The site’s error page featured a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger wearing dark sunglasses and holding a shotgun, with a caption that read, This page has been TERMINATED.

The CEO finally sent an email banning all jokes related to The Terminator.

Desmond replied:

Just to confirm, these jokes are terminated?

Despite their faux fears that SciNet would become self-aware, the platform did launch in the spring of 1998 and quickly became a hit. Across the country, labs and research facilities signed up, took inventory of the old equipment collecting dust, and posted it for sale. Some used the money to buy more equipment they actually needed—much of it from SciNet.

Desmond was the lead developer. He could have taken the role of Chief Technology Officer, but he’d rated that job as more risky. He would have had a higher salary with fewer technical responsibilities. If the company ran low on cash or needed to refocus, he figured managers with higher pay would be laid off more quickly than the programmers who would be needed to right the ship.

For the time being, however, the ship was sailing quite well. Their first clients were in the Bay Area: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NASA’s Ames Research Center, Stanford, and SRI International. Word spread among scientists and procurement departments. Signups and transactions soared.

Desmond periodically ran database reports for management, identifying their largest clients—organizations they should call on and keep happy. Some were companies he’d never heard of: Rapture Therapeutics, Rook Quantum Sciences, and Prometheus Technologies.

“These three companies are each buying more than Livermore. Stanford even,” he said. “And it’s all kinds of stuff. They’re either just stocking up, or they’re running the largest-scale experiments in the world.”

SciNet’s CEO was in his early thirties, had an MBA from Harvard, and was all business.

“I fail to see a problem with any of that.”

“Well,” Desmond said, “the issue is that Rapture and Rook, in particular, aren’t paying for their equipment. I can see the credit card transactions on the back end. They’re using cards and bank accounts tied to two companies: Citium Holdings and Invisible Sun Securities.”

The CEO was getting annoyed. “So?”

“So, we have two third-party companies buying massive amounts of scientific equipment and shipping it to these legitimate private research firms.”

“Again, how is that a problem?”

“I’m not sure it is, but I think we ought to look into it. We’ve created something new here. What if someone’s taking advantage of it? What if SciNet is being used to launder money somehow? Like Mexican drug cartels, the Mafia—”

“Okay, Desmond. I think you’ve been watching too much TV. We’ve got what we need here.”

Management was in no hurry to question their best clients. The company needed the transaction volume, and Citium Holdings and Invisible Sun Securities were providing plenty of it.