Jack and the Employer
Extract from "2032" by Andrew Jennings. Available in all ebook stores now.
“Just like old times.” Noah said
“Yes.” Ruby replied. Jack just smiled.
In a sense it was. They would meet at the beginning of the day. Somewhere. Perhaps a cafe, or later on in a rented meeting room. Now it was the same schedule, but with quite a different view. Early in the day they could see all the way to Geelong. A few stray clouds drifted above the bay. As the day progressed, the heat would burn them off and the thin line of sand they could see would have many people on it. Below them, the MCG would hold a cricket match. Life went on. While it was possible to get 100,000 people to a sporting event you would struggle to get 10,000 to a political rally.
Ruby began.
“Employment practices. The sweep. We have separated them into segments. About 60% of employers are ok. A bit of dodging this and that, but they are not really a problem. Then there are about 40% that are seriously out of whack. I want us to focus on the 10% that are really a problem.”
“Internment?” Jack asked.
“Yes. We will establish new laws.” Ruby said.
Noah interjected.
“Parliament?”
“Yes. Parliament. I’m developing a timetable.”
“Back to the same old politics. The majority milking the system.”
“You are assuming that they won’t change their ways. Based on a few years experience of us.”
“Well they have not up to now. Why will they change?”
Ruby smiled.
“You’re talking it into reality. It’s like my kids. Think the best, you get the best. Think they are hopeless, then they are hopeless.”
Noah and Jack were momentarily silent. Processing the analogy between a school room and a body politic.
“We have a list?” Jack asked.
Ruby gestured and it appeared. It was not that long.
“OK. We are on it.” Noah said.
The car looped out of Collins Street up past Parliament House. In the direction of Victoria Street. Neither of them spoke for a while. Noah finally broke the silence.
“You really think we will have a Parliament again?”
“Ruby always was the optimist. It’s a nice thought.”
“There is a sense in which you talk things into reality.”
“As in, we make our own reality now.”
“No, not in that awful sense. But you have to have a positive outlook.”
It went silent again, as the car zeroed in on their first target, up Heidelberg road.
“What’s this place?” Jack asked
“Online support.”
“Answer the phones?”
“No. It’s not 2005. When the bot’s run out of smarts, the humans step in. Only for the cases that can’t be handled.”
“Seems innocent enough.”
“You haven’t looked at the file, have you?”
“No.”
Noah filled in Jack while they made their way to Heidelberg. Jack glanced at the file and looked up.
“Our presence is required precisely why?”
“Fly the flag. Meet and greet. It’s all about the story. You know the drill. Happy employees greet the liberating forces.”
“So we do propaganda now?”
“Of course we do.”
The car slowed coming of the Eastern freeway and it required more guidance from Noah. It was still mostly autonomous, but it referred some decisions.
Jack scanned some more.
“The way this company stuff reads it’s like they have no employees at all.”
“Sure. It’s papered over. Underneath the bonnet the humans catch all the problems. To the customer it’s seamless.”
“So full AI assistants are a myth?”
“It improves all the time. But it takes a small army to keep it going.”
“Being invisible wouldn’t help their bargaining position.”
“No.”
It sure was impressive. The huge logo implants in the lawn. Just off Moreland Road. Armoured troop carriers parked out the front. Also with the large drone hovering in the middle distance, not to mention the small drones swooping lower.
“Sledgehammer to crush an ant.” Jack said.
“Sure. It’s part theatre. You really think the north are just going to retreat happily? This is not a game of tennis.”
A tight huddle, Noah, Jack and the armed group at the front door. The owner was waiting for them. Office staff hanging back, in a very nervous huddle. He was mid thirties, Asian appearance, speaking he had a very thick Australian accent. Lewis Chan introduced himself to Noah.
“Bit of a circus for an employment offence.”
“Hardly a misdemeanour.”
“What if I say we leave it to the judge?”
“In a minor case, perhaps. In extreme cases we have taken a more direct approach.”
Jack was in the background. He noticed the work area through the front office. So he just walked through and kept walking. There was another door to a large open office with a dome ceiling. Underneath the dome were about a hundred workers, with headsets and holographic projection glasses. Swirling about were thousands of interactions represented visually. Darker colours indicated problems. Lighter for those going ok.
For a moment he sat and watched it. Swirling.
Near to him, one of the workers glanced at him then slipped to his side. She was young - the whole room was young.
“Natalie Nguyen.” She said.
“I’m..”
She interrupted him.
“I know who you are. Also why you are here.”
“This place scored as one of ..”
“One of the worst. Don’t let that bastard weasel his way out of it. He is full of shit.”
“You are only paid piece rates?”
