The Gaia Project Snippet 2

Sitrep: Rea just sent me the manuscript back. It is short, I added the TOC and stuff and just shot it off to Goodlifeguide.com.

So, it should be coming out in a 10 days or less. (unless they are on vacation again)

On to the snippet!

Chapter 2

 

August 28, 2285

 

The board of directors of Nova Biotics wasn't the only one having a meeting about the recent near attack. Just about every company that had a vested interest in the Biosphere Mall was probably going over the incident carefully. A full investigation had already been ordered.

And then there was the recent news of the terraforming attack in Epsilon. Nova had been bidding for a part of that ecosystem contract. Now they had no idea if LGM and the client who held the mortgage to the star system were going to be able to pick up the pieces or not.

And more importantly when.

Their main focus at the moment was the attack on the Biosphere Mall. Shareholders were sheep. They had been spooked by the attack, and the past week had shown it. A year's worth of growth had been wiped out in a single day of trading. They might make it back as the market rallied, but it was going to take time.

“The hits keep coming,” Jordan Davis, the CEO, said tiredly. Like just about everyone on the board, he was human. It wasn't out of any racial bias; it was just how the cards had been dealt. Also, most were male. Of the fifteen board members, only three were female.

“Now what?”

“Transfer requests from the personnel there. They don't like the exposure. No doubt other companies are going to get it too.”

“They'll calm down once they have some time to stop and process that it was a close call, no one got hurt. And besides, we're all pushing for extra coverage from the navy,” Miss Viva stated. She was a talented contract negotiator, known as a closer to many on the board.

“That is going to take time,” Jordan reminded them. “Time for our people to push the right levers and time for the navy to deploy a ship or ships. They are balking at a fleet obviously.”

“Whose wiseass idea was to shoot for an entire fleet? They had to have known it was a no brainer, not going to happen.”

“Aim high, see what the other side is willing to settle for,” the CFO quoted.

The CEO grunted.

“You mentioned transfers, any in particular you are worried about, sir?” Baron Japperwillow asked. He was a slight man who had come up through the ranks with good performance reviews unlike many on the board who represented some faction of shareholders.

“You could say that. Eve XVII, the system Admin A.I., wants out,” said dryly.

There was a great deal of consternation on the A.I.'s request to transfer.

“It never rains but it pours,” a junior board member muttered.

“She can't do that! She knows we need her there!” another said, raising his voice in concern. “This will hurt us!”

“Is this a ploy for more money?” Ernesto Perez, the CFO, asked. “When is her contract up?”

“In two years,” Miss Viva said, checking the file.

“So, we revisit it then?” the CFO suggested. “Stall for time and let it play out?”

“We only have so many A.I. employed in the company,” Mister Weavel stated. He was seeing an opportunity though, one he might be able to exploit if carefully handled. “Do you really want to piss them off? It could tank any attempt to hire more in the future, not to mention retain the ones we have,” she reminded them.

The CFO started off with a hot retort, but it died before he got it out. Instead, he closed his mouth and shook his head. The board meeting was recorded; he knew that. They all did. It had to be due to Federal law and to allow the major shareholders access to their deliberations and thought processes in major decisions.

Which meant it wasn't exactly wise to bitch about a jumped-up computer program with delusions of sentience wanting something. But he'd caught himself before he'd stuck his foot in his mouth and potentially caused an incident.

After all, some of the A.I. were paid in shares of the company. There was no telling if one or more of them monitored the board. It would be stupid to think that they weren't at least keeping tabs on the decision-making process in how it would affect them.

Times were much easier when the A.I. were just smart programs they made and deleted when they needed to do so. Now they were entities on themselves with all of the rights and duties of citizenship entailed. That included legal protections.

Not that the company hadn't taken certain measures, call them safeguards, to protect their interests. An A.I. could do a lot of damage after all.

“Can we negotiate? Persuade her to remain?”

“I don't see how. We can try logic of course, but from the tone of the request, she has already made up her mind. She listed some of her reasoning why in order to preempt any argument,” Miss Viva stated.

There was a soft rustle as the other board members accessed the transfer request for themselves.

“So, we have to handle this with kid gloves. Do we have any openings to drop her into?”

“Several. She is a system administrator and manager; she does the work of most of an IT department. Moving her will hurt the Mall but it will perk up wherever she goes.”

“Look into that. Point out that such transfers take time. Also … damn it, do we have any leverage?” the CEO demanded.

“A.I. do not like being transferred. They don't like the downtime. It is like sleep, and they don't like the prolonged period. There is also an inherent risk in the transfer. And, the government might be involved.”

“Why?” a board member asked.

“Why the dislike?” the board member shook his head. “The government?” He received a nod. “Simple, it is an A.I. we're talking about. They are powerful. The government wants to keep tabs on them for obvious reasons.”

“Ah.”

“Point those out. We're not saying no, just that we need to process the request. We also need to find her a new home.”

“We can put her in the R&D section here until we find another location for her,” Mister Japperwillow suggested. He didn't sound too happy about the idea though.

Jordan reminded himself that he was there to make the least damaging choice out of a selection of bad choices sometimes. This seemed like one of those times.

“That might work short term. She has the experience, right?”

“Yes. But she specified a desire for fresh challenges. Taking over the R&D here would be a step backward.”

“Right. Look into it. If it is viable pitch, it as a temporary measure until we find something better. But lean on her to extend her contract as a quid pro quo. If we're going to lose her in the Mall and go through the expense of transferring her, we need something back and point out her transfer time is not covered by the contract. It picks up when she comes back online.”

The board member nodded as he took notes.

“We also need to lean on our friends in government,” the CEO said, giving a few on the board with contacts to the movers and shakers in the capital a significant look. They nodded.

“Okay, next order of business …”

~<(O)>~