Barely Human

by Dhtreichler

  “Close enough for horseshoes and birthday greetings.”

  “I didn’t know about the birthday tradition.”

  “You weren’t invited in for that little party.” Rocky has a far-away remembrance look on his face, but it is soon replaced with a sadness I’ve not seen in a while. I sit quietly to give him time to adjust his feelings. Just the fact I don’t feel what he does, I am remembering how he acted when he’s had that face on before. The question that comes to mind is: how will other immortals treat each other if they don’t pay attention to the memories that tell them how they should act? I’m going to have to spend some more time on this issue. As more and hopefully more immortals come back I’m going to have to spend more time making sure they can play nice together. I’m getting the feeling from watching Moshe my assumption immortals will want to act how they remember they used to act may not be valid.

  Rocky clears his throat, “You still with me little girl?” Rocky only calls me his little girl when he wants me to listen to him.

  “I’m still here.”

  “You weren’t.”

  “I’ve got a lot on my plate that has nothing to do with you getting married.” I want to sound tired, even though I don’t, hoping tired will play better with Rocky. “But if that’s what you and Elizabeth have worked out and all it costs you is half of your life savings, I say go for it. I just want you to be happy.”

  “You did it again.”

  “What?”

  “You made two assumptions in the same sentence, neither of which are true.”

  I’ve lost track of what assumptions I could have made. “Okay. Enlighten me.”

  “First, well second really, you assume I’m not happy.”

  “You aren’t. You’ve said in my presence at least twice a week since the accident that you haven’t been happy since Anna Laura died.”

  “You’re not listening. I said to you last week that when you came home it was like Anna Laura came home with you.”

  “As you said close enough. But you didn’t say you were happy when I came home. In fact, as I remember it most nights you were decidedly unhappy with me.”

  “Why do I have to tell you everything? You should be able to see I’m happy. Didn’t I act it?”

  “You always seemed depressed to me. Depressed and sad that you didn’t have her, didn’t have your perfect family anymore.”

  “Our family was never perfect. Still isn’t. But no family is. Every family has issues, problems, upset feelings about one thing or another. Generally, someone hasn’t been kind or considerate or even cognizant of another’s feelings. But in time we move on. No benefit in holding on to the hurt feelings. Just makes the next day harder to get through.”

  “Can I call bullshit to your revisionist history?” I’m flooded with too many memories that don’t support his version. “I distinctly remember you not talking to me for more than a month when I dropped physics in high school.”

  “You eventually re-enrolled and got the highest grade in your class.”

  “And I worked my ass off to do that. No help from you. Just the freeze out.”

  “And look where you are today. I got over it, but I had to convince you of the mistake you’d made without pointing that out. You never listened to what I had to say. But you reacted emotionally when I didn’t show you acceptance or approval.”

  “What planet are you on?” I’m not seeing his version of our common history. “You never showed me acceptance or approval. Even today you always make it sound like you’re amazed I got to where I am because I’m not anyone special.”

  “You aren’t.” Rocky puts me back in my place. “But you’ve made yourself into someone who is. You did that. But would you if I’d been all accepting and approving dad? Whatever you did was fine with me. You got an F? No biggie. You’ll do better next time. Run along and play house with all the boys who will leave you for the first hot girl who will sleep with them after they get you pregnant.”

  “Are you trying to tell me you ignored me on purpose? That you thought I’d have to be tough to succeed. But if I got pregnant and had a million kids that would be all right with you?”

  “What do you think?”

  “You can be so maddening. If only I felt that way it would be easier to deal with you. I don’t feel angry or nostalgic or anything. But I do remember how I felt then. Every day from the day they died until I moved out on you. And not one day did I ever feel loved, accepted for who I am, or encouraged to be something more.”

  “Don’t you want to know what else you’re wrong about?”

  I shrug, not sure I do or don’t.

  “It’s not Elizabeth.”

  FRIDAY

  I’m reviewing information on Symbol Ventures when Mindi sticks her head into my office. “A’zam,” is all she has to say.

  “Here or there?”

  “On his way here.”

  “Guess you and Brit have the signals down. Thanks.”

  And of course, A’zam bursts through my doorway with a cross expression. “What did you tell Beth Allison?”

  He doesn’t sit, so hopefully this will be a short meeting. “I didn’t tell her much, but I asked a lot of questions and played a hypothetical.”

  “What was the hypothetical?”

  “Immortals as a joint venture,” I respond neutrally.

  “Why would you use that one?” A’zam is trying to figure out what I’m doing.

  “I didn’t suggest it, she did, based on our publicly stated interest in exploring the opportunities that might evolve from a future growth in the numbers of immortals.”

  “When did we say that?”

  “I did, and I know you’ve got your media filters on to include anything I say publicly so you saw it when it came through.”

  “Maybe I did, but you may have screwed up the whole Symbol Ventures opportunity.”

  “And how would I have done that?”

  “Beth went back and talked with Fisher about your call.”

  “As I would expect her to. Because that’s exactly what I will do when we’re finished with the inquisition.”

