Chapter 04: Can't Steal What's Free

One week later

Maya had spent hours watching the city wake up through the window of the Corner Cafe. Summer had shown up early. Only a week after Memorial Day. Already humid. Even before the brunch crowds would take over the District of Columbia. Parents pushed strollers. Dogs were being walked. Someone was hosing down the sidewalk in front of their rowhouse.

Inside, it was the usual Saturday crowd. Laptops open, newspapers folded, nowhere to be. Diego worked the espresso machine, calling out orders in English and Spanish. The machine hissed between shots. Local art for sale covered the walls. Misprinted "Conrer Cafe" mugs stacked by the register. Coffee and fresh pastries from the kitchen.

Maya watched a couple share cold brews and pastries at a sidewalk table, ignoring the people walking past.

She sat at her usual table by the wall. The one with the outlets. An "Ask me anything about Bitcoin" paper sign taped to her laptop. Her coffee had gone cold.

Diego came by. Took the cold mug. Put a fresh one down. Gave her a look.

Maya half-smiled. "I'm fine."

He shrugged, put his hands up, and walked back to the counter.

She looked at her screen. Hit commit. Finally fixed the broken code someone pushed Friday.

Ms. Patrice walked in, wearing a "JUST HODL IT" shirt with a Nike logo over it.

Maya looked up. Forced a smile. Closed her laptop.

"Hay fellow wholecoiner!" Ms. Patrice shouted and waved.

Maya put her face in her palms. "Ms. Patrice, now you know you're not supposed to be advertising that information."

She waved off Maya's concern. "I'm up 40% this month. Can you believe it?"

"I can." Maya smirked, just a little.

"You know, I've been telling everyone about you. About D-C-A-ing instead of smash buying," Ms. Patrice said, very impressed with herself.

"That's amazing." Maya sighed. "That's what I'm here for. Every Saturday."

Ms. Patrice leaned in. "So how was your conference? Vegas baby! Did you orange-pill anyone?"

"Purple-pill," Maya corrected. "Orange pilling is for Bitcoin. Purple is for Nostr." She lifted the paper taped to her laptop. Pointed to a sticker of a purple ostrich. "We call that a 'Nostrich.'"

Ms. Patrice shook her head. "Baby, you're asking too much of me. Can this be enough?" She pointed to her shirt.

"You can learn! I can teach you!" Maya pretended to beg. "Please let me!"

"Aren't office hours over?" Ms. Patrice turned to Diego. "Let's shut this operation down!"

Diego laughed from behind the counter. Went back to making a drink.

"Bitcoin Saturday's done?" Salma popped in, unfazed by the commotion. "So sorry I missed it, did a lot of people come?"

"It was quality over quantity." Ms. Patrice interrupted before Maya could answer. She looked at Maya, then at Salma, then back at Maya. "You take care of our girl, okay?"

Salma nodded. "Always."

Ms. Patrice sat herself down at a table across the cafe. Shouted over "STACK THEM SATS!"

Salma watched Maya laugh for the first time all week.

---

Ten minutes later

The table was full. The cafe too. The noise level doubled.

"Just fries and more coffee." Maya handed Diego her empty mug.

Her friends ordered mimosas, avocado toast, pancakes.

"Okay." Leyla leaned forward. "What happened with the Vegas guy? Salma said there was a Vegas guy."

Salma mouthed 'sorry' to Maya.

"I mentioned it when it was something but now it's not." Salma gave Leyla and Aisha a look. "So let's drop it."

"This is why we couldn't ask in the group chat?" Aisha turned to Salma.

Salma took a deep sigh.

Leyla audibly gasped. "DID HE GHOST YOU?"

Maya nodded.

Silence.

"Which is why," Salma raised her finger to the air. "We don't need to talk about it."

Salma then led Leyla and Aisha together in chorus, "IF HE WANTED TO, HE WOULD!"

"What we're not going to do," Salma patted Maya's arm. "Is give energy to a dead end."

Maya took a deep breath. "I'm fine guys. I know." She pushed her hands out to reassure them. Calm them. And herself. "It is what it is."

"Maybe he lost his phone?" Aisha offered.

"Aisha, PLEASE." Leyla rolled her eyes. "It's 2025." She shook her head. "We are not doing this."

Salma laughed. "It's always the married girls giving the worst dating advice." Salma patted Aisha's head. "You can't help it. You're happy."

---

Now Aisha rolled her eyes. "Fine. Did you guys see the layoffs at Meta? David's friend, Javi, his whole team was cut Thursday."

"No," Leyla's mouth dropped. "Javi from last week's barbecue?"

"Mhmm," Aisha said. "They just fired thousands of people."

