On the dashboard of her brainchip, Dr. Frampton saw a message zip into view. There was no information on the sender. The note simply read, “They’re trying to sabotage the corporation.” She didn’t know who this “they” was. She didn’t know exactly how someone or some people could be detracting from her company. A frown descended on her countenance. She walked the halls with synths and learned machines ambling around her. The journey to her office felt like a rough and tumble excursion with all the thoughts racing through her head. 

She looked at the message once more. Struck by the jarring sense of it, she took it as a warning sign, rather than a death knell. When Dr. Frampton had finally reached her desk, she looked at it again. Then she looked into possible plots that could arise. For moments like this, she had prepared herself. She didn’t want to go to Bellinda just yet. Like a woman cop on the beat, she felt she could fend for herself before asking for backup. To take her strength she had built up in herself, she adhered it to this particular problem. With the power over a multi-billion-dollar company, she knew that she had to become stealthy about this…for now. 

By going through her notes from previous missives, she could see a pattern of discontent coming from anonymous sources. This source showed the same ideal. People either outside or internally wished to see the company implode and go the wayside like so many other firms of the past. She couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Bel’, would you come here, please?”

The door swung open to allow Belinda’s entrance.

“Wow, that was fast,” Dr. Frampton remarked.

Dr. Frampton blinked and sent the message to Belinda. She read it and her mouth hung slightly agape.

“We can go into panic mode or we can actually root out whatever weeds of injustice plan to overwhelm us,” Belinda offered.

“We have the possibility of looking at every employee from the ones in the c-suite on down the line,” Dr. Frampton championed her friend and colleague’s statement.

“I think we should send out a memorandum to show how this whistleblower…reverse whistleblower, maybe? They’re trying to prevent us from bankruptcy or possible prison time just based on false information,” Belinda posited.

“No, we don’t do that at all. We wait for the person to come forth on their own. We can make it possible through our actions in this room right here.”

Belinda looked at Dr. Frampton with a mix of confusion and admiration. All she wanted to do was burst out laughing or bow her head like a nun. Either of the two gestures would have sufficed in this precarious situation. At once comical and devastatingly serious, the idea that some faction in their company wanted to do harm both tickled and alarmed both women.

“What we can do is discover any leaked documents through the dark web. Once we’ve found the right number of people who had ties to the company recently, we might be able to rid ourselves of this problem.”

“Concretize, Bel’,” Dr. Frampton admonished. “We have to outline an ironclad method of bringing in thousands of employees of this company.”

“Pardon me, pardon me,” Bel’ excused herself. “I know! We can each interview the board members and see what they know about this whole fiasco.”

“I don’t think so. The board doesn’t have a clue. As far as I know, you and I are the only officers who know about this issue. To bring them into it may bring a sense of unwanted dread to the entire situation.”

Belinda shrugged. “We’ve gotta do something, Kaij’,. Something is lurking through this company like a bandit or robber. They’re trying to steal our joy. They’re trying to upset the very fabric of our existence.”

“We must not let this pass. We’re Founders. Maybe it’s those miscreants who didn’t want a Smartystan. Maybe it’s a synth gone haywire, programmed by a disgruntled engineer….”

“I enjoy entertaining your conjectures, but I think there’s something we have to sit down and consider. Now, I received this message exactly thirty-two minutes ago. All it says as a sender is Blank. This anonymous pseudonym might be tracked. We might be able to see through the digital streams the various points where this thing came from in the first place.”

“I can get my machines to check through the dates going back the past few months.”

“My synths can also read those messages from weeks ago. Months.”

“Let’s also think about the amount of data that had been used when the note first surfaced,” Belinda acknowledged.

“Yes, that would be an opportune way of going about it. We would be advantaged to discover this idea of stopping the bleeding before someone even makes the initial cut,” Dr. Frampton observed.

“What we have to do is remember what employees we brought into the fold.”

“We have such a wide database and we still don’t know if this is from without or within the firm,” Belinda pointed out. They both paused as a synth stood at the door.

“Mrs. Gummer, Dr. Frampton, it has come to my attention that there is a serious disturbance on sector four.”

“Did you alert the COO?” Dr. Frampton asked with a calmness despite the circumstances.

“Let me know when you’ve talked to him, okay. We’re kind of in a special co-CEO moment right now.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The synth left just as quickly as he had arrived.

“With your synths and my machines, we could really challenge wherever this note originated.”

“That’s the idea. We just have to listen to our minds. If we’re able to retain the amount of focus and discipline which we demonstrated in building up our companies. With our capabilities, we can run this thing back to the hell it came from and not worry about it,” Dr. Frampton replied.

Belinda sat in the chair across from Dr. Frampton. Her four thousand dollar heel swung side to side as she sat with one leg over the other. Her face looked clear and a bit of consternation painted it. She then laughed.

