I kept up with Arch's long strides the best I could before we rode an elevator up to Ravi's office. The elevator walls displayed various ads for relationship counsellors and self-help video sessions on getting the person you love to forgive you. It took Arch longer to realize he'd left his chip network open. He blinked a few times before the screens went to a neutral natural scene of mountains and a forest, and he muttered an apology, only hesitantly meeting my eye. Luckily I'd left my settings off or ads for podcasts on the best revenge tactics and how to tell if your significant other is a sociopath would fill the walls.

Before the betrayal, when we felt like leaving our networks open, our ads featured a mix of food, concerts, and cute romantic venues for a date where Arch would meet my eye with a subtle smile. We never went with the choices suggested because he was adamant he could find a better option, and almost always did. My heart ached, mourning that closeness. Unless I forced the thoughts to manipulate him, I couldn't imagine us returning to that. The distance between in the elevator was as wide as possible.

After the elevator dinged and called out our floor, we had to scan in a second time to gain access to the chief officer's space. I'd only been to Ravi's office once as he came to us or sent virtual instructions, so Arch led the way at a brisk pace. Ravi's full name was etched into a golden nameplate on the oak door with the words 'Chief Technology Officer'. The rings in the wood were tight enough to signal it came from an old-growth forest, probably one of the few remaining ones. It seemed a shame it had survived for hundreds of years only to become a door. Arch rang the video bell that mirrored us standing farther away than usual with rather sombre expressions.

Was he worried about this meeting and if so, was it because I could confront him in front of our bosses or was there something else to worry about?

I didn't have time to contemplate the options as an AI voice told us that Mr. Singh would see us now, and the door unlocked with the ringing of a wind chime. As we entered, Ravi stood behind his desk with the founder and CEO of Inno-Tech, Mr. Martin, seated in Ravi's office chair. The founder's pale bald head gleamed in the soft office lights, and his brown eyes followed mine beneath his brown and gold horn-rimmed glasses that must have been cosmetic as a man of his financial status could have his vision among other senses enhanced beyond what nature intended.

"Mr. Kenton, Ms. Mintz, thank you for joining us." Ravi smiled as he did with many of the interns. His easy-going nature during training was part of what made my transition to Inno-Tech easier years ago.

The founder didn't speak, but his eyes followed my every move, from my tentative steps to brushing my light brown hair out of my eyes. All the moisture from my mouth and throat flowed to my sweating palms. I'd never spoken to this man but had seen him in plenty of company-wide comm-messages.

Why was he here? Had he suspected what Arch had done, or did he know and he was here to silence me?

While the last outcome wouldn't completely surprise me given Inno-Tech's competitive, anything-to-win nature, I wanted to be wrong.

Arch pulled out a chair for me, which I took to ease my now wobbling legs. Then he sat beside me. Either he was putting on the doting boyfriend show for our audience, or he'd noticed my discomfort and still cared. Both options unsettled me.

"Mr. Kenton mentioned you may have some concerns about joining the development team for Mem-Armour. We are here to address them the best we can," Ravi said.

I took a calming breath. Would he address that my ex-boyfriend was a thieving prick working for a corporation that endorsed his actions? There was no fixing that.

"I'm not sure how you can." Unless they were prepared to give ownership of the project to the actual creator.

The founder steepled his hands on the desk and studied my face and dress. "At Inno-Tech, we pride ourselves on finding solutions to every problem."

He sounded like the soothing AI voice that greeted visitors at the tech exploration center, not someone holding my future as an inventor in his palm. Heat rose in my cheeks. I was supposed to play along as the supportive partner, but given the chance to challenge the founder of Inno-Tech about Arch's lying, I couldn't turn it down. Even if it got me nowhere, perhaps it could call out some of Arch's false explanations and get shared credit.

"Mem-Armour is my idea and my product. And it's called Remember-All."

The founder didn't even flinch or divert his gaze from me.