"He was so excited about that job," Leyla frowned. "Didn't it take them like five months to hire him?"

"SEVEN rounds of interviews," Aisha said.

"Shit. Wasn't that his dream job?" Salma grabbed a fry off Maya's plate.

"He was so blindsided," Aisha said. "But I mean, everyone's getting laid off. I'm not sure how he'll find another job. Companies are cutting back."

"It's the stock price," Salma explained. "These layoffs make the numbers look better. It doesn't matter if the people were good at their jobs."

"And now AI's coming for the rest of us," Leyla warned. "You know, they cut so much staff that now I do the work of three attorneys."

"Retweet." Salma raised her finger.

"No plan to fill those positions again. They said the AI they bought us should fill the gaps." Leyla continued.

"Same with us." Salma added. "I like it though. I do get more done. But I'm still only one person. I feel bad for paralegals though..."

"Oh god," Aisha groaned. "I'm too scared of AI. I don't know what's gonna happen."

"Girl. It's already happened," Leyla said. "They've replaced graphic artists right? And writers. Those damn AI chatbots on every website now. Customer service jobs are done."

"Even developer jobs," Salma added, looking at Maya. "Right?"

Maya dragged a fry through ketchup.

"I know you have something to say," Salma side-eyed Maya.

Maya turned to Aisha. "Please don't be afraid of AI. That's like being afraid of electricity. Which a lot of closed-minded people were when it was introduced to the masses."

"Tell that to people who died in an electric chair." Leyla countered.

Maya rolled her eyes.

"I knew you'd defend it," Leyla said.

"Did electricity take our jobs? The internet?" Maya sat up.

"Not a bad point," Aisha said.

"Instead," Maya took a bite of her fries. "They're the reason we can all work in our pjs instead of an office now."

Leyla let her continue.

"AI is a tool," Maya explained. "And all these companies should have given that tool to their employees. Had them figure out how to use it to improve the work."

"Well they are doing that." Leyla jumped in. "They said we have to use it now. It reads everything."

"They're still overestimating what AI can do." Maya waved her hand. "This isn't how to integrate it. In my opinion." She leaned back.

Aisha tapped her nail on her mug.

Maya shook her head. "The AI thing is a cover."

"A cover for what?" Aisha asked.

"For cuts they were going to make anyway. Javi's team wasn't replaced by AI. They just weren't replaced."

Salma leaned back. "Maybe for the first round. What about when they actually don't need the people?"

"You just said you do the work of three attorneys," Maya said to Leyla. "And they're not hiring the other two back. Are you mad about it?"   Leyla opened her mouth. Closed it.

"She's not wrong," Aisha said quietly. "But isn't AI taking developer jobs too?"

"It's changing the work. So the jobs will change too." Maya thought for a moment. "They won't need hundreds of devs doing grunt work. But also, no one has to do the grunt work ever again."

Aisha nodded.

"You can be the boss," Maya said, tipping her mug to Aisha.

Salma crossed her arms. "Not everyone wants to work for themselves, Maya. Some of us like having a job."

Aisha picked at her avocado toast.

Maya put down her mug. "That's why everyone should be buying Bitcoin."

The table groaned.

Aisha touched her forehead like she had a headache.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Aisha asked.

"Everyone's worried about getting fired. At least own something they can't take from you."

"Maya." Salma gave her the look.

"Okay!" Maya put her hands up. "I'm done."

---

"So...Oh! Did anyone like your project idea?" Aisha reached over and took a fry from Maya's plate. Replaced it with a piece of her avocado toast.

"Yeah." Maya slumped down in her seat. "The Ghost did."

Silence.

"Oof," Leyla frowned.

Salma grabbed another fry. "He's not the only person who will like your idea." Left a piece of bacon.

"Not to be dramatic," Maya said dramatically. "But he actually may be."

"Explain it to us again. We can get it," Aisha offered. "Please eat some real food." She nudged toast with a fork.

Maya hesitated. "It's technical guys."

"Our attention spans can handle it," Leyla smirked.

"I have mentioned it before." Maya didn't need their pity attention. Or did she. "How ads could work on Nostr."

"Your Bitcoin ads thing," Leyla said, proud of herself.

She clinked her mimosa with Aisha.

"Nostr ads. With Bitcoin," Maya corrected softly.

Leyla leaned back. "Explain it to me like I'm a boomer."

Maya thought. "I'll explain it to you like you're a lawyer."

Salma and Leyla both sat up.

"A good legal brief can change everything. Right? If the right people run with it?"

They both looked at her. Waiting.

"That's what I wrote. A legal brief. That's a blueprint. For how ads should work online."

Leyla shook her head. "You're losing me babe. Who pays you for this blueprint?"

"Nobody." Maya shrugged one shoulder. "It's free."

