Critical Error: Book 3 of the Leaving Earth series

by Kaal Alexander Rosser

  Even that was a difficult case to argue, though. Because none of those departments were generating power directly. The technology was in use, elsewhere, to be sure, but even the current technologies were really just R&D databases for the other programmes. So what was left? Nothing. It could all be broken up and subsumed into other Divisions without losing a thing, and it would make more sense. Except Nevada. Nevada was still an anomaly which Grum would have to think about.

  But not for very long, it seemed, because the answer came to him even before he finished thinking the thought to think about it later.

  USSMC's first very own spin-off company. IPO the bugger. Rename it. Make Ben the CEO and give him the problem of making the bugger entirely profitable. That way everyone there would be safe and if he wanted to keep R&D staff, he could have his pick and good luck to him.

  Blinding idea, Grum. Well done!

  'Excuse me, sir?'

  Grum left his self-congratulatory thoughts and realised that he had not completed the motion of pushing down the handle to open his door. How long had he been standing there like that?

  'Excuse me,' the same voice said again. 'Are you stuck, sir? Do you need help?'

  'Grum straightened and one of the muscles in his back gave a little pop. He winced as he turned to face the owner of the voice. 'No, no. Sorry to worry you, er…'

  'David, sir, Dave Roborough. We bumped into each other once in SyncDep.'

  'Oh, yes. The guy I abused horribly. Sorry again, about that.'

  Dave smiled. 'Really not an issue, sir.'

  'Grum,' said Grum, absently.

  'Sorry, sir?'

  'Call me Grum. Everybody does. I'm fine, really, just got lost in thought for a moment, there.'

  'Twenty minutes that I saw, si- Grum.'

  'Really? Oh well. You left me like that for twenty minutes?'

  'Well, we were all wondering what to do.' Dave gestured behind him and Grum caught sight of half a dozen people urgently trying to look busy. He laughed and shook his head, turning back to his door.

  He stopped and turned back. 'Aren't you normally very busy in SyncDep? I seem to remember no-one having much time to wander off, let alone twenty minutes.'

  'Ah, well, I was actually sent to find you, si- Grum.'

  'Stew sent you to find me?'

  'Ah, not exactly. Steff said: "go and find the CEO, so he can deal with this". See, it's about Stew. He's behaving… Oddly.'

  'Really?' Grum wondered exactly what behaviour for Stew would be considered odd, given that he was a department AVP who barely spent any time in his department.

  'Yes. He went into the duty manager's office, told her to get out, and locked the door. He said something about it being his office for five more minutes at least.'

  Grum let go of the door handle, finally, and washed his hand over his face. He's figured it out.

  'There was swearing involved, sir. We're all quite worried.'

  'I'll bet there was, and I'll bet you were. And it's Grum.'

  'Sorry.'

  'No matter. Lay on, MacDuff!'

  'Er…'

  'Let's go.'

  If Stew had been swearing — and Grum had no reason to think it was otherwise – it had stopped now.

  The door to the office stood open but everyone, including the normally calm Steff, was stood well back looking worried. Grum saw her look in his direction and an expression of relief broke over her like a wave.

  'He's in there, Grum. But none of us dare enter. It's most unlike him. Growling and cursing, and…' her eyes widened as the rhythmic tapping, coming from the direction of the office, made its presence felt. Stew was standing there with a thunderous expression, rattling his fingertips across the door-frame like an angry parent.

  Two can play at that game, thought Grum. 'You. Inside.' Grum raised his hand finger extended pointing past Stew into the office.

  '…and now a wood comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out!' declared Stew.

  Grum sighed. 'By this great clatter, one of greatest note seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune!'

  Stew's eyes widened, then narrowed. 'Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, and thou opposed, being of no woman born. Yet I will try the last.'

  'Ouch. That hurts. Get in.' Grum stalked over to the office door and pushed Stew inside, but not roughly. He shut the door. 'Now, what's this all about?'

  'Oh, and don't come the disappointed dad with me. That's why I switched to Macbeth! Neither of us can win at the parent game.'

  'Fair enough. So, you've worked out that it's time.'

  'That you think it's time, yes.'

  'And so it is.'

  'You're going to break up SyncDep.'

  'Yes. Like we always planned. Only it's not Kelvin, it's me. But it's still the right thing to do. It doesn't belong in Core Power.'

  'No. It doesn't.'

  'Especially as I think I'm going to break up Core Power, too.'

  Grum could see that he had shocked Stew with that.

  'Why?'

  'It's not a proper Division. It doesn't have coherence, especially after I start stripping things out and putting them where they belong.'

  'But…'

  'I'll run you through the plan when I've properly formulated it. And I'll be putting you in charge of its dismantling and disposition. Then I think I'm going to nominate you to run the R&D Division,' Grum paused to think about the structure. 'Which actually means you'll be getting a good chunk of your old team back. Or they don't go away, or something. I don't know. I'll work out the framework of how it should end up, then you can deal with getting it there.'

  'VP R&D?'

