The Company man, part 24

Jonah determined that the president of Privex had suddenly decided to leave the country and head to Columbia for a summit meeting with his angel investors. “Bad move,” Jonah commented to Henry as they drank coffee. “They’re not going to be too happy that he spent so much of their money now have nothing to show for it. He thinks his skills are so valuable that they’ll give him a different job in their outfit, but that kind of money lost is unforgiveable. He’s gonna die a very painful death.”

Henry put down his coffee. He didn’t like that kind of imagery Jonah was putting in his head. “Did you ever find Jonathan?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

“Just his car,” Jonah conceded. “I’m starting to think that guy really is a ghost, just like you said. He’s very good at disappearing.”

With the the discovery of the clones, Privex was declared lost. Its assets were sold and the money used to setup identities for the clones determined to have not actually committed any crimes. They were moved to different cities and states, with restraining orders to not contact one another. The original Henry was permitted to keep his apartment, though he had to give up his car, and now took the bus. Jonah got him a job in the accounting department of the local FBI office. They were having lunch in the cafeteria on the second floor.

“Henry?” Jonah asked. “What did you think of those guys in inventory that got killed?”

Henry didn’t like to talk about it, but he trusted Jonah. “I never especially liked them,” Henry confessed, but then added, “But I never hated them! I still respected them. Why?”

Jonah stared up at the ceiling. “I was reading through Jonathan’s notes,” he explained. “He makes mention of a monoculture. It’s an environment where everyone has the same or view similar views on things, with no differing opinions. In that kind of situation, soft opinions get reinforced, making them stronger. Over time, they become strong opinions, even fanatical ones, except that members of the monoculture don’t see it as such because everyone agrees with them. I’m guessing you had at least some infatuation with that weather girl too?”

“She is very pretty,” Henry smiled.

“And that got reinforced into a dangerous obsession among the clones. There are subtler examples of this in companies where the president is very controlling. All of the people that report to him just agree all the time, giving the president a perception that he can do no wrong, and ultimately drives the company into the ground. In a sense, the experiment Privex performed demonstrated why cloning for labor is not a good idea.”

“Cloning for labor?”

“The drug cartels wanted a cheap source of labor,” Jonah explained, “Which in progressive economy’s is increasingly hard to find. Places like China are on the upswing. With labor prices and job opportunities increasing, it’s hard to find people to process drugs for little to nothing in compensation. Columbia has less of a problem, but they can see which way the wind is blowing. It makes sense that they would invest in a program like this. What’s sad is that they found an American company willing to do the dirty work. I don’t know what the board was thinking.”

“Maybe they had one of those mono-culturey things,” Henry suggested. “If that were the case, they wouldn’t be able to see the problems posed.”

Jonah smiled. “You’re smarter than you think you are Henry,” he stated, then switched topics suddenly. “Found any new hobbies?”

“I found a group near my apartment that does a lot of stuff with RC planes and helicopters. I bought  a kit and have started building my own. The girl working at the hobby store is really cute, and has helped me out a lot.”

Jonah smiled. His next report on Henry would be a good one.

THE END

The Company Man, part 23

#2 heard the shots and cautiously peered around the corner. He saw #62 laying on the ground as the police officer pulled his injured partner back through the door. He was yelling into his radio. “Shots fired!” he cried. “Shots fired! I’ve got one man down and need backup. I need full armor backup!”

#2 could not take his eyes off the corpse of #62. With one death, his confidence evaporated and fear raced in to fill the void. “My God!” he exclaimed softly. “They’re going to kill us all!”

#2 turned around to face his crowd of brothers. All of them stood, motionless, with the same  horrific look of terror. The scene was sickening. No variety, they truly were all the same. #2 knew they were all thinking the same thing.

“Start looking for other ways out,” #2 ordered with a voice that crackled with fear, but none of them moved.

“We should give ourselves up,” one of them suggested.

“Maybe they’ll listen if we explain,” another offered.

#2 felt his power slipping away. In the short time he’d grown used to the power, and could bear to give it up. “We just shot a police officer,” he argued. “They’re not going to stop and listen.”

“We didn’t shoot a police officer,” one of them argued. “That one did, and he’s dead now.”

“We could blame him for the other killings,” #12 suggested. “That he held the rest of us hostage.”

But #2’s nerves had already yielded to fear. He drew his gun and pointed at the others. “I said,” he growled. “Look for another way out.” The others did not move. He fired once, killing #33. The others still remained frozen in fear. He fired again, killing #78. It sickened him that no matter how many he killed, there would still be more of them with that expression of horror. #2 started to shake.

#24 drew his gun and shot #2, killing him. He then walked over to the couch and turned on the TV to the weather channel, but the weather girl was not scheduled to come on for another six hours. The rest filed out of the dorms and surrendered to the SWAT team that had just breached the building.

The Company Man, part 22

#62 could not stop sweating. He’d managed to take down the security guard who held the key to the weapons locker, but not before he seriously injured several others. The police were demanding entrance and it did not look like they’d be able to keep them out much longer.

#2 instructed them go and get guns, which they’d done, but now it was unclear who should carry one. There were not enough to go around, and none of them had any experience carrying a gun. It looked pretty easy in the movies, but in practice there are a lot of steps to remember. Actually loading the gun, clearing the chamber, turning off the safety, and all of this while not accidentally pulling the trigger and shooting oneself.

#62 kept a gun. He felt it appropriate given that he’d been the open to get the weapon’s locker open. He wanted to feel safe, and did not care as much about the others. #2 demanded a gun. He had a certain authority given that he’d been around the longest that the others respected. The others were a bit nervous giving him a gun, though. Still, it was passed up to him.

The one who had committed the murder, #24, was also given a gun. #62 did not see who else got one. He kept his hidden. Still, the excitement and adrenaline made him dizzy. All of the clones were milling about in the common room, which was too small to contain them all. He moved clear of the crowd and went over to the door to sit down.

But as he did so, the door burst open and a police officer stepped in. #62 panicked, drew his gun, and pulled the trigger.

For a moment, everything was quiet. He could not tell if the shot had silenced the crowd behind him, or if he’d simply gone deaf from the pounding of his own heart resounding in his ears. He did not have time to dwell upon it. A second office drew his gun and fired three times, hitting him twice in the heart and once in the head. #62 fell to the ground, dead.

