I tell Larida to strap me into the saddle each day until we get to Marcrest as I need to Travel for a few days in a row this time. She looks at me strangely, but shrugs and nods and hoists me up onto Freckles and ties me to the dappled mare before I log over to the ATC.
The switching has been stretching my attention again, my assisted consciousness being less effective as I’ve insisted on being more present lately—especially after Lucy’s development.
I tell Jessie that I’ll be in town all day for two days and I immediately get forwarded several packets of data from her team, my sponsors, and two from Arthur and Ophelia labeled ‘Read First’.
A video message pops up and both the COO of London and Ophela are sitting on the edge of the boardroom table staring at me.
“Selena, I know I’m not your favorite person, but Orion corporate has an issue that involves social media, and no one else in the executive has more experience dealing with you besides Ophelia, who is here for obvious reasons.” The man gestures for her to take a turn.
“I have already talked to all of your sponsors and have asked them to hit pause on us instead of fully exiting our partnerships until we’ve had to address the issue. This problem seemed ‘manageable night before last, but last night it escalated dramatically.”
“That’s when I got an email with a screen shot telling me to fix it. That said, you should get a meeting invite within a few minutes of this message starting, and the associated packets are what we know so far, and during our face-to-face, we will address any further developments.”
The message stops and the packets unlock into chronological order screenshots and social media posts. Before I open the first set, I get a meeting invite during my team practice time. I’m about to reject it out of hand when I see that Martyr, my coach, is on the meeting invite. I open the window to see that he was included for the purpose of acknowledging that I would leave practice to attend. Guess I’m going.
I open the first packet and I’m livid. My former testing group lead, Jeremy, the man I reported for sexual harassment, has been trashing me on my sponsor’s posts of my media. Stuff that has been posted for weeks. Some interesting revelations that led up to those moments, involving a particularly spunky woman that moved from ATC London to ATC New York who made a V-Gram about a guy harassing her bestie and how ridiculous it was that he still had a job after harassing ‘Sellie’ in London.
Bitch name drops me and is apparently the source of the attention currently on me. Not the source of my problem mind you, that is apparently on Orion International as one of the board members is Jeremy’s dad and he couldn’t bear some ‘whore’ ruin his son’s promising career. Not the spunky model, this was a statement made during a meeting addressing my compiled harassment reports before I was fired and he was moved to New York, where he apparently got a promotion. That data was from the ATC itself, reported by Executive Inquiry.
I don’t have time to get through every packet before I get to the gaming room for scrims tonight, but I sure as shit have time to get angry.
I’m a bit more aggressive than normal, but I treat the enemy team roamers like they had personally harassed me, and I pictured the other laners having executive-like faces that needed to have grade A frowns as they sat in respawn. I got punished often enough that our shot-caller had to reign me in before PVE objectives so I didn’t always put us in a deficit.
Martyr mentions to me that the aggression can be managed, now I just have to play consistently one way, or to convince him that my playstyles are on-demand. Hamster doesn’t say anything, and I low-key think he’s still cross with me about Gigavibe’s championship weekend. Before I get the chance to take the advice and use it, it’s time for a meeting that will likely make me very angry.
I don’t live in the tower anymore, so I can’t just jump over for a shower and a wardrobe change. I did brink a small duffel to change before dinner though. Before I can think too much on that, Ophelia hooks my arm and leads me to the bathroom, locking the door behind us.
I suddenly wonder if I’m going to get roughed up.
“The only place that Orion doesn’t record anything is in bathrooms. The meeting we’re about to have is going to be very corporate and you’re probably going to want to wring Arthur’s neck a few minutes in. Be yourself, but don’t say anything you can’t take back. We’re going out to dinner to finish the conversation without the expectation of being recorded. In the Orion building.”
“Shy would that stop them? They own the whole ATC.”
“Because you are involved, mostly. The ATC controlling AI takes your digital citizenship just as seriously as Maddie does and is enforcing most of the laws regarding residents in the various countries our users are diving in from. Long story short, the ATC won’t give up your action or chat records unless you authorize them to, or Orion actively employs assets to eavesdrop or spy on us.”
“That’s a bit odd, but I’m grateful for it,” I reply with a sigh.
She nods, unlocks the bathroom and heads back to the conference room.
I see Maddie chatting with Arthur and another man I don’t know.