  'Yes. Does that mean I can…'

  'Bump up the duty managers who stay with you to co-ordinate — as you always have done — up to AVP? Sure. Why not?'

  'OK!'

  'Good. Now say you're sorry.'

  'Oh, don't start.'

  Grum laughed. 'OK, then, I won't. But no more histrionics, right?'

  'Sorry, boss.'

  'And don't you forget it! Now, in the meantime, while I'm doing the framework thing. I need you and SyncDep to do a couple of things.'

  'OK. Like what?'

  'I have agreement from the board to continue shelling out on any critical or emergency care for the disaster survivors. We'll debate the full compensation package next week, but for now I want you to make sure that anyone from that débâcle gets the best of anything and everything they need, right?'

  'Right! Consider it done. Everyone will be on board for that.'

  'Good, because the other thing we need to do is get the organisation running again. I'm going to be speaking to all the heads of department and senior managers to see who best fits into the roles open in the management team, apart from Space which I'm leaving to Hank.'

  'Hank's leaving?'

  'I don't know. I've given him the choice of the board or VP, but not both. So, we'll see.'

  'You know there's someone else who straddles that line…'

  'I know, but it's only temporary. Especially as I'm going to be demonstrating exactly why there should be separation. But until they deal with me, I'm going to fix USSMC properly so this kind of… Of… Of fucked up situation cannot happen again.'

  'Right you are. Just so long as we're on the same page. It is bad practice, but… I trust you'

  'OK. Are we good? Because I've got to go and work on this reorganisation plan.'

  'We're good. Go. Be CEO.'

  Grum grinned, and left. As he passed Steff on the way out, he gave her a thumbs-up, and then jerked the thumb over his shoulder towards the office door. She smiled and began walking that way.

  Chapter 20

  THE re-org plan was mostly just putting departments and programmes into boxes then rearranging them until it made sense. The one thing he was not sure of was the business of making the Nevada Complex into its own company. He would have to research that. It was not like deducing the rules of the business game, or extending the allegory of m
anagement and leadership to cover new levels. This had rules that he did not even know existed, he was sure of that.

  Worse still. He did not know who to talk to about it. No-one he knew had done that sort of thing. If Kelvin were still here, he would have gone to him, but he was not there to ask. He had always been a bit suspicious of Kelvin, but now he found that he actually missed the guy, just a bit.

  The board meeting the following week was not an unqualified success. The votes for removing special roles from directors and setting up committees, for spinning off the Nevada Facility as its own company, and for providing on-going care to anyone who was caused injury in the disaster, were all approved — although the last only with an amendment that allowed for quarterly review.

  Each time it was with the same four abstentions. In fact, the only time they voted was to opposed the re-organisation of USSMC's structure. The rest of the board were split on that, so the proposal was narrowly voted down. On the grounds of company safety. It was felt by those voting against, that this was the wrong time to be approaching a re-organisation. The safer course was simply to rebuild and see where they were in, say, a year or two.

  To Grum it was logical that trying to rebuild a broken system would lead to having the same broken system, and therefore it was better to build a new system and use that to rebuild the company. Those with the most to lose — bar Hank — did not agree. Of course.

  He also had to report that federal and state funding of their various projects, except the solar PV roll-out in Nevada, had dried up and would not be re-instated until there had been a full inquiry into the disaster.

  This was another point of contention. Grum felt that it would be better to go to the inquiry showing that USSMC had done something to address the management and governance failures which had led to the disaster, while just over half the board thought that it was better to wait for the recommendations from the inquiry.

  The debates had been long and somewhat heated on occasions.

  That threw a spanner in Grum's works, somewhat. He had hoped that the days of dealing with the board's recalcitrance by taking sub-rosa actions were behind him, but it looked as if he would have to continue in that mode for at least a little while longer.

  Chapter 21

  GRUM had not seen Mr Grey since the hospital, so to find him standing in the old office was a surprise — and not an entirely welcome one. The man was standing by one of the chairs in front of Grum's desk, staring impassively at the main screen.

  As Grum moved across the threshold to the office, Mr Grey seemed to activate, and immediately started speaking.

  'I gather, sir, that things with the board are not all entirely well?' No greeting, no "sorry for intruding on your office", nothing, just straight to business.

  That irritated Grum — and then he wondered why. Probably because when Stew and the others do it, it's banter. Or it's important. Or… Something like that anyway.

  He also wondered why he had precisely zero urge to correct the man's usage of the word "sir". Probably the same reasons, or…

  I just don't like him. 'Mr Grey. I would appreciate prior knowledge of your visits.'

  'Certainly, sir. As and when that is possible and advisable.'

  'It is always advisable.'

  'Regrettably not, sir. To return to the matter in hand. Is there any action you would like me to take in relation to the obstructionists on the board?'

  Grum shivered. His mind immediately jumped to the sort of action that he felt this man would take if he said yes. It was ridiculous, of course. That sort of thing just did not happen in the real world. And yet… There were those times when similar obstructions had been removed in one way or another. As far as he knew, no-one — not even Hank — had seen or heard of the old VP since his departure. Nah. Crazy talk. 'No action, thank you. I am dealing with it.'

