David recalled a Mindmonk teaching, “Science for the sake of learning inevitably leads to being fired.” He spat, the slug of saliva hitting the top of Mop’s glass home unit. A scientist’s deepest, most unrecoverable sin was to become overfascinated with human subjects.
Manda leaned over the rail and said, “Productive interest is encouraged by the CEO’s team, but emotional attachment is deadly. They say it dulls the scientist’s profit-oriented perspective.”
“Last night I had some time to read more of the start-up manual,” David said. “It says that improper subject fascination spawns into addictive attachment.”
“That is how I got my job,” she answered. “Someone lost their job. It’s a real danger here.”
“I guess Crystal, Grandpa, and Slayer don’t have any of these issues.”
“They’re as cold as they come. Be careful around them.” She pointed at a technician below them who was pushing a cart stacked full with food supplement packs. “Clabnad was stabbed in the back by Crystal with a pen.” She indicated a woman off to the side who was scrubbing the mirrored walls clean. “Lilya was slapped with a tablet by Slayer after she complained about being locked in a room by Grandpa…No need to say more.”
David shuttered. He didn’t need an imagination to visualize the other managers’ styles. “Enough. I agree there were strange behaviors by several deposed lab leaders.” David had read several cases where scientists had acted strangely. Some of them had tried to free slaves, some had physical relations with slaves, some had attempted to fly to Tri-Coalition, some had tried to terminate corporate ownership, some had refused to perform basic clean-out procedures…the list went on and on. Their behavior was truly perplexing.
“Total anti-Xchange,” Manda said without conviction.
David spoke, “In all past cases, Nnect exhausted its freedom margin, and the useless scientist were forcibly stripped of their stock number and sent to Orns by Quality Control.” David actually recognized a couple of faces in the portfolios as current Storyworld characters.
“I don’t want to get reassigned, Manda.”
“You strike me as a rule follower, David.” Her neck twisted to take him in.
“I don’t risk things for others—that’s for sure.” He shivered as he thought about getting thrown into the dangerous seasons of Battle Games, Thrill Sports, or Medieval Storyworld of Orns. Death was inevitable. These were some of the pitfalls that resulted from humanizing a test subject. “I’ll take our predecessors’ lessons to heart. Thank you very much.”
“We shall see. These labs have a way of changing humans.” She didn’t say human-doings.
Odd. Despite his constructive attitude, David felt attachment forming underneath his habitually cultivated corporate skin. It was an enormous issue. To make matters worse, or so it seemed to him, he was not fascinated with a single individual. He was becoming riveted with an entire race. He was mentally behaving like a new Storyworld clubber captivated by his subscription or raving excitedly after a live premiere during the annual festivities.
Questions formed in his mind.
Who are these people, and how are they like me?
How come they have such different cultural practices than we do in Xchange?
Don’t they see the destructive nature of their human code, habits, and unordered moral rules? Of their “natural laws” involving equality and protection of the useless and unproductive; social habits of leisure; leisure expectations involving extended time away from work? It baffled David’s team.
David said to Manda, “Just to go out and enjoy the world? How could disorderly thought patterns like this produce a growing human environment and secure the future development of humanity?” David knew that both human-doings and human beings were prone to lazy wastefulness.
A scientist named Joseph-404 came up behind them and added an answer: “The blessed Xchange brands helped in the interior struggle against laziness. A culture without the ability to control laziness would become evil and volatile.”
David agreed. “I learned that lesson from watching episodes of Storyworld.”
Manda indicated, “We learned that from work team improvement seminars.” She waved around at the Lave Labs team.
On and on the questions continued. The testing of the slaves proceeded into the afternoon. Other such questions arose as he probed his slaves deeper and deeper for answers. The digital timepieces on the screens appeared to speed up, and the allotted time flew by, as the team invested every moment searching for a mesmerizing breakthrough.
