Skye is the Limit by Phenomenal Pen (best time to read books txt) 📕

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Omni Systems GM Alexander Chase on American talk show The Sofa.

CHASE: I’ve got a question for you, Bev. In what area do you think kids are vastly superior to adults?

STANTON: Oh, so you’re asking me now. Well, all right… that’s a no-brainer. I got three: Free time, physical energy and summer break. Or is that two? 

CHASE: I count two.

[audience laughter]

STANTON: OK, two.

CHASE: You’re right. They are better than us in those areas but there’s another one we adults are only now beginning to realize.

STANTON: Do tell.

CHASE: You know those “A” students back in school who aced all the tests and hogged all the academic titles and Latin honors; you know how they’re now working for the “C” students?

STANTON: Yeah, it feels like our high school valedictorian disappeared off the face of the earth while I, who had ADHD and dyslexia… look at where I am right now. I’m interviewing Alex Chase, everybody!

[audience applause]

CHASE: You made it.

STANTON: Heck yeah, I made it.

CHASE: Over at Omni HQ, we’ve been seeing a lot of the same thing for a long time. Our HR Chief tells me we’ve completely given up IQ tests and brainteaser interview questions because they don’t predict anything and are a complete waste of time.

STANTON: That’s too bad. But we’ve got to start with something.

CHASE: Right. That’s why we’ve introduced a new testing tool, the ImQ.  

STANTON: Ohhh, what’s that?  

CHASE: The Imagination Quotient.

STANTON: Oh, right, I get it. That’s what kids are better at than grownups.

CHASE: Exactly. Imagination.

STANTON: Well, I still have an imaginary friend named Dorothy Featherstone. Does that count?

CHASE: It most definitely does.

[audience laughter]

STANTON: You yourself dropped out of college, but now you’re invited to every school’s Commencement Day. How does that feel? What do you tell the fresh, eager, scared-as-heck grads? 

CHASE: I tell them what Einstein said. That “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

[audience applause]

CHASE: I also tell them my greatest fear.

STANTON: Whoa! I didn’t know the Great Alexander is susceptible to fear.

[audience laughter]

STANTON: What is it that you fear, Alex?

CHASE: My greatest fear is fear of oblivion.

STANTON: Like in… oh, what was the name of that movie?

CHASE: The Fault in Our Stars. Yeah, Augustus Waters.

STANTON: Right, right. Well, if that’s all you’re afraid of, you can rest easy because I guarantee you that at least 300 people in this studio and our viewers in 145 countries who are watching right now; they’re never gonna forget you. We’re never ever gonna forget you.  

[audience applause]

Did I even have to say that? You’re Alexander Chase for crying out loud. You already made history when you were fourteen and writing code for Omni Systems.

CHASE: Thank you for the support, guys. Really, really appreciate it. But I’m gonna speak from the heart here. Sometimes I get really afraid. I guess there comes a time in every person’s life when they look back and take stock of everything they’ve done. It’s not so much whether people do remember you as what it is they remember you by. It’s all about legacy. The footprint we’re gonna be leaving behind. That’s what matters. 

STANTON: [doing a slow clap] Very well said. What did I tell you, guys? Wise beyond his years.

CHASE: I don’t want people to remember me as the billionaire jerk who had all these resources at his disposal but did nothing to improve human life, who just sat by and watched as the world tore itself apart in pessimism and paranoia. Sure we have overpopulation, climate change, food, water and energy shortages; but that’s not all. There’s still beauty, there’s still hope. I want to show people that. And maybe a little nudge the right way is all we need to turn the tide.

[audience applause]

STANTON: Which leads us to your until today ultra-top-secret project SKYE. Let’s not keep the audience on the edge of their seats any longer and just dive into it.

CHASE: Yes, well, I have been playing this one pretty close to the chest and I apologize for keeping everyone in the dark. But at last the long wait is over and I’m pleased to announce the launch of SKYE Beta.

To celebrate, we’re holding a global lottery for the chance to be the first to use SKYE. We’ll be choosing only five lucky people from around the world.