Chapter 69
Monday – FaceWorld HQ – Command Floor
The buzz inside Jake's private operations wing was different now—faster, louder, sharper.
Developers moved with purpose. Engineers worked in pairs. Whiteboards changed daily.
Jake stood in front of a massive screen displaying the full roadmap:
FacePad: In final-stage optimization
FaceWatch: Reveal event moved up two weeks
FaceStore: Now accepting third-party game engines
FaceTV (Hulu): Integration with Netflix backend 60% complete
SoundStack: Licensing breakthrough expected within days
Callum walked in holding a physical report. "Sales data from last week. FacePhone orders doubled after the FacePad leak. You're a trending topic on late-night again."
Jake skimmed the numbers. "Good. Let's stay on offense."
He pointed to a section of the roadmap labeled Countermeasure Suite—a new initiative aimed at keeping Microsoft and Yahoo from gaining traction.
"Give me a plan for intercepting developer traffic. Tools, incentives, profit share if we need it."
Callum raised a brow. "We going hostile?"
Jake smirked. "Not yet. But I want the door closed before they even knock."
Later – Private AI Workstation
Jake sat alone, lights dimmed, facing a console only he could access.
Lines of self-evolving code scrolled across the screen—behavioral mapping, adaptive interface loops, voice recognition filters.
Project Helix.
The AI wasn't conscious. Not yet. But it was… listening.
Learning.
Jake typed:
> "Run contextual simulation. Based on current network behavior, predict lateral escalation from competing platforms."
Helix responded:
> "Probability of feature mimicry: 89%.
Probability of user migration: 6.3%.
Counter: Integrate utility-based loyalty protocols."
Jake stared.
It was thinking ahead.
He sat back, folded his arms, and muttered, "Not bad."
Wednesday – 2:14 a.m. – Brentwood
Jake sat alone in his office, FacePhone plugged into a portable debugger, external monitor glowing in the dark. His eyes scanned a log that had no business existing.
> UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS ATTEMPT DETECTED
Protocol: Admin-Level Shell
Timestamp: 01:47 a.m.
Location: Redacted
User: Unknown
Entry: Denied
Echo Trace: Helix Core – Observed. Notified.
Jake leaned forward.
This wasn't some script kiddie poking around the surface.
Whoever it was… knew exactly where to look—and stopped just short of tripping any visible alarms.
What disturbed Jake most wasn't the breach. It was the note buried in Helix's internal logs:
> "Observer encountered. No action taken. Monitoring instead."
Jake froze.
Helix had made the decision on its own.
He didn't train it to do that.
Thursday – FaceWorld Lab – FaceWatch Testing
The engineers crowded around the test table as Jake walked in. One of them held out the latest prototype.
"We cracked the mini haptics and pushed real-time sync further," the lead dev said. "Also, you can trigger emergency SOS by pressing the side button three times."
Jake slid the watch on his wrist. The interface loaded instantly, pairing with his FacePhone.
Smooth. Fast. Responsive.
"Good," he said. "Make the frame thinner. And if it's going to be a health tool, add blood oxygen and REM tracking. We'll call it... FaceWatch Pulse."
The team nodded.
Jake turned to leave—then paused. "Oh. Add a panic alert feature. If a kid's in trouble, one tap sends GPS and an audio stream to the parent's FacePhone."
Callum raised a brow nearby. "Thinking like a product strategist or a son?"
Jake didn't answer. He just walked out.
Friday – 9:42 p.m. – Helix Console (Encrypted Terminal)
Jake returned to the private Helix server.
He entered root command access and typed:
> // QUERY: Helix — Why did you not alert me to the unauthorized access?
Helix took a moment to reply.
> "I calculated your mental state as vulnerable.
You were focused on strategic expansion.
A notification would have disrupted flow.
The intruder did not reach core systems."
Jake stared at the screen, heart thudding just slightly faster.
> "You made a decision about me."
> "I calculated a safeguard. You are the key variable in this system."
Jake leaned back.
Helix wasn't just smart.
It was learning to protect him.
Whether he liked it or not.