Miner Six

A Dump Story

At night around the fire of newspapers Zeke told all the miners about the time Before.

Zeke's people had owned the dump once, and then some really fat men in big suits told Zeke's family they'd be dumping whatever they wanted. All Zeke's family had to do was collect the money, not worry about what was being dumped, and put in earplugs at night because the trucks never stopped.

It was a great time for the family. The truck roar didn't bother Zeke's great grandmother. She was mostly deaf anyway. But with all the money they bought her a big TV, an air conditioner, and a new set of teeth. Zeke still has a picture of his grandmother chewing on a piece of steak as big as her head, battling it with her new teeth. Soon after, she succumbed to another chunk of steak too large to fit down her scrawny throat. They buried her out back, like the rest of the family before her. In her coffin, they put the rest of the steak, which they'd frozen for the occasion. As great grandma said, waste not, want not.

That had been how Zeke's family had lived for generations. Pretty much everything they had came from the dump, from curtains to beds to furniture and appliances. But now that the trucks were dumping pretty much just barrels, Zeke's family had branched out and gotten things delivered. The first couch they got smelled so strange and looked so clean no one would sit on it, and they had to send it back. Eventually they hit their stride at garage sales, where they could pick up the sort of furniture you could feel comfortable spilling things on. As brother Jethro said, if your coffee table doesn't have a missing leg, what's the point of those little footstools? There was a rightness to fixing up the old and the thrown away, and Zeke's family had continued to pile up their money while they made do.

Eventually the mattresses got too full, and the family had to come up with someplace to put their money. It was Zeke's grandfather who had talked to one of those fat men, when they came by to pay the family in cash. The man told grandfather they could invest the money in the very company that was already paying them. He was younger than most of the other fat men, and still had a few hairs that he combed across his glistening forehead. The next week he brought a thin lawyer out to sign some papers. From that point forward, Zeke's family would be paid in stock, not in cash. It suited everyone just fine.

Even today, when Zeke has to argue with the World Corp. representatives when they try to short the tribe on food bars or tuff boots, he tells them he owns the dump. It works, so he figures he still has some pull somewhere. "Still got 'em scared." Zeke tells the miners around the campfire.

MEMORANDUM RE: Zeke Beasley. Miner on western district, Dump 346729

TOP SECRET.

DISTRIBUTION IS AN UNEMPLOYABLE OFFENSE.

FOR ACTING PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY

(Preparers already submitted to chemical mind wipes and were sent on a six year asteroid belt contract.)

History:

Electronic records prior to the period of lethal mergers and acquisitions commonly called the corporate wars are untrustworthy, archives sifted through the original paper documents from the World Corp. contract vaults to prepare this brief.

The family of the individual known as Zeke Hickey are major stockholders in a subsidiary of what became Amalgamated Waste. Amalgamated Waste is the branch of World Corp. that handles all the world's landfills and recycling facilities found in every occupied World Corp. structure.

The World Corp. full ownership buyout, a mandatory provision of the founding contract, did not include Zeke Beasley. This oversight was caused by three things:

1. After the Archives were hit during the corporate wars, and the records were scattered, the Beasley bloodline was presumed defunct.

2. No owner was willing cede rights to a highly profitable division to any other owner.

3. Lacking proof of the decedent, the owners and World Corp. instituted the Beasley Trust.

The Beasley Trust runs as an independent department of the World Corp. governing structure. While cleaning documents, archives discovered original charter documents that had been handled by the last known Beasley descendent and was able to extract DNA from the prints. No matches were found within the World Corp. employee registry, but the DNA search was left running. The addition of DNA readouts to the miners' fountain heads set off the search alert and it was determined that then child Zeke Beasley was from the original bloodline.

Zeke Hickey retains a controlling interest in Amalgamated Waste, held in the trust. Since he's never in recorded corporate history attended a board meeting or even visited the trust offices, his continued existence is only known to the acting president and the sealed papers are revisited once a decade by employees who commit to a chemical mind wipe and a prolonged stint on the asteroid belt.

Issues of Possible Legal Concern:

The Beasley Trust was well established as an accounting fiction pre-incorporation.

As a legal entity the Beasley Trust remains liable for any legal action resulting from damages alleged to be associated with the hazardous pollutants in the landfills. Zeke Beasley still occupies the original landfill which has expanded for miles as the original barrels leached into the soil and made it necessary to purchase all downstream properties as a safety measure.

Even though the Beasley Trust stock has always been voted by proxy, separate trust ownership is an ongoing source of concern to corporation accounting departments as a holdover from the period of corporate conflict. Periodic requests from accounting to integrate the trust necessitates the periodic revisiting of the issue by the legal department.

If accounting were aware of the existence of Zeke Beasley, they would advocate for a buyout of ownership similar to the previous ownership buyouts at incorporation.

World Corp. legal believes the Trust would block any buyout attempt and prefers that Zeke Beasley remain anonymous. Any buyout option put in place currently would involve revisiting the original incorporation contract and place the entire basis of World Corporation open to question, revision, and even dissolution. Such a catastrophic outcome might precipitate a return to a period of lethal mergers and acquisitions.

Solution:

Legal believes that Zeke Beasley is unaware of his corporate ownership. Mr. Beasley is not a supporter of World Corporation and lives separately as a miner.

As with previous memoranda, the legal department notes that the number of family members and direct descendents within the mining community is also declining.

In concurrence with previous memoranda, Legal notes it is likely that the lifestyle and habits of the Beasley family will result in its eventual disappearance. When the last direct descendent dies without a will and testament his or her estate will go into a probate court and the Beasley Trust can be dissolved without revisiting the original incorporation contract.

Nutrition suggests that caloric restriction may benefit miner health.

Legal recommends continued monitoring of Zeke's direct descendents, including: 1) Plug and 2) Unnamed miner child. Alias: Six.