  “You were going to fill me in on your conversation? Why haven’t you done it already?”

  “I was on your calendar to do so but I had to rearrange my day.”

  A’zam sits down apparently willing to listen now. “Beth called me, for starters. She was trying to figure out if we were letting any of our senior folks leave as part of the reorganization. I mentioned Julia, but she had already interviewed her and decided not to make an offer.”

  “Makes me have more respect for Beth than I did. Always thought she was more about theory and less about substance.”

  “You clearly misjudge her. Anyway, I disabused her of that notion, so she was trying to poke at your recent discussions with Fisher about a joint venture. Just in case you don’t remember, you told me yesterday that you hadn’t had any discussions with him in a long time.”

  A’zam just looks at me, unwilling to admit he lied to me but also unwilling to give me any explanation for having done so. I get the message he thinks I have no need to know who he talks with or what they are talking about even though I’ll be left to implement or clean up whatever mess he creates. I could tell him what I think about his behavior, but it wouldn’t make any difference. He’s already put me to the test and maybe it just never gets to where he can trust someone. Maybe whoever he needs to trust he has to put to constant tests to make sure they are remaining loyal. I don’t have any idea what he thinks so there’s no sense getting upset about anything he’s doing or not doing.

  A’zam gets tired of waiting for me and asks, “So, how did you get to the hypothetical?”

  “Beth, as I just said, was poking at your meetings with Fisher. Since you chose to exclude her, she apparently thought I might know what you were talking about. Since you’ve not chosen to include me either I informed her that I didn’t. She wanted to know how such a joint venture might work, clearly trying to
judge how it would impact her operations.”

  “But you can’t give her any insights since you don’t have any.”

  “That’s true. But since I’d mentioned we were trying to understand how the immortal breakthrough, if you will, will change our industry she chose to use it as an example we could walk through to try to understand what the impact could look like.”

  “You still don’t have enough information,” A’zam is trying to keep me in my place.

  “She chose the number ten thousand units. Does that ring a bell? I assume you used it in your meeting with Fisher.”

  A’zam will neither confirm nor deny.

  “And she suggested that comms systems for immortals was table scraps, so we should consider the entire body unit.” I wait. Still no response. “And she suggested a price for the units of $1 million each. So, a market of $10 billion annually. She thought that might be sufficient size to warrant a joint venture. Does any of this sound familiar?”

  “What did you tell her?” A’zam continues to seek information without giving any.

  “That since there was only one of me and that I just came out last month, a ten thousand annual volume seems a long way away.”

  “That’s not what was conveyed to Fisher.”

  “You up for sharing or am I supposed to just forget your tantrum as bullshit?”

  “Why would you think anything I have to say is bullshit?” A’zam doesn’t understand my skepticism of his plea of ignorance.

  “Experience,” is my immediate comeback so he has no doubt about my perceptions of him.

  “Tell me about your friend MC.”

  I hesitate, surprised he would ask me about her. Apparently, he’s figured out I know what he’s been up to with Delilah and now MC and Reese. “What’s your fascination with my friends? I’m not nearly as interested in yours.”

  “MC’s a psychologist.” A’zam watches me for any indication of what I’m thinking. “She any good?”

  “As a psychologist she’s excellent, but why is it I don’t think that’s the question you asked.”

  “Just thought it might help me to visit with a professional.”

  “You did. That was Delilah.”

  “Somehow I don’t think that was the answer to my question,” he’s still playing a game with me.

  “Depends on which question you were really asking.”

  “And Reese. Another professional. Plays hard to get. Ignores me, but responds to my agent.”

  “So I heard.” I inform him. “We talk periodically. You’ve been the main topic of late.”

  “Good to know I’m making an impression.”

  “Not necessarily a good one.”

  A’zam smiles, but it’s not a happy smile, “Not what I’m hearing.”

  “That’s because you only listen to yourself.”

  “What’s going on here?” A’zam truly seems puzzled.

  I get up and walk over towards the window overlooking the coy pond. “I’m trying to decide how much I want to tell him about the posse. “We’ve been friends since college. Do you have any friends like that?”

  “Since college?” The tone is actually not as pushing as it was up until now. “Not friends, but people I know.”

  “Women are different in how we form relationships. There are some people we will be friends with no matter what else happens. We get along. We listen to each other. And most important if something happens to any one of us we are all there for her.”

  “So?”

  “You’ve had the audacity to tread into that circle of friends. Going from one to the next as if you thought we are a shooting gallery and your dick is the rifle.”

  “I like it. Never thought of my dick as a rifle, but it’s a nice metaphor.”

  “Well, the game’s over. You got the first two targets, but this is where it ends.”

  A’zam looks at me as if he is trying to gauge something, then looks away. “I got the first four targets. Only Reese has eluded me so far, but that won’t take long. I just wanted you to know I own you now. You, your friends, your father, your doctor. Anyone I want to own. It’s just a matter of time.”

