29: Naivety, Incredulity, Anger, Bitterness, Escape
Bruce Lawrenceson decided that, yet again, he had been terribly naive.
He had long before decided that this had been his greatest failing while trying to rise through the ranks at Redmane. He had been smart and diligent and determined. But naive. He had always thought that doing what was best for the company would bring success. Or, at the very least, would bring some minor recognition while a higher-up claimed the success. But he found that in reality, nobody seemed to care about the good of the company. Increased revenue? Didn’t matter if it meant upsetting some politically-connected manager. Better efficiency? Irrelevant if it meant stepping on the toes of someone important.
In other words, if the price of screwing over Bruce Lawrenceson was harming the company, they were always ready to pay it.
He had thought the lesson fully learnt. After giving up entirely and being effectively exiled to a dead-end position, he had thought he had absorbed what it meant. When the Rethril data had fallen into his lap, he had focused on his own gain, and not tried to do the company any good at all. And so thought that he was playing at their level, playing as cynically as they did.
In fact, he was just as much of a sucker as he had been before. Faced with rewarding Bruce Lawrenceson, they chose instead to cripple the entire corporation. Clearly risking utter destruction was worth it to avoid the intolerable prospect of a successful Lawrenceson.
Still. He had gotten warning of what they were going to do, allowing him to get out in time. He had siphoned plenty of money from them. He had contingency plans. He had some realistic chance at escape, far better than the last time.
So he fled.
(300 words)
14 Oct 2006 at 19:47
Hey Tadhg,
These are great. Have you ever heard of a site called http://www.365tomorrows.com? They publish flash fiction, 500 words or less. They focus on science fiction of all kinds. My friend Bonnie (www.raewalker.com) has had some stuff published with them. Just another place to get your stuff out there, if you’re interested.
Take care of Brian for me while he’s up there, okay, and thanks for letting him crash at your place.
I hope you’re doing alright, I’ll probably see you soon,
anne
15 Oct 2006 at 03:36
Thanks Anne! I have heard of 365tomorrows.com, I think Brian mentioned it when he was last up here, I’ll check it out. Hopefully I will see you soon, possibly at the end of the month!