Corporate Synergies is a modestly epic 14-part space opera 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.

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4

NEW EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION I

The first thirty days after signing on with the Emerging Markets Division – or EMD – of Universal Retail Incorporated had been a blur for Molly Morgan.  A large part of her time had been spent making arrangements to store with relatives what little she had left in the way of belongings, spending time with family she’d likely not see for several months, and to attempt to enjoy her last tastes of civilian life for the next five years.

All of which was easier said than done and after all of which Molly was more than ready to board her designated transport and leave planet Earth behind.  She loved her family and she loved her friends, but there were only so many “I’m so sorry for your circumstances” conversations that one person could endure without wanting to start slapping people.

And so Molly had made her time with family more and more brief.

She neither spoken to, nor attempted to find out the status of Rudy.  Secretly, she hoped… well, maybe it wasn’t that much of a secret that she hoped he’d failed to qualify for his debt-reduction contract with Global Consumer Group and would be thrown into debtor’s prison.

The subsequent thirty days were spent in various parts of the UniRe Human Resources office tower filling out forms, sitting through short seminars on the history of the company and its many divisions and going through numerous physical, mental and medical tests to determine what type of posting she would be given with the EMD.  About half the seminars were dull, lengthy and inflectionless ramblings of faceless people with strange, meaningless titles like Senior Assistant to the Office of Employee Satisfaction or the simple but equally meaningless Management Coordinator.

But two seminars caught Molly’s attention.

The first was actually the first.  The opening seminar of the whole series.  It was a slickly-produced promotional presentation set up under the guise of an information session for the new employees and looked for all the world like an advertisement for one of UniRe’s famous “Tour the Colonies” all-inclusive travel packages.  Well, that would actually have been through Universal Traveler, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Retail Inc., but you get the idea.

The seminar, full of beautifully-shot video of the colonies’ most spectacular views, had in fact originally been produced for Universal Traveler but had been adapted for the UniRe EMD recruitment process.  With its stirring, soaring orchestral score and its breathless commentary, it was remarkably successful.  Molly and her fellow recruits left the seminar feeling excited about their future and looking forward to the adventure to come.

And then they were bored to tears by the next few seminars.

But then, to leave the recruits on a high note, came the one other seminar that gave Molly a warm burst of excitement in her chest.  It was a talk on the future of UniRe and it was presented – in person – by none other than Zalia Rushworth.

“And so,” she had said, holographic images of alien suns setting over alien landscapes, of human families having picnics on orange grasslands, of people happily shopping at UniRe outlets while shaking hands with EMD officers all floated around her like so many corporate butterflies.  “You are on your way to not just becoming a critical part of the future of UniRe, but a critical component in the future of mankind as a whole.”

The lecture hall erupted in applause and whistles and ecstatic shouting from the assembled group of recruits who had taken the shovel load of corporate bullshit and swallowed it whole, doing so with a grin as they basked in Rushworth’s celebrity.

In her well-practised and strategic manner, Rushworth beamed back at them, the spotlights glinting off her perfect veneers and shimmering through her golden halo of hair.

When the question and answer session began, Molly somehow found herself at the front of the line.

“Um, hi,” she said, leaning unnecessarily into the microphone.

“What’s your name?,” said Rushworth.

“Oh.  Um.  Molly?  My name is Molly?”

“You sound unsure,” said Rushworth, with a good-natured chuckle.  The audience – including Molly – followed her lead.  “What’s your question, Molly?”

“Yeah, um, what’s it like?  I mean, like you said, working all over the colonies and seeing all different planets and stuff?”

“Oh wow, such a great question,” said Rushworth, acting as if it wasn’t the first question she was asked at every goddamned one of these seminars.  “It’s incredible.  There’s just no way for me to do justice to the feeling, to the experience.”

She paused, glancing off into the distance for two and a half seconds as if she were actually considering her answer rather than reciting a tried and true script.

“To wake up on an alien world, to see the sun rise and set on one of the colonies… to realize that the sun you’re seeing is a star that our great-grandparents could see through a telescope but could never dream of reaching is overwhelming.  Just an overwhelming feeling.  And it makes you proud to be part of it, to be making your own contribution to mankind’s journey.  Forever onward and outward; forever expanding what we know and where we go, and we’re all at the forefront of it.  We’re seeing things that no human has ever laid eyes upon before,” she said, pausing for a moment.  “Forever onward.  It’s an absolutely incredible experience.”

Grinning ear to ear, Molly thanked Rushworth for her answer and retook her seat.  She was practically twitching from the excitement and the grin didn’t leave her face for the remainder of the Q & A.

It was happening.  It was really happening.

She was going to space!

But first, she went to Bangladesh.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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