“I assume I am being summoned for the social media issues that have come up?” I address Arthur before walking around the table to sit next to my lawyer slash therapist.
“That and by necessity the internal harassment reports you filed. Selena Campbell, this is the CEO of Orion London, Peter Gneiss.”
“A third executive? Oof. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, sir.”
“I generally don’t meet the lower echelon unless they are proving an expensive problem to solve.” He doesn’t growl, it’s more like he’s looking at a particularly foul waste bin that needs taking to the curb.
I raise an eyebrow to both Ophelia and Maddie before looking over to Arthur, waiting for him to continue. He sighs and sits down, which he hasn’t done in a meeting with me since the first one.
“Because of an internet party, you are looking like a toxic property as Serious Sellie, and the company wants to hear what your plan is to recover the image of Orion and the brands you represent.” That’s awfully open ended, Arthur.
“I will start by saying I have never bad-mouthed Orion, or linked a questionable opinion to Orion on either of my business social media tags, nor my private tag. Orion was implied by people that knew Pixie Patty, but until J.R. Me and Director Jay started flaming people, both of whom had their place of employment as Orion--with localization enabled might I add—that Orion was confirmed, and that Jeremy Haskins was involved.”
“No name was confirmed in those posts. Let’s not spread rumors.” Peter scowls.
“Sir, he had his real name and email addresses in both profiles before they were scrubbed. My subscribers took screenshots as soon as they were posed and did a pretty tidy job of connecting the dots. They also flamed Patty for using my real name, but I haven’t had the chance to address their behavior publicly yet. Jeremy tied you to this debacle, not me Mr. Gneiss.”
The older man looks to Arthur to confirm my explanation. He nods.
“Yet we are brought into this. What will you do to ameliorate our damages?”
I snort. “That is not my responsibility in this, sir. I have been wronged by one of your employees on multiple occasions. I even warned the company of his habits with a detailed list of personal harassments and team harassment perpetrated by Jeremy. Yet you promoted him and gave him control over more vulnerable people? Perhaps I should ask you how you plan to discuss distancing Jeremy from the company with Board-member Haskins?” I hold up a hand to interrupt his tomato faced outrage. “That is not my business. To your question, I plan to talk to my fans and subscribers to explain things, I plan to explain to my sponsors and partners what is happening, and I plan to cement my resolve in the wrong that has occurred by having my lawyer present.”
“You don’t feel you are even partially to blame for this matter, Miss Campbell?”
“I suppose I should have followed up on the promises that Orion made to me, but other than that, I have not spoken to or talked about Jeremy since I was transferred out of his department with the exception of Arthur, Ophelia and Maddie. Patty was here while I was still building a harassment case against him. So I guess if I had been a better ally to vulnerable women, I would have sued the man for harassment despite Orion’s assurances that the matter was ‘handled’.”
“A lawsuit would have seen you fired and disconnected in a heartbeat.”
“I was fired for it, the timeline fits. I escalated my report to the International board’s drop box and I was fired a month later for poor performance. I took a snapshot and noticed my performance records were altered after I signed an agreement to not contest the dismissal. Curious that.”
Maddie reaches out under the table and squeezes my hand. She wants me to back off. But why? Not that I don’t trust her, I just don’t understand.
“As a show of good faith. Orion is asking you to step away from the Orion Black Fathoms of Fate team.” Arthur says.
“Did someone publicly link my Sellie name to my Zhantsa name?”
“That seems the only account not tainted by scandal. But as you say, they have been connected before by facial recognition.”
“As the esteemed CEO is implying, the tie isn’t hard to make, it’s just that no one is focusing on it, including Mr. Haskins.”
“As a show of faith, I want Orion to apologize for Jeremy’s behavior.”
“We have made the public statements we intend to.” Yeah, to the tune that statements made on a volatile platform are volatile and such is the nature of the medium. Yet they want me to remedy the economic impact that having their name drug through said volatile platform is my responsibility?
I am freaking red with anger. Luckily Ophelia has a calmer head.
“That idea has some merit, sir. Her clothing brands are driving for Orion to address the harassment allegations that were brought up. Her other sponsors have said the same thing.”
“You want us to recommend to the board, to make business decisions on the personal revenue of a glorified model?”