“That doesn’t tell you the whole story. We are paid for each fix. What it doesn’t tell you is that we are locked in here. Twelve hour shifts. We sleep out the back. I’ll show you if you like.”
Natalie glanced back in the direction of the front office. To make sure that they were not being observed. Beyond the far door were rooms with bunks, and ladders. On about half of the bunks were sprawled people in varying stages of sleep.
“But you make a reasonable income?” Jack asked. “In return for this.”
Natalie grimaced. “You’ve been served up the Kool Aid.”
She gestured and the figures morphed into the air in front of them. It didn’t take Jack long to process them.
“But.”
“Like I said.”
“You could bargain for...” his voice just trailed off.
“First sign of push back and you are out the door. Hard push and they just disappear you. No bargaining here. It’s slavery.”
Jack stepped back. Processing it. His mouth opened, as if to ask another question, then closed.
“Thanks.” He said, and headed back towards the front office.
As Jack entered the entrance foyer, they were clearly locked in a discussion. The presence of the escort seemed to not deter the owner in any way.
“You are just a jumped up experiment. There is absolutely no legal basis for your laws at all.”
Noah continued
“We are simply enforcing community standards.”
“The community of you and your cohorts. I don’t see any community. What I’m doing here is being competitive. If I’m not competitive then nobody here has a job.”
Jack was at the back of the crowd. He moved around to one of the guards. Pointed at his sidearm. Gestured to hand it to him. The look of alarm at first indicated that he was reluctant. Jack gave him a look of urgency, as if to say that in a very real sense he answered to the government, and here and now he was that government.
Noah had his back to Jack, so didn’t see him coming. He walked slowly, but deliberately towards the two. The guards all had their eyes on Noah. Whilst it wasn’t a heated discussion, it was concerning. The employees in the foyer hung back, watching.
Noah had a look of concern as Jack passed him, walking slowly towards the owner, with the gun in his hand but holding it behind his back.
Then he was there, with the handgun raised, his arm straight. Very slowly, deliberately, he closed the gap. Placed the point of the gun directly on the owner’s forehead.
Foolishly, the employer smiled. As if to say, I know that you are not going to fire.
Noah turned, processing it all in an instant. Especially the smile. He shouted.
“Jack.”
It was suspended in stop motion. The whole room froze. Noah shouted again.
“Jack. No.”
The employer’s face changed, as he realised the full impact of Noah’s concern. That if his friend was concerned then perhaps he had the situation wrong.
“This is not the way, Jack.”
“This bastard keeps them locked in here. It’s a bloody prison. It’s slavery. One less. I’m doing the world a favour.”
They exchanged glances. Jack kept the gun pressed hard up against the temple of the employer. There was a moment of thought. The animal nature of it all. Here he was about to cause something, someone to cease living. Was he prepared to do that? Was this all about how far he would go? There were echoes of every bully he had ever met. That look of confidence, of disdain that they all had. Confidence that, yes, power worked. Power was efficient. It was useful, and you were nothing. It stretched, that moment. Noah and Jack exchanged glances again, and it was a wordless conversation. Jack thought again about Ruby’s words, of talking things into reality. He looked away from the employer, slowly lowered the gun.
He handed it back. They bundled the employer into the back of the van. Then it was just Noah and Jack at the side of the road.
“What was all that about?” Noah asked
“The bastard. We don’t need him. The world doesn’t need him.”
“Maybe not, but not just arbitrarily. Let’s have some process. Some semblance of civilisation. ”
The guard had left long ago, leaving Noah and Jack out the front of the business. Inside the staff milled about - a small group came out to meet them. A young girl came forward ..
“Thank you so much for standing up to him. It’s time that somebody did.”
Jack turned toward her.
“What will happen to you? Will the business continue?”
Noah intervened.
“Don’t worry. We will make sure it continues for the moment. With the proper pay and conditions.”
It was very silent on the way back. Jack was unrepentant.
“It’s bullshit. The trial doesn’t have any legal standing. It’s all for show.”
“In the category of ‘all for show’ is almost everything that holds everything together.”
“We need to sweep away the past. It’s rotten to the core. Cut out the cancer.”
“So people can’t redeem themselves? What if our friend here changes his mind after a few months in solitary? You will have already executed him.”
Then more silence. Jack knowing that he was going to get a variant of this lecture from Ruby. As a former teacher it was going to be better constructed, and more effectively delivered. Although he was all for Ruby’s approach, and argued for it, he could also see Jack’s point of view.
It was late in the afternoon, and he was watching the train schedule. He could be in Shepparton inside an hour. It was just too tempting. He messaged Hanni:
‘Busy tonight?”
‘No.’
‘I’m on my way.’