"Ms. Mintz, ideas are formed every second. We have more than we'll ever be able to act on, even with the most extended lifetimes. Several people may share the same ideas without realizing it. Opportunity, however, is much rarer. And this is a unique opportunity to revolutionize the cognitive-technology space," his voice was placating like I was a child about to throw a tantrum.

"With all due respect," I tried not to seethe, "I have plans, years of research, and prototypes. This was not just an idea, and if Arch had had this idea before I did, I'm sure he would have told me, especially when he helped me."

The founder's neutral expression was set in platinum. But he'd created this entire company. He had to understand and respect the value of intellectual property rights.

"I understand your prototypes were not functioning well without Mr. Kenton's expertise. Without him, there would be no product."

So the founder already knew. They all knew, and everyone was okay with squashing a small inventor to help their wunderkind rise to stardom again. That meant there'd be a robust legal and tech team protecting this that I'd never take down alone. Even with Ash's help, this was impossible.

The office's cool air prickled against my skin, creating irritation that my nails longed to strip off layer by layer. This was everything I had worked towards, the idea that would change the lives of so many people that science and technology had ignored in their pursuit of profit. Yet I'd showed it to the wrong person and now greed would be its downfall. My chest was ready to cave in on itself as I pictured my mother's smiling face. I blinked away my forming tears and squeezed my legs through the fabric of my dress.

"Mr. Martin, may we speak freely?" Arch asked the founder with a gulp and a glance at me.

If I didn't know better, I'd mistake the look in his eyes for sympathy. I took a calming breath and ignored that traitor.

"Ms. Mintz, would you agree to a code of silence?" Mr. Martin asked.

"Meaning that if we discuss the theft of my product, I will lose the ability to speak about it with anyone outside of the contract. I understand the ramifications of the code, and I do not consent." I shot Arch a glare. What a bastard trying to coerce me into silence when I was most vulnerable.

The founder stared off into his mental cyberspace, and soon a slight vibration tickled my temple despite having set my notifications to silent. He shared two documents with me: the mem-Armour project proposal by Arch Kenton and the Projected Memory project proposal by Selene Mintz.

"Have a look at page 4."

I scanned the first three pages in more detail to see if they were trying to hide anything from me, though I suspected they would have just omitted it from the document altogether. I doubted these were the originals.

Product Name: Mem-Armour

Product Description: Mem-Armour is a cerebral implant designed to read memories in real time, record, store and provide lifelong access to said memories on demand with no delay and without degradation. The user has the ability to erase selected memories and store a select number in high definition. Upon request, memories can be altered to include or remove specific requested interactions, objects, or people. With permission, memories can be shared with other subscribers to enhance the memory experiences. Memories will be stored on the device and in a company-run memory cloud. Memories are always encrypted.

My brow furrowed. "Why would you need to alter the memories?" That hadn't been in my original design.

Ravi smiled and jumped in with, "It boosts marketing of the product. Imagine your wedding day, but your cousin's baby will not stop wailing. But with Mem-Armour you can remove that, enhance the captured audio and re-experience the moment as it was intended to be lived. It's not just your life, it's the best version of it."

The way he looked between Arch and me during that story made me want to vomit, but I focused on the content of his words instead. He might have been manipulating me too, so I'd act on my emotions instead of rational thought.

"But where would the enhanced audio come from if you didn't hear it properly?" I asked.

"It could be taken from another person's memory of the events, from security footage, from any source who has granted access to their experience of that event and nuanced to match the volume and subtleties you experienced." Clearly, he'd been involved in this prototype alteration.

"But alteration opens the product up to so many issues. And it isn't your memory if it's changed. It's an illusion."

Mr. Martin cleared his throat. "Our brain alters our memories every time we recall them, even without technological interference. This product gives us the choice of what to alter or if we want to alter them at all. It's a superior experience to the natural alternative and the reason that Inno-Tech exists. Have you read page four?"

