The Tree of Knowledge, Daniel Miller [unputdownable books txt] 📗

construction until further notice. She knew there was no choice. She knew they had to leave. But the penetrating isolation of the Travis Farm, of being away from everything she had worked so hard to build at Princeton, crushed her. At Princeton, she was finally somebody. The person who might understand was Albert, but did he? Could he?

At that moment, Puddles entered the room, not even noticing she was there. Ying quietly observed as he began to size himself up in the full-length mirror to the right of the entrance. She stifled a laugh but couldn’t help but notice Albert’s wiry physique.

“Really checking yourself out there, aren’t you?” said Ying.

Albert jumped against the wall and banged into his dresser with both his arms, all the while scrambling to keep his towel from dropping.

“Jesus, Ying! You scared me to death. What are you doing here?”

“Sorry about that. I wanted to watch those clips of Cristina Culebra, and I don’t have a computer in my room.”

Albert rubbed his eyes. “Can’t this wait for tomorrow?”

“As my mom used to say, ‘Tomorrow is promised to no one,’” replied Ying. The thought of her parents gripped her. She hadn’t spoken to them since her final text telling them she was working on a ‘top-secret project’ with Professor Turner and would be out of contact for a few weeks. She worried how long a few weeks would really be.

“Ying? Hello?”

She cleared her mind and smiled at the skinny, wet man in front of her.

“Come sit with me. We’ll just watch one, and then I swear I’m out of here.”

“Fine. Do you mind if I put some clothes on first?”

“Sure, no problem,” said Ying, continuing to sit at his desk chair smiling. “Let’s see the show.”

Albert was too tired to argue, so he reluctantly slid his boxers and shorts on underneath his towel, grabbed a T-shirt, and sat down next to his graduate assistant.

“Boooooo.”

Disappointed, Ying turned and typed in the first link from Gabe’s presentation.

The YouTube clip titled “Cristina Culebra on 60 Minutes” began rolling.

Anchor Scott Pelley sat on a chair in front of the iconic black 60 Minutes background.

“In just a few weeks, California will be electing a new governor. Less than a year ago, political prognosticators predicted that this would be one of the closest races in the country, pitting two legendary Democratic and Republican state politicians against each other in one of the most consequential elections that California has ever seen. But then along came Cristina Culebra, a legendary businesswoman and political neophyte. Despite her extraordinary wealth and success, experts gave her and her newly formed RED Party little chance of success.

“But now, with two weeks remaining, the entire state of California has taken notice. Backed by her Red Army of fervent political supporters, the candidate has developed an almost rock-star-like following and now leads most polls by over twenty percentage points. Recently, we sat down with the candidate turned political phenomenon to find out what all the fuss was about.”

The video cut to a close-up shot of Cristina Culebra sitting poised and confident in a softly lit room. Albert marveled at how much she reminded him of her daughter.

The interviewer began, “In addition to your campaign, you have supported a ballot initiative that would eliminate the state legislature and replace it with an advisory council. Your opponents have accused you of, quote, ‘subverting democracy and attempting to establish tyranny in California.’ What do you say to that?”

Cristina Culebra calmly flashed her paper-white smile and tilted her head. “I’m glad you asked that, Scott. Before I answer your question, let me correct you on a couple of points. First, the initiative is not my initiative. It is the initiative of the people of California. And the people of California are tired of a government that has failed them, and they are looking to reform a broken system. Over five million people have signed on to this initiative. I have joined these Californians in signing the initiative because I think it will enable me to do the people’s business more effectively, but at the end of the day, it is the people’s choice, not mine. Second, you mentioned that the initiative would replace the legislature when, in fact, it would merely suspend the legislature temporarily so that the urgent business of the people can be done. After four years, if our reforms fail, we can always return to the old system.

“Now, to answer your question, you mentioned that my opponents refer to this as tyranny. I would argue that it is quite the opposite: that my opponents are tyrants. They are the ones who have ignored the will of the very people who voted them into office by racking up massive debt, starving schools, and neglecting roads and basic infrastructure, all the while providing payouts to their cronies. To me, this is the essence of tyranny. My campaign is built on overcoming this tyranny with reasoned, pragmatic problem-solving. At the end of the day, people ask for very little. They want safe neighborhoods, good-paying jobs, strong schools, a clean environment, and good transportation. And they want it done with as little waste of their tax money as possible. With the right system and the right leadership, those goals shouldn’t be extraordinary; they should be commonplace.”

Albert looked at Ying and nodded with a surprised look on his face.

“See, I told you she was good,” said Ying.

The narration resumed. “In addition to being the leading candidate, Ms. Culebra is the chairwoman and CEO of Fix Industries, one of the nation’s largest companies, which makes everything from fighter planes to paper cups. She toured us around the factory.”

The camera cut to shots of Cristina and Pelley walking next to a bomber jet as Cristina shook hands with the mechanics. Cristina pointed to the nose of the plane. “You see this slanted nose here? It’s a little design feature, but it can cut wind resistance by five percent.”

The camera cut to the two of them walking through the lobby