by Jason Bourn
When the team-lead meeting time finally arrived, Calaes noted that it was very well attended. Every team-lead was there, including the three from the previous meeting: Anya, Nancy and Antony.
Calaes started out saying, “First off, I wanted to ensure that there are no electronics of any kind in this room. This request was on the meeting notice, but I wanted to ensure that everyone has complied.” Pointing to the displays located in front of everyone, he quickly showed everyone how to get a display of their desired language – necessary since they were intentionally not able to use their persas, which would otherwise have translated his words. Calaes had the only persa in the room, so he could understand any questions asked to him.
Looking around Calaes could see everyone nodding, showing that they had all remembered. “I know that this request is highly irregular, but after you hear what I have to say I think you will understand the seriousness of the situation and the reason for this high level of security.”
He looked around and saw that everyone, with the exception of the three team-leads that were at the previous meeting, was sitting on the edge of their seats. Everyone had been performing training for much longer than they had anticipated and were ready to get moving to the settlement on Mars. They hoped that this meeting would provide just this announcement. Calaes hated to dash their hopes, but he had no choice in the matter – the facts were what they were. He was fairly confident that Anya, Nancy and Antony would not have revealed the information that they knew, and the expectant expressions on everyone else’s faces reassured him that his confidence was well-placed.
“First of all,” he began, “I’m going to quickly summarize what I am going to tell the entire team – that is, all of the members of your teams. Then I am going to tell you team-leads more details of what is behind this announcement. I am personally counting on each of you to be supportive of what is being told to the team members and not disclose any of the additional material that is in this team-lead-only briefing.”
“Here is a quick summary of what will be told to the team members.”
“First: There have been ‘irregularities’ discovered in the supply chain and the building of the Mars settlement.”
“Second: There is an independent team of ‘auditors’ that have been brought in to determine the extent of these ‘irregularities.’ ”
“Third: Due to the first two items above, the settlement is behind schedule and there is more work than expected still to be done to complete the building of the settlement.”
Calaes paused briefly to let this sink in. He had worked hard on getting just the right wording to give the team members the key information they needed to know, without disclosing too much.
He went on: “I have just told you what I intend on telling your team members. What I am going to tell you now is strictly for your ears only. There is no need to disseminate the following information and for security purposes it is strictly forbidden. Again, I’m sure you’ll understand why when I complete this briefing.”
He continued, “While what I have just briefed is, strictly speaking, correct, I have to tell you there is a lot more to the story and this is what I am going to share with you now. Namely the ‘irregularities’ have to do with what appears to be government-collusion with missing material and intentional delays in the settlement building process. To put it more bluntly, we have proof that the government has intentionally slowed down the settlement build process.”
“The ‘auditors’ are actually a group of clandestine anti-government advocates of the Mars settlement who are trying to get around the delays and get the settlement built. This is the real reason why there is a critical need for security. If the information gets out that this clandestine group exists, our ability to get to the settlement is in grave danger of ever being realized. The government is far too powerful and we have to ensure that they receive no hint that we know about this government malfeasance.”
Roscoe Prim, a stocky Operations team-lead with a penchant for asking difficult questions, asked “Are you sure? That doesn’t make sense. Why would they do that?” Calaes went on to explain in more detail what the data they collected was and what it meant. Roscoe shook his head and muttered, “All this time we’ve been working our rear-ends off and they’ve just been dragging their feet. That just makes me mad!”
Suzanne Becker, the Administrative team-lead asked, “Can you provide any additional information on these ‘auditors’ and what specifically they are doing to make the construction go faster?” Calaes thought about how to answer this question. He had the same question, especially as to the specifics of what they were doing to speed up construction. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any answers. He said, “The details of what they are doing and the specifics on the ‘auditors’ is very sensitive and therefore cannot be disclosed. In fact, I don’t have a lot of the details either. But I assure you that when it is proper to disclose this information, I will personally provide it to you all.”
There were some additional minor questions, which Calaes easily answered. At the end of the meeting there was a general consensus that there were more questions than answers – however this was expected with the level of security required. The team-leads filed out with a generally positive demeanor and Calaes was relatively happy with the meeting’s progress. He suspected that the team member meeting would be somewhat more challenging and he was right.
Calaes had decided that for the team member meeting, it was not feasible to physically check everyone for electronics. He had made the request to not bring electronics, but there was no practical way to ensure compliance with this many people coming. They had to use the cafeteria for the meeting. This was the only room big enough for all the people.
The majority of the people were in a good mood as they entered the cafeteria, plainly hoping for good news on the plans to get to the settlement. Again, Calaes was about to throw cold water on their hopes and dreams – at least for now.
As the meeting started, he made the appeal for no electronics, and most appeared to be nodding. He couldn’t be sure with the rest, but he let it be. The information that he was going to share was going to be relatively tempered, without the details that were provided to the team-leads, so it was unlikely that there would be a problem even if some devices captured the briefing. His words were displayed on the many large displays scattered throughout the room, covering all spoken languages, again since they couldn’t use their persas.
