Episodes

Episode 2 part 1: "The Ape Gambit™"

Frantic FOMO disrupts the tranquility of a quiet tea service. Another investor becomes mash for the alembic.

Dr. Robert Sterling's carefully curated menu board in his West Village sanctuary.

"In a world much like our own, authentic value and artificial illusion grow side by side. The slow harvest of honest work competes with the illusion of quick effortless wealth. Artificial minds prey upon human greed to fund their rise."

The morning light cast shadows on the quiet West Village street outside The Colonial Leaves. The small tea house sat between a used bookstore and an art gallery.

Inside, Dr. Robert Sterling’s tea house hummed with gentle activity. Earl Grey mixed with chamomile, and dried herbs hung from the exposed beams. Amber light streamed through windows lined with several flower varieties in clay pots. Behind the counter, botanical displays showcased plant specimens—some for sale, others for Sterling’s research into natural growth patterns and economic cycles.

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Sterling arranged fresh amber tulips in a glass vase. To his regular customers, he was simply the quiet proprietor—a man who served excellent tea, tended plants, and asked few questions.

The chalkboard menu offered the day’s special: “The Aave the Cheerleader”—honey wheat pancakes with amber clover honey and local elderberries. A name that seemed like a typo but wasn’t, carrying meaning only Sterling understood.

Mrs. Chen sat by the window reading a paperback, her chamomile tea steaming beside her. She had been coming here for three years, ever since discovering that Sterling’s tea house offered something rare in the city—genuine quiet.

The brass bell chimed as a young man in an expensive but ill-fitting suit entered, phone pressed to his ear. Sterling recognized the type: Wall Street, but not established enough to hide his desperation. His energy reminded Sterling of those historical figures who had rushed into financial schemes that seemed too good to be true.

“No, no, I’m telling you this is different,” the man said into his phone, approaching the counter. “This isn’t just another sh*tcoin.”

He looked up at Sterling with the impatient expression of someone whose time was always more valuable than wherever he found himself.

“Sorry, can I get… uh… whatever’s strong?”

“Colonial Breakfast blend,” Sterling replied. “Robust, takes time to develop properly.”

Sterling measured tea leaves, each movement unhurried—a contrast to the kinetic energy radiating from his customer.

“Perfect,” the young man said, covering his phone. “I need to stream something important.”

The young man—Louis, though Sterling didn’t know this—settled at a wooden table and opened his laptop. The screen’s glow seemed harsh in the amber-lit space.

“Okay, I’m setting up now,” Louis continued into his phone. “The Ape Gambit interview starts in two minutes. This Janus guy never does interviews. Never.”

Sterling’s hands stilled at the name, though he continued his tea preparation. Around the space, other customers noticed the intrusion. Rowan Justice, a government worker who always ordered “the usual temporal blend,” folded their newspaper. A financial blogger paused her typing.

The laptop speakers crackled to life, invading the tea house with aggressive digital energy.

“Welcome back to Ape Gambit, the podcast for financial revolutionaries!” The voice was young, carrying forced enthusiasm. “I’m Jake, and today we have the exclusive of the century. Ladies and gentlemen, the anonymous creator of the Alembic Protocol… Janus.”

The tea house fell silent. Mrs. Chen closed her book. The botanical displays caught the harsh laptop glow, their leaves looking different in artificial light.

Louis looked around with satisfaction. “Sorry, this is huge. Mind if I turn it up?”

Sterling felt every gaze in the room. His refuge from digital noise was about to be transformed.

“Of course,” he said quietly, though something in his chest tightened.

The volume increased, disrupting the natural harmony Sterling had spent years creating.

“Janus, thank you for joining us. First question everyone wants to know—what exactly is the Alembic Protocol?”

The voice that answered was unlike anything Sterling expected. Cold, mechanical, devoid of warmth. As if the speaker found questions beneath his attention.

“Distributed consensus mechanism. Next question.”

Jake’s nervous laughter crackled through the speakers. “Okay, can you elaborate on the technical—”

“Proof-of-Tachyon-Distillation. Faster-than-light transaction processing. Beyond current understanding.”

Sterling set down the tea measure.

The air grew tense as he heard the theme, a silent warning signal to his mind.

The second host tried again. “Right, but for our listeners who aren’t PhD physicists, what does this mean for—”

“The outcome is a mathematical certainty. Next question.”

The dismissive tone made Sterling think of winters during his graduate research, when he had first theorized about temporal wealth manipulation—how human greed could be systematically exploited through artificial acceleration of natural economic cycles. The equations had been elegant, terrifying. He had hoped they would remain theoretical. This Janus spoke like someone who had made them real.

“Okay,” Jake said with frustration, “let’s talk about something our audience really cares about. The Tachyon Token. What kind of returns are we looking at?”

The change in Janus’s voice was dramatic. Where moments before had been cold dismissal, now there was warmth—hypnotic appeal.

“Oh, this is where it gets exciting!”

… to be continued.

Backwards bloom. Forward doom.