The Company Man, part 21

#99 woke up to a nightmare. He’d only been awake for a few hours when the trouble began. One of the clones, he wasn’t sure which one, had come racing into the common room with blood on his hands and shirt yelling, “It’s done! It’s done!” A great cheer went up. When #99 asked what had happened, someone explained that they had just rid the company of those horrible beasts  from inventory. #99 wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but was at least proud to have been there and part of the group.

Excitement, however, turned to fear half an hour later when Jonathan burst through the door, demanding to know who had done it. The clone who committed the deed had washed and changed, and now blended in with all the rest.

“The one who did this must be punished!” yelled Jonathan. “If you don’t give him up, you’ll all be punished.”

#2 spoke up. He sat on a makeshift throne of easy chairs piled up next to the television. “I don’t think you can do that,” he chided. “We’re worth far too much to the company for you to punish us, or kill us. How much did you say it cost to make each of us? $8 million or so? It would be foolish to throw away an investment like that.”

Jonathan glowered. “This goes beyond my control,” he argued. “People are dead. The police have to get involved now.”

“Let them arrest Henry,” #2 suggested. “You’ve got the information you need from him to keep making more of us. With him gone, we can start taking turns going out into the real world and living a real life, rather than being cooped up in here.”

“Yeah!” chimed in #37. “We might even be able to meet that lovely weathergirl… and have some fun.”

Jonathan maintained a steady gaze. He’d gotten reports of lewd phone calls to the local tv station directed at the woman who reported the weather. They’d come from a variety of phones throughout the building. He’d not realized how badly the obsession had grown. He glanced up at #2, who sneered as he looked down at his ‘supervisor.’ Admittedly, he had a point, Henry was expendable at this point, and it would make the entire case more open and shut. “Alright,” he conceded. “Alright, I’ll take care of Henry and the police. for now, you all had better stay hidden and real quiet. But understand, nothing like this can ever happen again!”

Jonathan stormed out. #2 waited until he was gone before laughing out loud. “Jonathan can’t order us around anymore!” he laughed. “We’re too important. They’ll protect us no matter what we do. We’re too crucial to the company. As long as we remain united, they can’t single any one of us out!”

#99 watched the others murmur in agreement. He smiled. It felt good to feel so secure and among friends. And it would be nice to meet that weathergirl.

The Company Man, part 20

“You probably don’t realize this,” Jonah explained to Henry as they drove, “But cloning people is technically illegal in the United States. Ethics and morals are ambiguous enough when you’re doing it with animals, but with people it gets that much harder. The very act that you agreed to serve as a DNA host makes you an accomplice.”

Henry’s face drained of blood. “An accomplice to murder?” he asked weakly. “Would I go to jail for that?” he wondered. He didn’t know for sure. Now he wished he’d watched those judge shows, so at least he’d have a clue about the law.

“Hard to say,” Jonah answered. “There’s no precedent for this. One could argue that as you’re all exactly the same, you’re all just as culpable.”

“But we’re not the same!” Henry protested. “I could never murder anyone!”

“From a forensics perspective,” Jonah continued, “It would be impossible to distinguish you all. Did they tag the clones with some kind of ID? Like a tattoo or marker to tell each other apart?”

“I don’t think so,” Henry confessed. He began to imagine what life would be like in prison.

Jonah reached onto the dash and pulled out a small recorder. He flipped it on. “Tell me everything Henry,” he commanded.

Henry told Jonah about the day he signed the papers, the lab tests, meeting #2, and then going through all of the different jobs day after day. Jonah nodded periodically, but did not interrupt with questions until Henry finished.

“…And then Jonathan drove me to the motel where you found me,” Henry finished. “By the way, how did you find me? Jonathan drove pretty crazy to make sure no one was following him.”

“I know,” Jonah sighed. “We put a tracking device on his car months ago when we realized how much of a mover and a shaker he was within the company. I kept about a mile back and waited whenever he did one of his crazy maneuvers. It was more annoying than anything else.”

“It was nice of him to hide me while he figured out who really did this and keep me out of trouble,” Henry confessed with a smile.

Jonah turned with that same eerie stare. “Is that what he told you?” Jonah asked. Henry nodded.

Jonah shook his head. “Henry,” Jonah clarified. “Jonathan set you up.”

“But,” Henry protested. “He wouldn’t do that-“

“Think about it Henry,” Jonah explained. “He’s got a couple dozen contraband clones concealed in the back building and needs to buy time to keep the police from discovering them, especially as one of them is a killer. What he needs is for the police to find the fugitive hiding out in a small motel on the edge of the county. It’ll look like a hate crime where the person acted alone in a fit of fury and then ran and hid.”

“But why would he drive me all the way out there?” Henry asked.

“It would look pretty strange for the killer to walk into work just after committing a murder as if nothing had happened,” Jonah mused. “It would be enough to question the person’s sanity, causing them to probe deeper and investigate claims of cloning more thoroughly. Finding you hiding out in a seedy motel wrecks your credibility as it’s the action a sane person would do after committing murder. Claims of cloning would be dismissed as panicked excuses to try and place blame on anyone else but yourself.”

Henry rubbed his head. He hated how complicated his life had become. He wanted it to be simple again.

Jonah slowed down and pulled into the Privex parking lot. “Let me do the talking,” Jonah started, but did not finish the thought. Instead of several police cars, there was now a SWAT truck and several men suiting up in full body armor. One of them waived Jonah over, who drove up and rolled down his window.

“What’s going on?” Jonah asked.

“Shots fired as a uniform tried to enter the restricted second building. Took a hit to the shoulder. They pulled back and evacuated  the first building, called us.”

“How’s our man doing?” Jonah asked seriously.

“Not great, but not bad either,” the armored man replied.  “He lost a lot of blood but the bullet didn’t do much damage. I think he’ll be alright in a month or so.”

His radio crackled to life. “Get ready!” the order came. The armored man leaned down to look at Jonah and his passenger. “You all better hang back,” he stated dryly. “This could get real ugly real quick.”

