Futureworld 3030: Chapter 11
Dawn leads a pharmaceutical summit at Unicorp. After hearing criticism of Unicorp's developments, she emphasizes the power of the company over others. She also receives a call from her daughter.
Dawn sits at the head of the table in the Uniplex conference room. Around her are a dozen or so other pharmaceutical executives from across the world. It is the Unicorp 2749 Summit, and they have to come to gather at Uniplex for a week of meetings and demonstrations. Dawn is now serving as Chief Operating Officer at Unicorp. She is dressed in a dark suit and even darker demeanor. Becoming the puppetmaster of a corporation she once vowed to take down has melded her into a whole new being.
“Ladies and Gentleman, thank you for coming here this week,” Dawn says with a smarmy grin.
Servers walk around the table with glass bottles of water that they place in front of each executive. There is also an alcohol cart that one server pushes around taking orders. The man in blue sits at the other end of the table with his legs crossed and a stoic look on his face. The other executives around the table are all dressed up in their finest suits and attire. There are about 13 men and only two women in the room including Dawn. The other woman looks at Dawn with a scowl of indignation.
“Here at Unicorp, we have been developing some exciting new products that will assure ourselves prosperity for years to come. We have been trial testing the UC5500 and UC947, which both have….”, Dawn says before another executive interrupts her.
“So you brought us here while you are still trial testing and don’t even have a finished product?” the executive from AlcoHoly asks.
The other executives in the room nod and a few laugh.
“Well that is merely part of the process isn’t it? We are in the fourth stage of trials and are nearly done. We just need to…,” Dawn continues before another person interrupts.
“Couldn’t this all have been communicated virtually rather than having us come all this way only to be told you are ‘almost done?,” the woman from Curio Solutions chimes in.
Dawn closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She grips the pen in her hand tightly and drops it on the table. She opens her eyes and smiles while raising her voice,
“Why of course we could, but we’d rather not bury all of you and put you out of business without letting you know first!”
The executives all gasp and look around at each other. The man in blue grins as he looks around at the frightened faces.
“Remember that we are still the largest corporation in the world and have the capacity to create any product we so feel like. We have more resources at our disposal than any of you could ever dream of, so before you start fucking around just to get a laugh why don’t you think it through and tread carefully?” Dawn says with both her hands leaning down on the table.
The room becomes silent with executives as unresponsive as devoted monks. People keep their heads down staring at the floor while Dawn stands there awaiting a rebuttal. Instead she smiles and stands up to walk towards the door,
“How about we take a break and cool down a bit shall we?”
The executives get up and walk one by one out of the door onto the patio where there is food and refreshments. The man in blue stops by Dawn before walking outside,
“You sure are getting the hang of this.”
He says as he pats her on the shoulder and walks out of the room. Dawn is about to follow him before she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. She puts in one of her headphones and answers the call. It is her daughter.
“Hey sweety.”
“Mom, I think I’m going up to the mountains this weekend with Derek, so I won’t be able to feed Rocket,” Abby responds.
“Wait what, whose Derek? And no we talked about this. I’m going to be gone the next few days, so I need you to stay home to take care of things.”
“I know, but this is the only weekend I can meet up with friends before school starts back up,” Abby pleads.
“I get that Abby, but we already talked about this. I’m sorry you’ve got to stay home.”
“Well I’m sorry because I’m going.”
“Don’t talk to me like that. So you’re just going to let Rocket and all the plants die then are you?” Dawn responds in a strong tone.
“Have one of your little helpers come by to do it. You’ve got the money and I don’t have the time.”
“Abby, I am not doing this with you, so you better…”
Abby hangs up the phone. Dawn grips the phone tight and curses under her breath. The man in blue walks back into the room.
“Everything ok?” he asks.
Dawn takes a deep breath and turns to him with a fake smile on her face.
“Yea of course.”