Chapter 7
The encrypted message from Zandar was specific. He had wanted to know what the situation was and whether the Dreadnoks could benefit from it. The initial plan had been to ruin the Headman and to overrun his drug operation, but new information had come to light which portrayed him as being a shrewd businessman with a genuine concern for the welfare of his clientele. Perhaps rubbing him out would not be necessary. If he could simply arrange a meeting with the cartel kingpin, he might be able to successfully broker a deal between the two criminal organizations. But if things went south, he might just end up at the wrong end of a well-trained pistol. The original slighting of the Dreadnok nation had been worthy of retribution, but in reality, it was Gristle, not the Headman, that had verbalized the threat.
The corporation is profitable, to say the least. There has been little, if any, illegal activity conducted in the main buildings of the corporation. The CEO, Doctor Vincent d’Alleva runs a legitimate company and has been welcoming and appreciative of his employees. Ties with this corporation could be quite lucrative to us. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement with the Headhunters that will be of mutual benefit to each of us and does not involve either faction shedding blood or losing face.
The acting leader of the Dreadnoks read over the message several times. At the end of the day, he was excellent at brokering profitable arrangements and he really didn’t want to wage a turf war with an upstart drug cartel that was over nine thousand miles away in the United States. The more he thought about it, the more he preferred a financial solution. And if the Headman was really the boy scout that Burnout was making him out to be, then there could be other perks as well. He padded off a terse response. See what you can arrange. The biker gang member got the mobile notification a short time later. The door to the lab opened and the CEO entered.
“Good morning, Doctors. I trust that everything is going well?” Without missing a beat, Burnout changed between open windows on his laptop and stood up to shake the man’s hand.
“Good morning, Doctor d’Alleva. Always a pleasure to see you.”
“And where is my favorite prankster, Dr. Frankenstein? He knew I was coming down to visit, did he run off to lunch in order to avoid my observation?” Just at that moment, the door to the lab’s biohazard room opened and Hotwire emerged wearing a mid-range hazmat suit. The security door locked after him and he removed his helmet and gloves, hanging them in the appropriate containment area. He kept the loose-fitting jumpsuit on and extended his hand towards the CEO.
“Good morning, boss. So good to see you again. Is everything copacetic today?” Vincent remembered their previous conversation and thought to push the envelope a bit further. “Everything is great, I’m just waiting for my Metamucil to kick in so I can have a healthy bowel movement without soiling my Depends.”
“Really boss?”
“No, not really, but since you’re always implying that I’m an old man I thought it might add to your level of discomfort if I provided you with a little TMI.” Hotwire’s expression didn’t change. He could still not gauge the man’s level of irritability, or sincerity for that matter. Vincent was a difficult read when he wanted to be.
“Didn’t I tell you to pack up your stuff and go home?” He let the statement hang there for a moment before he started to tap his foot impatiently. “Well? Didn’t I?”
“Umm...well Doctor. You didn’t instruct me to go home, but you had asked me to submit my late reports on our progress. And I did that as soon as I got off the phone with you.”
“I see. So, you thought everything between us is O.K.?” He continued to tap his foot the entire time staring at the brilliant but rude scientist standing before him. Hotwire began to sweat. He had never seen the CEO this perturbed.
“I’m sorry sir...Dr. d’Alleva sir, for my previous conduct. I was out of line and shouldn’t have made the comments that I did. Please, don’t send me home.” The next twenty seconds passed uncomfortably, the scowled expression remaining plastered on the CEO’s face.
“Well Randal, you leave me with little choice than to…”
“Please Doctor, I was only kidding.”
“Than to…”
I said I was sorry boss.” By now the arrogant scientist had made his way to his knees and was pleading for forgiveness.
“To...award you with an extra week of vacation.”
“Huh?” The CEO laughed out loud before slapping the young scientist hard on the back.
“I got you, Hotwire! Do you need a bathroom break now? You look like you just had an accident.” He sniffed at the air loudly. “Smells like it too.”
“Hardy Har! Har! Real funny, gramps. I..I...mean Doctor d’Alleva You got me. Alright, are we going to talk about my current project or continue with the middle-school humor?” Vincent continued to laugh at the irritated scientist’s expense for several more seconds before straightening his tie and composing himself.
“Yes, of course, Dr. Frankenstein, I am eager to hear about your recent breakthrough.” The two consulting scientists exchanged glances and Burnout removed a large manila folder from the lower desk drawer which he then handed to the CEO.
“I think you’ll find the information on page sixteen to be of great interest to you. It explains the changes made to our newest plant suppressor. It doesn’t kill off the weeds by poisoning them. Instead, it interferes with their reproductive cycle rendering them infertile. In a single generation’s time, we will be able to eradicate 79% of all annual weed species. This will be a huge breakthrough in lawn care as it will wipe out crabgrass, nettle, knotweed, purslane, and carpetweed. But it doesn’t stop there, boss. It will never wipe out all of the pesky plant species so the thirty or so percent that survives will have to be treated again the next season. Add in the plants that undergone annual mutations and we will never be out of business.”
“That is good news. But what is this that I hear about it rendering some perennial species incapable of reproduction as well?”
“I kind of figured that you would have caught on to that. That’s good news because the plant suppliers will need to produce more flowers for sale to replace the ones that died off. Kind of a one-hand-washes-the-other mentality.”
“I see. Is the percent high enough that we need to fully disclose it to the customer?”
“Surprisingly enough, we are under the threshold for mandatory disclosure.”
“That is awesome news!” The CEO paused for a moment before removing a post-it note from his pocket. “Oh yeah. Now I remember. What about the asexually reproducing species?”
“Well, those are still presenting a problem that we’re working on, but once again, this also ensures that we stay in business?”
“Fair enough, but I am hopeful that we can create a product combination that is equally as effective against the bryophytes, pteridophytes, and those ever troublesome Taraxacum.”
“Yeah boss, but just remember that vegans like to eat dandelions.”
“True, but they’d rather buy them at some millennial supermarket than pick them off their back lawn.”
“A valid point Doctor.”
“OK, well we can toss around some formula modifications later on. I understand you also have a huge breakthrough regarding F.A.C.E.” While Dr. Dd’Alleva waited for a response, he heard a familiar voice coming from the back of the room. He looked up and stood awestricken as a second Hotwire emerged from the back supply room.
“You see gramps. The project is so convincing that you didn’t even realize that you were conducting a conversation with an AI.”
“What? What?!”
“That’s right doc. You were talking to pseudo-me the whole time. Did you really think I would grovel after your diaper joke? Please, the program is slightly flawed because it is designed to make the best decision, not necessarily the one I would have chosen.”
The CEO nodded only half-listening to the scientist’s explanation. The gears in his head began to formulate a plan. One that could possibly get him out from under the thumb of the drug kingpin and give him back some semblance of a life.
“So, Randal. How do we go about producing one that looks like me?”
“Great idea boss! I thought you’d never ask.”
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