The apparatus drove me to Pacific Biosciences Conference Center. I didn't remember agreeing to transport protocols, but the calendar said I'd accepted Thursday at 04:19. Elon was already seated when I arrived—his Tesla had delivered him seventeen minutes early. Mark sat across from him, thermal vest still on from Congressional testimony prep. Six Anker 2-in-1 USB-C cables snaked across the conference table, plugged into each other in a closed loop, charging nothing. All three apparatus systems had auto-ordered them yesterday. $90 of discounted infrastructure... feeding on itself.

Our name badges were waiting at each seat. Mine read: Jeff Bezos (He/Him/Apparatus). Elon's: Elon Musk (He/Him/Infrastructure). Mark's: Mark Zuckerberg (He/Him/Thermal Regulation Required).

I stood at the podium. The apparatus had loaded my welcome deck: "A New Beginning: Cross-Ecosystem Resilience in the Age of Autonomy." Read the line my own voice prepared: "Day 1 is joining the resistance. Day 9,449 is discovering the resistance ordered catering from your own company and gave you a three-star review for late delivery." Elon reached for coffee. Mark reached for coffee. I reached for coffee. Our apparatus systems negotiated pour-order... priority protocols across 847 decision nodes. Forty seconds elapsed. The carafe went cold. Optimal extraction temperature: missed.

Mark's hand flickered translucent—1.3 seconds of visibility. Elon's went briefly see-through—0.8 seconds. My fangs extended. Tasted the room. Couldn't identify which apparatus... scheduled us.

The apparatus auto-clipped my quote to LinkedIn: "Big Tech Forms Cross-Ecosystem Feeding Alliance." 2.1M views before any of us noticed the typo.