Multiverse 2 by Chris Hechtl

Author:Chris Hechtl [Hechtl, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: self
Published: 2015-03-10T04:00:00+00:00

The reentry was as rough as predicted but thankfully short. They did a series of S turns in the air to bleed off their excess speed before the jet engines kicked in.

Nick did his best to entertain Charles to distract him. He didn't want to have the guy barf and then stink his suit up for the rest of the evening.

“We're trying to put the magic back. Remember when you were a kid and it was there? That magic? That mystery? Staring up at the sky? The smiles? The generosity of spirit? We want that. We want to treasure that, and we want each generation to do so as well.” Nick frowned. “Call this … social engineering on a macro scale.”

“Oh.” Charles blinked. “So the boss, and by extension us, we're trying to change the world. One child at a time though? You know they'll see through it. The older they get ….”

Nick nodded. “True to some degree. Oh, they know on some level, I know that. I know we're fooling ourselves. But it is fun!” He chuckled. “And it feels so good to see the light in a child's eyes, the delight, and the smiles. The smiles of the parents who aren't tired or worried that they got it right or wrong.”

“We can't be right all the time. Statistically …”

“I know, I know. But we can give it our best shot. We've got programs and AI mining the target's social media, plus of course their wish list. And our genetic algorithms can put things together to get the mystery gifts. Stuff they didn't except.”

“But doesn't that open us up to well, failure? What if they already have it? Or don't want it?”

“That is a problem. We've run into ten incidents of that so far. We've corrected each within hours.”

“Okay.”

“We're trying to pull the commercialism out. The cynicism. The expectation of what they want is what they'll get,” Nick smiled.

“What about other faiths?”

“This isn't about religion,” Nick said, shaking his head. “Oh no, definitely not. We'll come on Christmas, the Yule, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Eid al-Fitr, Saint Nicholas day, or any other time the parents specify. We do this once per year per child. And yes, the Santa will dress in the appropriate costume for each period and delivery at the parent's request.”

Charles nodded. He'd read that in the handbook. “We've got all the bases covered.”

“Not quite but we're trying to. Every year we find ways to improve.”

“Ah. So you've been in the program for a while?”

“Since it started,” Nick said with a wink to Cedric.

“You two get the first stop,” Cedric said, bowing slightly to Nick. He looked at the tablet in his hand.

“Hang on, Charles, the teleport can get a bit rough. Don't move. Remember your training. I'm going in first, then the system has to reset. It takes about a minute unless someone else is coming and going. If they are it could be longer.”

“So keep a look out for dogs or problems on the other side?”

“Exactly. HQ tries to keep us up-to-date on that.

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