Ignoring her, he stood with his back to her and waved apologetically to the dinners. He didn’t know what to do. So he declared, “Our most sincere regrets. You heard that out of context.” It was then, to David’s horror, that he saw them in a private booth across from their own: a pair of news sharks, lit in red and green, playing some festive tune that David had never heard before. The news sharks sneered, and they lifted a camera that was hiding behind a massive pork head.
“Got the whole date on film,” the snide lips mouthed.
“Abigayle, we must go now,” David begged urgently. The faces around him were turning hostile and scary. The world was upside down. He felt like he was the lab rat in a Storyworld episode, being watched by paid viewers. His breath caught in his chest, and his heart began to beat faster than normal. It was hard to breathe.
Anxiety filled David’s voice with desperation. “Gayle, come with me, now. Let’s get out of here.”
Suddenly and unexpectedly, his heretically animated partner leaned fully into his arms. Surprised, he said, “Abigayle, I need you to walk out of here with me. I-I…” He stammered at the sudden warmth of her body in his arms, frozen in place with conflicting emotions of elation and terror. “This is not the time or the place for this.”
Chapter 16
Viral Vines
And then he saw it, at the base of her neck: a small, nearly invisible stun dart. He looked up. A barrage of QC officers stormed the restaurant. A news-shark-repellent wall was tossed up, and the couple was sequestered with the three officers who’d jumped through the barrier. David recognized the captain from the Gravetless train. His eyes frantically searched the officer’s badge to find the man’s name, and he fought internally to come up with an explanation for the awkward and unfortunate turn of events.
“Looks like your date is going to have to get reprocessed, mate,” the officer proclaimed matter-of-factly. “This is her third public outburst. She’s got a record of speaking disdainfully against CEO Sarah. Step aside. Turn her over, boy. You’re probably an innocent bystander, not realizing that she was a defective Productzen.” The two guards tugged her from his grasp. His mind spun, and he felt regret. She could not be reprocessed. He would lose everything. He wanted her even worse now, against any sense of reason. Thoughts and emotions and brand input jumbled together in a rapid, discombobulated procession.
“Deny knowledge of her actions. Get clear, and keep a low profile,” one of the officers recommended.
Another helpful officer said, “Maybe the news sharks don’t know your name yet. Maybe this will not reflect on your career,” as they laid her down on the marble.
David watched helplessly as she was revived. She came to with a gasp. Her hands were cuffed in front of her, and an air gag was placed in her mouth. She sat there waiting calmly for the inevitable containment unit to show up and truck her off to her fate.
The calm but firm attitude of the QC officer gave David an idea. Maybe this guy would bargain with him; maybe the situation could be saved somewhat. They could spin a story that would benefit him. But just as he started to speak, the most unexpected thing happened.
“What do we have here?” CEOs Saul and Sarah walked into the cordoned-off zone. David gasped, falling to his knees quickly to try to save face. He idolized these two amazing human-doings. Heroes of industry.
The captain of the QC first-response team did not lose his composure, and he shifted to meet his superiors with cool ease. “Sir and madam, we have a defective Productzen who blasphemed your names publicly. According to code 678, she will be decommissioned and sent to reprocessing. This is her third and final offense.” He pointed at Gayle. “I am sorry, CEO Sarah, for the loss to your company’s stock. Despite her aggressive political nature, she had an above-standard success rating.” He nudged the prone and bound woman with the edge of his boot. She was fully awake now but could not move much due to the tight bondage. “We can post another stock request as soon as the market opens up tomorrow.”
The efficient captain pointed at David and said, “We just ran a background check on this one: perfect record and recent promotion at Nnect for involvement in a PPRE product offering. Newly attained the level of an Advanced manager. The statistics believe he is untainted and above suspicion, a bystander to unfortunate treason, and should be allowed to proceed in his career with a slight reprimand to be more selective about his tee-ups. Perhaps he should have read the PPRE selection process manual and watched the tutorials on the tube before rushing off to purchase a relationship with some crazy person.” The QC officer paused. “I will file all of this in my report to HR, but as you can see, this is all under control.”