“I’m just thinking that if you’re doing absolutely nothing, very few things happen. Chief among them are bad things. Nefarious things rarely happen to the unambitious. When the government had a stranglehold over us, that was because we were working, building, creating, making. Same is the case with what we’re dealing with right now.”

“I see your point. Only the ones who are active and trying to save the world get chastised. If we were just sitting at home lying on a couch, we wouldn’t be targeted with possible espionage or worse. In this lane we occupy, we have the opportunity to do something truly great,” Dr. Frampton added.

“So, what we do is remember the recent hires. The people that have become stalwarts of the company who were there before the merger, that’s who we have to overlook for the time being.”

“I disagree. The amount of employees we have hired in the past may be harboring negative motives regarding this enterprise,” Dr. Frampton explained.

“I think we should think about everyone who is involved in all of this. We should be able to discover whoever sent this is probably not the culprit. They’re probably wondering how someone else could even fancy overtaking UltraSynth,” Belinda replied.

“When you look at all the pieces to the puzzle, you get to see the reality of everything. I walk into my office, I get this notice on the chip, and then I’m sitting with you. What we must say is that there is a timeline that exists. For whatever reason, this person chose to send a message to me. Why didn’t they address you, too?”

Belinda’s eyes turned to saucers. “Do you remember that woman you found from Pennsylvania with her kids in the woods?”

“I do.” Then, Dr. Frampton brightened.

“I’m trying to remember her name, Maya…no Mala! She’s an office assistant for Grayson.”

“Now, we have to find her. I’m pulling up her address on file. We have to pay her a visit or ask her to come to the office. It says she’s on vacation right now.”

“Wow! That was such a trip. I recall guiding her to freedom. We’ve lost touch but she’s been a dedicated worker ever since it was just Synths.”

“This should be better for all of us. Let’s get her on the screen,” Belinda suggested. The connection alerted Mala’s chip and then she appeared on the screen.

“Dr. Frampton, Miss Gummer it’s a pleasure––”

“Did you send it?” Dr. Frampton cut her off with quickness.

“Yes, I did. There are nefarious characters trying to upset your business. I found various people who plot to destroy all that both of you have worked so diligently to establish.”

“When did you first notice these figures?” Belinda asked.

“I found out about them when I was just relaxing and I noticed that there had been chatter on the boards about some possible attack on the system.”

“Why’d you send it anonymously?” Dr. Frampton queried.

“I didn’t want to bring attention to my family.”

“You don’t have to worry, for now, we three are the only ones who know about this disturbance,” Belinda reassured.

In the hopes of making something of real substance the three women looked at each other and sighed. They laughed for the first time as a collective. It was like a pressure gauge had allowed some steam off of the equipment.

“Look, Mala, I thank you for bringing this to my attention. Belinda recognizes it as well. We’re going to ensure that after this threat is shot down, we’re going to promote you,” Dr. Frampton imparted.

“Thank you so much. I know there’s work ahead of all of us, but this is the beginning,” Mala replied.

“Now, we have to get to business,” Belinda hunkered down with her words. “We’ve got to find this menace and you have to help us, Mala. It is imperative that we continue to suggest that we have better days ahead of us, no, the best. It is because of people like you that we’re even able to keep this ship sailing on the sea of justice. I want you to know that you will remain anonymous through this whole proceeding. Your image right now is even obscured and your name is being shown as a series of numbers. No worries.”

“We appreciate your confidence and courage and understanding of our corporate culture. It is a wonderment to have people that proceed to save companies that deserve their position and to punish those who don’t. You have proven that you can be the go to girl.”

“We still have the work. Mala, you’re going to be a champion of the company. Along with your promotion, you can expect shares, a bonus, and other benefits.”

“I look forward to all of that. I love this company even before you both linked up together. When I think about it, I am a whistleblower but not what you usually see in the news where some corporation has been overrun by cronies and fraudsters. I wanted to make a way to show that companies can be great, too. That’s UltraSynth. You ladies have demonstrated just how powerful it is to run an entire company.”

“We thank you for that,” Dr. Frampton nodded. It was almost like a salute from a general to an earner of the highest military award. The power that surged through her frame allowed her to better understand her position in the functions of the entire operation.

“So, we’ll take over from here. All we need are the various documents that you received over the time frame,” Dr. Frampton advised. 

“I can do that and certainly thank you ladies again for your candor.”

Chintan Jani

Smartystan

Operation

On the dashboard of her brainchip, Dr. Frampton saw a message zip into view. There was no information on the sender. The note simply read, “They’re trying to sabotage the corporation.” She didn’t know who this “they” was. She didn’t know exactly how someone or some people could be detracting from her company. A frown descended on her countenance. She walked the halls with synths and learned machines ambling around her. The journey to her office felt like a rough and tumble excursion with all the thoughts racing through her head. 



Smartystan

Operation

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Businesswoman Chapter 57

Smartystan

Operation

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Businesswoman Chapter 57

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