Max’s forehead looked like a topographical map all of a sudden. It must have been a weird experience for him, having to guess at answers. “What? Feeble minds? How can these shallow ones read anybody reliably?”
“The mistake,” Avery said quietly, “is in the terminology: mindreader. The important skill for business isn’t reading people’s minds-it’s the other side of the equation, influencing the thoughts of others. That’s worth money. Lots of money.”
We passed another classroom. The whiteboard read:
20 Minutes
53N25, 2W55
Who Can I Turn to when No One Cares?
Labour is Still Better for the Working Man
Avery led us through an open door into an empty classroom. You could see it had done its duty recently- coffee cups and notepads were scattered across tables pushed out to odd angles to leave room for squatting on floor mats. The whiteboard was partly but not completely erased. What remained was:
20 mi
3 5’ 19.1” N, 122 05’ W
othing Lasts Forev he Royal Fam Provides Stabil
“I explained to Jim how few prime talents there were,” Volkov shrugged. “But, the more we talked, the more I realized that what he wanted to do didn’t require real power. Twenty or thirty drones at a time could do the job. And better maybe, since they can attack a multitude of frequencies at the same time.”
“So when people walk out of my seminars feeling better, really hopeful, liberated, inspired, fearless, at a time when the world is going down the crapper,” Avery added with real enthusiasm, “what’s that worth? All through the seminars, we’re sending them the message: You Are Special. Others May Fail but You Won’t. You Can Do It. We clear away the roadblocks inside, which are the ones that really bite, don’t you agree?
“At the same time, we’ve offered our more practical services for hire. That has proved to be very profitable.”
“Influencing votes in Congress,” Max murmured, without sounding very distressed.
Volkov looked almost condescending. “Your thinking is outmoded, Max,” he said, shaking his head. “Government is not even a player anymore.”
“Everything is business now,” Avery interrupted. “Government, Media, Religion-it’s all business, competing for attention, for mindshare. Most of our work is influencing consumer attitudes and spending, stockholder’s meetings, Nielsen ratings, neutralizing or misleading competitors, cerebral placement for new products-”
“Cerebral placement?” Max said.
Avery shrugged. “It’s the marketing buzzword,” he said. “There’s a section of the brain, the-” He clicked his fingers a few times.
“Orbitofrontal cortex,” Volkov interjected.
“-Right. If you plant a product suggestion there, you’re home free. That part of the brain just bypasses all rational judgment or vetting. It’s an automatic purchase. Saves an incredible amount of money in advertising and PR.”
“And you’re telling me that’s funding this whole enterprise?” Max said and the skepticism in his voice seemed to set something off in Avery.
“I don’t think you realize the scope of what we’re doing. Remember five years ago, when the analysts started saying real estate had peaked, that it was a bubble about to burst? That anybody who got in after that was going to get killed? Yet people kept buying-adjustable-rate mortgages that were built to explode, right? You think that just happened?”
Avery was up and pacing around now, feeding on his own pitchman energy. “SUV’s-they drive like trucks but they go off-road. Except that almost none of their drivers ever even bother. They get half the gas mileage of cars. Gas went from $1.50 to $3.50 a gallon in less than three years and sales of SUV’s kept growing-at twice the profit margin of cars. You think that was an accident?” He had abandoned his composure now and was waving his arms around like a traffic cop.
“Think of the power, Max, to show a client you can move an entire marketplace like that! We started with a staff of five and twenty part-time drones. Now we have over five thousand in forty locations. Geneva and Shanghai open in the next two months.”
“But you haven’t mentioned the most creative part of your work,” Max said, in a light tone that didn’t sound like him. “Making nuclear plants malfunction and the Mayor of Copenhagen bark like a dog in front of witnesses.”
Avery’s smile didn’t waver but he glanced at Volkov, who responded quickly. “A child’s tricks,” he said. “We used to change the instrument needles in the lab from a half mile away, Maximka, just for fun. You remember.” Max nodded, though there was no nostalgia on his face. “There was no real harm done.”
“I don’t think we had anything to do with the Mayor of Copenhagen,” Avery mused. “At least none that I know of.”
“Well, let’s just say you benefit from instability anywhere in the world,” Max offered. “When people doubt their officials, utilities, religion, the institutions that make them feel safe, that’s an opportunity for the OPEC of Hope.”
“A lot of what’s unfortunate in the world,” Avery answered, “is fortunate for us.” He shrugged. ”The world is filled with misfortune. That only shows how much we’re needed.”
“Don’t you think somebody’s going to catch on eventually?” Max pressed. “Some ambitious prosecutor? Scandal-sheet reporter?”
“We’re protected,” Avery said.
“From everybody?” Max burst, looking amused and skeptical at once. At this, Avery and Volkov struggled to suppress self-satisfied grins.
“I told you he was a genius,” Vokov said. “Jim knows how the game is played.”
“We had our own rider,” Avery confided, “in the Homeland Security Bill. Our work is national security and classified top secret-anything we do, no matter who the client or even if there is no client. We can’t be prosecuted.”
“Can’t even be charged,” Volkov crowed. “No congressional oversight, no subpoenas, no grand juries. Offer that to a client and see them light up. It’s beautiful.”
“What congressman proposed that?”
“Well, no one’s name is on it,” Volkov answered. “But the Majority and Minority Leader both think they put it in, so no one is going to ask questions.”
“This is Pietr’s territory,” Avery said and there was a medal and a caution in the phrase.
Max stared at Avery for a long moment. “And you really think you can keep this quiet? Over time? With all the people who’ll know? With all the people who’ll be watching?”
Volkov rose instantly at this. He wasn’t a tall man, not next to Avery but he pulled himself up to his full height and there was fire in his eyes. “How do you think Bush won in Ohio?” he said, his voice rasping. “All those precincts where the exit polls said Kerry won-exit polls that are dead accurate, time after time, suddenly all wrong? Those people told the pollsters who they meant to vote for. Once they got inside the booth, that’s not the button they pushed.” He glowered at the bunch of us skeptics. “Of course people were watching. There were articles in high- profile publications, preaching to the choir. They were roundly ignored.” He leaned over the table and rapped on it with his forefinger. “People need to feel secure to challenge power. When they’re frightened, they have their own problems to worry about.” He paced back and forth a few more times before finally acknowledging Avery glaring at him. Then he took his seat again sullenly.
“That all might change after the next election,” I said. Volkov looked at me like he hadn’t considered I could speak on my own. But he answered the point, though he answered it to Max.
“We work for both parties. Everyone wants us deep and dark.”
“The point,” Avery concluded, “is that we’re protected. From the top down.” He jumped up to the whiteboard, eager to change the subject.
“We recruit on college campuses, smart kids who need some extra money or want to start paying off their student loans. Who complains about getting paid for meditating on different subjects a few hours a day? Most of our persuasion targets require no more than twenty minutes at a clip, so we can service fifty clients a day just out of
