Chapter Eighty-Two: Technology Shapes the Future

The Stark Industries Building was a magnificent structure in the Art Deco style, embodying both technological advancement and fashionable elegance. Standing at a height of 190 meters with a total of sixty-two floors, it could easily accommodate over a thousand employees and was one of New York’s landmark buildings.

In Howard’s own words: “It’s nothing special, really, far less impressive than the Empire State Building. The main reason is that funding was tight at the time; we could only manage to build an office tower of this size. Besides this main building, Stark Industries also owns a Future Technology Plaza for unveiling new products and three large manufacturing plants on the outskirts of New York.”

At this moment, on the sixty-second top floor where the chairman’s office was located, Logan stood guard outside the door. Inside, Kyle and Howard each held a tall glass filled with mellow red wine, standing beside the floor-to-ceiling window that replaced the outer wall, gazing down at the city. Most of New York’s nightscape lay dazzling beneath their feet.

Howard smiled and said, “When it comes to fine wine, none of the city’s bars can compare to my private collection here. Besides, as a major shareholder, you’ve never actually set foot in Stark Industries’ office building, so I thought I’d bring you here directly.”

“It’s actually far better than I’d expected,” Kyle admitted with a nod. When he’d invested in shares, he claimed it was for Stark Industries, but in truth, he was betting on Howard himself.

“It won’t be long before the world sees how Stark Industries uses science and technology to change the future,” Howard said with a confident smile, raising his glass to Kyle.

Their glasses clinked with a crisp note, and each drained the red wine in a single draught.

After a few drinks, Howard’s professional instincts seemed to kick in, and he eagerly led Kyle on a tour of his latest research and development projects.

Within the luxurious top-floor office, secret compartments were hidden in the inner walls. Howard walked over to a display table and, after a triple verification—fingerprint, retinal scan, and voice recognition—the wall panels slid apart to reveal the first secure vault. Resting inside was a compact, square-shaped machine.

The more Kyle looked, the more familiar it appeared. The device fit comfortably in the hand; the screen took up only a small portion, with the lower half occupied by a rotary dial.

“Isn’t this a mobile phone?” Kyle was stunned—a wireless phone with a keypad?

“That’s right, it’s a mobile phone,” Howard replied with a shrug. “Ever since you gave me that cell phone a few months ago, I’ve had my best engineers working day and night to take it apart and analyze it. We found many intricate components that can’t be mass-produced with current technology.”

“Besides, a lot of its features are far ahead of their time. But as a portable communication device, what people really need is instant conversation. So I simplified the design for mass production. My plan is to showcase it at the Future Technology Exhibition in New York once the war is over, and then begin building communication towers for initial promotion.”

Before Howard finished, Kyle was already speechless in admiration. This was the mark of a true technological visionary—give him a single phone, and he’d figure out how to mass-produce and popularize it. And this was only 1944! In just a few years, wireless phones would be available to the public?

While Kyle was still reeling, Howard had already closed the first vault and opened a second hidden compartment in the wall.

This time, the mechanism was much noisier, and a rush of cold white air spilled out as the vault extended—not a safe, but a massive desktop machine bristling with cables, a marvel of interconnected electronic components. Its surface was dotted with blinking indicator lights and the faint hum of its operation filled the room.

“Howard, don’t tell me this is a supercomputer,” Kyle said, forcing a smile.

Howard simply grinned, clapped his hands, and gave a command to the machine. “Jarvis, say hello to Kyle.”

Jarvis? Kyle was still processing the name when the enormous machine emitted a series of beeps, then replied in a calm, masculine voice, “Mr. Howard, welcome back. Mr. Kyle, good evening, and welcome to our office.”

A shock ran through Kyle; he was utterly taken aback, nearly dropping the phone in his hand.

“Haha, I see I’ve startled you,” Howard laughed, clapping Kyle’s stiff shoulder. “It’s just a supercomputer, but I’ve added a voice recognition system and programmed it with a greeting protocol.”

“Why do you call it ‘Jarvis’?” Kyle managed to ask, still recovering.

“Jarvis is the name of my butler at home. It makes me feel at ease,” Howard explained, gazing at the supercomputer with anticipation in his eyes. “Using the computer and smart chip you gave me, I’ve created the world’s first supercomputer with semi-intelligent programming, and named it ‘Jarvis.’ My hope is that one day it will evolve beyond programmed commands and become a true artificial intelligence, emerging as a new form of life from these circuits and components.”

“I see,” Kyle exhaled, falling momentarily silent. Was this a fortunate accident, or were father and son simply cut from the same cloth? Jarvis, destined to become Iron Man’s AI butler in the twenty-first century, had been brought into existence by his father in its most primitive form.

“Perhaps it won’t even take until the twenty-first century for Jarvis to fully come to life as artificial intelligence…” The thought excited Kyle, but also filled him with unease. He’d always considered himself the greatest butterfly effect in the Marvel world. Little did he know that the two green item cards he’d traded with Howard would unleash even greater changes on the future.

Technology—the first productive force, the power to upend the world!

“By the way,” Howard said, as if just remembering something, and put the supercomputer Jarvis back into its hidden compartment before moving to the third concealed access panel.

“What else do you have? Please show me everything at once—I’m not sure I can take much more,” Kyle said, trying to catch his breath.

“This one’s different from the other two; though I’ve completed the research, it’s impossible to use right now,” Howard said as the third compartment yielded a single sheet of paper, a pencil-drawn design.

“What’s this?” Kyle asked, slightly surprised. If it was stored in the third vault, its value must rival even the half-finished Jarvis.

“This is a theoretical construct for a new element, one that doesn’t appear on the periodic table. I developed it during my research on the Cosmic Cube over a month ago. I believe it could be used to replace the need for unlimited energy!”

Howard sighed in regret. “Unfortunately, even with the blueprint for this new element, it requires high-energy particle collisions to synthesize artificially. With today’s technology, it’s simply impossible to manufacture.”