The Company Man, part 19

Jonah did not look his usual, kempt self. He wore a t-shirt, jeans, and the butt of a cigarette dangled from his lips. “When did you start smoking?” Henry asked, surprised that of all questions, he would ask that one. “Was it because you got laid off?”

Jonah cracked a smile. “I always did like you Henry,” he mumbled. “Come with me. We have some serious problems to resolve.”

Henry hesitated. “Jonathan told me to stay here,” he said. “I could lose my job if I don’t listen to him.”

Jonah stared at Henry with eyes he’d not seen before. “This goes beyond your job Henry,” Jonah explained. “I don’t know what Jonathan has told you, but people are dead.”

“I heard about that,” Henry said, protesting. “It was one of the clones! Jonathan moved me here to keep me safe.”

Jonah continued to stare with those strange eyes in silence for several moments. He then reached into his back pocket and pulled something out. It was a badge that read, FBI. “Henry,” Jonah commanded. “Get in the car.”

Henry did as he was told. It was a black charger. Henry recognized it as one of the unmarked police cars that often sat in speed traps. Jonah put out the cigarette before getting into the car, then sat down and began to drive.

“When did you get a job with the FBI?” Henry asked.

“About twelve years ago,” Jonah answered. He held up his hand to stop Henry’s line of questioning. “Let me explain. Henry, I’ve been working undercover for the past year at Privex. We’ve known for some time that they were up to something, and what you just told me was the final piece of the puzzle.”

Henry tried to think about what he’d said, then realized he’d mentioned the clones. “Oh no!” he moaned. “Now I know I’m going to lose my job.”

“That’s going to happen regardless,” Jonah observed tersely. Privex has broken enough laws that there is no way that company can hope to stay together. Henry you recall about six months ago the patents for Privex’s main money-makers ended?”

“Sure,” Henry answered soberly. He could not imagine having to find another job.

Jonah continued. “They have a few things in the pipeline, but nothing that’ll get approved by the FDA for another few years. Even if they do get approved, they won’t be the big money that the company enjoyed in the past. A lot of analysts had given them up for dead. The stock price has been devalued three times in the last quarter alone. That’s a pretty bad sign of a company going under. They needed something new, but even a magical breakthrough drug would require FDA approval, and there was no guarantee that the company would be able to remain liquid long enough for that happen. You follow me so far?”

Henry nodded, and this time he actually did. Numbers were the one thing he did understand.

Jonah continued. “So imagine our surprise when suddenly the company finds the money to build a whole new top secret research facility adjoining the existing building. Something like that does not come cheap, and they were not financing it through sale of stock, because the stock didn’t have the necessary value. Private investment is not unheard of, but the names disclosed were from agencies with known ties to triads and Columbian cartels. These groups have had some bitter rivalries in the past, so imagine our surprise that both were willing to put money into a failing drug company. We assumed that Privex was being hired to make the next marijuana or heroin. They sent me into accounting to try and figure out from the expenses what kind of drug they were working on, but the expenditures didn’t make sense. They were building dorms and buying full body CAT scan machines, as well as DNA sequencers. This is not the kind of stuff you use to develop a better meth.”

The car pulled onto the highway and Henry felt himself sink into the chair as Jonah accelerated. He did not drive fast and hard like Jonathan, but certainly had no problem going quickly. He flipped a switch and the flashing lights came on, but no siren. Jonah picked up a radio broadcaster and made an announcement. “This is Jonah,” he stated. “I have the suspect in custody, and we’re enroute back to the crime scene.”

“What?” Henry asked. “But, Jonah, you must know I didn’t do this thing.”

“I do,” Jonah replied. “And if you want to get out of this without much or any jail time, you’d better do exactly as I say.”

The Company Man, part 18

As Henry walked toward the front entrance, he saw a car sidle up next to him. It was Jonathan.

“Get in,” he ordered softly.

“What’s going on?” Henry asked.

“Get in,” Jonathan ordered again.

Henry paused, then did as he was told. Jonathan did a  tight u-turn and drove out of the parking lot. He said nothing until the got out onto the highway and the wind made it hard to hear.

“Someone killed Hassan and Osam from inventory last night,” Jonathan stated soberly.

Henry’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “Do they know who did it?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jonathan answered. “It was all caught on tape. They have a clear picture of the killer’s face.” Jonathan paused for a moment to take a turn sharply. “It was you,” added as they straightened out.

Henry was still in shock from the fact that two men had been killed. It did not fully register what else Jonathan had said, so Jonathan continued. “Obviously, one of the clones has lost his mind. The problem is that we don’t know which one. We don’t have a good way to tell them apart as it is. They could’ve traded cards easily. I suspected some have been doing it for a while. They’re trading identities as part of a small gambling ring one of them organized. It has something to do with the weathergirl. I don’t know much beyond that.”

“What are you going to do?” Henry asked, finally finding his voice again. The fear in his voice came through clearly, even with the wind howling past the car.

“Find the one responsible, and turn him over to the police. They’ll be arrested as you.” Jonathan turned to Henry. “Sorry, but it looks like you’ll have to stop being you.”

Henry blinked, unable to discern what that really meant. Jonathan continued to drive in silence. They left the city limits and drove into the suburbs. Periodically, Jonathan would take a turn sharply, and then watch the rearview mirror to see if anyone was following them. After nearly an hour, they approached a small, run down motel.  “Wait here,” Jonathan instructed. He ran in, grabbed keys off the desk, and came back outside.

“Don’t you need to check in?” Henry inquired.

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “I’ve got an agreement with the owner. I give him a call. He puts a key out, goes to lunch, and can say that he never really knows who’s using that room around the corner.” Jonathan puled the car around to one of three rooms that could not be seen easily from the road. He did not shut off the engine. “Yours is the first. Get in there, don’t call anyone, and wait for me to come back and get you when this is done.” Henry dutifully obliged. Jonathan did not wait to see that he got in, but instead sped away as soon as Henry was clear of the car.

Henry felt nervous inside the motel room. It was clean enough. He’d imagined a bug infested hell-hole that stank of mold and rotten food, but it was well-lit, with a made bed and no signs of infestation. The TV worked, but the phone did not. Henry would not be making any calls anyway.

As he sat down he realized he had no change of clothes, no food, only about $20 in cash in his wallet, and a bunch of credit cards he could no longer use because he had to hide from the police until they caught clone that committed the murder.