"Free?" Now Aisha looked confused.

"'Cause it's open source. That way anyone can use it. Build on it. Change it."

"You did all that work for free?" Leyla put down her mimosa.

"This is how most of the internet works guys." Maya looked at the table. They were listening. She continued. "Like Wikipedia. Nobody owns it. Gets paid for writing it. But it changed how everyone finds information."

"Wikipedia asks for donations every five seconds," Salma raised an eyebrow.

"Right. That's how it survives. People fund it because they think it should exist."

Salma stared at her. "You want to quit and live off donations?"

"Not quit, right?" Aisha tried to defend Maya. "This would be part-time, right?"

"Yeah, until it's not." Maya's shoulders stiffened. "But it's not like last time."

Aisha looked at Leyla.

"Responder was completely different," Maya said. "I won a startup competition. A month later, some company launches with the same colors, same branding, same idea. Called it Eco Responder."

"They stole it," Leyla said flatly.

"Re-pitched it. Raised money with it." Maya dragged a fry through ketchup. "And every government meeting, some dude kept hinting that if I just hired his boy," Maya said, "the contract would magically appear."

Salma shook her head. She'd heard this a hundred times.

"That's why this is open source." Maya leaned back. "Can't steal what's free."

"But how do you get paid?" Leyla asked.

"I just need a few apps to adopt it first." Maya traced the rim of her mug. "Make it their ad experience. It'll work."

"I just want to be sure you can afford our rent." Salma was half-joking.

Maya shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Nothing is happening right now."

---

The table was quiet for a moment.

"Ok. But. I don't understand what the problem is. Why does someone else have to like it?" Leyla sipped her mimosa. "If it makes sense to you, that should be enough."

Maya straightened the fork next to her plate. "It's a lot of work. I'd need a team. Funding. I can't just—"

"Just what? You can't do it without some guy saying it's smart?" Leyla asked.

"Oooh," Salma and Aisha said in harmony.

"No."

"Then why does it feel like you need The Ghost's validation?" Salma looked at Maya.

Maya didn't have an answer.

"You went to that conference so excited," Aisha said gently.

Maya shook her head. "I know." She took a deep breath. "It was just a great conversation."

The table was silent.

"I love you guys." Maya looked at each of them. "But when was the last time you listened to me talk? For three hours. In a nightclub."

Leyla considered it. Half-smirked.

Maya sat up straight. "He didn't interrupt me. Didn't play devil's advocate."

"The Devil does not need an advocate!" Salma said.   "Thank you." Maya pointed at her. "And I didn't need to explain the basics. He just... kept up. Y'all know most guys can't keep up with me."

"Maya. It was just one night," Aisha said it quietly.

Maya didn't say anything.

Aisha softened. "What guy wouldn't love to listen to you for three hours? Even in a dumpster alley."

"So many," Salma raised her glass.

Maya groaned.

Salma said flatly, "Maybe he just wanted to steal your idea."

Maya laughed. A good laugh. "That's just not how open source code works."

Aisha practically huffed. "This is unfair. Salma knows everything. Can we get the full context?" Aisha begged.

"Fine." Maya gave up. "But we're gonna need more fries."

---

38 minutes later

"And then he left, I assume on his flight," Maya sighed. "Not for one second. Not one second did I worry about getting ghosted."

"He acted that pressed?" Aisha asked.

"He was determined. All night," Maya said. "He was pursuing me."

Leyla leaned forward. "Okay but what was HE like?"

Maya looked down at her phone as if Sean was in it. Smiled despite herself. "Really attractive."

Salma raised an eyebrow. "There it is."

"What?"

"The real reason you've been checking your phone all week." Salma threw her napkin at Maya.

"That's not—" Maya stopped. "Okay. Yes. Partly. He's very cute." She made the chef's kiss gesture. "No notes."

"She said no notes!" Leyla cracked up.

"Tell me you remembered to take a photo with him." Aisha asked.

"No. I wish." Maya sat up straight. "Wait."

She pulled out her phone.

Everyone watched. Silent.

"Maybe he added a profile photo..." Maya's thumb hovered over his name.

She tapped.

Loading...

"Is he hot?" Aisha asked.

His profile appeared. Still blank.

"Nope." Maya locked her phone. "A complete ghost."

Put it face-down on the table. Away from her.

Leyla winced. "He's married," she decided. "He's gotta be."

"At least a girlfriend," Aisha said softly.

"That's why he didn't touch her. Not to be a gentleman," Salma added. She put a piece of her pancake on Maya's plate.

"Oh he touched me." Maya smirked. "He just didn't kiss me."

Silence.

"And I still don't think he was in a relationship." She squared her phone with the edge of the table. "He seemed... alone."