Each of his five slaves were subjected to a series of ten tests over the course of the first two days. The observation tests were broken down into five categories. Some were individual, and some were group tests. Rented professional actors, leased from Tertain and Orns, played out diverse scenarios with the slaves while David’s crew detected and recorded figures. He had six expert Lave Labs scientists on his team, including the two who had welcomed him into the office two days prior. David enjoyed the scenario building. Tutoring and arranging the performers was engrossing. It was an outlet for his creative clubbing side. He felt like a master storyteller from Storyworld, or a QC story captain.
Later that day, contemplatively moseying to his observation room as the afternoon sun began to descend, he casually walked past the test rooms that Crystal Ice, Steven Slayer, and Grandpa Greg were using. He was careful not to pass into their testing wings, scared to get locked inside. The other reluctant managers seemed to be tentatively complying, at least for the moment, with David’s directions. An occasional report updating him on their status popped up on his handheld management device. As a team leader, he was the only one with access to the entire project results. It helped him monitor the global objectives.
“Thank the market I don’t have to waste effort chastising the others today,” he lied to a team member. When walking to the other wings, he brought team members. The truth was, David broke into a cold sweat each night when he thought about having to direct the other, more experienced managers.
His digital clipboard listed the day’s scenarios. Context clues would help determine future Nnect uses for the subjects. Each scenario was listed with a brief description and objective.
Test one: the False Free Freedom Scenario. How does the subject respond to being offered freedom? “Free freedom,” as the test was aptly called.
He read aloud, “How much information will it, the slave, tell us about its culture, cities, and military installments if we offer it freedom?”
Test two: the Ransom Test. Who does it reach out to if we hold it for ransom, and where does the subject want to go if freed?
David read, “How does it propose to go about communicating with its nation?”
Test three: Threat of Torture. What does it believe in, and what is it willing to die for?
Test four: Eternally Sold. We tell the slave it’s been sold, and it will never be returned home.
“This is an interesting one,” David said to the scientist trailing him. “What occupation would it like, and how does it react or beg?”
Test five: Reunited with Its Fellow Slaves and with Our Actors. What info does it pour out when connected with the others?
David swallowed the remainder of his lunch snack, the butter rolls crumbling onto the floor as he walked to his wing. He tossed it into a bin and took out a gelly. It would be a busy day, and he’d decided to refuel as he was reading reports. The food pod was a Ssential to-go sack. He squeezed too hard, and green protein oozed onto his hands. Sticky. He wiped it on his pants. Work was his life, and life was busy today.
“Time to be about doing.”
The office buzzed with excitement as the previous tests’ information was stored and cataloged. The trained actors were prepped for the day’s scenarios. One team was building a virtual map of Tri-Coalition territory from scraps of information judiciously gleaned from the testing. One team was compiling a list of laws and cultural norms. One team was cataloging
spiritual beliefs and moral systems. One team was trying to list military observations. One team was trying to calculate the effects of branding these slaves with a Nnect tattoo. One team was listing out options for making profit with the slaves. The list was long but still unoriginal. A viable way to make a lot of money with these slaves was not yet apparent.
“More creativity and more insight are required. Yes, more testing,” David declared to those in the room.
David strode to the Individual Slave Report simulator, a workstation set up with a powerful analyzing program that took in all the information about an individual and tried to fill in the gaps. Its projections and assumptions really helped in breaking into a slave’s psyche.
As he walked across his lab, he noticed Jim-4000, a jolly Lave Labs scientist who was two years David’s senior, flicking quickly through his personal projection screens to hide something from David’s sight as he passed. Jim had narrow, acute eyes and a thick, bushy brow. He looked like a squirrel. David noticed that Jim often sat out on his porch with his portable computer during the afternoon brainstorming hour. David usually thought nothing of the need for a computer during every free moment, but now he wanted to know what Jim was hiding from him. As a manager, it was his sacred corporate right to know what employees entrusted to his authority were involved in and to micromanage them for the betterment of the company.
“Micromanagement time,” David said to himself as he stood as tall as his shoulders would allow, to appear intimidating.