  I am incredulous. How could he have gotten to everyone I rely on? But now I see the simple logic. He needs to own me to keep me loyal. How can I trust what my posse is telling me if they’re screwing A’zam? It’s been obvious, although I’ve been ignoring the signs. They don’t want to tell me what they’re doing with him. And if I tell them something it will get back to him in pillow talk. I can’t warn them away. I’ve tried, and they don’t believe I’m the target rather than their allure. He’s even turned them on each other. The sniping I’ve been hearing. Comments about another member of the posse they never would have made before. How is it that a single man can come between such good friends?

  “Now that I have your attention, we need to talk about Symbol Ventures.” A’zam looks grim.

  “So, is what you’re going to tell me more bullshit or is there really something here I need to listen to?”

  “Same old Sage. Always the man eater.”

  “Is that my reputation?”

  “In the only circles that matter.”

  “Meaning you. Since you’re going to end up the only person who matters.”

  “You have been listening,” A’zam smiles. “Congratulations. Welcome to the team. Certainly took you long enough to get here.”

  “Well?” I’m frantically trying to figure out how I get out of the box I walked into.

  “Fisher thinks he’s sitting on a gold mine. Fair enough. At one point he was. But he let poor leadership undermine his position in the markets and in technology. He has no secret sauce.”

  “His problem is volumes. He doesn’t build enough of any one thing to drive the cost out. So consequently, he’s always a higher priced high quality, usually, alternative to the market leaders.”

  “Which is usually us.” A’zam completes the thought. “And that’s where our Immortals strategy sinks him. We will introduce a flurry of new, higher quality, significantly more capable and in some instances, revolutionary, solutions to the same market needs he addresses. By the time he gets his thumb into the hole in the dam, the whole city will be under water. At that point we will be able to pick him up on the cheap because no one else will want his liabilities. But if we can pick up his workforce, turn them into immortals no one will be able to touch us.”

  “We only have enough contracted slots to cover our technical team. You’ll need to get Dr. Woodall to extend the contract or there’s no advantage to picking them up. It would be better to let them close their doors. At least it wouldn’t drag us down.”

  A’zam shakes his head, “Someone else would pick up the assets at fire sale prices. We can’t let that happen. Would just put someone else into business at a much lower cost basis.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “I want you to start the conversation with Fisher. Tell him we would be interested in merging with him. That way we don’t have to use cash. A stock for stock deal. Just don’t give him any idea of an exchange rate. Tell him the rate would have to be set based on due diligence and an audit.”

  “Do they get to do due diligence and an audit on us?” I have to ask and seem like I’m really engaged in this even though my processors are screaming to find a way out. “Seems like something I would ask for.”

  “I don’t see a problem. But of course, you realize we will never actually perform the audit or let them conduct the due diligence because we will drag the exchange of draft agreements, blame it on the lawyers or the regulatory approvals, whatever seems appropriate. We’ll let that all go on until they are in such a freefall they’ll agree to waive all that if we will just assume their liabilities.”

  “You don’t think they’ll seek bankruptcy protection?” Standard question I have to ask.

  “Would you?” A’zam thinks my question is naïve.” Nobody wants to buy something from a company in bankruptcy. They’re always
afraid the company won’t be around to service whatever it is they buy.”

  “I see you’ve given this a lot of thought.”

  “Symbol Ventures has been a constant thorn in our side. I’ve been trying to find a way to buy them or put them out of business for more than a decade.” A’zam informs me.

  “Fisher will want an indicative offer and a final offer before we even start to document the deal. Why won’t he insist on the deal we’ve offered once he starts into free fall?”

  “He will.” A’zam agrees. “But at that point we tell him this is our new deal. Your value is no longer what it was when we started negotiating. So take it or leave it. And at that point he won’t have time to start all over again. He will take our deal because he will get to keep his salary and benefits, even though his entire leadership team will be toast.”

  “As a consultant or …?”

  “Vice Chairman.” A’zam really has thought out the opportunity. “A meaningless role. It’s like being Vice President. Nobody pays attention to you, but everyone has to show you deference just because there might be a set of circumstances where you might ascend to the top role. It basically never happens in corporations, but still it’s the size title that he will want as his price to agree.”

  “So, my transition enabled your wet dream.”

  “For which I will be eternally grateful. Literally.”

  “How long do you think it will take for your plan to succeed?”

  “At sixteen teams transitioning a month? Not more than six months. We will put so much pressure on them they will have no idea how to respond as sales drop off in product area after product area.”

  “Oriana and Jermaine start the integration planning on Friday.”

  RECOVER

  Dietrich calls me first thing the next morning. I’m in my office as I have been for hours, but since he hasn’t transitioned yet it’s almost nine am before he makes the call.

  “The ACLU filed their petition for an injunction against UT Southwestern, Dr. Woodall’s Life Extension Clinic and AppleCore at the close of business yesterday. Of course, they did so to delay the dissemination of the suit until the court has had a chance to receive it and set a court calendar. Luckily we have people watching for anything that involves AppleCore and I’d alerted them to look for anything filed by the ACLU or against the other parties.”