Finney Vol. 1 - Immutable Journey - Flipbook - Page 24
Mr Shift sat on an overstuffed leather
chair, surrounded by computer monitors,
absently sipping a diet soda in his dimlylit office. He replayed the unusual scene
captured by one of his many cameras,
searching for the opportunity in it. Mr
Shift was always looking for an angle.
Presiding over an empire of exploitation,
Mr Shift knew how to see past the surface
of a situation and into its profit potential.
And there was surely profit potential in
the character whose image was now
displayed on the monitors overhead.
Here was a youngster, obviously new in
town, following the crypto-for-gold signs
that led to Shift Tower. What a fool!
A fool, but did he have gold to part with?
At first, Mr Shift couldn’t be sure. Turning
his attention away from the enigmatic
youngster for a moment, he fired off a
series of tweets from several accounts,
lambasting a small crypto project with
FUD after shorting its token. Then Mr
Shift called his personal assistant in to
demand another diet soda, for his had
grown too warm.
Returning to the monitors fed by his
network of surveillance cameras, Mr
Shift watched the innocent traveler make
his way through the city. The traveler
visited a Bitcoin ATM but didn’t use the
machine. He stopped to talk to people,
seemingly at random, but didn’t behave
quite like a tourist. “What’s that costume
he’s wearing?” wondered Mr Shift. “If I
didn’t know better I’d swear it was made
of gold.”
Mr Shift liked gold. It was his favorite
thing. If this traveler really was adorned
with gold, that was an opportunity Mr
Shift couldn’t pass up. “I can see you,”
he said. “And it looks like you’re wearing
my gold.”
24
When the traveler arrived at the base
of Shift Tower, Mr Shift almost buzzed
him in. Resisting this urge produced by
greedy excitement, he instead studied the
newcomer carefully. Mr Shift watched
his target try the door, pace around, sit
down, and chat with random passersby.
After a frustratingly long time, the
traveler approached the admission box,
a puzzled look on his face.
Through the camera mounted above the
admission box, Mr Shift got a perfect
closeup view of the unusual visitor. A
strange object mounted on the visitor’s
chest was particularly intriguing. “Is
that?” asked Mr Shift. “No way. Is that
a solid gold chestahedron?”
As soon as he saw it, Mr Shift was
distracted by the traveler’s peculiar
behavior. Instead of depositing a small
gold coin into the box to gain admission
to the building like everyone else, this
costumed youngster stuck his nose in
there. “Hate to know what that smelled
like,” reflected Mr Shift.
After the nose, the traveler tried inserting
his foot into the box. Then his hand. Mr
Shift wanted to laugh, but his amusement
was tempered by the fear that the
admission box might break due to the
traveler’s mistreatment of it. One of
his greatest fears was having to make
costly repairs to devices that made him
money. Setting this fear aside, Mr Shift
calculated the approximate value of a
gold chestahedron of that size in his
head, which calmed him.
“Probably not 24 carats, but maybe 18,”
he muttered. “Even 14 carats would be
worthwhile, since it probably weighs a
couple of pounds, at least.”
While absorbed in musings like this, Mr
Shift almost missed something crucial.
FINNEY VOLUME ONE - IMMUTABLE JOURNEY