“Well done,” said the authoritative voice of CEO Saul from somewhere above the two prostrate Productzens. “Quality Control is ever effective. But we have our own strategy here. Please ask your men to clear out the premises, wait outside the containment barrier, and bring in a story-building unit to set the stage for our public image rebuttal.”
“Clean-out and reimaging squads are already on their way,” the QC captain said. “The story unit will be summoned immediately if you want, but why? Might I suggest that a story unit would be a little overkill here? This is a standard public heresy cleanup and not some major terrorist assault. This is a pretty standard case of wipe and reimage. My team can handle a basic outburst like this very easily. A story team is only needed in extreme and desperate cases.” David sensed that the QC captain was annoyed by the lack of trust in his ability to handle the situation.
“Because of your past good work and your excellent lineage, your tone is excused, Captain. But this situation has spiraled out of the normal cleanup realm because of who this young man and woman are.”
The captain took the hint and signaled his men out of the barrier to allow CEO Sarah to explain in confidentiality. “A news vine has escaped our firewall and gone viral,” she said.
David gasped. Viral? Such a vine could sway thousands of buyers in a matter of hours and sometimes minutes. That’s bad. Tertain news sharks be taken. The media can really screw life up.
The wispy, cold voice of CEO Sarah spoke again. “This young employee is a successful Thrive trainer, and this young man is a recently promoted Nnect connection engineer. Both are at the peak of their careers. They should be perfect stock examples. They should be mirrors of the virtues of Xchange. They have everything they need; they are even clean of major Orns addictions or futile spending vices. The stock only knows, but they may have even managed to purchase themselves.”
CEO Saul stepped in, and he smiled. He was a man ready to conquer anything. Power emanated from him. Sharp, grasping eyes looked at David and then checked out Gayle with a long, possessive gaze, enjoying the view. “She certainly is desirable. I expect nothing less for an Advanced Nnectonian. May the blue blood forever flow deep in us.” His approval of David’s choice gave David a sense of belonging. His blue brand glowed. I will be OK.
“Eh Sauly, stay on topic.” Sarah said.
“Uhum,” the captain interrupted the leaders, “what does that have to do with breaking the law, madam and sir? Excuse my confusion, but the law is the law. We must maintain integrity. Quality above emotion. I believe you spoke those very words at my christening into QC.” The man stamped his heels together like a submissive soldier, understanding that he was way out of line.
CEO Sarah began to wave a hand to send the officer out of the circle of trust, but CEO Saul put a reassuring hand on the captain’s shoulder, supporting his current position inside the conversation. Saul explained, “Our staff informed us that prior to your clearing out the premises, a media shark team from Tertain released that vine. They must’ve had insider information on who my product”—he pointed at David—”was. This video could muddle our recently launched PPRE. And launches are so, so fragile. This is the young man that thought up the idea and added the brilliant selling hook, the forced relationship clause.”
Gurgle. Gayle gave David a disdainful lo
ok, and he ducked his head to avoid the glare. Even he could begin to understand how horrible his actions seemed.
The CEO booted Gayle for interrupting him. “I asked CEO Sarah to come here to try to propose a solution that Nnect and Thrive brands would both benefit from. If we go down the standard wipe-and-move-on path in this case, Nnect will lose the full financial gains from PPRE. It will tank, as Tertain is hoping by posting these insidious vine videos. They’re saying that the first PPRE relationship, David and Abigayle’s, is a failure and the product is a fraud. Orns is probably backing this story up too. So we need to tell different tall of doing.” His tone changed. “We need a story that will garner trust. We need a story that will save PPRE. This is my dilemma.”
“Pardon my disbelief that a story alone could do that,” the captain said.
