The ringing phone roused him and only then did he realize he’d fallen
asleep on the train. Bade, who was seated across from him raised an eye-brow in
question as he fished his phone out of his pocket.
“Hello, you’ve reached
Kola Da’Silva’s phone.” He said, trying not to sound groggy.
“Good morning Mr
Da’Silva.” A chirpy voice said. “I’m Sarah Baines from the CRA1’s
office and I’m calling regarding authorization for the transfer.”
He shook his head as if to clear it. What
transfer was she talking about?!
“Err, Ms Baines, could
you bring me up to date on the transfer you’re referring to?” He frowned and
shrugged in reply to Bade’s enquiring look.
“The Gremlin account Mr
Da’Silva.”
The Gremlin account, are you
kidding me?! He’d only just recently attained Portfolio Manager status at
the Brokerage Firm and handling a high-profile account like the Gremlin account
was a dream that was at-least three years away!
“I’m sorry Sarah but
err… I… can I get back to you on that?”
“If you want to go over
the documents one more time, I could send a VRD2 to your Google
Glass.”
My Google what?!
“Was that the CRA’s
office?” Bade asked when he got off the
phone.
“Yes and this lady was
going on about…”
Just then, he heard a little beep and then a voice in his ear: Incoming
mail from Sarah Baines.
Are my glasses talking now as
well?!!!
Before he could process that thought, an image sprung up smack in front
of him and he reeled backwards reflexively, knocking his head on the glass-pane
behind him. His eyes clouded over for a moment from the impact and the image
swarm before his eyes.
Dear God, I have gone completely
crazy. Or maybe I’m dead!
“Hey easy! You alright?” Bade said, reaching out a
hand to steady him.
He snapped off his glasses and thankfully, the image disappeared.
“What’s wrong? You look
like you’ve seen a ghost!” Bade said.
“I’m… I …it’s…”
“Your GG’s are blinking,
could be you’ve got a message.” Bade cut in, pointing to his glasses which
indeed had a red light blinking at a corner of its frame. He stared at it
flummoxed, wondering how he had come to be wearing the alien contraption in the
first place! Tentatively, he put the glasses back on and tried to comprehend
the image before him. He wondered if everyone else on the train could see it,
but no one seemed to be paying him any attention.
I must be the only crazy one!!
It was a document with details of the Gremlin account. Instinctively, he
reached out a hand to the image and flicked it gingerly, scrolling through the
pages like he would a tablet. He didn’t know which overwhelmed him more: the
image projecting from his glasses or the information contained in the document!
“Wha…what’s all this about the Gremlin account?!” He
spluttered, completely befuddled.
“Oh, you got the paper-work already. Good!” Bade said.
“We should get ready for the Virtual Presence meeting with their CFO3.”
“Hold on a minute! You
mean we’re financing Gremlin, as in me
and you?!”
“That would be
affirmative, unless you’re an alien posing as Kola!” Bade said giving him a worried
look. “What’s gotten into you today? You’re being really weird!”
“I …”
“You ready?” Bade asked.
Not knowing what else to expect, Kola gulped and nodded.
“Okay Glass, Vi-P Mark
Rogers and sync K.D.” Bade said.
You are now
synced with B.O. Setting up Vi-P, the Siri-like voice said in his ear.
If he’d been amazed by the events of the morning, he was knocked right out
of his socks when the life-sized image of a man was projected onto his retinas!
“Good morning
gentlemen.” The image said and sat down. It
actually sat down! The image seemed to hover above the seat across from him
and he imagined that somewhere across town, Mark Rogers was sitting at his
kitchen table starring at their
hovering images! Vaguely, he listened to the conversation go back and forth
between Bade and Mark and hard as he tried, his mind simply refused to
comprehend what was going on around him. Talk
about an information over-load!
“Everything seems to be in order.” Bade said finally.
“So we’ll authorize the transfer.”
“Great!” Mark said beaming.
A quirky part of Kola’s mind wondered if they would shake on it! Bade flicked his thumb and fore-finger and magnified
the document Kola had been viewing earlier. At the bottom, where there should
have been dotted lines for their signatures were bar-codes.
What’s he gonna do?! Sign the
bloody thing with his finger-print?!!! He probably shouldn’t have asked!
Bade simply aligned his eye with one of the bar-codes and blinked at it.
Pupil recognition initiated good old Siri chirped.
The bar-code flashed red, then green.
“Your turn.” Bade said flicking the document towards
him.
In a daze, he tried to mirror Bade’s actions and the meeting quickly came
to a close.
“Glass, end Vi-P
meeting.” Bade said and Mark and the document pixelated and dissolved from
sight.
“Wow, this is all crazy!
It’s like walking into some Sci-Fi movie!”
“This is the real thing Bro! It’s Peer-To-Peer banking
on a whole new level. Banking has become so retail and individuals now have the
financial capability to carry out transactions and offer services without the
need for financial intermediaries. Gone are the cut-throat lending rates,
mammoth overhead costs and draconian lending terms!”
“You mean the Banks…”
“…like we knew them are
no more! You, my friend, are the Bank of the future!”
“I can’t…I’m not just
managing the Gremlin account, I’m
financing it?!”
Bade clapped him on the back.
“Get a grip dude, welcome to the 22nd
century!”
*
Kola started awake suddenly. Again.
“You alright Hon?” His
wife mumbled beside him.
“Yes Love, just had a
very weird dream.” He replied.
I just saw the future, and I was
King!!!
1Credit-Rating-Agency
2Visual-Retinal-Display
3Chief-Financial-Officer
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