I shook my head and kept skimming, although this product seemed focused on serving as a memory storage and retrieval device. None of my project notes about looking into technological solutions for brain atrophy and training it to improve memory retrieval and the creation of new memories by strengthening and creating new artificial neural networks through stimulation exercises appeared.

Without that, the person depended on the product for their memories and would suffer without it or if their subscriptions lapsed. If my design treated them, at least they could continue to work to pay for treatments of other symptoms and keep their natural memory-forming ability.

Was this Arch's way of giving me some control of the most complex and difficult part of my invention yet the most revolutionary? The part we'd been workshopping together but hadn't quite solved yet. Or had Inno-Tech rejected it, so they could have a monopoly on memories? I wasn't naïve enough to voice that question here and risk more of my ideas slipping from my grasp. That was equally likely.

As I glanced at Arch, he watched me with a nervous glimmer in his eyes, not quite a malicious one, but I still couldn't trust him. The founder and Ravi's eyes were on me too, so I returned to the document.

When I reached the fourth page, it contained the investors' proposed budget, and I fought my jaw drop. Arch hadn't been lying. This development budget was unreal, and the team we could hire was five times the size of our regular department, which developed multiple projects. Like he'd said, time to market was estimated at three years, with trials beginning after only one. But with that many people, we'd have twenty-four-hour double-team production.

The other inventors proposed to work on the project had experience launching very successful products, not just supporting development in neuro-product and data-collection technology, as I did. Leona Woo, developer of the comm-chip messaging, was listed as a consultant as Karim Ayad, who'd developed the brain scanning that remained in-house and hadn't been released to the public. Working and consulting with them was a dream both Arch, and I had. I could learn so much and if I did this, maybe we'd form enough of a connection that they could consult on my memory-improving invention that Inno-Tech hadn't fully stolen.

"Will I work directly with Ms. Woo or Mr. Ayad?" I asked.

"It can be arranged," Mr. Martin said.

I let out a shaky breath. Could I overlook this theft and jump into this project? Would this unbelievable project budget inflate our salaries or just pay for the more experienced workers? There were plenty of expensive therapies for Mom that I'd wanted to enroll her in, but it was taking years to save for them. If Inno-Tech was hell-bent on poaching my idea, at least I could negotiate for more and take care of her with the treatments that were available before I could launch mine. That filled me with relief.

But before I opened my mouth, I searched through the second document, which I imagined was mostly fabricated, that laid out the invention if I were to propose it without Arch. They'd give me four people to work with instead of 60 and a yearly budget that was not even double the salaries of five apprentices. The estimated time to market was 15 years. I swallowed hard. My mom would be nearly eighty by then and the odds of her brain still recording and accessing memories would be quite low. That was if I began inventing this year, not five years from now like I'd planned.

My nails bit into my palms. I hated that Arch was right.

But if Inno-Tech was announcing this product, and a competing company wanted to market their version, perhaps they would take my proposal more seriously, especially since to the world, I was still Arch Kenton's inventor girlfriend. It was unwise to get into this without negotiating and asserting my worth.

"Are you not worried another company may approach me with a far better offer and actual recognition of my founding idea?"

The founder's thin lips snaked into a subtle smile. "You're under contract with Inno-Tech until 2073. That's three more years of service. Should you sever the contract, you will be immediately responsible for paying the fee for early contract termination."

The number that flashed before my eyes was double my salary. I could never pay for that. Why hadn't I looked into that or had they amended it like they'd done to Arch's recent contract he was yelling about earlier?

"That's a yearly fee until the contract end date. Should you be unable to pay it, we'll repossess any of your assets up to or equal to that amount and should you come up short, there's a 35% interest surcharge on any missing funds."

My entire body had the weight of a fully loaded transport pod, crushing it into oblivion. I had no other option, and everyone in this room knew it. Going against Inno-Tech was condemning Mom and me to early deaths.