“Stories are the power behind Xchange. Storytellers are masterful artists that can weave prevailing change in our society. Never underestimate the power of a story.” The CEO liked hearing himself speak. He looked like a preacher delivering a sermon. “Each of our lives is a story intricately woven into a culture. Some stories have more significance, more impact, than others. My story has been splendid and has shaped humanity, at times violently and at times subtly, as has your story, son—er, Captain.” “Son” was not used in Xchange commonly. That word was something that David knew from watching Storyworld.
CEO Sarah chimed in. “Yes, a story may do the trick. But what could our new story be other than that we beat this woman and sold her to Orns to punish her and remind our products who owns them?”
“Public beatings do help with…” Saul said before Sarah continued.
“If we mess this up, we’ll be worse off. We have a hopeless tangle. We need to revise this debacle and present something better to the world. The Tertain news sharks are already attacking the brand names of Thrive and Nnect. The next viral vine will surely attack the Thrive Upbringing process. They love harping on ‘bad teachers.’ I will not have that happen. Tertain has been trying to win the contract for training all human-doings. But I’m also not sure we can recover all our margin on this one. A story may or may not help us. Thrive has ridden out far worse than this. I for one am OK with killing or reprocessing this useless product.” “Killing” was not a word that normal human-doings had a right to ever say. That was a Storyworld word.
CEO Sarah kicked Gayle hard in the heart with her heel, knocking her flat onto her back. She then put the pristine white tip onto Gayle’s neck. “I could kill her right now myself.”
The severity of the situation awakened in David an awareness of the severity of the situation. “Killing?” An image of black-armored knights slaughtering screaming farmers in Storyworld filled David’s memory. That was killing. Death was terrifying and final. Killing was not something that happened in the real world. Not that he was aware of. He didn’t want Gayle to be killed. She was not as atrocious as everybody said she was. Plus, he wanted her. She was his. He saw the boot of unjust oppression about to crush her, and something began to change inside him.
A new idea came into David’s head. I will fight, he thought. Just like the knights in Storyworld. I will fight right now. An urge to launch himself at CEO Sarah filled his mind. His muscles tensed.
But then his heart, mind, and brand sent a wave of pain through his body. Even dulled, the brand stimulus was strong enough to fill him with stark fear. It was as if it was telling him, “You cannot fight back. Go along with the plan. Never disobey. How dare you.” Guilt and shame rushed through him with the power of a raging ocean, and he almost blacked out. A raging dialogue began inside David. What is the best way to live? Should I obey my tattoo or this other prompting? Something felt divided inside his being. He staggered to his knees and closed his eyes as the passions raged inside of his mind.
David gave in to the fierce internal opposition and did not fight.
The next reasonable thought popped into his mind: How can I save myself? What do I want here? Doc Gus’s face popped into his mind’s eye.
“Don’t fight. Compromise,” the face said. “Compromise and live!”
Compromise and live. I can do that, David thought. How to turn this in our favor? How to save Gayle and myself? He gulped. And then it came to him. He waved a hand to get the CEOs’ attention before the fine white tip crushed the gagging Gayle’s windpipe.
“Sir, may I humbly make a suggestion?” He looked up, daring to breathe and speak. An affirmative nod. He stood up on shaking legs. “My Mindmonk once told me to think from the outside to the inside. To see how others see a situation. Then present the situation to them in a way that gives you the result you seek. Change the image—is that not what the story team is meant to do when they arrive?”
He gulped as CEO Sarah gave him a dumb expression that screamed, “If you continue to state the obvious, then it will be your throat under my feet.”
Stay safe. His personal motto echoed in his head. He hurried to the punch. “Let’s give the story team a story that Xchange will love. A story that someone like the legendary Miss A. Knerr would have told.” Miss A. Knerr was the writer who had inspired Storyworld. She was a childhood crush of David’s, the way a child adores actors and famous people from a distance.
“Spit it out,” the CEOs’ yelled.
“We can say that Abigayle was so upset when I told her that we weren’t chosen to be the poster couple for PPRE that she burst out against the CEOs. Not because she hates you, but because she desires the good of Thrive and PPRE so much and so passionately that she let it get the better of her.
