Reiko Hasegawa, on the board of directors

Hideki. 125 years, one step ahead of imagination. Onward to unity!

The lights flashed bright upon the stage outside Hideki Tower, where investors had traveled from far and wide to Japan to witness the latest shareholder presentation. They had been treated to a wonderful presentation of Hideki's innovations on the massive video projected onto the building itself, applauding the progress Hideki Corp had made over its lifespan, from its humble beginnings making surgical supplies for innovative procedures healing problems with the human nervous system. The video showed an incredible surge in advanced technology that outpaced and outshone nearly any medical or mechanical achievement at every turn. Hideki's chips were faster, phones were better, medical equipment more effective and innovative at saving lives. Most importantly, to those in the seats, everyone was making lots of money.

A woman stood off to the side, waiting for the applause to die down before she walked out on stage, adjusting her microphone over her ear. She had a warm, inviting smile, and she clasped her hands together, looking out across the crowd as the noise died down.

"I am not here right now."

The investors paused, confused. Clearly, this lovely woman, a stunning blonde in sharp business attire, was right there! Did their eyes deceive them? Had Hideki made some sort of holographic display?

The woman started to stroll again, roaming the stage. "I see a few confused stares in the crowd. I fully understand. The Ascend program has been one of our quiet successes over the past five years, one we've not formally discussed on this stage as we worked through the development steps to get the design to the point we envisioned at the onset. While we've been using the devices with select business, medical, and recreational customers, the public at large for the longest time assumed Ascend was an immersive virtual reality unit, and little more. I'm here to share with you the Ascend V9, the device that I think will replace the technology you carry every day with you. Your phones, laptops, and tablets really won't be able to compete when your device uses the most powerful processor we know: your human mind."

The woman stepped back to the center of the stage. "More about that in a bit. First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Reiko Hasegawa, granddaughter of Hideki Hasegawa and part of Hideki Corp's board of directors."

The screen behind her displayed an video of Reiko Hasegawa, a woman who was entirely different from the woman on the stage. Reiko's video was subtitled, as she only spoke Japanese fluently--her English was sparse. This again was entirely different from the woman on stage, who was speaking in fluent English when she had spoken.

"It is nearly impossible to believe, I know," said the businesswoman on the screen. Her slim, tall form and immaculately styled hair framed her lovely, mesmerizingly beautiful face. "But, Hideki's specialty is the impossible. There are impossible things that I hope to share with you within the next few years. Hideki is ready--but the world is not. Not yet. But what we can share is the device that will allow you to understand and experience the world, quite literally, through everyone else's eyes. With the Ascend V9, it is not just a replacement for your phone, not just a brain interface to enhance your experience with Hideki's vast knowledgebase and cloud servers--it is a connection to other Ascend units. And just like what I did a moment ago with Melanie, you can be anyone, anywhere, at any time as needed."

The video ended, as the woman--Melanie, apparently--clasped her hands together again. "A video isn't enough to really illustrate the power of this device. Things like active translation--in the location I'm currently at, I am still thinking and forming words in Japanese, but that's not the words I speak now that you are all hearing. That's all Melanie. The V9 receiver uses some special circuitry that we call 'Intent Overlay', which allows minds to translate effortlessly, or for web searches to understand precisely what we mean even when we can't quite describe what it is we think of. But again, impossible, right?"

Melanie motioned to Hideki staff, dozens of employees that stepped into the aisles of the outdoor auditorium where the investors watched, puzzled. The staff began to hand boxes to each investor: Ascend V9 units.

"So, I invite you to try it yourself. These units are all contained within the local network here, where you will be a part of the shared knowledge servers. You'll be able to see what I mean, because you will be able to see through any of your peers here today. Not just that, but if you go into duplex mode, you'll be able to move them--and they can move you. And I'm sure then you'll start to see the potential quite quickly. Instantly anywhere, whenever you need, worldwide. This will revolutionize travel, tourism, business! You can be more than who you are now, and that's the next step towards Hideki's motto: onward to unity."

Eighty floors up in Hideki Tower, Reiko removed her V9 receiver while everyone else started to put them on. She held it before her, looking at the little earpiece. It looked little more than the typical bluetooth headsets, although thinner. She set it down on her desk, before walking to the window to look down at the plaza, her footsteps echoing in her massive room. "Giving out free units to investors was a good idea, Touma. Advertisements won't have nearly the reach as simply experiencing the next phase of human collaboration. We have to get these to market before King Enterprises gets their neural harness manufacturing process in place, so the product has to ramp quickly."

A young man in a sharp business suit, Touma, nodded at Reiko, although she wasn't focused on him. He stood at her desk, looking at photos that had been scattered across the surface. The photos were of the Hasegawa family, all throughout various Hideki Corp projects. Staff had used some for part of the video presentation of Hideki celebrating the 125th anniversary of the company. "Of course, ma'am. We already have the machines tooled from the V8 converting over."

"It was just a shame that the previous versions stayed out of the mainstream discussion of technology. Those who hadn't tried them didn't understand--those who had experienced them seemed like they wanted to keep the secret all to themselves, so word of mouth had such little power. But the V9 will be different, and we'll finally start the next transformation of the landscape in the tech world. The world will be a step closer to grandfather's vision."

"Why didn't this photo get used?" Touma asked, as he picked up a particular photo that seemed rather fascinating. "This is an incredible photo, the story it must tell." After examining the three men in the photo for a while where they sat around a table discussing something likely important, he turned it over, to read the inscription. Hideki Hasegawa, Daisuke Yabusa, Archibald King, Paris 1923. "I didn't even know these three knew each other. Technology giants and prolific historians, all in one spot."

Reiko stepped back to the desk, looking at the photo in question. "It is certainly intriguing. But it would send the wrong message. Those three families diverged long ago. Their visions for the world do not align. Now King Enterprises is tinkering with witchcraft more than marketable products to focus on the strength and experiences of the individual, and Yabusa Inc believes the future does not include humanity at all, with the machines they're building. Hideki Corp has a much more positive outlook of bringing people together. Now..."

Reiko looked at Touma, a piercing look in her eyes. "I'm going to roam a bit. Go visit downstairs and ensure that the excitement over the V9 is everything we predicted."

Touma nodded, bowed, and immediately departed the massive office, leaving Reiko alone in her silent room. She picked up the V9 headset, and attached it to her ear again. Reiko's headset was different from the others distributed downstairs. Reiko's V9 headset had an 'incognito control' mode, and she stepped over toward a wall, where one massive waterfall trickled down the stone, casting beautiful reflections throughout the room. Upon the stone, a projection of a map of the world came into view, as Reiko crossed her arms.

"Where to go today..." the powerful businesswoman, barely in her late twenties, said to herself. Along the map, numbers began to appear: V6. V2, V5, V1. On and on, active Ascend headsets--a few thousand altogether--appeared on the map. One of Reiko's favorite pastimes is picking a headset, and deciding to override control of whoever's in that body, to enjoy whatever life that put her in. While it might seem strange that a woman like her, someone who could have anything she wanted without question, would want to be someone else. It thrilled her immensely, the idea of assuming another identity, and seeing how far she might go before others might realize that something is off, that someone is hacking their Ascend, that someone had borrowed a whole form for their enjoyment.

And so, she picked a location, and sat down, letting her Ascend unit connect to one of the older models, drifting from her position in spacetime to somewhere else on the world, starting a new connection.