Henry turned on the TV and changed it to the weather channel, but they had driven far enough to be a different region, and tall, heavyset man was forecasting rain. Henry flipped through a few different channels, then turned the TV off with a frown. He didn’t enjoy hiding, especially because he had no reason to hide!

There came a knock at the door. Henry assumed Jonathan had forgotten something, perhaps he’d brought him lunch. As he opened the door, he found himself face to face with Jonah.

The Company Man, part 17

Henry did not know who he was anymore. He still got up at the same time, watched the weather channel, ate his breakfast, and went to work. But that work changed from day to day. Jonathan rotated him through two dozen different positions. In some, he’d done quite well, such as janitorial duty. In others. like answering the phones at the front desk, he’d not done so well. They seemed to be testing him to see what things he could do. After a day or two, they’d move him somewhere else and replace him with a clone. A lot of employees had already been let go from Privex. He could tell based on how fewer cars were in the parking lot after just a month or so.

A phone message from Jonah at home revealed to him that the entire accounting department had been let go. Henry felt awful. He went to bed early but found he could not sleep, so he tossed and turned and imagined his coworkers out of  a job, and Jonah standing by the side of the road with a cardboard sign reading, “Will work for food.”

He’d tried calling Jonah back, but the caller ID did not reveal the number, and it saddened Henry to realize that he could not remember Jonah’s last name to look him up in the phone book.

Every time Jonathan appeared, Henry now cringed, as it meant some new change.

The paychecks were still coming in strong, but Henry did not care much about the money anymore. When he finally did build up the courage to tell Jonathan that he did not want to do this anymore, Jonathan reminded him of a document he’d signed with Lenny the lawyer, committing himself to remain with the project. Otherwise, he’d have to give up the money he’d made since the project began, and likely face a lawsuit from the company for breach of contract. That made him so nervous, he threw up shortly thereafter. Fortunately, he was working as a janitor at the time, and so was able to quickly clean it up.

People in the company no longer looked at him. They knew that if they saw him coming, it meant he was coming to take their job. He was ostracized by everyone outside of the R&D lab, and those inside did not seem to care enough about him to show any compassion.

Not even his mother could cheer him up.

Henry tried different restaurants, even really expensive ones, but the food had gone bland. He’d had no idea how much he missed the few friends he had until they were gone. Jonathan did not care about him. Jonah did. When he’d been out sick months back, Jonah arranged for a card to be passed around the office, and took the time to mail it to him. He’d even invited him out to lunch a few times. Now Henry just wanted things to go back to the way they were, back when he worked in accounting, making his meager 4% merit raises, but it was far too late for that.

At three months, Henry found himself having a hard time getting out of bed. He thrived on consistency, but had none of that for quite some time. As such, he overslept and ended up coming to work late. When he arrived, there were several police cars at the front entrance.

The Company Man, part 16

#43 did not care for his lot in life. He did not enjoy the dorms. He did not enjoy the fact that there was never a good spot at the TV during the news to watch the weathergirl. He did not enjoy the fact that he had to work as a janitor when others had wonderful jobs like the accounting department.

At least, he admitted, he wasn’t forced to work in Inventory with those… things. He didn’t even want to call them people. He wondered who let them into the country to begin with.

A hierarchy of those that came first did not seem appropriate. Wouldn’t it be better to rotate those newly created into the established positions? That seemed more fair to him. But he did not speak up about it. #37 raised a fuss and was taken away for observation. That was a week ago and he’d not come back.

#43 wondered what Jonah was up to. Had he found a new job? Was he happy there? There were not a lot of people that the original considered a friend, but Jonah was one of them.

He also wanted to call the original’s mother. #18 had done this. He skipped his lunch break to call her. After that, they locked down the phones. #43 did not like it. He did not like it one bit.

The Company Man, part 15

#12 was celebrated by his peers. With his joining of the team, they were able to replace the entire accounting department. They were sad to lose Jonah, but confident a guy like that would land on his feet. Now #3 could get out of the inventory room with those wretched men. #8 no longer had to work as a tech in the lab, which is good as he was not  very good at it. They actually had #11 doing janitorial work. The very idea!

When they arrived to the department, everyone instinctively walked to the original’s desk. #2 made a beeline for it and jealously guarded his cubicle. The supervisor tried to negotiate a compromise, but was not willing to buy more of the same chair for everyone. In the end, the chair was setup on a rotation so that each day a new person would get it. #2 was not at all happy, but agreed because the boss told him to, and he did not want to get reported.

The workday progressed very efficiently. No one had anything to talk about, no funny emails to forward, no interesting stories from the night before to share. The accounting department had always been pretty efficient, but they swiftly burned through the tasks for the day. The boss was very proud. #12 was proud to have been the one to enable the team to make it all happen, and wished that the boss would point this out. Instead he simply said, “Great job today everybody! See you all tomorrow.” #2 stood next to him, as though he were somehow in charge as well, which #12 did not care for. After all, they were all on the same team.

That night, everyone rushed through dinner and hurried over to the television to watch the weathergirl. Beyond that, a few played cards and most went to bed. #12 wondered if he had the same dreams as the original.

The Company Man, part 14

#3 did  not like working in the inventory room. The two middle-eastern guys seemed so cold to him. He suspected there were racial motivations, but could not really tell. They didn’t speak a foreign language when he was around, but he suspected they might be talking in code. Isopropanol might just be a euphemism for that Henry guy we don’t like. He wished he could trade places with #2 on occasion. He wanted to sit in the nice chair and hang out with Jonah, who was always really nice.

As it was, he spent his evenings in the dorm, under observation. At least they let him watch the news. He really like the weathergirl, and wished he could meet her.

He also wanted to call his mother. Well, not  his mother, the original’s mother, but he’d still like  to talk to her. She always had a way of making him feel better. He wondered, if something were to happen to her, would the company let them all go to the funeral? After all, they all had just as close of a bond to her as the original.

#2 made him nervous. He seemed a bit edgier than the rest, a bit more agitated. Even though he loved to tell him how wonderful it is working in the accounting department, he never seemed quite as content as he could be. #3 assumed it was because he was the first, and that there might have been issues with the first clone. Issues that they seemed to have fixed with him.