“I propose that Nnect and Thrive enter an agreement to spin this mess into profit by filming similar outbursts on future dates that glorify the human relationships sold in PPRE—although we could use wiser and more appropriate dialogue.” David paused to see if his listeners were going along with the idea. “Look at her. She is a perfect poster representative.”
CEO Sarah stared at David, “And you are not…”
David responded with blushed cheeks, “I’m just the lucky engineer who thought of the idea. We could tell an unlikely workplace love story that was discovered through PPRE. Like something in Medieval Storyworld. A romance, they call it. We can do product placements in our promotionals. We let Tertain air the shows as their own news clips. All three of us gain an incredible profit from the drama that has already been stirred up. Let’s spin this on them, and they will have to jump on board to get a piece of the profits.”
Out of breath and panting from the rushed explanation, David waited in nervous anticipation bordering on dread to hear if his slightly outrageous idea would be accepted. He broke into a cold sweat. Tension filled the air. Circumstance was bringing him far from his normal comfort zone. This was not the place of any ordinary human-doing.
“A worker after my own heart. You ruthless, creative product,” CEO Saul said. “I told you once that I was glad to own you. This can work. I’ll get our marketing wiz on the ad campaigns, Steve Slayer. I could get our managing pro, Crystal Ice, on the financial agreement with Tertain and Thrive. Grandpa Greg can make sure the servers are linked.” David sighed in relief. The CEO turned to the captain, “Steve will direct your story unit. What do you say, Sarah? Will Thrive back up this story of drama?”
“Drama does sell. I will allow this attempt if you send me a bottle of the Sicilian hidden on your private bar, Sauly. Captain, remove my disloyal property before I kill it,” the powerful brunette said disdainfully.
Saul reached out his hand for a handshake. The thin blue Nnect armband touched the matching green Thrive armband as the two CEOs clasped hands in agreement.
David reached down to Gayle and pulled her gently to her feet, his eyes begging her to go along with the proposition that would save her life. He felt at once upset that his career was in jeopardy and hopeful that she would go along with his life-saving heroism. He was like a knight in shining armor, at least in his mind. He turned to the captain. “Captain, may I free my tee-up from h
er restraints? I know she’d appreciate the opportunity to voice her agreement. She believes in investing for posterity.”
There was a slight whistle from a remote in the gloved captain’s fist. The air gag evaporated from Gayle’s mouth, and the cuffs flew back the short distance to the captain’s utility belt.
Gayle’s strangled voice sounded ragged from the air cuff and heel combination. She nevertheless spoke decisively. “I accept and look forward to the opportunity to do and do profitably. Please forgive my inappropriate passionate outburst. It will not happen again.”
And so the new couple walked out behind the two most powerful people in the land, the blue and green brands interwoven for a moment.
Chapter 17
Episode 6: Retraining
The dirty brown fields turned white, then tan, then green. Winter had come and gone a lot faster than anyone had expected. The northern pines along the coast no longer boasted the only greenery as the vibrant emerald life of spring sprouted forth.
To the captured young knight, it had been a winter of education. He was promoted from the pooper-scooper to the butcher’s apprentice to the town steward. He had a useful aptitude for numbers.
Cledwyn had much to do with Phel’s improved state of life. Cledwyn was the town butcher during the winter months, since farming was not fruitful during the season. He needed help and had requested that Phel work for him; his previous apprentice had been thrown off a cliff. For this, Phel was indebted to the simple farmer.
Phel worked with Cledwyn for a month butchering meat until, due to his previous training in the Sonz Guard and his basic years of learning numbers at the peasant school started as an outreach by the princess in the capital, Phel showed he was useful in more ways than butchering livestock or carrying shit. He became the town’s market steward, recording the taxed amounts owed on each sale to the Driston steward. Phel did the tasks of several men during this time and spent hours late at night accounting by candlelight after butchering meat all day. He knew his efforts would be seen.
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