The Masq: A Short Story

By Russell Cordner

"How many photos are you in?" Francis Tipple asks his audience.

"Suddenly you're a meme. Famous overnight, for all the wrong reasons, and you are forever digitally enshrined on the internet."

A brilliant young engineer, Tipple has invented a groundbreaking new device. A pair of glasses with the power to block a person's face from registering on the sensor of any camera in the world. He is offering something his generation has never known.

Privacy.

The success of his product will not only change his life, it will change the world.

This 7,500 word short story follows in the vein of Mary Shelley, Ray Bradbury, and Neal Stephenson, where new technology takes humanity to questionable new frontiers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Russell Cordner
• Release date: May 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386182122

Russell Cordner

Born in Toronto, Russell Cordner has lived across Canada and Japan. Exploring multiple genres, including crime, speculative, and general fiction, he writes both adult and young adult fiction. 

Book preview

By Russell Cordner

Short Stories

The Masq

The Acid Trip Prophecy

The Streamer

Novella

The Humid

S

tanding at the curtain’s edge, he could already feel the heat from the spotlights. Rubbing his palms down the legs of his pants, he fought to ignore the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His body was shaking before he’d even stepped on stage.

Inhaling a deep breath, he released it twice as slow. Upon hearing his name, he flinched into action, then walked in front of five hundred people, knees knocking each step of the way.

The conference hall felt infinitely larger from the perspective of a presenter. The fifteen-minute practice session granted to him yesterday was nothing compared to standing in front of a live audience, with a thousand eyes all focused on him. But TechUp was the biggest conference in the world for technology startups. Just getting the chance to present was a feat in itself. It was no time to freeze.

Francis Tipple needed two things to happen. Make a splash. And get funding. But there was no need for him to be nervous, for he was confident he was going to do both. Otherwise he wouldn’t have used the last of his cash to attend the conference. He’d spent the past seven years slaving away in his father’s garage, perfecting his technology. In secret, without any outside help.

It was all his. And it worked.

So why am I so nervous?

He nodded and smiled, shaking hands with the man who called him out on stage. Jack Feller. Industry big wig and Silicon Valley superstar. Worth billions, Francis couldn’t imagine why the guy was on stage, introducing nobodies. Jack gave Francis a pat on the shoulder and made his exit stage left.

Taking a sip of water from the glass on the podium, he immediately wondered if it was his. A few snickers from the front row told him it wasn’t.

Adjusting the microphone down closer to his mouth, he cleared his throat and spoke.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming today.

He could hear the quaver in his voice and he needed it to stop. Looking around the audience, he began to picture them