The Company Man, part 13

#2 did not like his title. #2 is a euphemism for someone taking a dump. He did not like the association. He was still a person. But he was far more that. He was a triumph of science and engineering.

He wasn’t even number two. He was number one. He was the first clone! The original didn’t count. He was just born. An old practice that had happened billions of times before. Nothing special.

But #2 was special. True, they’d already made another clone within just a few weeks, but he was the first. He’d be celebrated as the original triumph. He’d managed to pick up the job that Henry had worked for years, interact with his friends, and they were none the wiser. He had worked the magic that only he could do. He was special.

He had the original’s chair, but he wanted more.

For now he had to live in the dorms they’d built behind the research lab. They’d distract the original and after he parked and went into R&D, he’d come out and go into the accounting department. He saw the original’s new car and wanted to drive it, but he had to spend his evenings in the dorms for observation. He was more than the original now. He could see greater aspirations than a nice chair or car. The company needed him. And he would comply… for now.

The Company Man, part 12

Henry did not relax during his mandatory vacation. He did not know what to do with himself. Daytime television was not a welcome distraction, and he did not like going to the movies by himself. He could not think of other things to do. A few times he went for a drive, but found that he was too nervous to drive his car the way that Jonathan did. He lacked the experience and confidence to pull it off. When driving it cautiously, it was just another car, and no more fun than the one he had before.

The clone bothered him. It was shocking enough to find that there were now two of him in the world, but that smile at the very end continued to bother him. He called his mother, but didn’t dare talk about anything. Instead, he said that he was thinking of coming a few days  early for Christmas this year. She was thrilled, but wanted more than anything for him to come with a girlfriend. Henry got frustrated, and quickly ended the conversation.

His vacation could not come to an end quickly enough. Monday morning he arrived early enough that only a few cars were already in the parking lot. His card, thankfully, worked to let him into the front door, but he could not get into the inventory section. For a moment, he lost his patience and rapped sharply on the door. To his surprise, it opened, and he found himself facing himself.

“You!” he gasped.

“Me?” the one who opened the door replied.

“I thought you were working in accounting,” Henry explained.

“That’s #2,” the other explained. “I’m #3. I get to take over your inventory job.” His face soured and became sarcastic. “Thanks a lot for that. The guys here are jerks.”

Henry was dumbfounded. Then #3 suddenly remembered himself. “Hey,” he said quickly. “You’ve got to get out of here. No one is allowed to see us together. Get  over to R&D.”

Henry turned and angrily marched to the R&D lab, only to find it deserted. He’d come to early, and no one was in yet. Henry sat down in a conference room and stewed.

But in the silence of the office, the anger turned to fear. Was he being replaced, by himself? That’s what that VP said. Train one guy to be really good at his job, and then just keep replacing him with himself. He’d lost his accounting job. He’d lost his inventory job. He’d not done anything for Privex before the inventory job. What would happen next?

A technician arrived, bleary eyed, hinting at having a bit of a hangover. “You’re here early,” he observed at Henry.

“Do you know when Jonathan’s going to get in?” he asked.

“That guy’s a ghost,” the tech muttered, rubbing his eyes. He walked back into a small kitchenette and machine that brewed single cups of coffee.

“A what?” Henry asked. The tech held his hand up, as if unable to speak. They waited in silence for the machine to finish. The tech lifted the cup to his nose and breathed in the aroma, causing his eyes to widen and focus. As he took a sip, he walked over and started pulling out the monitoring equipment.

“A ghost,” the tech explained as he handed the equipment to Henry. Henry started strapping on the monitors without thinking. “I swear I never see that guy come or go. He doesn’t have a normal schedule. He’s never around when you’re looking for him, and just when you think he’s not going to be there, he pops out of nowhere. I swear, that guy can walk through walls. A ghost.” The tech switched on the equipment and let it run though its diagnostics. he watched, then turned. “Looks like your blood pressure went down a little, but your heart rate is pretty high. You feeling alright?”

Henry nodded, though it was a lie. The tech jotted a few notes and wandered out of the room. “Wait!” called Henry. “I don’t know where I’m supposed to go!”

The tech pointed to a neatly groomed Jonathan walking out of his office. “Ask him,” he said.

“Henry!” Jonathan called out. “Great to see you. Today, we try something new.”

The Company Man, part 11

Henry shuddered as he realized that he was staring at himself. He did not notice Jonathan watching, carefully gauging his reaction. The others turned as Henry and Jonathan entered.

“Ah!” exclaimed one of the VP’s. “And this must be the original. Come over here. Let me see the two of you standing side by side. He walked the other Henry over to the first and stepped back to view the results.

“Amazing,” exclaimed the president. “You can’t tell them apart.”

“It’s more than skin deep,” Jonathan added, still not quite taking his eyes off of Henry. “They have the same talents, skill sets, memories, you name it.

“How can they have the same memories?” the second VP asked.

“Memories are formed by bundling synapses together in different configurations,” Jonathan explained. “We performed detailed scans of Henry’s brain and replicated them for #2. In the end, #2 woke up with the same memories as Henry has. Of course, the memories start to diverge once the cloning process has taken place. You can’t help that.”

“Cloning,” Henry thought about it for a moment. He was starting to understand the multiple stick figures that Jonathan had drawn on the dry erase board.

“But you realize that the implications of this are that you only have to train one person who is particularly talented, and then make a dozen or so clones,” continued the president. “Suddenly, you’ve got an entire team fully trained for the cost of just one. You don’t have to worry about people quitting, because you can replace them with themselves! How long did it take to grow this one?”

“We’ve got it down to two weeks,” Jonathan continued proudly. “We’re hoping to work it down to just a single week, but it’s hard to prevent mutations when accelerating cell division beyond fifty times its normal level.

“We can save that for the second generation of product,” one VP observed. “Two weeks is still immeasurably better than anything our competitors have managed to our knowledge. Most of them still cannot even create a clone, much less make one that efficiently.”

Henry did not say anything to anyone. He remained unnerved by the clone standing next to him, who simply smiled at everyone who was smiling at him. They did not speak to each other at all. The VP’s and Jonathan discussed business for several minutes, then the president turned to the two Henry’s. “Well now,” he said. “What happens next?”

