Alpha Incorporated

III - ii NO SINISTER MEASURE

Lucy's calendar pings a notification. She holds up her phone and sees the meeting reminder. 

Freaking HR bullshit again. 

She is already on her way to the meeting but was really hoping something more important would come up, something that would excuse her from a meeting that will, as it inevitably does, lead to mounds of paperwork. Old fashioned pick-up-a-pen-and-scribble paperwork. Why couldn't the mainframe crash or something fun? Instead, she is on the shuttle to the HR building, to a discipline hearing, chaired by the new guy, Fryer. A bit of eye candy, Lucy has been told, so at least she has that to look forward to. What a way to end a Monday.

Vincent Duke initiated these discipline committees a number of years ago. They were part of his "Collaborative Justice" model of management. He instituted these silly bottom-up management gimmicks to make the workers feel like they have a say in things. Some things anyway. Play the game, that is what it is all about. Act like you care.

Lucy has been acting for as long as she remembers. Not really faking it, like some people around here do, because she is good—really good—at what she does. But acting out a life that seems scripted for her. Her mother came to the States as a young nanny from the Philippines and started working for a the Cerimon family near Sacramento. When Lily, her mother, ended up getting pregnant from José, the gardener, the Cerimons took Lucy in as one of their own children. Lily was able to stay in the United States, working for Dr. David and Elizabeth Cerimon. José, their former gardener, was shown the sharp end of a garden hoe, but Lucy was given every opportunity available to an Upper-Middle class American child. She excelled at school, was popular, got the lead roles in all the school play productions, and acted like she was born to play the part. And she is still acting.

Lucy is forcing herself to focus on her good fortune as she makes her way into the brightly lit conference room in building 6A. There will be a few other departments represented here: there is that Francis guy from the cafeteria. This dude washes dishes or something, but he is a hell of a jazz flutist who plays every weekend in San Fran. Who else? Let's see: Tom Snout, Internet Security; Nick Bottom, who Lucy always saw as a bit of an ass; there are a few others as well. Yes, this will be quite a show.

She nods, gives a polite hello and takes a seat at the table, while the others stand and chat, waiting for the meeting to begin and for a few more to arrive. She moves next to the man seated at the end of the table. Head down, he is buried in his work. His hair seems to be streaked with dirty brown highlights, intentionally dyed that way, perhaps; there is no way that someone would be blessed with such beautiful color. He is dressed in a tie and jacket, very un-Valley in his attire, and looks to be the one directing this little performance. The fabled Mr. Fryer.

"Hello, I am Lucy Lumalabas, Marketing. I don't believe that we have met."

"Mr. Fryer. It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Lumalabas. We will be beginning shortly." He looks down at the folder in front of him, then says to her, "Tell me, Lucy, do you know anything about this Pompey guy from IT? The one who allegedly moderated an online chatroom on Alpha's servers?"

"Ah, no, Mr. Fryer. I never heard of him, or the chatroom. Why do you ask?" Lucy feels a burn in her throat, like bile, but swallows hard and reminds herself that she has done nothing wrong. Act innocent.

"Oh, Mr. Pompey's file is one of the items on the agenda today, and, well, with me being new here, I didn't know if he was seen as some kind of local folk hero or something. I thought you might be able to say a few good words in his defence. I guess not."

"Well, if he is guilty of a crime, then so are most. If Alpha is going to go after people for what they do in their private lives, you may as well outlaw eating and drinking. Why not look at someone like Grace Donor, who sleeps with half of the company to get ahead."