Sea of Greed

“You can also get directions via voice activation,” Amanda said. “Press the other arm and speak.”

“Elevator,” Kurt said, testing the system.

A faint line appeared on the glass. It led across the room, appearing like a shadow on the crowd before brightening against the far wall and turning.

Their host beamed. “All you have to do is follow that line and you’ll be taken right to the elevator.”

“Personal GPS,” Kurt replied. “I like it.”

“Let me try,” Joe said. He pressed the sensor on the left arm of his own glasses and spoke. “Directions to winning Amanda’s heart.”

A line pointed directly toward Amanda, but nothing more appeared.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t give emotional directions,” she joked. “But if you’re good at foot rubs, you’re halfway there.”

She tapped a sensor on the arm of the glasses for Joe and a little heart appeared beside her name. Joe raised his eyebrows and smiled.

“Thank you,” Kurt said, “we won’t take up any more of your time.”

Amanda left to speak with other guests and Kurt and Joe began wandering around the main convention hall, talking to other attendees and getting used to the idea of knowing who one was speaking with before even asking a single question.

Kurt found it stilted the interactions. “One thing’s for sure, you don’t have to make small talk with these things on. It’s just right to the chase.”

“I’m saving all the single women in my list of favorites,” Joe said. “Unfortunately, that leaves no room for you.”

“I’m heartbroken,” Kurt feigned. “Time to get down to business.” He pressed the sensor on the arm of his glasses and spoke. “Fuel cell displays.”

A list of several companies hawking their most advanced fuel cells appeared. Kurt pressed the sensor again and spoke the name of the first company. A line directing him across the room led to an impressive booth with promotional video running on multiple screens. Each mini-movie showed different uses of the fuel cell system, but the technical information suggested there was nothing revolutionary about this company’s products.

He and Joe moved to a second booth and then a third. The results were the same.

“Nothing special about these designs,” Joe said. “Just a little more efficient than your garden-variety fuel cells.”

“Don’t bother saving them to your favorites,” Kurt said. He tapped the button on the arm of the glasses and spoke the name of the last company on the list. “Novum Industria.”

“Don’t you mean Industrial with an l?” Joe asked.

“That’s not what it says here,” Kurt replied.

The line on the glasses led Kurt through a swirling crowd and past a wall covered with falling water. Like everything else in the Blackout Conference, the water appeared to glow in the black light.

As he passed the end of the wall, he arrived at another display. Here, he saw samples of magnetic material and information about batteries and storage systems.

As he watched through the glasses, words appeared from a background that seemed to be made of solid rock. Novum Industria. This time, the glasses offered a translation. Latin for New Energy.

In a small lounge behind all the technical stuff, a woman with wavy dark hair, full lips and a formfitting suit was holding court. Kurt noticed her eyes, partly because she wasn’t wearing the sentience goggles and partly because they were instantly alluring, almond-shaped and canted slightly, which gave her an almost feline appearance.

As Kurt scanned the group around her, the glasses told him her subjects were all potential investors. He moved in with the others, focused on the woman and was rewarded with information about her.

Tessa Franco: Founder, President and CEO of Novum Industria, Inc.

Kurt didn’t bother getting the rest of the information. He took off the glasses, stood and waited for her to finish her pitch about where her company was going and why.

“…The events in the Gulf of Mexico are only the latest indication of our need to end this mad reliance on fossil fuels,” she said. “We’re burning our way to a new kind of hell on earth — global warming, climate change, record hurricanes, not to mention bleached reefs and drastically affected fish populations. The effects are obvious. But people are kidding themselves if they think any government or UN program will end this reliance, that’s a liberal pipe dream and a foolish waste of money. The only thing that will end the suicidal use of fossil fuels is the development of something better. Novum Industria has come up with that something.”

She stepped aside and a holographic video vaguely described their newly integrated fuel cell and battery system. It gave away no proprietary details, but Kurt could tell it was different than anything at the other booths.

He noticed the men around her hanging on every word.

“Is it money or love they’re after?” Joe whispered.

“A little bit of both,” Kurt said. “The question is, what does she need?”

“A little of both,” Joe said.

“My thoughts exactly.”