As the countryside ripped past, he was drawn back to the strange deaths, and the lurking feeling that in some way they were linked to the north. They couldn’t run a naked military attack. So they were entirely reliant on covert methods. What would he do, if he were the north? He would look for ways to weaken, debilitate and wear down. Then strike. Lost in thought the distance to Shepparton passed as if in a minute.
Hanni smiled that smile.
“Couldn’t stay away. The pull of Shepp is irresistible.”
“Absolutely. As long as you are here.”
At her doorstep, he leaned on the threshold. Then they leaned on each other. Laughing and falling, stumbling in the direction of the bedroom.
Afterwards, he stood at the window and gazed out through the forest towards the lights of the city. Yes, it was beautiful in that raw, brutal way of the Australian bush. Even today there were people who were born in the country, but took as their sensibility some distant European set of aesthetics. That totally devalued the Australian.
“Will you stay a while?”
“Couple of days, yes.”
“Just me, or is there an underlying reason.”
“Mysterious deaths.”
“Just like old times.” Noah said
“Yes.” Ruby replied. Jack just smiled.
In a sense it was. They would meet at the beginning of the day. Somewhere. Perhaps a cafe, or later on in a rented meeting room. Now it was the same schedule, but with quite a different view. Early in the day they could see all the way to Geelong. A few stray clouds drifted above the bay. As the day progressed, the heat would burn them off and the thin line of sand they could see would have many people on it. Below them, the MCG would hold a cricket match. Life went on. While it was possible to get 100,000 people to a sporting event you would struggle to get 10,000 to a political rally.
Ruby began.
“Employment practices. The sweep. We have separated them into segments. About 60% of employers are ok. A bit of dodging this and that, but they are not really a problem. Then there are about 40% that are seriously out of whack. I want us to focus on the 10% that are really a problem.”
“Internment?” Jack asked.
“Yes. We will establish new laws.” Ruby said.
Noah interjected.
“Parliament?”
“Yes. Parliament. I’m developing a timetable.”
“Back to the same old politics. The majority milking the system.”
“You are assuming that they won’t change their ways. Based on a few years experience of us.”
“Well they have not up to now. Why will they change?”
Ruby smiled.
“You’re talking it into reality. It’s like my kids. Think the best, you get the best. Think they are hopeless, then they are hopeless.”
Noah and Jack were momentarily silent. Processing the analogy between a school room and a body politic.
“We have a list?” Jack asked.
Ruby gestured and it appeared. It was not that long.
“OK. We are on it.” Noah said.
The car looped out of Collins Street up past Parliament House. In the direction of Victoria Street. Neither of them spoke for a while. Noah finally broke the silence.
“You really think we will have a Parliament again?”
“Ruby always was the optimist. It’s a nice thought.”
“There is a sense in which you talk things into reality.”
“As in, we make our own reality now.”
“No, not in that awful sense. But you have to have a positive outlook.”
It went silent again, as the car zeroed in on their first target, up Heidelberg road.
“What’s this place?” Jack asked
“Online support.”
“Answer the phones?”
“No. It’s not 2005. When the bot’s run out of smarts, the humans step in. Only for the cases that can’t be handled.”
“Seems innocent enough.”
“You haven’t looked at the file, have you?”
“No.”
Noah filled in Jack while they made their way to Heidelberg. Jack glanced at the file and looked up.
“Our presence is required precisely why?”
“Fly the flag. Meet and greet. It’s all about the story. You know the drill. Happy employees greet the liberating forces.”
“So we do propaganda now?”
“Of course we do.”
The car slowed coming of the Eastern freeway and it required more guidance from Noah. It was still mostly autonomous, but it referred some decisions.
Jack scanned some more.
“The way this company stuff reads it’s like they have no employees at all.”
“Sure. It’s papered over. Underneath the bonnet the humans catch all the problems. To the customer it’s seamless.”
“So full AI assistants are a myth?”
“It improves all the time. But it takes a small army to keep it going.”
“Being invisible wouldn’t help their bargaining position.”
“No.”
It sure was impressive. The huge logo implants in the lawn. Just off Moreland Road. Armoured troop carriers parked out the front. Also with the large drone hovering in the middle distance, not to mention the small drones swooping lower.
“Sledgehammer to crush an ant.” Jack said.
“Sure. It’s part theatre. You really think the north are just going to retreat happily? This is not a game of tennis.”
A tight huddle, Noah, Jack and the armed group at the front door. The owner was waiting for them. Office staff hanging back, in a very nervous huddle. He was mid thirties, Asian appearance, speaking he had a very thick Australian accent. Lewis Chan introduced himself to Noah.
“Bit of a circus for an employment offence.”