Calaes stressed the need for security and then pitched the same quick summary of what he had told the team-leads, concerning only the “irregularities,” the “auditors” and the “delay.”
For a moment there was no reaction. Calaes wasn’t sure if this were good or bad. Then Darius (Calaes couldn’t remember his last name), a skinny electronics tech, shouted “Hey, that’s not fair. We’ve been working our butts off here and we want to get to the settlement. What are you going to do to fix this? We want action now!” Quickly thereafter Lorenzo Romano, a burly Italian shipping tech, shouted, “What do you mean ‘delayed’? That’s just not kosher, capeesh? We been waiting patiently, but I say we don’t wait patiently no more.”
Calaes was taken aback. He hadn’t expected such strong language and emotions. He knew that people would not be happy, but this wasn’t starting out well.
Calaes tried to settle down the crowd, explaining “We are working with the ‘auditors’ and helping out in any way we can. We are not the instigators of this – our job is simply to facilitate a speedy resolution. I need to tell you that the audit is very sensitive, so please don’t refer to it in any electronic conversations, not audio, nor video nor text.”
Immediately more outbursts came from out in the crowd. A Russian logistics tech named Mikhail Ivanov bellowed, “Somebody should get fired for this – it just is not right. If we can find out who did it, we ought to string them up.” This was followed by a Jewish woman named Eliana Schneider, a fabrication tech, who proclaimed, “We should just take over
the shuttles and force our way up to the settlement. If it isn’t ready by the time we get there, then we’ll get it ready ourselves.”
Calaes was glad he had followed Hope’s advice giving the crowd only minimal information. His imagination was running wild as to what they would do if they had all the information. Probably riot to start an impeachment of government officials. Now, that would go over well, wouldn’t it, he sarcastically thought.
Calaes did his best to calm everyone down and ensure a riot did not occur. “Everyone, this is not the end of the world. It is merely a delay. We will do whatever we can to speed this up. We have talked with the auditors and they have made it their mission to resolve this quickly. Again, I have to emphasize that this needs to be kept in the strictest confidence so as to allow them to do their jobs. As additional details become available, I will flow them down as quickly as possible.”
Calaes wasn’t sure if he could, or would, adhere to his last statement. However, it did have the intended effect. The grumbling subsided somewhat, but there was still a general discontent throughout the large cafeteria. “If there are any questions, now is a good time to ask.”
Anya asked, “Can you tell us precisely how much the project is delayed?”
Calaes smiled to himself. He had asked Anya, Nancy and Antony to ask specific questions which Calaes had prepared answers for ahead of time. This made the meeting go smoother and made for less chance of being blindsided. “The specific amount of delay is too sensitive to divulge until the investigation is complete. As we get more information, I will flow it down to you promptly.”
Nancy asked, “How does this change what we are doing here at the training campus?”
Calaes responded promptly, “There will be no changes, for two reasons. First, the mission remains the same, so the training still needs to be accomplished. Second, we need to keep all appearances unchanged to all outsiders. If anyone suspected that we radically changed our routine, they might change their operations, which could adversely impact the ‘audit.’ ”
Antony asked, “Should we be worried that this ‘audit’ might negate the long-term prospects of the settlement? In other words, is the mission as stake here?”
Calaes confidently responded, “There is no evidence at all right now that the long-term viability of the project is in question. So please just continue with the training as we have been doing and the team-leads and I are confident that we will be able to meet all of our long-term goals.”
Calaes hoped that the answers to these questions would assuage the crowd and it appeared to have worked. There was less grumbling and a more positive vibe in the audience.
Calaes waited for a short time, then concluded, “Thank you all for your continued patience. I am sure this will all work out in the end – we’ll all look back at this as a mere bump in the road. For now, I remind you to continue training as normal and please do not put any of the contents of this meeting in any electronic media. Thank you all.”
As the meeting broke up, Calaes could see many groups of five to twenty-five people still talking earnestly. He wasn’t sure if single dissenters or groups of dissenters was worse. Seeing the number of people still talking, maybe up to two hundred total, he was somewhat concerned.
He wandered over to some of the groups, but every time he neared a group, they stopped talking. Some then broke up and wandered off, but others remained and continued to talk after he left the group. Finally, the last of the groups broke up and Calaes let out a deep sigh. He hadn’t realized how much stress this meeting had caused him. This was one of the defining moments for the future of the settlement and he hoped that he had done at least an adequate job in allowing the team to move forward. Only time, he knew, would tell.
PART 5 – QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 24
Hayden felt that now was the time to start his action against the renegades.
They had found out they just had a meeting to disseminate the information about the obstacles that Hayden had put up to block the Mars colony construction. He figured the best way to disrupt the renegades was to fragment the group. Therefore, he set up a plan to sway as many of the renegades back to his side as possible, which should vastly weaken the renegades.
