Crossroads/Borrowed Lives—2026-07-14 (Patreon)

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Chapter 3.1.29: UNBELIEVABLE by Rebecca Charm

This is almost too incredible to believe. I’ll try to keep it short.

A man named Nick Fashola asked to meet with Paul and me. Paul’s reaction after Nick explained why sort of sets the tone.

“Mate, you’re telling me that Pay It Forward Society was nothing more than AI programs? We were interviewed and hired by bots?”

‘Bots’ doesn’t do it justice, but yes,” Nick replied. “You were interviewed by one of Alderwick’s action systems. That same system planned, organized, and scheduled every detail of your missions. There are four action systems. Pay It Forward is System Three.”

I weighed in. “And this action system failed…shut itself down.”

Nick nodded. He went on to explain that the whole system had three levels. At the top was a system called Benevolence Worldwide. Under it were two management systems: Aux Autres and Help International.

The H.I. system had falsely registered an EFT request as a hacking attempt and initiated a quarantine process. That took Pay It Forward and another system—Back To Basics Partnership—down with it.

“But we’re working on a solution. More importantly,” Nick said, “we’re changing the whole paradigm. I’ll be using AI to assist with managing all the programs. I’ll be going on the missions with you. If need be, we’ll write it all out on graph paper. Your jobs stay the same, but…”

“But we’re not taking orders from some bloody machine any more?” Paul replied.

“That’s one way to put it. There’s something else, too.”

“Do tell.” Paul shook his head.

“Dr. Charm’s background in AI can go a long way toward getting everything running again. I’m here to make things right and bring the Pay It Forward Society back online under Benevolence Worldwide, the parent organization above Help International. I’m going to ask for your help sorting it all out.”

“Well, now,” Paul replied. “Suppose we circle back and you run us through it all once again. In the vein of following the money, who’s paying the bills?”

The rest of this chapter is exclusive to Patreon.

“That’s a very fair question,” Nick replied.

He went on to explain that Alderwick Private Management, LLC, was the management company for one of the forty wealthiest families in the world. “They’re very private, so you probably haven’t heard of them.”

“Wealthy you say?”

“Not at the level of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or David Ryder, but their net worth exceeds the annual GDP of many nations.”

When he mentioned David Ryder, Shay’s father, I felt a jolt shoot through me. I had a passing thought that this was a ploy to get to her. I couldn’t see any way this led to that, so I decided to let that sit and hear him out.

Of course, I wouldn’t bring up our relationship with Shay. I knew Paul wouldn’t either.

Paul then asked, “I’ve never heard of Alderwick anything.”

Nick nodded. “You wouldn’t have. Like I said, the family is very private.”

“Yet here you are,” Paul replied. “Nephew and all that.”

“My mother’s sister married into the family. When they realized the Pay It Forward Society and Back To Basics Partnership were offline, they hired me to jump in and make things right.”

“You’re a few weeks too late,” Paul replied. “Four members of our ten-person team have written the whole organization off and moved out of Brooklyn.”

Nick frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“So,” I said, “take us back to the beginning. How did all of this get started? Who is this mega-wealthy family? And why did this obviously successful company turn everything over to AI systems?”

Nick nodded. “Okay, let’s go back to 2024. I’m not allowed to say the family’s name, so you’ll have to allow that.”

I didn’t say so, but having his name and knowing how he’s related to the family, I was sure I could find out. I’d let that sit for the time being, too.

Nick’s uncle was born into a wealthy family that valued privacy and happiness more than anything else. The family has an estate north of New York City, and Alderwick Private Management, LLC, which manages their wealth, has its office nearby in White Plains.

“A couple of years ago,” Nick said, “my uncle had a heart attack. It was serious enough to shake him up, but not enough to keep him down. During his recovery, he and my aunt decided enough was enough. They put their personal involvement with Alderwick on the back burner, stepped back, and decided to travel.”

“At some point,” Paul replied, “the Pay It Forward Society comes into this story, right?”

Nick nodded. He explained that charity work and benevolence had always been part of the family’s values. Before they left, his aunt wanted to establish a program that would raise awareness of global issues while also taking small, practical steps to address them.

“Becca Halpern, Alderwick’s staff attorney, created a series of side entities to do just that. The company structure was mirrored by AI systems designed to take care of everything.”

The top level—both as a business entity and an AI system—is primarily administrative: Benevolence Worldwide. It handles organization-wide details, legal issues, and permits as needed. Becca Halpern oversees everything and signs documents as required.

In the middle are Aux Autres and Help International. Together, they form the management level, both on paper and within the AI subsystems. They handle EFTs, make sure payees are set up properly, manage taxes, and take care of related administrative work.

“The Help International subsystem shut itself down, like I said.”

The lowest level is the project level, which the developers divided into four action systems. Those entities identify viable projects, locate resources, and send details to the team leaders. They also queue payments for team stipends, salaries, and expenses.

“So,” I said, “with H.I. shut down, Pay It Forward couldn’t function.”

“That’s right,” Nick said.

“Can’t just reboot the bloody computers?” Paul asked. “Get the developers to fix it?”

Right…that seems reasonable.” Nick looked off to the side. “So, the developers were among the best and brightest in the world. It was a small boutique company with about twenty AI experts who set up and trained the systems. However, changes on the international scene led to the company being bought out. The programmers went to different places. Essentially, they’re no longer available.”

“Naturally.” Paul shook his head.

“Which is why I’m hoping to bring Dr. Charm more directly onto the Alderwick team.”

Then it seemed like he was reading from my resume, but he wasn’t looking at any notes.

“Undergraduate… BSc in Computer Science, University of Washington.

“Master’s… MSc in Information Systems, Carnegie Mellon.