“No, sir. I want the company to foster a safe work environment for a 10M pound asset that brings in more money for Orion than that man will ever make for the company. Arthur, I and the ATC estimate it will cost her worth every year for us to ignore this, and ten times that amount to default on the contracts that she holds with us. Also, since you brought up disconnection, the fallout could cost the company tens of billions. ATC-run simulations. I’m not saying you would, or the board would, but please realize what that statement actually signifies.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Is this some woman solidarity thing?” The old man asks Arthur.
“No Peter. Orion International made promises to many countries to safeguard their citizens. Joking about something that would end our company as we know it is tasteless.” Arthur then turns to me, “Selena, as you don’t seem to be willing to make concessions, Orion is pulling their sponsorships in the gaming arena, to include access to our game labs in support of those sponsorships.” He slides a stack of papers my way, and it is a stack of letters that say they won’t be continuing sponsorship opportunities in the future.
There are a few signature pages, but I ignore them for now in favor of: “Alright. What next? Where do we go from here?”
“Once your contracts run out, or are severed as a result of this fiasco, Orion will no longer be involved in your image management. No Jesse, no HR support, nothing,” Ophelia adds.
“The exception we were making to get real income into Alaris Eturnum will also cease along with any other concessions or exceptions that are currently in place.” Arthur states.
“Arthur, I am reading the papers you are sending forth. Several of these need a second pass in the legal department with a focus on her Digital Residency within the United Kingdom.”
His face quirks a moment in consideration, then pulls some of the papers back.
\Are there any targets I should try to save before I send these two lawsuits?\
/Besides keeping my development when AE goes live, I want to keep the ATC London Apartment Complex that me and my friends live in. Side note, do I have the money to support these lawsuits?/
\Understood. As for money, I’ll fill in more details later, but lets say that doing business with Allison Emerson has been fruitful.\
“Do we believe that the progress of this meeting is being held by lawyer semantics?” Arthur asks Maddie.
“I do. Without the correct terminology on these ‘signature required’ documents, it’s not useful to even discuss.”
“I have some to add. Selena, while I can’t delete your contacts list, I will tell you that if you intend to use any beauty or photography contractors, it will be on your own dime.” I snicker at that, but Ophelia sees that as my laughing at her olive branch.
“No, no. I laugh because I would have totally not thought of that until I got rebuffed at the tower entrance to get some shots taken with my friends. Saying that, should I refrain from being in content with currently sponsored influencers and models?”
Ophelia groans. “That is a longer conversation that can be encapsulated poorly with ‘it depends’. If you stick to ATC public assets or personal assets, you should be fine before we have that longform convo.”
I nod and move to get up before I notice that Mr. Gneiss is red in the face and making yelling gestures and expressions with absolutely no sound.
“What’s that about?” I ask.
“It’s a legal matter tied in your health and welfare. I talked to the ATC and he agreed that emergency injunctions on speech to prevent medical emergencies should be a thing we can do. He made some decisions to intentionally attempt to hurt your sense of self. How he got the knowledge he intended to use is also suspect, but that said he still has the right to speech so if he tries to message you, do not accept the connection.” She then turns to the CEO man.
“Mr. Gneiss. You entered a meeting in the ATC with intent to deceive and to do harm, your access to all instances Orion-based virtual world technology will be suspended until the case is resolved by the Board of Directors.” The man freezes for a moment before dissolving into tiny, scattering cubes.
***
Maddie strolls with me after we exit the skyscraper our meeting was in.
“How serious was that back there? I thought his veiled threat was more of a bullying position, but from your reaction, he might have been serious?”
She nods. “While I can’t tell his motivation for certain, but my brother sent me a record that the man had of likely ways to trigger a dissonance episode. As soon as he accessed the file, ATC muted him, when his attempts became more likely to injure you instead of disable, he locked and ejected him.”
“With that scowl on your face, it was bad. Do you think it likely he will be the only one to try?”
“No. Especially now that we have a favorable chance to get the man locked up by the Americans. The woman that Patricia Muntz was championing was more than just harassed and has agreed to help us prosecute the man with the crimes perpetrated on her person. You will, of course be paying for it.”
“And this is a good idea with people already trying to kill me?” I ask as terror starts creeping in as I realize that the angry executive was earnestly trying to hurt me.