He did this covertly, so no one could trace it back to him. While he had full control of the top leaders, there were still a very large number of mid-level managers that he hadn’t bothered to control. With the leaders under his thumb, he hadn’t figured it was necessary.
And now by fragmenting the renegade group, it would make dealing with them that much easier.
– – –
Calaes idly waited for Randy to appear. It was the day after the all-hands meeting and Randy had just requested an immediate electronic meeting. Calaes didn’t know what Randy wanted to discuss, but Randy had expressed an intense interest in the results of the meeting.
Randy appeared on the vid screen, looking somewhat haggard. Calaes asked, “Are you all right? You look somewhat fatigued.”
Randy responded, “I’m just getting old. My bad leg is bothering me more and more and I have been having a lot of trouble walking. That is why these electronic meetings are much better for me. I think that I’ll leave the face-to-face meetings to you and Hope.”
Calaes had been thinking quite a bit about Hope. She was smart – actually extremely smart – funny, calm, reserved, happy, and nice. She was quite something – she had made an impression on him unlike anyone he had ever met. To Randy, her father, he said, “She’s nice. I like her. You’ve raised her well. I applaud you.”
Randy smiled and said, “Yes, she’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Her mother passed away years ago, but it hasn’t changed Hope’s disposition on life. She is happy and fast-charging. Watch out for her, her mind goes at a million miles per hour and with the amount of energy she has, her body isn’t far behind.
“Anyway, the reason I wanted this meeting was to find out more about your all-hands meeting. What can you tell me?”
Calaes gave a brief summary. When he was finished, Randy paused for a second and asked, “Can you identify the most vocal of the people in those side meetings at the end? I’d like to look into their backgrounds.”
“What are you looking for?” Calaes responded. “Are you expecting to find anything in particular?”
Randy shrugged and said, “No, not anything specific. I just wanted to ensure that we know who the potential security risks are.”
Calaes gave him the names of the team members that were the most outspoken: Mikhail Ivanov, Eliana Schneider, Lorenzo Romano and Darius (Calaes had finally remembered his last name) Stavros.
Randy paused and continued, “Are there any potential issues with any of the team-leads? They have access to more information than the team members, so they are more of a risk in general.”
Calaes thought about it for a short time. Several team-leads, Roscoe Prim and Suzanne Becker in particular, had asked questions, but neither had seemed to go off the deep end. Suzanne’s question was generic, so he didn’t mention her name to Randy. He did recall that Roscoe had expressed some frustration and had said that it had made him mad. He forwarded this to Randy, but told him that he didn’t think that Roscoe was any kind of threat.
Randy was non-committal, responding with “We’ll look into it.”
Calaes also thought of the questions that he had asked Anya, Nancy and Antony to ask for him, but he felt that these questions didn’t count. And besides, he trusted these three implicitly. He therefore chose not to alert Randy about them.
The rest of the meeting was mainly logistics in setting up their next meeting and the next meeting with Hope. Calaes was looking forward especially to the meeting with Hope, though he couldn’t say exactly why. She always seemed to be finding fault with his views or what he was doing, but she did it so darn nicely that Calaes always looked forward to the meetings.
“What?” Calaes said. He realized that his mind had wandered while thinking of Hope. This ha
d to stop!
Randy smiled and said again, “If there is nothing else, then I will sign off.”
When Calaes shook his head and said “Good-bye,” Randy’s image disappeared. Calaes sat in his chair a long time thinking about what Randy and his team would do with the information he had provided and what would happen next.
CHAPTER 25
The first message came in early in the morning, way too early. Calaes had been sleeping peacefully, dreaming about meeting with Hope. They had just decided to walk outside, which had never happened. Normally they were in sound-proof underground buildings, so Calaes was ecstatic with the prospect. Just as they were getting out of the elevator on the ground floor and walking into the lobby, the building’s alarm went off and wouldn’t stop. Calaes tried grabbing Hope’s hand and running to the lobby’s entrance, hoping to get away from the alarm but it was no use. The alarm went on and on, waking Calaes up and ending his pleasant dream.
The alarm was actually a high priority message indicator from his persa – something important was wrong.
Groggily, Calaes scanned the message – actually messages. This was important enough that his persa had alerted him immediately. Usually his persa could handle everything with at most a summary of actions that Calaes had to attend to personally. Wasn’t AI great!
However, this time this was not the case. The first message was from Nancy Cabala, the Logistics team-lead. The message indicated that one of her team members, Mikhail Ivanov, had failed to report for early morning training duty. This was very peculiar, but this, in and of itself, would not have gone all the way through to Calaes. The second message was from Darius Stavros’ team-lead. Darius had also not shown up at his training session. The third message was from Eliana Schneider’s team-lead. She had not shown up for training either.
