“Wheel Base, two words, dot com,” he said. “Ben Stapleton.” He extended a hand and she took it.

“I have to admit,” she said, “it is quite the project. An entire island with nothing but these crazy little machines.”

“It’s a great stunt,” he said.

“I’m not really a car person,” she said. “My boyfriend is. He loves sports cars, thinks the day when he can’t get behind the wheel is more or less the apocalypse. End of times, whatever. But as a non-car-person, I’m okay with it.”

“Sure,” Kyle said, nodding.

“You think it will happen?”

“Think what will happen?”

“Like Arrival says, that within ten years, maybe sooner, most of the cars on the road will be driverless. They say it works better when all the cars are like that. They can all talk to each other. You put a few real live drivers into the mix, and it’s chaos. God, just think of downtown New York with nothing but self-drivers. I wonder if I’d miss the honking?”

“Probably not,” Kyle said.

Some hair blew across her face and she brushed it away. “Arrival is leading the way on this. The Big Three, Japan, Germany, they’re all playing catch-up. And of course, they had a bit of luck.”

Kyle angled his head, waiting for her to go on.

“I mean, when your biggest competitor self-destructs, that’s what I’d call catching a break.”

“The Gandalf,” he said.

“Yeah,” she said. “What’s their stock worth now?”

Brandon Kyle paused, then said, somberly, “Nothing.”

“I hear they’re down to selling off the Aeron chairs. There’s virtually nothing left. God help you if you own one of the Gandalfs that are actually out there. Good luck getting service. It’s the DeLorean all over again, only worse.”

Kyle nodded solemnly. “I guess you’ve heard the rumors,” he said.

“Rumors?” she said. “You mean the outright allegations? Of industrial sabotage?”

“Yes.”

“Of course. I had Kyle on my show.”

“Oh,” Kyle said. “I must have missed that one.”

“Talk about a man possessed,” she said. “Possibly delusional. He honestly believes Arrival’s president masterminded a plot to hack Gandalf’s master system, slipping a bug into it.”

“That movie producer, and that actress, they did die,” Kyle said. “The car did go off that cliff.”

“Sure,” the woman said. “The software fucked up. No doubt about it. But you ask me, Kyle trying to lay this off on Arrival is just a dodge to keep from taking responsibility himself. Where’s the proof? You make an accusation as serious as that, you need something to back it up. Arrival’d probably sue if they thought Kyle had any money left.”