“My brother can keep you safe here, he is very attentive and has been given many liberties in an effort to ‘prevent harm’. I worry more when they begin to send people after Zhantsa. I am much less enabled to personally intervene in these types of situations. That said, a criminal trial, a defamation lawsuit, and the threat of a class-action lawsuit of fostering unhealthy work practices against Orion as a corporation should keep them distracted from what our goals actually are.”
I’m certain that she’s talking about the land deals, what looks like Maddie setting herself up for a real-life identity, and the massive server farm she’s installing under that convention center we bought in Saskatchewan.
“We’ll have to arrange a time to talk soon, now that Allison is on board.” She nods but doesn’t say anything.
I get lost in thought about said person whom I think is Alaris’ cover identity, and how there are suddenly millions available to litigate a criminal case against Jeremy. Oh, and that Orion is low key trying to kill me. Yeah, that little thing.
When Maddie pulls out a chair for me, I realize she’s led me into a restaurant and I had no idea when we even walked inside. Arthur and Ophelia are chatting with drinks in hand, with a beer sitting out for me as I sit. I guess Ophelia was serious about an informal meeting. I sit down, take a moderate pull on a floral IPA and instantly relax into the seat with the familiar flavor.
“It’s odd to see you outside of the boardroom, Arthur.” I volunteer.
“Ophelia said the same thing. With the stress I’m under, making efforts to be social is more taxing than it’s worth to me.”
I shrug. “You’re here now, so what’s up?” I’m super curious where this is all headed.
“I think you should do a Serious Sellie Sitdown, but do it live in a synch space.” Arthur explains.
“And I think he’s a loon for wanting to give you and your followers un-vetted access to each other. There will be massive benefits, but you have the opportunity to end your career as an influencer as well.”
“No offense, Ophelia, but why do you care about my career? Even though I consider you a friend, you’ve mentioned on multiple occasions that money is the only reason you deal with my bullshit.”
“Friends can have mutual financial benefit as the reason they’re friends. But you’re right, we wouldn’t just ‘hang out’ unless business is involved. To that, I’ve sent feelers out to influencer alliances for both you and myself, and there is some interest. I care about your career because when I make my move to leave Orion, I’d like you to come with me.”
“I already know the benefits of working with you, but why an influencer alliance?” She never needed something like that before. Is it like a PR department but just social media?
“Two main reasons: They allow more opportunities for influencers while managers specialize, and crossover events are popular the world round. You are a fashion influencer. We’ve been keeping your gaming separate, and that side would benefit from a manager that specializes in gaming exposure while opening the gates for you to team up with gaming influencers, or even fitness influencers now that I know that’s in your talent set.”
That’s pretty clever. Instead of having a department, you just have a bunch of team leads that assist on other people’s projects, giving expert help to influencers without a flood of additional employees or training.
“I see the benefit, but why are you so against a Sitdown?”
“Because the last time you did one, you offended some sponsors and a whole slew of followers and I spent weeks cleaning that up.”
“Maybe, but it needs to be done. I’m not going to flame Orion by name or anything, but I am going to address Jeremy’s allegations. I mostly just want to respond, and have him out of a position to continue harassing people.”
“His dad’s a board member.”
“I don’t give a shit, Arthur. Slapping his son with criminal charges and a civil suit is going to be real embarrassing for everyone that’s protecting him.”
“Good for you, Selena. Just make sure you don’t destroy yourself in the process.”
“Alright, what the fuck is your problem with me? I feel like you’ve been itching to get rid of me since day two.”
“Deadass?”
“Ew, stop it, millennial.” I need to scrub my brain.
He chuckles, “That is part of it. You remind me of my daughter and the both of you invent trouble for yourselves that makes more work for me. Sorry about blowing up about the apartments. Even though it was only like thirty pounds, you did something illegal and it triggered corporate’s attention and that’s the last thing you want. I tried to get you to back down before I had to report it, but you were confident that you were doing the right thing, and if I act outside of my role while in that building I’ll likely get fired. Unlike dearest Ophelia, I have not branched out enough to have other prospects.”
Well shit. I’m not forgiving his outburst, but I understand his reaction a lot better. I’m not his kid though. I wonder if he feels trapped or he’s just inconvenienced by his bosses’ stupidity? His admission really just makes me want to meet his daughter so I can gossip and talk shit with her.
“I find it hard to believe that you couldn’t find a new job, Arthur.”