“Jim, what inputs are you working on?” David leaned forward casually, making his invasive presence felt. His blue arm came to rest on Jim’s shoulder. David was careful not to let the metal armband on his right arm be seen. His tattoo tingled through his body as he sought to impose authoritative control.
“Manager, sir,” Jim lied smoothly. “I am taking the feedback from Arc, the moon-haired woman, and cross-checking it with the data retrieved from Mop, the mop-haired man, to see if it correlates.” A screen of numbers, charts, and words popped up, and Jim zoomed in for David to see. Jim’s fingers stretched to control the display, like a spider opening its grip.
“What have you found?” he pried deeper, stalling to see if Jim would tell him what he had closed just as David had approached. David knew that he couldn’t retrieve content Jim deleted without going to a Nnect QC and asking for a report of Jim’s computer. But the amount of paperwork was not worth his time. And David was a new manager. QC didn’t respond quickly to new managers.
“Hmm, um. Moon Arc is sexy, and Mop is stubborn. He’s got a crazy tuft of frizzy hair. We are still not sure why her hair is so white.”
“That’s what you figured out while sitting here for the last fifteen minutes sifting through data?” David knew that his whole team thought those two things, hence the nicknames for the slaves. This wasn’t what you learned from a cross-check. Jim was hiding something. The slanted, defensive squirrel shoulders indicated as much.
“That’ll be all, Jim. Keep cross-checking.” David pretended to turn away. “Oh, Jim.” David suddenly shifted back. “Don’t waste time learning things we already know. Dig deeper. Listen to that brand of yours.”
Beep. Beep. An incoming notification blipped into the corner of Jim’s screen. David reacted before the notification disappeared. He thrust his hand into the control area of the screen. Moving Jim’s hand away with his own, he opened the notification before it could disappear.
A Real World interface opened. The green-trimmed border and a recognizable virtual reality profile were prominent. “Huh, how odd. Real World, Jim?” David saw the surprise on his employee’s face rise in the form of hot-red specks. He glared at Jim to increase the shame.
“Sorry…”
Clubbing activities at work were forbidden. “During work, Jim?” Nnectonians were expected to work at work and buy products outside of work. “This project is very important to me. To Nnect. And hence to you.” The balance of work life.
“I can explain, sir.” Jim dropped himself with a creak onto his hands and knees. He raised his left arm with his brand as a sign of submission and atonement. “I’m about to become a freeman in Real World. I just invested a whole year of my Xchange freedoms to buy an investment package and private zip shuttle. My ratings are up, and I’m about to get a promotion, which means I can invest in any of the higher-end human products. It’s really, really exciting, and I needed to just check in to Real World. Just for a second. That is…is…sorry, sir.”
“‘Need’ is a relative term.” David let the employee stammer as he decided what to do. This Jim was overspending his freedoms to increase his status in Real World. David felt disgust well up in him, the same abhorrence he felt for Uriah. He felt betrayed that Jim was acting like Uriah and angry that Jim was stealing time from a project that could define David’s career. David was about to send Jim to QC for a refresher course in corporate behavioral policy when he had another thought: addictions should be held in check.
“Mercy is not a policy of the powerful,” he recalled. The fear, pain, and shame of being locked helplessly in a closet by Grandpa Greg burst forth into his being. David was a manager now. A desire for a demonstration of supremacy filled his essence. He closed his eyes and let the brand encouragement fill his frame with an urgency of pleasure. “Oh, you have been naughty and not a nice employee, Jim.” David was in charge. “I am selling you to Orns for this impious behavior.”
“Sir, please, can you refer me to a QC refresher as an alternative? Give me a second chance?”
“I don’t want distracted workers on this team,” he growled, teeth sticking out like feral fangs. “On my team.” He looked like a wolf about to pounce on a dying fawn. David thought about what the CEO would do and mimicked his tone. “We’re going places in this company.” David disregarded the dismay on Jim’s features.