“PhD in Information Technology from MIT. Dissertation on adaptive systems and human–computer interaction.

“By the time you were in your late twenties, you had an academic résumé that rivaled those of people ten years older.

“Then you added an MBA in 2020 from Stanford Graduate School of Business, earned part time while working in Silicon Valley.

“You were a systems architect at a Seattle fintech start-up and quickly became known for your sharp mind and sharper style.

“In 2019, you were recruited by a Silicon Valley giant to lead a research group on applied AI. You published widely, though you were often critical of the field’s blind optimism.

“By 2022, you were Senior Vice President of Emerging Technologies at a major Seattle-based cloud company. Then, in 2025, you cashed out and stepped away. That’s when Alderwick managed to enlist you as part of Pay It Forward.”

“I had to back off,” I replied. “I was worried the industry was racing ahead with AI without reckoning with the ethical or social consequences. And it looks like Alderwick should have read some of my papers.”

Nick nodded. “My job is to undo the damage and then run Benevolence Worldwide. They set up a Gulf Coast operations center—Alderwick Gulf Operations. I’ll be based in Brownsville so I can oversee all four teams. Think of the Gulf Operations location as the physical office for Benevolence Worldwide’s.

“I met with all the C-suite executives in White Plains. I can offer you a job with Gulf Operations as the lead for the AI systems. We have a connectivity and interface firm on retainer—Tessera Bridge Systems, Inc. Its owner, Evelyn Chandler, is living on site at the new location. You could stay here with the Pay It Forward Society team and work on the systems remotely. Evelyn isn’t an AI coder, but she believes we need to stop operations and retrain the systems.”

“So just unplug it and reboot?” Paul suggested again.

“It’s not really that easy,” Nick replied. “The AI systems exist in a matrix of interconnected computers distributed across multiple cloud hosts. Right now, the shell Evelyn wrote to communicate with the systems is being ignored, and the H.I. system isn’t taking orders from Benevolence Worldwide.”

“So your whole good-deed system is a right mess, and you want Rebecca to step in and help right the wrong?”

That was exactly what Nick was asking. He went into detail about doubling my salary and balancing my Alderwick responsibilities with management of the Pay It Forward Society team. It all made sense.

“The heart of all this is making life better for people and the planet. When my uncle had a heart attack, he and my aunt sat down and asked what the point of it all was. They wrote a brief manifesto…a white paper. Let me read it.”

He pulled out his phone and read, “Use money, software, volunteers, and quiet connections to help people before ordinary systems can fail them. Match needs with helpers. Move small grants quickly. Support local acts of generosity. Let people do good without turning the donor into the story.”

“That’s a grand idea,” Paul remarked.

“The error is that they bought the best AI programming in the world, trusted it, and left it to carry out the mission.”

I frowned a little. “And Alderwick up in White Plains let it happen?”

“Alderwick Private Management, LLC, is supposed to manage the wealth and help it grow. Benevolence Worldwide spends some of the money. Its concept was born while my uncle was in rehab and on pain medication. Alderwick has been around for generations. This new side mission was never part of its structure, so mistakes were made. The firewalls misread an EFT request. The AI considered it a hack attempt. The quarantine protocol was triggered, and now the system is locked down so tightly that Evelyn can’t get it to listen to the shell meant to communicate directly with the AI.”

Paul chuckled. “Sounds like a mad two-year-old running around in circles with fingers jammed in both ears, yelling, ‘La la la la! I can’t hear you!’”

Nick laughed. “That’s almost perfectly accurate.”

I’d been thinking about the job offer. This AI matrix would rival anything else out there. I was being invited to take it over as lead programmer. Even without considering the pay increase, it would be insane not to put that on my résumé.

“Paul, what do you think about me taking on the new responsibilities?”

“Here’s the thing…” Paul looked at Nick. “I retired from the RAF, and this job seemed like a great way to help make the world a better place. If Rebecca’s background can put the system back online and get us back to restoring ecosystems and giving people clean water to drink, then I’m all for it.”

“So take the job, right?” I asked.

“On the condition,” Paul replied, “that I get to travel whenever you do.”

Nick nodded. “Deal. We’ll make it official tomorrow and get started. Today, I need you to take me to where the Brooklyn team lives and let me settle some bills with the landlord. And I owe you two back pay for a couple of months.”

Nick nodded. “We can do that. Let me double-check with Alderwick, but I can envision a need for someone besides Rebecca to interface with the mission teams. That could be you.”

Paul nodded. “Double my salary, too?”

Nick nodded. “That should be something I can get approved with a text message.”

He actually sent a text to someone. He laid his phone down on the table and it buzzed. “The answer is ‘yes.’ So, tomorrow, we can sit down, go back to the beginning, and plot a course.”

“I love getting field promotions,” Paul replied.

Nick nodded. “From now on, Benevolence Worldwide has a face. It’s me. And I’m building a team of leaders to help me fix everything that has gone wrong in the last few months. That’s you two.”

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Chapter 3.1.30: IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA by Mara Voss

Evan and I have drifted southwest of Houston and off the grid. We’re camping at Broken Oak River Park near Edna, Texas. Last night was our second night here. We’re moving on this afternoon.

This body of water is called the Navidad River. I think that is the code name for “What’s the deepest you’ve ever sunk into the mud?”

Several mistakes were made. White shorts were one of them.

We’re saying camping here was a good call, overall. We’ll hit the road in a few hours, then find some other low-profile place to spend the night. We’re still working our way south again.

We already visited Key West, which has the famous Southernmost Point marker for the continental United States. Technically, Ballast Key is a little farther west and south, but you can’t drive there, so I’m not sure that counts for road-trip purposes.

Our plan is to reach Texas’s own far-south edge, then head for California.

Hope you enjoy the trip!

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