Thicker Than Water Vol: 1

Chapter 13: Shook Ones Pt. 1

Corporation HQ
Midtown, Ny
Later that morning
8:46 Am

The board room is covered in more smoke and smog than normal. The regular 2 packs each smoked a day has been doubled. Aside from the stress from creating another successful experiment, their recent failure in the RETLAS coup isn't going to be forgotten so easily. Their silent chain smoking was interrupted by a phone call in the middle of the table. The whole room turned a grayish static hue as the image expands and almost fills the center of the room. A wave of terror spread across the room as a voice speaks.

'I want an explanation..' A voice says sternly.

C starts to speak.

'NOT YOU. Anybody but you please explain.' The voice says.

C shrinks back into his seat & the room is completely silent.

'here's a theory- your menthol filled brains were so stale that you thought you could stage a coup against a force that is stronger than you at this point. A failure. Instead of calling your superiors so we could put a end to the madness you decided that you would hide it and try to fix your mistake. Admirable but stupid. As we sit here and talk right now you have absolutely no idea who thieve people are and they've been growing right under your nose.' The voice says.

Silence.

'oh so now nobody has anything to say, what happened to that "we are what is" bullshit y'all keep talking to people who don't know any better? You talk big shit but when it's time to produce results you can't. So I've decided... I'm going to permanently terminate you all & replace you with newer models.' The voice says

C stands up to retort & his body catches on fire and turns into dust. The rest of the board just sits in silence and the maid comes in and cleans whatever remains of him.

'I hate that guy. He's gone through about a dozen models now. Hes a brilliant man but He's still a brilliant pain in my ass even as an AI. Bring in the next model.' The voice says with a sigh.

A man identical to C comes in, sits down and lights a cigarette.

'let's see how long until this one turns into a dickhead... Anyway, from now on your Phase 2 operation will be closely followed by us. Every step of the way we need detailed correspondence because obviously you need help. After all, what are Big Brothers for anyway.' The voice says sarcastically.

He starts laughing and the feed suddenly cuts. The room goes back to its regular fogged air.

'why does that guy always have to be a dick?' C says.

They all look at him & simultaneously light a cigarette

The Corporation HQ
Midtown, Ny
8:46pm

The regular cloud of smoke surrounding the board room is gone. For once the tables are cleaned, window curtains opened & everyone is well groomed. Even the creators of fear have something they're scared of.

'how much longer are they going to make us wait?' I asks

'as long as they want. Unless you want to end up like C.' O says

'what's that supposed to mean? What's wrong with me?' C says

They all give him a slight glance and drink from their highly caffeinated cups of coffee. They get a message from the front desk: "They've arrived."

The board stands up as their conference room door swings open and two men walk in. The two men have all black suits on, and look seemingly identical. Taking a glance out the window, the board notices it's pouring down raining outside and the two men are dry. The men move to the front of the room on opposite sides of the table at the same pace. They mirror each others actions as they remove their hats and sit down. They place both hands on the table and the room light glimmers over their matching bald heads. The fact that their eyes that seem to bulge out of their head wouldn't be as creepy if they had eye brows. On top of their twin expressions their plastic looking skin and pink lips made them almost look doll-like. They go into their jackets and pull out cards. One says "#3" & the other says "#8". #3 starts speaking in a droningly monotone voice.