Ability (Omnibus) by Travis Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

Insurance companies practically go bust overnight. Medical supply stores become like food handouts in third world nations as half the country flocks to their stores or websites to purchase the items needed to treat themselves and their families or friends. Everyone now knows how to do something that a hell of a lot of people and industries depended on to produce jobs and goods and research to further the advancement of medicine itself.”
    “Holy shit,” Garret said, finally understanding. “That’s a massive trigger for economic collapse.”
    “Exactly,” Derry said, proud of the fact she’d thought of it before either of them.
    “Imagine,” Brian added, “we teach everyone how to repair their own car. No more mechanic shops. A huge drop in sales of new automobiles, causing factories to close. Who needs to buy a new car when you can fix the one you have, cheaper and without the inconvenience of having to take it to a mechanic or a dealer. The Big Six going tits-up would cause almost all but the largest parts suppliers to go under. I wonder if people would even go so far as to want to be flashed with the ability to machine metal parts, or forge alloys to make and mold their own parts.”
    “That seems a little too extreme for anything but hobbyists,” Garret argued.
    “Not really,” Derry chimed in. “Imagine suddenly being able to learn anything you wanted. Wouldn’t you want to go out and plant your own organic, pesticide-free vegetable garden? Who would you trust fixing your tablet more than you? And mechanics, we’ve all felt like we were being screwed over somehow when we’ve had to take our cars to be fixed. Especially when they see a woman coming. The credit signs start flashing in their damn eyes.”
    “I’m with Derry,” Brian said, wheeling his computer chair back to the beanbag chair she sat in so he could put a hand on her shoulder.
    “None of that really matters though,” Garret said. He had a strange look on his face.
    “Why not?” Brian asked.
    “We’ll be the ones with all the money. Anyone that wants to learn any of this shit is going to have to pay.” Garret’s face seemed lost in a fantasy of him swimming in a pool filled with paper credits and gold coins.
    “Who said we were going to charge for any of this?” Brian demanded as he wheeled back to his desk.
    “Hey, you can give your dope away if you want. I’m charging for the masses to learn the easy, care-free way. You guys can try to ‘change’ the world for free, but it takes money to make real change happen. And once I change my situation from mooching off my best friend to riding around in luxury, I’ll do whatever I can with the fortune of a person who could buy a small country. Imagine if just one module was purchased by every adult on the planet. And who wouldn’t do whatever it took to make the money to buy the one thing that could or will change their lives? Knowledge is priceless.” Garret looked at the both of them with defiance after finishing his speech.
    Brian rose from his chair and stood in front of Garret, barely able to contain his anger. He was angry that his best friend seemed to be setting rules that hadn’t been agreed upon by anyone but Garret. Brian wasn’t a socialist, or even a hippie who wanted to shower the world with free love, food, and grass. But the thought of profiting from what could change the future of human civilization, maybe even human evolution, incensed him to the point of losing his temper with his best friend. More so because he’d always thought better of Garret. He knew his friend was chafing under the pressures of relying on him for money, food, and dope. He’d tried to let Garret know, as often as possible, that it wasn’t something to worry about. He’d explained to Garret more times than he could remember that friends, brothers even, did for each other without keeping score.
    “As it stands right now,” he said, unable to keep his voice calm, “the only way it