The Enthusiasts

30

"Intelligence is created by The User. Nothing exists outside Intelligence."– Cornelius, Evaluation of Man's Highest State of Being

The third company meeting was called over a five-day work week, causing quite an uproar among the Executives. Now, they were attentively seated and waiting in their luxury padded leather armchairs which they had each collectively called 'dibs' on at one point or another, putting the proverbial 'cherry on top' as they reached the final destination in their illustrious careers. All six were in attendance at the morning meeting, even though all six had planned to be golfing on the offsite, exclusive club until Vivian — Maxim's secretary — had called to issue an apology-laden request summoning all six Executives to yet another meeting to be held inside the drab, colorless boardroom in the desert. Things didn't work like that in Spectra, and everyone seated round that thick, oval-shaped boardroom table knew it. Spectra honored hard work and commitment to company values. There were no more emergencies at the company. There hadn't been any for years, and that was due to the hard work applied by the six men seated around that boardroom table. Each of them had given their entire lives to the company, making endless sacrifices of their time, energy, and unwavering commitment to always put the company first. At this point, they were to be living out the supposed fantasy life, filled with the ultimate payoffs earned for that lifetime of hard work. They were at the top. This new kid's ideas about decontaminating the world for a safer future where Spectra could thrive, spreading its message of hard work and dedication to core values that would encompass the globe, isn't right, the older men thought to themselves. It sounded right; but the more each of them mulled it over, as the actual implementation date neared, each Executive was growing a stiffening backbone to thwart the idea. Norms had already been broken down by this careless youngster, so what was the point in staying true to the one and only paradigm seemingly left to be shattered? Subordination. Yes, there were a lot of problems leaching in from outside the company, but Project Clean Sweep was stepping over the line. It wasn't part of Spectra's value system that was displayed prominently at the entrance to each facility as the company's mission statement:

"To offer hope and freedom to those Humans who wish to live in the safety and prosperity of the ultimate civilization which benefits ALL equally, and without prejudice based on race, religion, sex, past transgressions, age, sexual preference, or gender identification."

Every Executive could recite the company's core values off by heart since they were six years old. After a few beers they were more than likely to burst out in a collective rendition of the Spectra Fight Song which sounded like the best moments of their lives, full of hope and the thrilling excitement of progressive civil engagement ringing in their ears back at them. But those days were gone for them now. And the longer they pondered, they more they realized that the future may not offer anyone the same joys of joining the same community they remembered. Sure, the exclusive clubs that were Executive Access Only were a little outside of the posted Spectra values, but the fact that those amenities could be attained by anyone willing to work hard and persevere on their way to the top, like them, was something to shoot for. Plus, everyone in the company received fantastic benefits... All six of the seated Executives who handled the responsibility of managing the world's largest (and in many places only) organization were each becoming increasingly concerned as the looming date of the outsider extermination approached. Why are we doing this? they each asked themselves privately. Did we vote? None of them could recall anything from the last year outside of golf games and boating around in a wide arcing circle on the company-owned reservoir. Everything else was a blur.

With the deadline nearing to put a stop to the Project Clean Sweep protocols — a project which had seemingly solely been agreed to by this guy named Maxim, who also kept insisting on holding board meetings where nothing was ever really discussed or accomplished — each of the six older men were independently thinking of calling the new kid out and refusing to go along with this massive company-wide military operation order any longer. Although they had each played a role in preparing their divisions for it, as well as getting the appropriate 'cover-up' material into the hands of those in the chain-of-command to intermediate it, it was time to let Maxim know how they felt. It was time to let Maxim know that they wouldn't be participating in the action any longer. It will actually feel really good to blast that little velp this morning, Mark thought to himself.