Corporate Synergies is a modestly epic 14-part science fiction tale of questionable ethics and dubious morality centred on the ongoing conflict between two mega-corporations and their quest to dominate the retail landscape of Earth’s ever-expanding colonial reach.  A science fiction satire of modern consumer culture and lack of corporate accountability, the story will follow the naive Molly as she sees the galaxy for the first time… through the scope of a rifle.  Burdened with crushing debt on her retail-issue credit card, Molly accepts a reduced repayment plan in exchange for five years’ service in the Emerging Markets Asset Acquisition Department — a.k.a. private army — of Universal Retail Inc.  Suffering through boot camp, Molly finds herself deployed to the front lines of the great and bloody retail war.

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL

A.K.A. THE PROLOGUE

Her name was Chocolate O’Connell.  It was a stupid name, which scores of people had, for her entire life, helpfully pointed out.  And she’d agreed with them.  What kind of parent saddles their daughter with the name Chocolate?  Especially when she was so pale and naturally blonde that she was routinely mistaken for an albino?  Idiot parents, she’d always said.  That was who named their kid Chocolate – idiot parents.  Parents who ended up orphaning their unfortunately-named daughter at the age of twelve when they mixed up some recipes and cause their basement methamphetamine lab to explode.  And since they were living in the underground quarter of the Jovian moon of Callisto, the explosion funnelled through the cavern and took out three of their neighbours as well.

Idiot parents.

However, Chocolate was not thinking of her parents when the high-velocity, large-calibre bullet took the entire upper third of her head off in a wet burst of blood and bone and grey matter.  Her thought at the time of her death is and was irrelevant, as the thought scattered in a hundred different directions, carried away on the wind with the small pieces of brain matter that had contained it.

Though some parts of the thought also spattered across the armour and exposed cheek of Chocolate’s good friend Molly, who quickly wiped the thought particles from her face while emitting a horrified yelp.

Molly was understandably distressed by this turn of events, as watching a good friend’s head explode is far from a perfect introduction to combat situations.  Well, it’s not really any great shakes for the friend either, what with their head exploding and all.  But it’s not like they’re around to dwell on it.

So the quasi-albino named Chocolate is dead.  And Molly is actually who we’re going to follow through this next little bit, so it’s all good.

What?

No, I’m the narrator.

Just pretend I’m not here.

No, seriously, just… What?

Fine, we’ll start at the goddamned beginning.  Jesus.

1

HUMAN RESOURCES

TWO MONTHS AGO, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

“Congratulations on taking your first step toward a rewarding and fulfilling career with Universal Retail Incorporated!  At Universal Retail and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, we pride ourselves on both superior customer service experience and the job satisfaction of our fellow team members,” said the smiling actor.  He had been paid to pretend he was in some way invested in the company and was fairly convincing.  “At Universal Retail, we feel those two aspects of life go hand in hand.  Our team finds their greatest job satisfaction in not just meeting, but exceeding the expectations of our customers.”

The actor continued to extoll the corporate mission statement of Universal Retail Inc. – better known by its marketing and focus group approved nickname of UniRe – but he’d lost his audience.

However, it was an audience of one.

See, I’m narrating.  Meh.

A lone woman, young, probably no more than twenty-five, sat in the spacious waiting room, her attention drifting from the eighty-five inch LPD television.  She was a small woman, a redhead with a generous spattering of freckles across her nose and cheekbones and large, dark eyes that gave her the look of a girl much younger.  Not like jailbait young, but just out of high school young.

She slowly took in her surroundings for what could have been the tenth time or the fifteenth time or the fiftieth time – she’d lost track of how long she’d been waiting.  She took in the fake potted palms that stood guard on either side of the television.  The rows and rows of faux-leather armchairs.  The multilayered acrylic UniRe logo in their blue, white and gold corporate colours, affixed to the wall and standing taller than the woman herself.  Framed advertising posters – so many posters – each promoting one of UniRe’s subsidiary companies.  And there was music being played, she realised, competing for earspace with the promotional video.

Natural light streamed in from a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, placed in such a way that the light never caused a glare on the television or the posters.  Never obscure the corporate message.

The waiting room, she realised, was bigger, nicer and better decorated than the apartment she shared with her husband.

Had shared.  With her ex-husband.

Ideally ex-husband.  In reality it was far more complicated than that, which is why she found herself sitting in the waiting room of UniRe’s Human Resources tower.

“Universal Retail changed my life.  It could change yours, too.”

The young redhead look back to the television.  The toothy male actor had been replaced with a real person, more or less — a lovely blonde woman whom bold and easy to read graphics introduced as Zalia Rushworth, UniRe Director of Communications.

“I began my career with UniRe as a checkout girl at the World of Pets location in my home town of Marfa, Texas USA,” said Rushworth, as a scrolling graphic pointed out that World of Pets was a wholly-owned subsidiary of UniRe.  The woman in the waiting room glanced over at the third poster in the row, which bore the World of Pets logo and a photo of a bulldog, creepily edited to give it a human grin.  “I took the job because I needed a job – any job – but what I found was the career of a lifetime.  Rising through the ranks to my current position, I’ve seen the galaxy, having worked out of some of the most bustling and exciting colonies humanity has established, seeing alien sunrises and feeling the tingle of faster than light travel.”

Rushworth’s smile, already bright and perfectly white, grew even broader and her eyes softened with much-practiced and entirely fake warmth.

“That’s what UniRe means to me.  The question is what can UniRe mean for you?  Aside from excellent financial incentives, industry-leading opt-in benefit plans and optional enrollment in our employee group Registered Savings Plan, a career at Universal Retail can offer you so much more.  But don’t take it from me – let’s hear from some front-lines employees at UniRe.”

The perfectly sculpted face of Rushworth was replaced by a thoroughly average-looking man in a suit.  The onscreen graphics identified him as Herman Mendoza, manager of a UniRe outlet somewhere in the Plato Crater on Luna, but the young redhead didn’t have the chance to hear his story.

“Molly Morgan?”

Turning sharply at the sound of her name, Molly’s hands twitched in her lap involuntarily and then she stood, first smoothing her skirt, then tucking a stray lock of red hair behind her ear.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, then cleared her throat and spoke up.  “Yes.  That’s me.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Enjoying CORPORATE SYNERGIES?  Check out my full-length novel that involves fewer douche-bags, Radko’s War!