An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) (7 page)
Read An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) Online
Authors: Thomas Gondolfi
“And what
’s
in that box?” he asked himself
.
“I probably shouldn’t, but what the heck
.
What’s a little more trouble
?”
Carefully lifting the lid, he peered inside
.
What stared up at him wiped away any questions of sexual advances or terrorism.
A tiny calico kitten, barely bigger than a shot
glass, sat patiently in one corner
, looking up at him
with head slightly cocked
.
The creature
let out the tiniest of mews
and
stood on its hind legs, batting at the air as
an
obvious plea for playtime
.
Without thinking,
Tony
scooped up the tiny ball of white and brown fluff in his hands and rubbed it under the chin while it batted at the gold and silver star hanging from
the
necklace
in amongst the ruffles of his
dress shirt
.
“How adorable you are, little
m
iss
,” said Tony idly,
“
b
ut
kittens and cats are against the law
.
Maybe I should turn
you
in
.”
Despite his outward calm, he
’d
never been so terrified in his life
.
Before this little bundle of
fur
, the worst he could reasonably expect to
suffer from
his
little life-saving
adventure
would be temporary indentured servitude
.
Possession of
a live pet carried a capital sentence
.
Despite the heart beating in his throat, Tony made purring noises and wiggled the
necklace
charm around for his houseguest
.
His grandfather
had
won the Silver Star in defense of a Chinese village in the Aussie Civil War. “You like your toy
?”
Watching the charm gave
Tony
courage
.
After a predictably short time, the brown and white feline tired of her new
plaything
.
Looking up into Tony’s eye
s
with uncompromising trust, the tiny kitten mewed
.
He brought the
furry creature
up for a closer look
, and t
he kitten seized the opportunity to brush up against his face
.
Tony sputtered and tried to wipe the
residual
downy hairs from his mouth and nose with his free arm
.
Undisturbed
,
she buzzed with pleasure, jumped from his hand to the tabletop, the chair
,
and finally to the ground
.
“What am I going to do with you
?
The law
’
s quite clear
.
All proteins must be collected for food distributions
.
You, my cinnamon-colored friend
,
are protein.”
With the vast majority of the Earth barely avoiding starvation, food often seemed sacred
.
The laws were selectively enforced, but the punishment for tampering with the Emergency Subsistence Act of ’26 was execution by starvation.
“I don’t want either of us to die,” he said
,
absently watching the kitten poke
its
head under one of his dirty shirts on the floor, “
b
ut
if I get caught with you, there isn’t a thing in this world that
’s
going to save me
.”
The object of Tony’s dilemma stalked an errant dust-bunny with a wiggle of its bottom and tail high in the air
.
“I just can’t imagine pushing you into the calorie reclamation bin
.
You’d be ground into paste and flushed into the city’s food return
.
It’d be the lawful thing, but not the right thing
.
“With that said, I guess I better take the appropriate precautions
.”
Tony securely locked and bolted his front door and switched on the active security measures
.
The kitten bounced across the floor and sat in the middle of the room
,
looking up at
its
new owner
.
“I haven’t a clue how to take care of you, but we’ll learn together.
“What are we going to name you, hmm?”
Establish Plan
Coffee
(
no longer grown anywhere on Earth
)
, fresh
cranberry muffins
,
and living servants
—
genetically engineered deaf/mutes
,
of course
—
attended the corporate heads to the faint strains of Mozart lilting across the room
in time to a medley of mint scents
.
“As you know, we needed a human weapon,” said
Nanogate
, the plan’s progenitor
.
“
S
omeone who
isn’t
in the critical path of any of our programs.
I want to thank all of you for access to your personnel files
.
In this case
,
we didn’t need them
.
I think we have the one we want
.
This one is exceptional
ly
qualified
for the task
.”
The room dimmed and a solid projection of a large
,
swarthy man floated above the table
.
Thick black h
air spilled over his back like
tar pouring from his head
.
C
urly
pubic and chest
hair were
his dignity’s only protection
as the solidograph rotated
.
