each sale, and the glasses operate on the free services provided by those spheres. They can’t possibly be making money. They must be taking incredible losses.”
Chase said, “If this were just another company, then we would let them make their foolish mistake, let them crash, and the others would simply rebuild. But, we don’t trust Ren Tech.”
EB hopped in, holding the box from the Ren Wear. “Speak for yourself. These babies are all mine.”
“I didn’t clear that,” Nova stated.
EB said, “We had them tested and retested. They’re as harmless as a calculator. So, you can let me use them with no worry.” He gave off a big grin.
Nova let out a hard, shaky sigh. “Fine. Use them. But, if anything seems wrong, let me know. I mean ANYTHING. If there is so much as a strange itch while using them, I want to know.”
“AWSOMESAUCE!!!!!” EB ripped the box open and pulled the glasses out. He shoved them on his face and had to fix them to his smaller head. “Glad they’re already set up. Had to set them up to test them. You know how long it takes to set up a new phone or tablet. Well, you don’t. The last tablet you used required a chisel. I can’t wait, I was on the top of the leader board in Heroes City, and there is a lot of catch-up with Genshin and.... AAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Nova grabbed up the bunny in his hands. “What happened? Are you okay?”
EB, still wearing the glasses, which were projecting the data directly into his eyes, said. “Slashergirl12583 has the top spot! I owned that spot for nine solid months. NINE FREAKING MONTHS! That newb!”
Nova’s eye twitched as he dropped EB without warning.
“OW!” EB looked up. “What was that about?”
“Go, play your games. I have actual work to do.”
EB dashed away, chattering about all the games he had to catch up on.
There was a sneaky sneer from Chase as she took a step closer to Nova.
“What?” He asked.
“For a moment, you sounded like you were actually worried about EB.”
“I just thought those glasses were dangerous.”
“Sure.”
Nova said, “I’ll be in my office. I need to contact Krystal and get a status report. You have Operations.” He left Chase in charge.
***
“Now, this is very odd.” Krystal walked around the sphere using a BADGE scanner.
Alex ran some data through his computer tablet. “What is it?”
“Something is off. My readings are... almost null.”
“Null?”
Krystal called out, “Torrik!”
There was no response.
“Where is he?” She looked up and sat Torrik still taking pictures with people. “That ham. TORRIK!”
The satyr left his crowd and walked over to them. “Everyone has those glasses things. They look so weird.”
Alex said, “Ren Wear are spreading faster than the flu. Trendy tech is always a big deal. It’ll pass soon.”
“So, what’s the verdict?” Torrik asked.
Krystal said, “First, do me a favor and see what you can determine about the morphons?”
“Alright. Let’s see.” Torrik walked around the sphere for a moment and then opened up his arms and spoke a word of magic into the ground. A great cloud of energy sprung up and created a sparkling fog around the sphere for a moment.
The onlookers in the fictional village applauded and took pictures with their glasses.
Torrik spent a moment looking into the fog, his eyes glowing with the same color of green as the cloud. “This... isn’t right.”
“You don’t see any morphons.” Krystal said.
“Just a meager amount, the same amount I would find just about anywhere in this world of yours.”
Krystal showed him her scanner. “Morphonic radiation is low here, below normal.”
BEEP BEEP.
Alex pulled out a basic military communication device. “Nova’s contacting us.”
All three looked at the screen of the communicator. Nova appeared sitting in his office. “What have you found?”
“Nothing.” Krystal said.
“What do you mean?”
Krystal elaborated, “I mean, we scanned a sphere in New Zealand and found it has no morphonic radiation cloud around it. The morphon signature here is inert. I don’t get it. We’ve tested a dozen spheres over the past few months, and every time they show a strong morphonic signature.”
“Is the sphere dead? Is the internet and cell signal in the area down?”
Alex showed him the civilian computer tablet he was using. “I have a full Ren Tech signal and the phone service is as strong as ever. Considering how far we are away from any other major city, this can only be from this sphere.”
Nova said, “I don’t like this. Our assumption is that these things are powered by morphons. If they are, then there should be a morphonic radiation around it.”
“A strong one.” Krystal added. “I think we need to investigate further. There’s a sphere in Christchurch, we can check it out.”
“You do that.”
Torrik said, “We also might look into a kid that went missing recently.”
Nova shook his head. “Your job is to investigate those spheres quietly, not to assist in a local missing person case. Let the constabulary deal with that.”
“It might be connected to the sphere,” Alex said. “The mayor here has suspicions.”
Nova said, “People often blame the unknown for mysterious problems. Even though the spheres are more casually accepted because of the free services, they are a mystery to everyone. I’m sure people blame them for a lot of inexplicable happenings. We can’t chase every wild lead. Focus on the spheres only. I want to know how they work and if they pose any danger.”
Krystal said, “So far, I can say the extreme super-powering of civilians has almost vanished. The surge of powered people has died and there are no dire stories of people getting hurt near these spheres.”
“That’s good news, but we can’t stop until we know for certain they are safe. Good work people, keep it up. Nova out.”
“On to Christchurch.” Krystal said.
Torrik smiled at his adoring fans. “After a few more pictures.”
“Quit flirting. We have work to do.” Krystal commanded and grabbed him by a horn, dragging him toward their vehicle.
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