Jonathan interceded. “#2 has already succeeded the original in handling his position in accounting,” he explained. Henry’s eyes widened, but Jonathan paid no mind. “The original Henry is helping out in inventory like he used to, but I think it’s taking a toll on his health. The techs are reporting to me that his blood pressure has been creeping up. Because of his importance, I’m going to recommend that he take a few days off to relax.

“Sounds good to me,” the president voiced. “Well gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me, I’m scheduled to have lunch with the governor. He’s rattling his saber about our tax breaks and I need to put him in his place.” The president smiled as he shook his fist, mimicking a saber in his hand. The VP’s all laughed knowingly.

Jonathan escorted the two Henry’s out. “#2,” Jonathan began. “Wait for me just a moment. Now Henry, I’m serious. Take the rest of the week off. I’m going to lock your badge so that you can’t come in, that’s how serious I am about you relaxing. You need to stay healthy.” His smile faded away. “And, of course, I needn’t remind you how utterly important it is that you do not talk to anyone about this. Now go on, get out of here. You did great just now!” Jonathan gave Henry a shove towards the elevator.

#2 spoke up for the first time. “Oh, and Henry,” he added. “Excellent choice in chairs.” He smiled. Henry did not recognize the smile. It was different than smiles he’d seen of himself from pictures taken at company parties, or holidays visiting his mother. This smile was different. It looked… malicious.

The Company Man, part 10

Inventory turned out to be far better organized than Henry remembered. The people working there currently resented him when he started making recommendations.

“Everything has a barcode now,” one explained.

“The system is fully digitized,” another explained.

“A MySQL database keeps track of what gets collected and automatically orders more of what’s expected to be in demand when supplies run low,” the first one finished.

The two seemed to have the job down, and did not require a third person, so Henry found himself doing jobs that were less enjoyable, such as inputting new items into the inventory database. They resented his asking questions, especially because he had such a hard time with their names. They were of middle eastern descent, and Henry had a hard time with names from that region. He kept being surprised by the fact that neither had an accent, even though one was from Ohio and the other from Georgia.

Jonathan became curiously absent again, which frustrated Henry greatly. Not only was he no longer able to do his accounting job, the temp still had his superior chair. Because his card no longer worked he could not get it out. He’d never bothered to learn any of his co-workers extensions, and Jonah never responded to any of his emails. Henry really wanted his chair back. He resented that a temp was enjoying the chair he’d spent so much money on.

For a full month this continued to go on. Henry was never able to find Jonathan, or anyone from the accounting department. The inventory boys kept him quite busy when he was not in the R&D department getting the monitors recharged and data uploaded. One technician observed that his blood pressure was creeping up. “Yours would too if you had to go through what I’ve been going through,” Henry snorted. The tech did not say anymore.

Finally, Jonathan appeared in the R&D lab. He looked over at Henry as he entered and excitedly gestured for him to come over. Henry took a deep breath. He’d been preparing a rant for over a week about all of the horrible things he’s had to put up with, but Jonathan never gave him the chance to speak.

“Henry!” Jonathan exclaimed. “Fantastic news. The project is going better than we could have ever dreamed! The company president wants to meet you!”

Henry forgot about his rant. “Really?” he squeaked. He’d seen the company president at a few all hands meetings, but aside from that had never interacted with him before. He suddenly wished he’d put on his nicest suit that day, but he’d been dressing more casual since working in inventory, for fear of staining his better clothes with some random liquid or powder. Jonathan put his arm around him and guided him from R&D to the elevator near the entrance, which they took to the fifth floor. He’d never even been to the fifth floor.

Down the hallway, past a few very nice offices for VP’s, to the end where a pair of doors opened to a palatial office for the president of Privex. Multiple giant screens were suspended over the desk with constant feeds from CNN, a large web browser he could control from his desk, and a stock ticker with real time updates on the company’s stock price. An orb on his desk glowed different colors to show if the price was doing well or poorly. Currently, the color was yellow. Several bookshelves occupied a far well, with one shelf dedicated to different laptops that the president could take on a business trip depending on the situation. Several full, luxurious chairs made of genuine leather allowed for comfortable seating.

But the chair behind the desk, that one really caught his eye. It was an ‘Executive’, just like the one he had in his accounting department. Henry reminded himself to speak with Jonathan after the meeting about getting his chair back.

Henry recognized the president right away, as well as the two VP’s. It took him several moments to recognize the man they were all talking to. It was Henry.

The Company Man, part 9

No sooner had Henry found his resolve to continue on renewed did Jonathan appear back in his office. “Unexpected offsite,” he explained. “Wasn’t allowed to make or receive any calls. I trust everything is going well?”'

“Just fine,” Henry enthusiastically affirmed.

“Glad to hear it,” Jonathan mused, his head already down and peering into the computer monitor as he typed out another email. Henry waited for a few moments, to see if Jonathan had anything more to say, but Jonathan never looked up again, so Henry went back to the labs for them to download the latest vitals and attach fresh batteries.

One Monday, after four weeks, Henry began to notice a few odd things. For one, he found that his badge no longer worked to get into the accounting department in the morning. It only worked in the afternoon. Normally, Henry stopped at his desk first to drop off his lunch and say good morning to Jonah and a few other co-workers before proudly marching off to the lab for his super important work.

Then, in the afternoons, people seemed to act a bit stranger around him. They felt like he was forgetting things that they’d already told him, even when he was sure they’d never mentioned it before. Jonah seemed especially perplexed. “Here’s the documentation you asked me for earlier,” he said.

Henry looked up, perplexed. “I didn’t ask you for this,” he explained.

“Sure you did,” Jonah protested. “You asked for it earlier, and I said I’d have it for you this afternoon.”

Henry mentioned it to Jonathan when he complained about his badge not working in the morning. For once, Jonathan appeared to take an interest. "Sometimes people can start to act strangely around you when they know you’re on a secret project,” he explained with a wink.

“Ahh,” Henry nodded conspiratorially, though he still did not know what the project was about.

“Let me take care of this,” Jonathan suggested. “I think I know what we can do. As I understand from your file, you used to work in inventory?” Henry nodded. “Alright, tomorrow, report there for work.”