“Born in
Corvallis
,
Oregon
,
in
’
twenty-eight
,
he
’
s
a second
-
generation Turkish refugee of the Chinese Amalgamation
.
No genetic manipulation of the birth,
save
the standard
subdermal
cybernetic implant
.
L
eft hand replaced with a Dec
m
odel
f
ive-dot-three
cosmetic when
the original
was crushed in a lift-car accident at the age of five
.
In his teen years
,
he worked for Downput Demolition Company and learned how to handle and manipulate shaped explosives.
“He obtained a
m
aster
’
s degree in Molecular Mechanical Engineering
.
He has an aptitude of eighty-fourth, physical of ninety-first and an individuality quotient of ninety-sixth percentiles
.
He possesses first
-
aid skills and leadership ability, both officially unrated but present
—
our sims say above
eightieth
percentile in both
.”
“He
’s
currently employed by
Nanogate
Dental Products Division and thus at our complete disposal per our standard binding employee contract,” offered another of the executive
s
.
“In short,” the plan’s owner continued, “this is the perfect rebel and skill set for our GAM targets
.
Per the plan, I suggest we make certain he
isn’t
wasted within our corporation but rather finds a new home with
our
target
.”
“Any known medical issues?”
“None
.
Standard childhood diseases:
m
umps, measles, and Martian sand lice
.
No known immunities and his only allergy is to eight of the old antibiotics, level
four
—
annoyance only.”
“Family?”
“A one-year term marriage at
eighteen
that both walked away from without looking back
.
Parents have been dead for over a year as the result of an industrial accident in the water purifying plant
where
they worked
.
His current girlfriend’s profile reads, in short, pliant to our needs.
“Gentlebeings, I’ve covered his life in great detail
.
He’s
an underachiever who thinks
he’s
better than he seems willing to produce
.
He tends toward loquacity
—”
“Excuse me
.
Loquacity?” asked
Taste Dynamics
, a gaunt woman devoid of outward sexual characteristics
.
“Talkativeness, inability to keep his mouth shut.”
“Thank you.”
“To continue, he had a three-point-two GPA through high school and college and not a single one of his teachers seem
s
to be able to remember him
.
He never joined a fraternity.”
“Simulations?”
“The models
we’ve
built show a seventy-eight percent chance that our subject will be taken into GAM and a twenty percent chance that they
’ll
destroy him outr
—
”
“Wouldn’t his destruction impact our overall goal?” interrupted
P
udgy
.
“Even if they kill him, there
’
s a sixty-three percent chance our plan will succeed anyway.”
“Sixty-three
?
Planning on sixty-three percent seems on the weak side
to carry any action forward
,” commented
Percomm Systems
.
“We
aren’t
planning on sixty-three percent
,
but rather seventy-eight percent plus sixty-three percent of twenty percent or a total of ninety point six percent chance, or less than a ten percent of failure,” he said directly to
P
udgy
.
Nanogate’s
eyes then cast about the rest of the membership
.
“Let me add that the worst thing that can happen with a failure is that
we’ve
lost one insignificant employee
.
We can then choose to either pick a new pawn or we can look at a new plan.”
No more discussion presented itself
.
Several
attendees
physically as well as mentally closed their folders on this topic
.
Not one of these individuals clawed
their way
to the pinnacle of power without using people
.
Only one had yet to directly order a person killed
.
None even hesitated at the use of one more
.
The choice passed without debate
.
* * *
Sonya opened the door to the outer foyer
.
A tiny
,
weasel-like man, impeccably dressed in a tailored three
-
piece Kao Brothers suit, held a caramel
-
colored
Chihuahua
in his lap
.
The tiny dog, no larger than a dessert plate, shivered constantly
.
The situation wasn’t right
,
but Sonya motioned them into her examining room anyway
.
The
seemingly sterile
room looked like something out of an old medical flattie
,
with an examination table, removable paper covers, a
small and
uncomfortable chair, a swivel stool
,
and all manner
of
antiquated
,
shiny
,
and
manual
-oriented
medical equipment
.