Arch's shoulders slumped in his chair. I was ready to strangle him for bringing me in here. But Ravi's words while they argued in the testing booth came to mind. Inno-Tech may have been manipulating him in some capacity too. The conversation we'd had ages ago about our contracts came to mind with my envy of his fifteen-year contract with Inno-Tech as opposed to my 6-year one. They may have threatened him with the same fee except over the twelve years remaining on his.

Had he sat in my place arguing the same thing? He couldn't afford that any more than I could, and both of our families relied on us to support them with housing. Leaving Inno-Tech would mean my mom and I would both lose our apartments and that stress would do more damage than good for her. Even if Ash helped me, it wasn't workable, and they'd instructed me to stay here.

"If I worked on the Mem-Armour project, would my wage increase?"

Ravi sent me a legal document which tripled my yearly wage.

"Has this eased some of your concerns?" Mr. Martin asked like my objections were minute.

I wanted to argue that I couldn't be bought out, but given my mom's health hung in the balance, it appeared I could be.

"The investors are waiting for us, and while a brief wait builds anticipation, a long one displays unprofessionalism." Mr Martin stood as if the conversation was over.

I took a deep breath and glanced at Arch, who'd never looked so small and uncomfortable as he should have for dragging me into this lion's den. If only he could keep his mouth shut about ideas that weren't his.

"A few."

"Are you ready to sign the agreement and join the project?" Ravi asked.

I furrowed my brow. "Without proper time to review the contract?"

"It's a three-year contract that would replace your current one. You will be restricted from discussing any details of the project with anyone outside of the team," Ravi said.

"By comm-chip?"

"Yes, Mr. Kenton can familiarize you with the process. He's quite familiar. You also cannot claim this idea as your own." Ravi's smile was more infuriating than reassuring.

Arch's lips opened and closed, but no sound left them.

Mr. Martin sent a final document my way, but before I opened it, he said, "Upon the successful completion of Mem-Armour, you will be guaranteed an experienced Inno-Tech team to lead a project of your choosing with full credit going to you."

I scanned through the terms and conditions and found the one they referred to and there didn't seem to be any manipulative phrasing in it. The minimum budget they listed was quite generous.

If I did this, I'd still get to develop the idea to help my mom, and I'd gain recognition and experience through it. I'd just have to give up credit for this half of it. So many inventors on that list had brains I'd love to pick for tips, and we'd be working alongside each other. While Arch was still a bastard for doing all of this without my consent and for taking all the credit, it wasn't all terrible. I'd get a wage boost, recognition, and a more powerful position in three years instead of seven. My other options were watching him launch it and get rich alone or fight while losing everything.

I gave the document my official mental signature and sent it to Ravi.

"Welcome aboard, Ms. Mintz," Ravi said with enthusiasm.

The founder grinned and shook my hand. "Together we're going to change the world."

All I could hope was that it was a change for the better and not a path to its doom. But the more I learned about Inno-Tech, the more I realized that they'd be fine with either as long as they turned a profit. 

Word count: 3140

Total word count: 10,814

Today's shout-out is for Brian (RhymeswithFry)  and his great ONC entry 'Seen'! It's a fun contemporary rom-com piece where Elijah, a lawyer fighting for the rights of LGBTQ+ youth takes a quiet vacation but finds Aria, a spoiled movie star has crashed his plans. I always love Brian's stories, and this one is no exception :)  I highly recommend checking out 'Seen', especially if you enjoy forced proximity and the enemies-to-lovers tropes.

Credit to the article 'Memory rehabilitation for people with multiple sclerosis' for enhancing/contributing to Selene's explanations of the part of her invention that deals with supporting memory recall and development.  

Taylor, L. A., Mhizha-Murira, J. R., Smith, L., Potter, K. J., Wong, D., Evangelou, N., Lincoln, N. B., & das Nair, R. (2021). Memory rehabilitation for people with multiple sclerosis. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 10(10), CD008754. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008754.pub4