Chapter 36 – Sunscrapers across the World

Time skip to March 1989

[Main POV]

Standing on the observation deck of the New York Sunscraper, I felt as if I was on top of the world.

In the past 3 years, Apollo Enterprises built Sunscrapers all over the world. Bangkok, Dubai, Las Vegas, Melbourne, Seoul, Tokyo, Toronto – if it was a city with a lot of skyscrapers, I made sure to build a Sunscaper. Each one at least 200 stories high, but lower than the Apollonian Sunscraper.

The New York Sunscraper was the final one finished. There were so many more regulations that delayed the project. And so many more cameras. In Panama City, we were able to build a Sunscraper in less than a week due to the lack of cameras.

Still, it was finally done. It took a lot of bribes to finish as many New Yorkers didn't want to have a building taller than the Empire State. But here I was, looking down from it.

There were many advantages to my Sunscrapers. First, it provided a perfect venue to set up Apollo Enterprise stores. Any extra space was leased out to other stores, providing a substantial amount of monthly income.

The middle floors were filled with offices. These were used to coordinate Apollo Enterprises operations: logistics, marketing, finance, legal, security, research, development, along with other matters.

The paperwork involved was absolutely wild. It was a good thing Apollo Enterprises moved all internal operations online.

The top floor was reserved for executives. Basically, me and my top subordinates. There were bedrooms, private offices, along with a series of rooms with other amenities.

On the side of the building, were ads. Currently, was the ad for the latest animated movie: Beauty and the Beast.

The movie was about Belle, a girl who develops Stockholm Syndrome for a literal beast. The name for the beast was simply the Beast. By the end of the movie, the Beast ends up turning into a handsome human prince and everyone lives happily ever after (except for Gaston), the end.

A truly messed up movie. But one that generated a lot of box office dollars. No doubt, it would be popular in this world as well.

As I continued to gaze towards the horizon, the sun began to ascend, casting its radiant light upon the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. As the light crept its way towards the building, I felt a felt an immense wave of power seep into me, and I couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement for what the future awaited me.

For hours, I watched from the observation deck, observing tens of thousands of people bustle in and out of the building. The Sunscrapers acted as vibrant hubs of commerce, attracting businesses and shoppers from all around the area. The influx of commerce injected new life into local economies, creating job opportunities and stimulating urban development.

Moreover, the Sunscrapers were not just concrete and glass marvels; they embodied a vision for the future. With innovative green technologies incorporated into their design, they were energy-efficient, harnessing nuclear power to generate cheap electricity for not only the building, but the entire city. Fossil fuel industries were not happy.

Of course, nobody except my inner circle knew how exactly the electricity was generated. There wasn't a regulator in the world who'd allow a nuclear generator in Manhattan. So, we didn't tell anyone. We simply offered to provide 90% cheaper electricity, and everyone happily accepted.

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[3rd POV]

Thompson Smith was doing well. He had a good job as an investment banker on Wall Street, a wife, and two kids.

Unlike what his friends thought, most of Thompson's time wasn't spent buying and selling stocks. He conducted financial analysis and negotiated deals regarding mergers and acquisitions. Lots of paperwork, graphs, charts, and presentations. On the odd day, he might help a company go public by underwriting their initial public offering.

While not the most exciting work, it paid quite well, considering his generic business degree.

On the way home, he stopped by the New York Sunscraper. In the tech store, he bought a couple of pairs of newly released AirPods from the Apollo Enterprises store. Then, he went to the book store and bought the third A Song of Ice and Fire book, along with the final Maze Runner and Hunger Games books. While his kids weren't avid readers, these were the only books they would read. Thompson had tried with other books written by Apollo, like the Giver, but after 10 pages, both his kids were fast asleep.

Once Thompson got home, he was greeted by his wife, and his kids, Grace and Lily.

"Daddy's back!" Grace jumped up and gave him a massive hug.

"Hi dad!" Lily hugged him from the other side.

Thompson kissed both of them on the forehead before pulling out the Maze Runner and Hunger Games books. Handing a book to each of them, they both smiled before swapping them. Thompson sighed. He could never remember which series each of his girls liked.

As the kids left, he was greeted by his wife, Abigail.

"Hi honey," his wife greeted with a hug and a kiss.

Thompson wordlessly accepted the greeting before showing her a pair of the AirPods he bought her.

"Oh my god! You got them!" Abigail grabbed the box before ripping it open. She put them on before pulling out her iPhone to connect them via Bluetooth. "It's going to be so much more convenient when I go for a run!"

Abigail handed her phone to Thompson before posing, "Here, take a picture of me with my new AirPods, it's going to look great on my Facebook feed!"

"Facebook?" Robert spoke for the first time.

After taking the picture, Abigail took the phone and navigated to the home screen. Thompson saw a blue app with the letter 'f.'

"Facebook's great! I managed to connect with my entire family! Did you know Elizabeth's got a dog?"

"Elizabeth on your mom's side in England? Or LA Elizabeth?"

"Elizabeth on my mom's side, here," Abigail showed her screen to Thompson. Thompson saw his wife's great aunt with a golden retriever. Underneath the picture, there were small buttons of a heart, thumbs up, and comments.

"I was able to find family members, old coworkers, and friends from school," Abigail explained, "You should make an account too!"

For the next hour, Thompson followed his wife's instructions in creating a Facebook account. It would have taken longer if he fully read the terms of service, but after prodding from his wife, he blindly accepted and proceeded.

After the page loaded, Thompson found himself looking at a list of potential 'friends' to add. His wife, kids, mom, an ex from high school, and work colleagues. After having a friend request accepted by each of them, he was able to look through their feeds.

Selfies on their date, a vacation someone took, a rant about the public transportation, Thompson could see everything on their feeds.

His wife looked over his shoulder. "You only have 20 friends? Ha! I have 170 friends!"

"I just made my account," Thompson grumbled. "I'm sure I'll catch up."

Thompson spent the entire night finding friends and adding them. He wondered who made Facebook. Googling it, he wasn't surprised.

"Of course. Apollo Enterprises."

His company had already reached out regarding possible acquisitions, mergers, and public offerings. Each time, they were politely denied by an automated voice bot.

But everyone was desperate. Apollo Enterprises' sheer dominance on people's disposable income was affecting all industries. Since Apollo Enterprises' introduction, the DOW stagnated, growing only 4.1% last year, barely keeping up with the inflation rate of 4%.

This meant more mergers and acquisitions, which was good for Thompson's job. But he suspected it wasn't sustainable. Apollo Enterprises was already 15% of the American GDP.

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AN: Currently writing chapter 57, and I'm slightly stuck.

Don't worry, I won't leave this story unfinished. There will be an ending.

Once I actually finish the story, I'll be releasing chapters at a faster rate than 1 per day (I do an edit before I post).

If you can find it in your heart, I'd appreciate it if you gave my story a Power Stone. Thank you.