Corporate Ladder Copyright © 2000 by Jenni Carpenter 2088
Ademis Codan opened his dusty attic door and peered upward into the dark room above his garage. His ladder teetered beneath his feet as his hand hunted for the light-switch. He couldn't understand why the house every room in the house had voice-lights except for the attic. No human being has been up here for 7 years, he told himself, feeling like an explorer on a once sacred ground. He could barely breath among his only companions on his new journey, dust bunnies. Ade, as his friends called him, was ready to pack up all his belongings in preparation for his move to New Chicago in the Gagarin Station. More and more people were inhabiting the Moon, and New Chicago would become the newest city adjacent to Lunarton, the ever growing metropolis. New Chicago would provide great opportunities for an architect of Ade's talent, nearly 34 square miles miles of completely undeveloped land.
"Oh, these will have to go," He said allowed to himself when he spotted members of his former wardrobe stashed in a crumpling box. "These things haven't been in style since the ‘70s," a voice in his head told him. Maybe he should keep some of them, the style was coming back- that thought made him cringe. He lifted the box with all his power and dropped it through the hole he had just climbed through. It collided with the ground to make a catastrophic thud as it greeted the ground; Ade ducked his head in anticipation of the eventual thud.
"Next." He announced in his head. He crawled toward a box that seemed to be hiding from him in the corner of the room. The box was red, or at least it might eventually be red somewhere under the thick layer of dust. He brushed away what time had compiled and the letters "CC" were revealed. A crowd of uncontrollable memories crashed through his mind all at once. He sat back and closed his eyes; how could he forget? Mike, Kollin, Etin, Peter, Vek, and so many others. Why had he forgotten? Ade opened the box with new motivation; moving preparation would have to wait. He paused when he spotted his diary, most people preferred voice-logs but Ade thought written memories were much more valuable. It had a story to tell, a story Ade new, it was his story, but also one he had forgotten.
"Fifteen years earlier Ade wrote a speech for debate class about the influence of corporations and how they positively influenced society. The report was normal and mildly interesting to much of the class, except for a fellow student. After class that student confronted Ade: ‘You don't really believe that do you?' He asked.
‘Believe what?' What was there to "believe" this wasn't a debatable topic, it was a compilation of information found in School-Maks (text-books).
‘That corporations have improved our lives?' he said in a quieter tone, ‘It's all lies,' he insisted. ‘If you want to learn the truth some to my house tonight,' handed Ade a flyer with an address, ‘my friends and I are having a meeting.' He said, looking nervously around the hallways before he disappeared into a classroom.
The confrontation certainly left Ade confused, but he wasn't busy that night anyway and he could feel a touch of excitement in the situation as well as an opportunity to meet new people."
Ade flipped through the pages, he could almost feel the neurons in his brain tracking down memories and clicking them into his thought process. The meeting was that of a group who called themselves "Corporate-Crushers." It was a temporary name until they came up with a better one. They were an amateur group of young citizens who believed that corporate power had gotten too powerful. Ade was hesitant to believe at first, he had been told about people like this and never would have imagined he would become one. They blamed numerous problems, disasters, tragedies, assassinations, etc. on corporate-corruption. They weren't anti-capitalist they were anti-corporate power. "Save the face of capitalism" was one of many battle cries in a battle-less, one-sided, nearly inexistent war.
The diary consisted of notes of practically every conspiracy theory. Vek, the unofficial leader of the unorganized and so-far un-populous group, discovered most of the "theories." One of the biggest accusations was against the corporate giant of Norton Networks, whom Vek blamed for most of the "atrocities." The theory told how Norton assassinated US President Greg Howard in 2056 because Howard was trying to decrease the rising powers of companies like Norton. The official and un-argued report told of how secret service agent Mark Adam Kaymore who murdered Howard in his sleep because his cat told him that the President was evil. Vek's version told of a hired man who climbed within the secret service ranks and blamed the murder on his insanity; which is punishable by death but Vek argued that Norton promised a good life for "Kaymore's" family. Vek even accused corporations of altering history, he explained: Corsico didn't help fund the first men on the moon, they weren't even a company yet; Dickson Ent. didn't create the "Dickson Vaccine" that slowed the Eios epidemic in the 2020s, a unknown doctor found it and they killed him then claimed his idea as their own; etc.
Ade seemed to remember everything now. "God, how could I forget all of this?!" He cursed at himself. Vek, what happened to Vek? He asked himself. He searched for something in his diary that would tell him. He knew Vek had died in a strange manner but what happened? He sped through the pages and found what he had been looking for. Another memory re-ignited; Vek had been sick with a minor case of Upos, a disease that occurs among Mooniers (inhabitants of the moon colonies). He was "misdiagnosed" and was given an excessive amount of morphine that his body couldn't handle and died. The Corporate-Crushers knew he wasn't misdiagnosed, they knew the truth, it was no "unfortunate mistake." The doctor was never charged, never even blamed.
