Why I Love My Job Ch. 09

"This is a fascinating fantasy, Mister Gladgrind. But even if there was a single reputable source for any of it, it would fail to be relevant. You're on corporate review for kidnapping, murder, and unmutuality. What the world was like before you were born has no bearing."

"I'll show why it's relevant... I'd like to name a witness and question him."

"You have no right to do that."

"But," said Bill Naros, "I do have that right, and as I'm also the witness to be questioned, at this point I'm inserting myself into the proceedings. Mister Gladgrind, what are your questions?"

The council was shocked silent.

"Is my assessment of the time before the Lashing Out, accurate?"

"As historian, Mister Gladgrind, I will say that your account lacks a lot of detail, but in general, yes it is. A radical and worldwide shift in society occurred -- a widespread collapse of systems and societies, some of them with thousands of years of history. Over the next two centuries and some, details of the world as it was before, have been gradually covered up. And the most salient point -- yes, what we call the Company today was the organization that both triggered the collapse, inadvertently, and then assembled the political and economic capital to rebuild society worldwide in the image of its own economic interests. Roughly speaking, the world has been divided into the powerless and the powerful: with the powerful in the Company and the Governments, the Police as a sort of privileged servant class, and the rest of the world as the servant labor, and also serving as the reproductive battery that keeps the powerful supplied with pawns to toy with."

"And... can you give a general outline of the current goals of the company?"

"This is objectionable," said Mister Dark. "Historians cannot speak for the company and cannot discuss its goals."

"Oh, I don't speak for the company," Bill said, cheerfully. "I can only give opinion, backed up by historical trends and some informal conversations I've had. But the goals, in my opinion, are two. First, social stability. The people running the show worked to make the changes I described and have a huge stake in making sure nothing ever changes. The second goal is the development of longevity. Mister Dark, you see, plans to live forever, as a sort of supreme societal shadow ruler. That's what the drug research is actually about. The X projects are actually only a cover, though I understand that it's an important cover since Mister Dark plans to be sexual for the rest of his life and there's concerns that without drugs to help, that would be a problem after a couple centuries. Mister Dark has decided to be a godlike entity, and is doing widespread experimentation on volunteers - and some people who were volunteered - to get there."

"Have people died in these experiments?"

"Thousands. People sign up to try new drugs that make sex awesome; they don't realize they are also being dosed with other things. The survival rate isn't high. A number of the casualties of the current war weren't killed by bullets. There's also a disease called Accelerated Aging Syndrome, it's said to be caused by a rare virus... it's not. It's caused by Mister Dark's research; the drugs tend to fail horribly."

"But he thinks it's possible to develop longevity? And then everyone will live forever?"

"He knows it's possible, because there's an account of some scientists and military people who stumbled upon some sort of discovery, years ago -- involving some sort of technique for agelessness. They vanished, no one knows how or where, but they left behind some data that suggests they found a way to put off death indefinitely. Unfortunately, or maybe very fortunately, they didn't leave behind enough data to replicate the discovery. But when the data came to light -- and it came to light because I, as historian, researched these vague rumors of longevity -- the company decided to pursue the research -- at all costs. But in my opinion, not everyone is going to get to live forever. Only he is."

"What happens if he succeeds, Bill?"

"It's incalculable. But under the current Mister Dark, the Company has shown an increasing willingness to do widespread drug and biological agent testing on an unknowing population. The expression for that used to be 'playing god'. Sooner or later, something will go horribly wrong, as it always does when utterly amoral people gain vast power."

"And why did we arrange to hide Miss Cheryl from him?"

"Because I knew that once her mind was quite broken, she'd be used in further drug testing, for the longevity project. She'd die, because they pretty much always do. That would have been considered a good thing by Management, because as Samuel's girlfriend, and during her rape and hypnosis by the Company, she'd overheard some things that might have been awkward.... In short, you've been accused of murder because you made Cheryl disappear -- but you made Cheryl disappear because you knew she'd otherwise be murdered, by the same decree from the same man that has caused thousands of others to be murdered."

"But Bill, you've revealed a lot of company confidential data today. Why is it that you believe we both won't be killed for it? Or Cheryl or Julianne or anyone else we know?"

"I'm sure Mister Dark has already given those orders. But despite the strict security on this place, a recording of the proceedings has found its way to at least seven people, Cheryl being one of them. If anything ever happens to any of us, the recording and quite a lot of secret records I've been amassing for five years, go straight to Media. The company has a little problem, you see. The three quarters of the world's population that's been managed to virtual slavery, have been taught that things are getting better, that there's hope for their children, that they won't always be effectively powerless slaves to the ruling elite. They want to believe it, and so they don't revolt. If it comes out that things are never going to change and their children are nothing but future slaves and future whores in the making, they will revolt -- and not even the Company is going to survive if three out of every four people decide it shouldn't. The Governments won't like it much either. Of course the Company can try the old Madrigal-in-the-water-supply trick again, to quell the riots, but people can only fuck for so long, and this time there wouldn't be a baby boom to distract everyone. Good thing, too, the world food supply couldn't handle one... there's no possible ending that won't get Mister Dark killed, if word of his plans gets out."

"The flaw in that thinking is that no one knows who I am," Mister Dark said.

"A few people in the Company do," I said. "And they won't shelter you as the Company collapses under the riots. A few of them might even think the only way to stop the riots is to reveal you and have you lynched. That wouldn't actually stop the collapse, but it will be the only play they have, and they'll give it a try. Nothing left to lose at that point. So, you're going to rescind the execution orders and give me, Bill, Julianne and Cheryl full pensions at the inner circle two level, starting today, and a bonus of one billion credits each for our resourcefulness. These utterly bogus charges will never go to the Police or anywhere else. Vice President Samuel Gates will be fired for cause as of today and his pension will be reassigned and divided among the employees you forced into your experimentation program, or their families, for the ones who died. Oh, and the drug known as Gay X gets lost forever. It's fucking repulsive."

"That's all, Mister Gladgrind? You don't want to bargain for a halt to the alleged longevity research? Don't you want to break the fountain of youth?"

"I'd love to. But you wouldn't keep that promise. It's your obsession. You'd some way to continue it no matter what we agreed to. Besides... you'll fail. I've spoken to some people in med science, hypothetically, and they all agree it needs something beyond any drug to make it work. Your researchers are happy to spend your money but they won't find a thing. You're killing people for nothing, but at least you won't rule my great-great grandchildren."

"If I do, my vengeance on them will be beyond your comprehension."

"Yeah, maybe I better use my new fortune to fund theoretical research into interstellar travel. Just to give future generations an option far away from you, if you succeed... I think we're done here?"

"Yes. You, Bill, Cheryl and Julianne are officially retired from the company. There will be no backlash against anyone. Enjoy your pensions. I do not expect to ever hear from any of you again. If rumors of any of this surface, I'll find you and everyone you ever dealt with, long before anyone finds me."

I nodded. "We have an accord."

I was now, I decided, CEO of Julianne Interstellar Drive Systems. That felt like a good career move.

I walked out, with Bill and Julianne, and cleaned out my desk. For good measure I doused my chair and desk in denatured alcohol, and set fire to it as I left, because who hasn't wanted to?