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self-navigating platoon.
    â€œWhat do you listen to on it?” Ara asks, still poking at the receiver.
    â€œYou can find all kinds of interesting stuff on the waves.” I take it out and turn it on. “Sometimes it’s religious fanatics from their bunkers in the wastelands predicting the end of the world as we know it. Or oddballs spouting anticorporate philosophy and saying they want a revolution.”
    â€œWhy?” she asks.
    I shrug. “Well, you know, they all want to change the world, I guess.”
    â€œAs if,” she says, then she leans in close and whispers, “Do you ever hear illegal music?”
    â€œSometimes you can find a station,” I say, not mentioning that most nights I spend hours surfing the waves, listening to tunes, imagining how I would rearrange the melodies and instruments to give songs a whole different feel. “But my dad’s people catch on pretty quick and jam the signal. Not that it matters. The pirates are smart. They move around and find other waves.”
    Tonight the stations are crackly and hollow-sounding with all the interference from the Distract, but we catch a few snippets here and there from the handful of audio news streams that cover everything substantive the Buzz would never run.

    Factory workers riot over unsanitary conditions.

    A warehouse fire in India kills four pickers and destroys three million dollars worth of merchandise.

    Corporation Xian Jai says it’s considering automating all facilities by 2093.

    The Kardashian SCEWL for Future CelebuTantes posted record-high earnings today.
    â€œThat’s where we went, right?” Ara asks, smiling at the memories coming back.
    â€œâ€˜Give ’em to us and they’ll be smart enough to know better when they graduate,’” I quote the SCEWL’s motto, and we both laugh until the next headline hits.

    Bad day for Chanson Industries. Calliope Bontempi filed suit against Harold Chanson for personal and property damages following the sale of her music contract and a reversal ASA.…
    â€œThat’s the crazy girl who cornered me in the gallery,” I tell Ara.

    Â â€¦ And an unidentified group momentarily hijacked the LiveStream of the Geoff Joffrey concert.…
    â€œOh god,” I groan. “My dad’s going to be in a foul mood tonight!” I reach to change the channel, but Ara stops me.
    â€œNo wait, I want to hear this,” she says.
    I take another long drink from the flask.

    Harold Chanson is widely credited with changing the music industry by patenting the first Acquired Savant Ability surgery, known as an ASA, that rewires the auditory cortical region of the brain to induce musical genius. Since then, other companies have patented similar procedures for savant abilities in different regions of the brain.

    Chanson went on to become one of the most successful music patrons in the world by introducing pay-for-play streaming technology in 2065 that prohibits consumers from downloading and owning individual songs.

    In her complaint, Ms. Bontempi claims she underwent a reversal ASA (a procedure for which Chanson Industries also holds the patent) that left her with acquired amusia. “I can no longer sing, hum, or whistle. I cannot read or write music, recognize songs I once knew, or play any of the instruments I so dearly loved. My ability to make a living as a musician was stolen by Harold Chanson when he did not honor my contract, and now my ability to derive any pleasure from music has been erased from my mind by him as well.”
    â€œEnough!” I turn off the receiver. “I can’t stand to hear about another person whose life was ruined by my father.”
    â€œThat’s cold.” Ara leans away.
    â€œOh, come on! You know how this goes,” I grumble at her. “Art is a cutthroat business and not everybody makes it. Calliope’s career failed and now she’s bitter. Next she’ll say my