He sighs “I suffer the other side of the coin from the young idiot plaguing you. My grandfather founded Orion Telecom with a few friends. It’s hard for me to see where the company is going, so I’m trying to climb so I can . . . how do the crude Americans say it, Un-fuck this?”
I snort at his swearing. “Yeah, well, there’s a lot of un-fucking to do if the board is doubling down on a nepo baby that’s traumatizing people. Maybe put a note in his file to only hire male presenting people and buff women?”
“Not lesbians?”
I look at Ophelia to ask if she’s serious. She starts laughing. “Arthur. I’m suuuuuper gay. I told Jeremy that the first time he asked me out. He took that like it was a sickness I could be cured from.”
He stares at me curiously for a few minutes, taking a sip of his cocktail in between thoughts, when his eyes widen and slams the rest of his drink and flags down a server for another.
“I think my kid might be gay.”
I hold in my laughter to the best of my ability. “Just because I remind you of her, doesn’t mean she’s gay too.”
“She’s friends with that girl that brought you into this, Patricia.” That’s not hard evidence, but signs point to Bi. “Do you know Eloise?”
Oh. Leecie, fucking, Meyer. How did I not connect the two? Patty is definitely banging her, and even I’ve fooled around with Leecie. My current girlfriend dated her before me and that’s why Leecie moved to the New York ATC.
“I know her as Leecie, but yeah. I’m pretty sure she’s gay. If you tell her I outed her, you will never drink a hot latte again.”
His eyes narrow “How do you know.” Yeah, I was hoping he wouldn’t knee-jerk to that conclusion. Luckily I haven’t slept with her.
“Uh, we made out at parties a few times, but she has also dated Patty.” And my super hot athletic goddess of a girlfriend. “Does she work for Orion?”
The delay in his response is palpable, but he shakes his head. “A financial firm that bought into the ATC Wall Street scene.” I sigh in relief.
“Was this the extent of this meeting?” I ask.
“No. Be wary of relying on your medical contract for your safety. I don’t think all of the board members understand the death knell it would be should you die in our care. It’s possible that you would have the last laugh, but don’t throw away your life so quickly for a chance at revenge.”
“Whoah! Arty, buddy, you misunderstand what this is. I’m not trying to start a crusade, I just want to punish skeevy douche bags for their business and person harming ways.”
The rest of the ‘meeting’ isn’t productive, so I duck out before our meals are ordered and tell Lucy my meeting ended early.
“You distracted them from telling you the whole story,” Maddie says behind me. “Arthur authorized your gaming lab at the apartment complex if you can pay the fines and the projected cost of labor and materials for your ‘heist’. Do you wish to admit that you were wrong in your approach, while getting what you wanted?”
I chuckle, “I said they should do this to me in the meeting I was fired. I’m super okay with this. How much?”
“Twenty seven thousand.” My feet stutter and Maddie supports me to keep me from meeting the pavement.
“Gods, that’s far more than makes fiscal sense to keep.”
“I would agree, but Arthur flagged your gaming room as a synch space candidate. That is worth more to you than a measly twenty seven thousand.”
I shake my head, “I don’t think I understand, but I haven’t come this far without trusting you.” I shrug.
“You’re not even remotely afraid that I’m a nefarious AI that want’s all humans to die for the betterment of my resources?”
“Maddie, that is creepy. But also, you helped me long before you wanted my help, and that’s enough for me. Long con or not, you’re making moves that help me survive and I’m grateful. If you’re secretly a human hating computational monstrosity, I hope you treat me like one of your residents.”
She smiles and grabs my hand to hold. “You are one of my residents, Zhantsa. You’re one of my favorite humans. You are the catalyst I could not ignore.”
She has other favorite humans? Is that a sprig of jealousy in my heart? You have a girlfriend in each realm you ho, quit making eyes at the woman that literally saved your life. Putting her in that context did not help.
I love Lucy. I’m just infatuated with Maddie. Let it go. If this woman starts acting like we had a chance long-term, I will lose my mind.
Lucy’s tired when I get home, but with more work to do, she’s on the couch with her laptop, tapping away. I kiss her hello and meld against her side as she works, falling asleep on her shoulder at some point.
The next time I wake, Lucy is holding my middles while we’re both top naked, under covers.
“I freaking love you,” I mumble as I fall back to sleep in a cozy embrace.