It was a lot easier to destroy someone’s career then David had imagined. It was pure ecstasy. “The CEO does not approve of addictions at work. I stand in his position of corporate-given responsibility. We’ve human-doing standards to uphold.” He huffed, justified in his premise of conformity. “You ungrateful and lazy servant. Begone from my sight. Much was expected of you and much…”
A hand touched David’s shoulder. David twisted angrily to see Manda-18. Her blue eyes glistened gleefully, contrasting with the rage in David’s. “I bet you can let him slip by without a firing this one time, because we need his help to start our daily simulations, Twenty-Three.”
The hand with his communique device, which was about to call QC, relaxed at her touch. Manda was a charming human-doing. She had the mesmerizing control over him that Gayle had. He eyed her up. She goaded him in the direction of the labs. “Stop firing people—that would be a lot of paperwork that none of us really want to do.”
He caved. “Uhh,” he stammered, his power rush gone. Tranquility filled him.
“You don’t want to be like Grandpa Greg.”
He definitely did not want to be like that monster. So he let himself be led away.
“Jim, go back to work,” Manda-18’s charming voice sang.
“OK, Jimmy-4000, let this be a lesson to you.” David followed Manda, partially embarrassed, excusing his actions and explaining his reasoning to her. “Jim’s a Real World addict, and he shouldn’t get carried away. Mercy is not a tool of the powerful.”
“Shush, David. We’ve work to be about. Productivity over paperwork.” He was happy that she gave him a shameless way to retreat from his publicly announced punishment.
“Well, Jim should at least go see his Mindmonk for help.” More rigidly David continued with a vow, while Manda nodded maternally. “If the problem persists, then I’ll personally get QC involved.”
Jim added his own vows of compliance and eternal thanks as the other two left. “Oh, thank you. The hand of the CEO is upon you. I’ll proactively discuss with my Mindmonk.”
At the mention of Mindmonks, David remembered what Doc Gus had warned him about
the natural contempt that Storyworld viewers had for Real World users. Doc Gus had said, “Some people want to live in a reality with no consequences to their real lives. This is Real World. It offers human-doings a simulated outlet for creativity, passions, and desires that they don’t currently experience at work.” That had made sense to David. The Mindmonk had continued, “Real World is a gift from Tertain and truly captures the hearts of many people. Consequence-free reality.” Doc Gus had then pointed out that David tended toward the opposite gift. He stroked his brown goatee and curling locks in a wise manner, offering further advice, “Orns offers the other group of people Storyworld. It’s a world that you get to observe, as you know the Orns actors wear cameras in their costumes to bring viewers live action. Viewers can follow but don’t participate like in Real World. And you love stories.”
David had responded, “I see the dramatic consequences of reality in other people’s lives. I get to live vicariously through the Storyworld characters.”
Doc Gus had said, “Storyworld and Real World are both gifts to be cherished, but you’ll rarely find a person who desires or can afford both.” David had had to admit the truth in the statement. Doc Gus’s final advice had been, “When you feel disgust for someone who desires a different aspect of entertainment, be open minded toward them. Their desires are just different from yours.” He had a way of trying to expand David’s palate for empathy with other viewpoints. It wasn’t easy.
Manda shook David from his memories. “Are you ready to move on with our testing?”
“Yes, yes.” He tried to diffuse the situation with some flirting. “You’re a distraction, Manda—er, I mean.” That sounded so dumb. He stopped flirting and said, “I was distracted with my own thoughts. I was thinking about some wise advice from the Mindmonks,” he stammered awkwardly, then continued more smoothly. “Tell Jim that he’s free to continue working with our team, but the computer resources group must add a protection protocol to his work companion computer to ensure work and play do not mix. He should keep Real World and his Selfie time for when he is alone in his storage unit, not at his home at work. Also schedule a session with his assigned Mindmonk; make sure they talk about purchase addictions and career balance. It’s important to a healthy life.”
A Tale Of Doings Page 31