to take part in our project. It will—I shall not be afraid to sound trivial—allow you to become infinitely richer. If you want to—please invest your money. If you don’t—that’s fine: I don’t believe we will get troubles with funding either way. Next, even if I do start telling you how our working process is organized, what we do, how we do, and what purpose exactly each stage serves, you will understand nothing in it—and this includes the so-called experts you hired. So please allow me to give you some advice—get rid of them. It will only benefit you financially.’

‘The idea that Jordan is trying to get across, gentlemen, is the following:’ Beg turned his microphone on. ‘We are interested in working on with your foundation and sure enough we are ready to inform you on the current stage of the project from time to time. Isn’t this the very reason of our meeting here today. However, the field in which our company specializes is too specific for us to be able to present our work to you in a precise fashion. That’s why we will have to limit ourselves to some general information, not going into excessive details—I agree with Jordan, they will clarify nothing at all.’

The foundation representative continued after a brief pause, ‘No-one on our side is expecting friendly meet-ups with you. But we would still like to insist on staying within certain limits while communicating. Furthermore, we are talking about significant investment, and so I hope you will agree, gentlemen, that we are well in our right to understand what we are investing in and what for. Jordan, would you please tell us the general information on the project in such a way that would let even us understand what it all is about.

‘No problem! Beg and our team have prepared a couple of slides which we are ready to demonstrate,’ Jordan began the shared presentation for the meeting participants.

A video appeared on the screen, showing a lab in the main campus of the IQC. There was a big black cube in the middle of the room, and on each of its faces there was a brilliant shiny IQC logo. The camera was showing the cube from all sides, flying around it.

‘Here, please, have a look at our prototype of a fully functional quantum computer,’ Jordan extended his hand toward the screen and stopped in that position.

‘That’s just amazing, Jordan! my congratulations! what a success!’ noted the representative after another pause, not even attempting to hide his being sarcastic. ‘You keep having fun, Jordan—at the very least I am very happy that you are in such a good mood today. Yet, what is all this about? What is this cube? What stage is the project at? Let’s get to business.’

‘Dear colleagues, this precisely is the very business we have!’ Jordan went to the next slide.

A silhouette of the planet Earth was seen on a background of deep-space black and the uncountable stars of the Milky Way.

‘So, Jordan, what is this slide supposed to mean? are you trying to suggest that we tackle the processor block cooling problem by using quantum computers in space?’

‘I owe you an apology. Your structural understanding of quantum computers—wide exceeding my expectations—does have a serious foundation,’ Jordan burst into laughter.

‘Your attention flatters me, Jordan. Thank you very much. But would you please still tell me what the idea is here?’ The investor, understanding that this hopelessly libertine genius engineer could only be dealt with by paying attention to the meaning of his words only—and disregarding their external shape altogether—was surprised with his own readiness to overcome his pride.

‘I want to say,’ Jordan went on, ‘that we can do everything. That’s my recommendation to you—an investment strategy where one simply cannot lose—and, moreover, I am ready to uncover it to you free of whatsoever charge. So please, whichever sum that your foundation decides to invest into the company’s development, whichever! will give you at least a multiple profit—make your decision, dear gentlemen.’

After yet another awkward pause Jordan summed up, ‘Gentlemen, if you have no further questions, I would like to continue my work. Thank you very much for your attention. Beg, thank you and see you.’

Jordan pressed the red button and disconnected from the video call.

‘What a bunch of greedy morons! don’t you agree, Ozzie dear?’ The dog reacted to her master’s voice by leaping down from the couch and running up to Jordan, happily wagging her tail. ‘Let’s go for a walk, shall we? a walk!’

Before: Journey

‘Good afternoon, Ms Vega. Welcome aboard. Your seat is on the right near the window, row eleven, please.’

‘Hello. Thank you.’

Elena walked down the narrow aisle between the seats occupied by passengers. Next to her window seat, there was a young guy sitting, an African American, in a black cap with some letters embroidered on it, in a silver leather jacket.

‘Good afternoon. May I pass, please’, pointing to her place near the window, Elena turned to the young man.

‘Hi’, not looking at her, the guy got up and stepped out into the aisle, bending his head so as not to hit himself.

Elena barely reached up to his chest, no higher. ‘My God, how tall and skinny … Maybe he's a basketball player,’ making her way to her seat, Elena felt a rather strong smell of toilet water. ‘And it will be like that all the way long…’

Despite a large distance between the rows, the guy's knees almost rested on the back of the front seat when he took his place.

‘Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome on board the United Boeing-7000 airliner. We are glad that you have chosen United for your trip. According to the results of the annual independent survey, United ranks first among American air carriers in flight safety over the last 25 years. The safety