Edda Nebulae tries to chase down Healer Allie and had confronted her trying to get her to work only for Mx Nebulae alone. Now that the person has learned Allie's demand, in order to get better access to her healing ability, Edda decides to try to do what Allie has demanded and finds just how rewarding such actions can be.
@internutter/challenge-02739-g182-do-not-pay-your-heart -- Anon Guest
At first, ze was offended by Allie's hubris. How dare that little junk doctor living in filth and feculence tell them what to do? Following outrage, came thought. Allie would not be moved by rage. She would not be moved by inconvenience. She would not be bought out. She refused to be owned. Though that did rub Edda up the wrong way, Allie was clearly determined. Determined enough to make engineering inconvenience, ironically, too much trouble to perform.
There was only one condition in the deal. Help more people than I have, Allie had said. So that was what Edda had to do. First, find out how many people Allie had helped. Simple data gathering. Edda gave that task to a minion and carried on building hir empire. There was only so much time left and some things were more important than others.
Then came the news. The minion returned. "Uhm. Mx? The Lucky Medik Allie has -uh- helped... more than you might think. It's.. five." Halfytch had never stammered or stumbled like this before. It had to be five of something large.
"Five billion?" asked Edda. "Trillion? It's do-able... difficult, but I own that many people. I can make improvements on their lifestyles and trim some fat. No true losses."
"It's..." Halfytch cowered for the first time in her life. "Uhm. Five... empires."
Edda had to do math in hir head. If Halfytch was using the numerical measurement of a googleplex squared, then... that was a lot of people. If it was the other measurement assuming an empire of ten solar systems with five colonised planets each, with a population of ten billion each... that was a more do-able number. "The Galactic Empire or the Fiduciary one?"
"...fiduciary," squeaked Halfytch, tearful at delivering the worst possible news. Five... googleplex... squared. That many people. "If I'm fired I would like to politely request time enough to get my affairs in order."
She was talking like she expected to die. From being fired? That was trivial. Some other CEO would whisk her away in a second. Edda laughed. "You're being a little overdramatic there, aren't you Halfytch? Be honest."
"Well. Since I have leave... all my belongings are rented from your corporate body on the Employee Benefits plan. The house, our personal transportation, everything. Even little Ram's toys. I'd have to pay my debts and since I don't have assets to sell, we'd be well in the red before we were evicted... and lucky to leave wearing the clothes we had on at the time. If unlucky, we would be declared thieves for wearing your clothes and... once in the criminal system..."
Once in. Never out.
"You must have saved something."
"I did. I invested in your company's stock, as according to your Loyal Followers Initiative. Once fired, that stock is automatically reclaimed and the past year's dividend is fined on the presumptive basis of former disloyalty."
"I wouldn't do that to you..."
"It's automatic. I helped you set it up so that, in your words, no sneaky little rules lawyers could get away with more than they deserve. It's ironclad and unbreakable."
Edda... barely remembered that. "You're... not fired. The truth isn't your fault." Now that the vermin in the corners of memory lane had been exposed to the light, Edda could recall several times where ze did blame the messenger for the message. "How many people have I... caused... to come to a similar ruin?"
"Uh. Three. Empires. Fiscal empires." Halfytch cowered again. "A portion were unemployed relatives of... offenders, but the numbers are still in your official CDC count."
"CDC count that? Freeloaders aren't people..."
Halfytch had a look. Still fearful of hir, of course, but biting her lip to not say something. There was a hint of reproachfulness in that look.
It took Edda a moment to realise. Halfytch had like... three freeloaders. What was the common throng word? Children. She had three children, all cared for by a corporate-endorsed nanny who would ensure that, when they matured, they would be ready, willing, and able to become proper corporate resources.
Edda was starting to become aware of how vastly different hir life was to anyone else around hir. That, as Allie might say, was a start.
The rest was going to be harder than it seemed in the beginning.
It was going to hurt. "Let's... begin... with..." here, hir mouth squirmed to say it. "Severance pay. And... disability insurance."
"And paid parental leave?" offered Halfytch.
It was do or die painfully. "...'es..."
For the first time, Halfytch had a genuine smile. It lit up her entire face like a miracle. "Thank you. This is going to mean so much to all your employees."
Edda had to wonder what other miracles ze had been missing out on.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / aaronamat]
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