  'Very good, sir. If I might, then, be allowed to furnish you with some additional information, which the previous CEO left in my possession. It may help in your dealing with those who are not working for the best interests of the company.' With perfect economy of motion, and deceptively swiftly, Mr Grey produced a metal memory stick.

  'Thank you, Mr Grey. You may leave it on the desk.' For some reason Grum had a visceral aversion to the idea of having Mr Grey move inside his personal space, even to the point of taking something from his hand. The man positively exuded danger on an animal level.

  Mr Grey nodded and did so, then started for the door as Grum hastened to move out of the way. Before Mr Grey left though, Grum felt he had to ask something. He had asked it before and Mr Grey had evaded, to a degree.

  'Mr Grey. What exactly is your job?'

  'My job, sir, is the happiness and welfare of the CEO of USSMC.'

  Clear as mud. 'Thank you, Mr Grey. Please call before visiting again.'

  Mr Grey nodded, as if he had nothing to add and was not about to repeat himself, and left.

  Information, he had said. Grum was overwhelmed. His instincts must have been right. There was no way this level of detail could be obtained legitimately. There was dirt on everyone. Of course there always was in the general sense. No-one lived a squeaky-clean existence, no matter how much they projected that image. In fact, usually in direct opposition to how much they projected it. But it was all in this archive. Information going back to several years before USSMC had come into being. Sometimes a long way before, where certain types of research were involved.

  Knowledge was power. Grum now supposed — in a less dramatic sense, but no less disturbing — that this had been how people had been removed if they were seen to be getting in the way of Kelvin's goals.

  Blackmail.

  But if there was enough information here to do something as simple, but nefarious, as blackmail, surely there was enough information to do something more ethically sound, and yet equally effective? It had to be worth a shot.

  Chapter 22

  GRUM'S new office was finally finished. The disaster had caused all manner of damage, but the building remain structurally sound, so there was no need to move offices or to additionally reinforce anything. The explosion, itself, had been big enough to do serious damage to frail human bodies, and tear quite heavy doors off hinges, and throw things — like bodies and doors — around, but had not been strong enough to damage the structural framework of the building. The fireball had not been hot enough for long enough — the key for structural integrity, he had been told — and the shockwave not powerful enough to damage the supports.

  So most of the work had been internal reconstruction and cosmetics.

  That had given Grum the chance to change the design of the CEO's office. It was no longer the plush, leather-clad opulence of the former occupant, but a functional space. The half of the room nearest the large, but sparse, desk had walls filled with screens. The half further away held a smallish boardroom-style table and standard — but good quality — office chairs. This was not the office of someone who would sit and simply watch over his domain. This was the office of a working Chief Executive. There were still small touches of elegance, which might impress the observant visitor, but by-and-large it was a workspace.

  Grum had moved into the office the day after he had received the archive from Mr Grey, and it had taken him a further two days to formulate his plan of attack. There was certainly enough information in the archive to have anyone in the company removed — including himself and Stew, unsurprisingly — but what Grum had looked for were the motivations of those who were opposing him.

  He had found them.

  It had not been all that hard. There were commonalities with previous situations, and he supposed that Kelvin had simply steamrollered over them, rather than actually addressing them. For these directors, though, it was mainly now just habit.

  Like any position you hold too long — literally as well as figuratively — it hurt to move afterwards. You were not comfortable, but you wanted to avoid pain. So, Grum's solution was to find the source of pain and e
ither remove it, or alleviate it as much as possible. If that did not work, then there was always the option of adding the stick to the carrot.

  He had called the Four Abstainers — as he thought of them — one by one and arranged meetings in his office.

  The sources of pain were only slightly varied. All had worked for the companies which had formed USSMC in some kind of senior management position and had been given a position on the board in compensation for losing those positions. Most had never been trained in corporate governance beforehand and so had fallen back on what they knew — management. What they all feared — the major source of pain — was losing the managerial aspect that they had clung to even in governance roles because that was what they knew. That was something Grum could try and fix.

  He told all of them that in a constantly changing world of corporate governance it was imperative that the board of USSMC were as up-to-date as possible. He, himself, was keenly aware that he had only been in managerial roles until now, and so he would be taking courses in corporate governance and would they like to come along at his expense? That was why he had the meetings separately, and in his office.

  Each and every one was defensive and resistant to start with, but the very office itself lessened that. It was something that they were more used to, as Grum was himself. His admitting his weakness in one role — from a position of security in that role — allowed a space for each to at least agree that it was an important matter. That was an opening which Grum exploited.

  Three of the directors agreed that extra training would not go amiss, that they would be happy to take Grum up on his offer, and how unlike the previous Chairman he was. Clearly a working man, like them, not like they had feared — and with the unspoken addendum of "not like Kelvin Goldstein". Grum got the distinct impression that they had all become bullies in reaction to Kelvin's bullying tactics.