Vek was more than just a lost life, he was the brain trust of the group, and he was the group. Whatever corporation the doctor was working for knew that the group was nothing without Vek, and they were right. The group lasted about a year before disinigrating. And now, nothing, at least as far as Ade knew.
The last entries consisted of the demise of the "CC" and Ade's de-involvement. His outsider friends practically forced him to take counseling due to his obvious depression. The diary told of the counseling visits which covered the last pages. He read the diary in search of answers explaining his why he forgot so much. There it was, in the words, right in front of him. The counselor had ordered for an experimental surgery known as Minos Surgery, at the time he agreed to it he had no clue what it was and frankly he was suicidal anyway and didn't care about the consequences. Now, however, Ade was better informed. Minos Surgery had grown past the developmental stage. Now it was known as a "mercy" surgery performed on the hippocampus to alter the memories in abuse victims. It didn't delete the memories but rather it hid them so to speak.
"God damn-it!" he screamed. He felt violated, he knew why they had done it and it frightened him. They had real power, who knows who all they've done this too, how many were even killed? Ade felt lucky that he didn't share the same fate as Vek, and wondered why they didn't just kill him too, he wondered.
The diary wasn't the only thing in this box: documents, visuals, proof, theories, names, etc. He couldn't hide this someone had to know about it. He had to keep quiet and yet he had to tell someone. "Stan!" His close friend could be trusted. He climbed down from the attic and contacted Stan.
"Hello, Stan?" Ade said.
"Speaking, who am I speaking to?" The familiar voice on the other side replied.
"It's Ade, can you come on visual?"
"Hey Ade! I'd rather stay on audio, I look horrible believe me you don't want to see what I look like right now. You need help movin' or something?"
"No, um, I just had something to tell you." Ade said, contemplating how he was going to tell his friend what he had found. "I found something in my attic." he paused. He told Stan the basic outline of what he had found, what he had remembered.
"Geez, Ade." Stan said, in partial disbelief. "You don't really believe that right?
"What!" Ade said, confused. "Of course I believe it. It's true."
"Come on Ade, you don't really believe it, please." Stan said, as if he was ordering Ade call his own story a lie.
"Stan, what's wrong with you." Ade asked, an obvious worried tone in his voice. "Of course I believe it! And I'm going to do something about it, this fight will not end."
"Damn-it Ade, why you?" Stan yelled.
"What are you talking about?" Ade asked, now very confused.
"I liked you Ade, you're a good person." Stan said in a saddened tone then cut off connection.
"What the heck was that about?" Ade wondered, now very worried. He had known Stan for over 5 years, and he never acted that strange.
Ade grabbed the box and ran outside into his destinationer. He drove away, he had to talk to Stan face-to-face. He stayed on the ground, the air traffic was heavy and he liked the ground better anyway. He reached the highway when another destinationer popped out of nowhere behind Ade. The other driver sped up and then slowed down behind Ade. The driver was beside him now, his passenger looked at Ade with a wicked smile and then face foreword. Moments later the driver slammed into Ade, and now he knew what was going on. They knew somehow, they had found out and now Ade was their next target. Ade didn't think it was that serious, but this confirmed to him that there was much more to the story that the "CC" had ever known or imagined. That box became Ade's first priority; he grabbed and slipped it under the seat hoping that it would be less damaged if anything happened to the destinationer.
The passenger of the other destinationer had some a weapon in his hand. Firearms were illegal in Moon colonies. How did they get they get a holed of one? The answer seemed obvious and yet it still shocked Ade. He knew this was it; he knew it was over, and he wasn't going to die alone. He ground his teeth and sharply swerved into his enemy's path.
Police arrived minutes later. The two partially charred destinationers sat in the middle of the empty roadway. A curious officer searched the car for any evidence, he reached under the seat and found the box. He looked around and quickly slipped the box into his destinationer without notice. He jumped in himself and quietly drove away from the scene.
"Etin, I got it." The officer said.
"Great Kollin, did anyone see you?" Said the eased voice on the other side.
"No one suspected a thing, Etin"
"Thank God." Etin replied. "What about Ademis?"
Sigh, "They got him, he's dead." Answered Kollin, removing his uniform.
"Damn, he never even found us again." A saddened Etin replied.
"But we know he tried to find us, and now we have most of Vek's things." Kollin responded.
"We've lost another original member, Kollin. And he was a potential major player." Etin regretted the loss. "He would have given us someone in New Chicago as well."
"The revolution isn't over by a long shot Etin, it's only beginning now. These bastards will pay for all their damage."
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