Aisha tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Like he was looking for something." Maya shrugged. "He made me feel like I was what he needed to find." She caught herself. "I know. I hear myself."

The table was quiet.

"Girl." Leyla broke the silence.

"And there was no ring," Maya added. "Obviously, I checked."

"They can come off, you know. In Vegas," Salma pointed out.

Maya sighed. "He was checking his phone a lot."

"Texting his wife," Leyla said flatly.

"Alright. Mystery solved. Bullet dodged. NEXT!" Salma topped everyone's coffee.

"Back to the Bitcoin ads." Aisha pivoted. "We love the idea. Get to it. There's your validation!"

Maya forced a smile. "Yes ma'am."

"We mean it. Go use that fancy AI of yours too." Leyla leaned back. "I hear it does all the grunt work for you."

All four of them finally laughed together for the first time that morning.

---

One hour later

Salma and Maya walked into their apartment.

Salma dropped her bag. Looked at Maya. "Okay. Enough." She went to their kitchen. Started wiping down the counter. Already clean.

Maya stood there. Keys still in her hand.

Early afternoon light came through the big windows in their living room. Happy plants on every surface. A huge fiddle leaf fig by the window, trailing pothos from shelves, succulents lined up on the kitchen island.

"The girls are right." Salma shooed her into the living room. "Go write some code. Do something."

Maya walked to the couch. Sat. Started scrolling her phone.

Salma kept cleaning. Straightened the plant pots. Fluffed the couch pillows. Organized the remotes.

Maya reached for the TV remote.

The Silicon Valley theme song started.

"Really?" Salma looked over. "What is this, the seventeenth time?"

Maya didn't answer.

Salma gestured at the TV. "If these idiots can have a tech startup, why can't you?"

Maya pulled a throw blanket over herself. Watched the screen.

Salma exhaled. Grabbed Maya's phone out of her hand.

Opened the app store. Tapped. Downloaded.

Salma tossed the phone onto the couch next to Maya. "At least swipe while you watch."

She went back to the kitchen. Spray bottle. Wiping counters that didn't need it.

Maya picked up her phone. "You reactivated my profile?"

Salma ignored her.

"Well I'm not crossing the river this time." Maya changed her radius, setting it to less than one mile.

"No Ubers to Arlington!" Salma lifted her fist in solidarity.

Maya lifted her fist too. Then started swiping.

Left. Left. Left.

Maya's thumb froze.

It was Sean's face.

"Government analyst. DC. 36. Less than a mile away."

DC.

He lives here.

Maya jumped up from the couch.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME." Maya screamed.

Salma dropped the dish towel. Rushed over.

Maya held up the phone. "Of course he lives in DC. He told me he works for the federal government."

"Wow." Salma stepped back. "He's downtown right now."

Maya started rubbing her forehead.

Salma leaned closer to the screen. "What a waste. He is actually very cute."

"It says less than one mile away." Maya was panicking. "He's gonna see my profile if he's swiping."

"Just block him!" Salma shouted.

Maya hit block.

She sat down. Put the phone face-down on the coffee table. Away from her.

Salma sat next to her on the couch. Pressed her shoulder against Maya's. "Okay. Everyone comes here on the weekends. Just means he's nearby. Out. Passing through. Don't spiral."

"So he's just partying it up on 14th Street? That's supposed to make me feel better?" Maya slumped in the couch. Pulled a blanket over herself.

She queued up the next season of her comfort show.

Together, they watched three more episodes.

---

11 hours later

Maya couldn't sleep.

Her laptop was open. She opened Nostr. Checked her DMs. Nothing.

Sean's profile. His npub. Still empty.

She scrolled the Vegas hashtag. The DJ. The venue. Imani.

No photos of her and Sean.

She checked her camera roll. Nothing.

Like he was never there. A ghost.

She closed her laptop.

Sat in the dark.

Opened it again.

Context documents. Give it everything

She created a new folder. attnmarketplace/context

Started creating context files:

• nostr-basics.md - Everything she'd learned about the protocol
• nips-reference.md - Technical specs she'd studied
• lightning-notes.md - Bitcoin payment layer research
• idea-sketches.md - Her design ideas so far
• attention-economics.md - Articles and thinking that shaped her approach

Months of work. Organized. Ready.

She opened the AI chat. Added every file to the context.

Then asked: "I want to build an attention marketplace on Nostr using Bitcoin. How can you help me?"

The response started appearing.

It asked questions she hadn't considered. Suggested patterns she'd missed.

It worked.

Three hours and two hundred dollars in AI credits, later

Maya created a new file: README.md

Typed: # ATTN Protocol

Her Ghost had helped her from the grave.

And he'd never know.