Henry’s jaw dropped. He was being demoted back to inventory? He’d always considered accounting a step up. “But what about my current position?” he protested.

“Oh, the temp is handling it just fine,” Jonathan explained. “Besides, I need someone with your experience back in inventory. That place has really fallen apart in your absence. You’re really the only one I trust with this.”

Henry sighed as his ego swelled. “Well,” he confessed. “I suppose I am the best person for the job.”

“Glad to hear it,” Jonathan smiled.

The Company Man, part 8

The morning in the lab turned out to be fairly uncomfortable. The technicians drew blood, ran him through a grueling set of physical tests, all while monitoring different responses, and finally made him sit still for close an hour inside an MRI. He’d had one once before, and it did not take nearly this long.

By the time it was over, he was exhausted, sweaty, and not looking forward to returning like that to his desk job. They’d not warned him to bring a change of clothes. “Is this going to happen every time?” he asked grouchily to the technicians. “Just for the next couple of days,” one answered, unsympathetically.

A couple of days became a couple of weeks. Jonathan had disappeared and was never in his office when Henry went to see him. He grew frustrated, and considered asking his supervisor to go back to his normal job.

Then his paycheck arrived. Now, every two weeks, he was making an additional $300! He gasped when he saw it. Jonah, who happened to be walking by, stopped at the noise. “Everything alright?” he asked.

Henry smiled. “Very!” he exclaimed.

“They treating you alright over in R&D?” Jonah asked. He’d been trying to get more out of Henry since he started working, but so far Henry had managed to avoid answering anything overtly. “Quite well,” Henry answered. “Like a king, in fact.”

The next week Henry arrived in his new sporty two seater. He showed up extra early but parked in his usual space so that people could see his new car. With his trade in, he could afford to lease this car, and in four years trade in for a new one. He could also start eating out on a weekly basis. He fantasized about driving the cute weather girl from the TV around in his two seater, taking her to that nice Mexican food place Jonathan had taken him.

The grueling lab tests also stopped. For the time being they made him wear a couple of straps around his wrist and arms to monitor certain vital signs.

“This,” he mumbled to himself. “This is the good life.”

The Company Man, part 7

After what seemed an eternity, the stack dwindled and finally disappeared. A much more disheveled stack sat next to Henry, and his wrist hurt from signing his name so much and so quickly. Lenny frowned at the stack, but scooped it all up and walked out of the room. As he did so, he nodded to another man that had been waiting for them to finish. He walked in and did not introduce himself.

For the next hour, the stern looking man informed Henry about the sensitive nature of the project. About the risks of corporate espionage and the need to remain ever vigilant. The company was going ‘all in’ on this project, and a single slip up could spell ruin for everyone. That was why it was so vital for him to not tell anyone about what he was doing. Henry wasn’t worried about that, he still had no idea.

The lecture lasted a full thirty minutes, though really it was a ten minute lecture told three times in three different ways. But Henry maintained an attentive vigil, and listened to the lessons over, and over again.

Finally, the man finished and walked out of the room. Jonathan entered and informed Henry that it was lunch time. “C’mon,” he invited. “I’ll buy you lunch.” No one had ever bought Henry lunch before, so he gleefully accepted. They walked out to the parking lot and got into Jonathan’s car. It was a sporty two seater convertible. Jonathan had no problem squealing the tires as they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main strip. They went to an upscale Mexican restaurant Henry had seen, but never been to. It always seemed too expensive and not worth the trouble. “Of course,” Jonathan, “With all the money you’re gonna be making as of today, you’re gonna be the one buying lunch going forward.”

Henry laughed. “If the money’s so good,” he asked. “Why aren’t you doing it?”

“I wish,” Jonathan answered. “I’ve got a girlfriend though. They won’t let me.” He rolled his eyes as he said ‘they’. Then he looked at Henry. “Besides, I’m not you. You’re the man they want. Before I forget, remind me to ask Mona to make sure we have your badge recoded so that you can get into the labs and not just accounting.” Henry nodded.

Lunch was delicious. It was the best Henry could remember having. An hour later they found themselves back on the road to the company. Jonathan took the exit ramps faster than he could have, just for fun. “I hope you don’t mind too much,” he stated to Henry.

“Not at all!” Henry laughed. “The weathergirl did say it would be a great day to have fun outside.”

Back at the office, they discovered that Mona had already taken care of the badge issue. Jonathan turned to Henry. “Alright Henry,” he said. “Head on back to your other job for today. We’ll start things up fresh tomorrow morning. You’ll meet a couple of technicians over by lab 7.” Jonathan pointed to a particular hallway. “They’ll take care of you once you get here. See you tomorrow Henry. That’s when we start changing the world!”

Henry walked back to his cubicle in an almost daze. As he sat down, Jonah walked over. “Hey Henry,” he smiled. “People were getting worried when you didn’t come back. Everything alright?”

Henry smiled. “Better than alright,” he answered. “But that’s about all I can say on the matter.

Jonah smiled. “I see, so there’s a bit of a mystery then?” He paused to see if Henry would rise to the bait, but Henry held his ground. “Alright then, I guess I’ll have to do some sleuthing of my own.”

That night, Henry saw in his mail an offer to come back and try an online dating service again. He dropped it smugly in the trash, and sat down on his couch to watch the evening news and eat the lunch he’d brought into work.

The Company Man, part 6

“One of the problems with natural selection,” Jonathan explained. “Is that it takes too long. You require multiple generations to weed out undesirable traits. Couple that with the fact that we now prop up people with those undesirable traits, allow them to procreate, and suddenly evolution doesn’t work anymore. Do you follow me?”

Henry nodded, though he didn’t really.

Jonathan continued. “Besides, what do we need evolution for when we’re smart enough to figure out for ourselves which parts are the good parts, and which ones are the parts we need to get rid of?” Jonathan stood and moved over to a small dry erase board. “Figuring out that part is pretty easy. But to make those traits predominate within a particular generation, we need to become a little unorthodox.” On the board he drew a stick figure, two lines below it, two more stick figures, two more lines below each of them, and four more stick figures. “Average family has two kids, so you need two generations for a positive trait to go from one to four, and that’s assuming the positive trait gets passed to each kid. Nowadays, it’s anyone’s guess, and the kids will go one to have kids of their own whether they get the good genes or not. No, what we need is more of a shotgun approach to ensure wide dissemination of those genes to the general population.” He went back tot he first stick figure, drew a right arrow, and drew a dozen stick figures next to the first. Jonathan turned and started hard at Henry. “Do you follow me?” he asked.

