It really was like a scene from a science-fiction movie, Sandra thought. The real world had caught up to what, in the past, could only be imagined.
“The future is here,” Lisa Carver said, echoing Sandra’s thoughts at that very moment. “We are, at the moment, living in a time of transition. A bit like, perhaps, when diesel was replacing steam on our nation’s railway tracks. When downloading a movie replaced going to the video store. When putting a stamp on an envelope and putting it in the corner mailbox was overtaken by email.
“Today, conventional cars share the road with a handful of autonomous vehicles, and this transition has not been without its challenges. In fact, so-called self-driving cars currently on the market really aren’t. They are still designed in such a way that the driver can take over if the car fails to do what it is programmed to do. That’s unthinkable where the Arrival is concerned. The driver does not take over. The driver will never have to take over. The Arrival knows what to do.
“The primary goal of every Arrival is safety. Not just your safety, and the safety of those in the car with you, but the safety of everyone and everything outside the vehicle. Does anyone still know Latin? There’s a phrase primum non nocere. Or, in other words, do no harm. Like the Hippocratic oath doctors abide by. Well, the Arrivals take that oath, too. They are designed to do no harm.
“And when we reach the day when all vehicles are self-driving, when every vehicle can communicate with every other vehicle on the road, that’s when something remarkable will be achieved. All the cars on the road will be thinking as one. Not unlike an ant colony, where all these hundreds of ants are a cohesive unit, or when you see a beautiful swarm of birds in the sky, moving together as one.”
“Or like the Borg,” cracked one of the reporters.
“Resistance is futile,” said another.
Lisa smiled, but Sandra could tell she didn’t appreciate the Star Trek reference.
“In a way,” Lisa conceded. “While the Borg were a tad more sinister, they were pretty good at conquering solar systems. And the Arrivals are going to conquer the roads of America, and beyond.”
Nice recovery, Sandra thought.
“What we set out to do here on Garrett Island was to create a perfect environment for the autonomous car, a test community where every car is, how can I say this, like-minded. We all remember when Oprah said to her audience, ‘You get a car! And you get a car!’ That’s what we did here when we gave everyone an Arrival, and that’s why I have invited you all here today, to see what we have achieved on Garrett Island in a few short weeks. We see what a success this bold, visionary experiment has been. Now, there are several issues I want to get to today, but I thought I’d take a moment in case there were any questions.”
The lights came up again. A woman Sandra recognized as someone from a CNBC business show had raised her hand. When Lisa pointed to her, the woman stood and asked when self-driving cars would become affordable for average buyers.
“They already are,” Lisa said. “Our latest model undercuts the list price of Tesla’s most recent offering by more than five thousand dollars.” She pointed to another reporter, a woman with a lanyard that read REBECCA GEARY.
Sandra recognized her, too. Another TV person.
Geary asked, “How do you respond to accusations from Brandon Kyle, inventor of the Gandalf, that you conducted industrial sabotage against his company, and which left two people dead?”
Lisa bowed her head slightly, as if acknowledging the tragedy. “It was a terrible, terrible thing that happened to those two people in the Gandalf. Tragic. My heart goes out to their families. And quite honestly, my heart goes out to Brandon Kyle, too. He’s a visionary in every sense of the word. A brilliant man. But sometimes, brilliance is one side of the coin. It’s too often balanced out with negative qualities, like paranoia, irrationality. Kyle’s accusations against me and the Arrival corporation are baseless, and his failure to get the courts to see things his way are evidence of that fact. But at some level, I can understand his wanting to lay the blame elsewhere. Perhaps if it were me, I’d want to do that, too. The difference is, I wouldn’t. I would accept responsibility and act accordingly.”
The man wearing the BEN STAPLETON nametag glanced up only briefly, then put his head back down as he tapped away silently on his laptop.
“A follow-up, if I may,” Rebecca Geary said. “Mr. Kyle also alleges that the death of Rhonda Templeton was no accident, that she was in fact—”
“That,” Lisa Carver said, emphatically, “was thoroughly investigated by the police, and is without doubt the most scurrilous of Brandon Kyle’s accusations. I would like to get back to our real focus today, and that is how Garrett Island is lucky enough to be on the cutting edge of history in the—”
“In fact,” said Rebecca Geary, “the police have not definitively said that case is closed. My sources tell me the investigation has been revived.”
Sandra did not like the look on Lisa Carver’s face. She hadn’t known the woman long, but Sandra believed, in another moment, the top of her head might blow off.
Lisa paused before answering. “I have no information to that effect.”
“This is a fucking disaster,” someone whispered into Sandra’s ear.
She turned. Albert Ruskin was huddled close to her. He did not look happy.
“She’s handling it,” Sandra said. “More or less.”
“Did you not tell these people what the purpose of this day was?” he said, his voice low but angry. She could feel the spittle hitting her ears.
“If you’re asking if I told them certain subjects were off-limits, the answer is no,” she whispered back. “My experience is, if you tell reporters not to ask something, that just makes them want to ask it more.”
Sandra knew, at that moment, that it wasn’t just Lisa Carver going down in flames. Sandra’s career as a public relations consultant was finished. But how could this have been avoided?
No, wait, it was too soon to put on the parachute. She needed to find a way to spin this, to turn things around, right fucking now.
Sandra tilted up her chin and shouted: “I have a question!”
“What the hell are you doing?” Ruskin whispered, but she ignored him, stepping away.
Lisa looked apprehensively in Sandra’s direction.
Sandra said, “An estimated forty thousand people die each year on American roads and highways. How much do you think that number could be reduced if everyone were traveling in an Arrival?”
Lisa smiled. “What a wonderful question. And it goes to the heart of what I’ve been trying to do since I started working in this industry. I want to save lives. There is no greater goal than reducing the carnage on the roads of this wonderful country. What’s at the root of so many fatal accidents? Reckless driving. Driver error. Texting. Well, when you’re in an Arrival, all of those factors are eliminated.”
She stayed on the topic for the better part of five minutes. Sandra could see the woman’s confidence coming back, the hard set of her jaw relaxing. When she was done with the question, she opted not to take any more and continued with the video presentation.
When that came to an end, there was scattered applause from the hall. Lisa backed away from the podium, and exited the stage through a back door.
“Let’s go,” Ruskin said, grabbing Sandra by the elbow.
She pulled her arm from his grasp, but followed him nonetheless. They left the gym, walked a short distance down the hall, then opened the door to a room behind the stage.