Teaser Tuesday: “Lock In”

So this week I was reading Lock In, by John Scalzi, a science fiction novel in which a global flu-like pandemic* causes millions of infected individuals to experience locked-in syndrome, where they are conscious but have no control over their bodies.

These patients are referred to as “Hadens”, after the name of a very prominent early victim. Rather than allow these millions of Hadens to just lie around in their beds, scientists develop a way for them to project their consciousness into “Personal Transport Units”, pejoratively referred to as “clanks”, although the term preferred by those who use them is “threeps”**. Scientists have also developed a way for the Hadens to project their consciousness into a shared cyberspace called the Agora, which is sort of like the Oasis in Ready Player One, or Lakeview in Upload, except, you know, nobody in the Agora is dead.

Now, at the start of the book, the Agora and most of the other Haden-related services and treatments have been being underwritten by governments; but these government programs are scheduled for termination, at least in the United States, and so patients are going to have to find their own way to pay for it all, which may be problematic for those who aren’t independently wealthy, which is, of course, nearly all of them.*** Naturally, this provides an opportunity for corporations to step in and take over these services as they are privatized.**** And equally naturally, this leads to high-level CEO criminal activity as these corporations jockey for position in the new emerging market. And equally equally naturally, you can’t have high-level CEO criminal activity without a fall guy, right?

“He’ll be happy to let us take you, too. You of all people should know how many lawyers he has and how good they are. The very second he learns we bagged you is the second all of it—all of it—gets shoved onto you. I can see the press release now.”

“He’ll be shocked and disturbed at the allegations and will pledge to cooperate fully with the authorities, which means us,” I said.

“And you know what,” Vann said. “At that point we might just decide to cut our losses and go with what we have. We’ll still look good, and honestly it’ll be a nice object lesson for you on the subject of blind loyalty to a man who’ll be happy to throw you to the dogs.”

John Scalzi, Lock In

Hmm. An executive who rewards blind loyalty by throwing his underlings to the dogs when things go sideways. Does that remind you of anything?*****

* Global flu-like pandemic. Hmm. Does that remind you of anything?
** You can maybe guess where the term “threep” comes from.
*** U.S. patients being left to fend for themselves in the healthcare market after a pandemic. Hmm. Does that remind you of anything?
**** Corporations profiteering off patients with few or no options. Hmm. Does that remind you of anything?
***** Well, except maybe for the part about how good the CEO’s lawyers are.