Henry nodded, even though he didn’t.

Jonathan smiled. “I knew you were the right man for this job!” he proclaimed. He opened the door and stuck his head out. “Mona!” he yelled. “Get Lenny over here with the papers. We’ve got our man!” The frazzled woman nodded and headed deeper into the office of cubicles. Jonathan shut the door again and sat down. “Now you’ll still be able to do your regular job,” he explained, but only half time. The other half of the day you’ll have to spend with us while we run tests and diagnostics. I’ve already conversed with your boss.. Arnold? I think? Whatever- over email and he’s okay with it. We’ll get a temp in to help you out with your normal work so there’s no risk of falling behind.”

Henry smiled. He started to say something, but Jonathan interrupted him to continue. “Now I know what you’re thinking. Such an important job should have something more than prestige attached to it, am I right?” Henry nodded, though he’d not been thinking about that at all. “I’ve managed to pull a few strings, and you’re base salary will get bumped up $10K annually, effective immediately.” Henry froze. He’d never gotten a raise that big before. He’d never even imagined such raises were possible. Jonathan watched his expression for a moment. “You’re awful quiet, Henry. Are you saying $10K doesn’t sound like enough? I happen to think that’s a pretty good sum myself. I get Ph.D’s in here bargaining for a raise one-tenth that amount.”

“That amount is perfectly fine,” Henry stammered, still trying to recover from the shock of such a huge pay raise.

“Glad to hear it!” Jonathan exclaimed. The door opened and a man with a thick stack of papers came in. “Ahh Lenny! I see you’ve got everything our new prized employee needs. This is my queue to leave. Paperwork puts me to sleep. Henry, I leave you in Lenny’s capable hands.” With that, Jonathan stood and slipped past Lenny who dropped the stack of documents with a resounding thud.

“Nice to meet you Henry,” Lenny stated with a dull monotone. “Sign here please.”

Henry took the first sheet and pen and started to read it over.

“Now sign here please,” Lenny continued, passing the next page without looking up.

Henry quickly scribbled a signature on the first page and Lenny flipped through a non-disclosure to the signature page. He handed the entire package to Henry with the one page needing a signature pulled out. Henry furiously scribbled his name on the second sheet and grabbed the packet, signing his name without even glancing at the title. Lenny handed him a fourth page.

For the next twenty minutes, Henry and Lenny churned through waiver after disclaimer after contract after agreement. Whenever Henry asked a question, Lenny did not respond but handed him yet another sheet to sign. Lenny had deep bags under his eyes, suggesting he’d not slept well, or at all, in quite some time. Henry decided not to bother him with more questions after the first few failed attempts.

The Company Man, part 5

The R&D labs, much to Henry’s surprise, looked a lot like the accounting department. There were no chemistry sets with strange liquids bubbling in them. For the most part, there were lots of cubicles with people in them and computers. The walls might even have the same color paint, but it was hard to tell as a lot of the lights were turned off. Many engineers prefer the dark for some reason. All of the PC’s looked like they were running screen savers, but has Henry got closer, he saw that they were actually running simulations. They were modeling different proteins on the screen, spinning and twisting them, trying to see how they could be tweaked and changed. A woman with a very tired look and frazzled hair came over to him.

“Are you Henry?” she asked with an exasperated tone.

“Y-yes,” Henry answered. He did not expect anyone to be expecting him, even though it made sense.

“Head over to the third office on your left and have a seat,” she directed. “One of our team leads will be there in a few minutes once their meeting breaks up.”

Henry walked over to the small conference room and sat down. The chairs were not comfortable. He wished he’d brought his chair from his cubicle. He’d bought it with his own money and brought it in, because the chairs the company provided never felt very good. He’d seen an article for it in the breakroom one day. Someone had left a magazine and called it, “The Executive.” When he sat in it, it was easy to picture himself as though he were an executive. Everyone else had to settle for the normal chair, but he got The Executive.

According to the clock, Henry had to wait for a full 10 minutes for the director’s meeting to finish up. It took several more minutes for the director that wanted to speak with him to finish up another conversation that followed him out the room. Finally, he came in, sat down, and closed the door.

“Hello Henry,” the director said with a smile. “My name is Jonathan. Pleased to meet you.”

Henry wanted to say something about being made to wait, but instead smiled back. “And nice to meet you,” he returned.

Jonathan reached into his satchel and pulled out a file. To Henry’s surprise, his name was on it. “We’re starting the next phase of a project Henry,” Jonathan began. “And after extensive review of every employee in the company, have decided that we want you to be a part of it.”

Henry was shocked, and his face betrayed that surprise. Jonathan smiled. “I hope you don’t mind,” he continued. “I took the liberty of pulling your performance reviews. They’re spotless. You really are a company man!”

Henry could not help but smile.

“It says here that you aren’t married?” Jonathan asked.

“No sir,” Henry replied. “Never met that special someone.”

“Are you still looking?” Jonathan continued. He did not look up anymore, but continued to flip through the pages quickly.

“Not recently,” Henry confessed. It seemed an odd question.

“We wanted to be sure that you would be able to fully commit to this project,” Jonathan explained. “Also, and I’m going to mention this over and over again, this project is extremely confidential. One of the problems with married men, is that they have a hard time keeping secrets from their wives. It’s even harder when they’re dating.”

Henry felt his pace quicken. "A secret project!” he thought. “He was going to work on a secret project!” He shook his head. “Haven’t really looked in a while sir,” Henry reaffirmed.

Jonathan smiled more broadly. “This project is going to change the world,” he proclaimed. “We’ll go down in history as having done something no one has accomplished before. And, well, it’ll probably make us all rich!” Jonathan leaned back in his chair. He looked like he should be wearing a pinstripe suit and holding a cigar, but the effect was lost as the light struck the bald spot on his head, causing Henry to squint. “So,” he continued. “Do I have your interest?”

Henry nodded vigorously. “Please go on.”

“Good,” Jonathan smiled.