“Hardly a misdemeanour.”
“What if I say we leave it to the judge?”
“In a minor case, perhaps. In extreme cases we have taken a more direct approach.”
Jack was in the background. He noticed the work area through the front office. So he just walked through and kept walking. There was another door to a large open office with a dome ceiling. Underneath the dome were about a hundred workers, with headsets and holographic projection glasses. Swirling about were thousands of interactions represented visually. Darker colours indicated problems. Lighter for those going ok.
For a moment he sat and watched it. Swirling.
Near to him, one of the workers glanced at him then slipped to his side. She was young - the whole room was young.
“Natalie Nguyen.” She said.
“I’m..”
She interrupted him.
“I know who you are. Also why you are here.”
“This place scored as one of ..”
“One of the worst. Don’t let that bastard weasel his way out of it. He is full of shit.”
“You are only paid piece rates?”
“That doesn’t tell you the whole story. We are paid for each fix. What it doesn’t tell you is that we are locked in here. Twelve hour shifts. We sleep out the back. I’ll show you if you like.”
Natalie glanced back in the direction of the front office. To make sure that they were not being observed. Beyond the far door were rooms with bunks, and ladders. On about half of the bunks were sprawled people in varying stages of sleep.
“But you make a reasonable income?” Jack asked. “In return for this.”
Natalie grimaced. “You’ve been served up the Kool Aid.”
She gestured and the figures morphed into the air in front of them. It didn’t take Jack long to process them.
“But.”
“Like I said.”
“You could bargain for...” his voice just trailed off.
“First sign of push back and you are out the door. Hard push and they just disappear you. No bargaining here. It’s slavery.”
Jack stepped back. Processing it. His mouth opened, as if to ask another question, then closed.
“Thanks.” He said, and headed back towards the front office.
As Jack entered the entrance foyer, they were clearly locked in a discussion. The presence of the escort seemed to not deter the owner in any way.
“You are just a jumped up experiment. There is absolutely no legal basis for your laws at all.”
Noah continued
“We are simply enforcing community standards.”
“The community of you and your cohorts. I don’t see any community. What I’m doing here is being competitive. If I’m not competitive then nobody here has a job.”
Jack was at the back of the crowd. He moved around to one of the guards. Pointed at his sidearm. Gestured to hand it to him. The look of alarm at first indicated that he was reluctant. Jack gave him a look of urgency, as if to say that in a very real sense he answered to the government, and here and now he was that government.
Noah had his back to Jack, so didn’t see him coming. He walked slowly, but deliberately towards the two. The guards all had their eyes on Noah. Whilst it wasn’t a heated discussion, it was concerning. The employees in the foyer hung back, watching.
Noah had a look of concern as Jack passed him, walking slowly towards the owner, with the gun in his hand but holding it behind his back.
Then he was there, with the handgun raised, his arm straight. Very slowly, deliberately, he closed the gap. Placed the point of the gun directly on the owner’s forehead.
Foolishly, the employer smiled. As if to say, I know that you are not going to fire.
Noah turned, processing it all in an instant. Especially the smile. He shouted.
“Jack.”
It was suspended in stop motion. The whole room froze. Noah shouted again.
“Jack. No.”
The employer’s face changed, as he realised the full impact of Noah’s concern. That if his friend was concerned then perhaps he had the situation wrong.
“This is not the way, Jack.”
“This bastard keeps them locked in here. It’s a bloody prison. It’s slavery. One less. I’m doing the world a favour.”
They exchanged glances. Jack kept the gun pressed hard up against the temple of the employer. There was a moment of thought. The animal nature of it all. Here he was about to cause something, someone to cease living. Was he prepared to do that? Was this all about how far he would go? There were echoes of every bully he had ever met. That look of confidence, of disdain that they all had. Confidence that, yes, power worked. Power was efficient. It was useful, and you were nothing. It stretched, that moment. Noah and Jack exchanged glances again, and it was a wordless conversation. Jack thought again about Ruby’s words, of talking things into reality. He looked away from the employer, slowly lowered the gun.
He handed it back. They bundled the employer into the back of the van. Then it was just Noah and Jack at the side of the road.
“What was all that about?” Noah asked
“The bastard. We don’t need him. The world doesn’t need him.”
“Maybe not, but not just arbitrarily. Let’s have some process. Some semblance of civilisation. ”
The guard had left long ago, leaving Noah and Jack out the front of the business. Inside the staff milled about - a small group came out to meet them. A young girl came forward ..
“Thank you so much for standing up to him. It’s time that somebody did.”
Jack turned toward her.
“What will happen to you? Will the business continue?”
Noah intervened.
“Don’t worry. We will make sure it continues for the moment. With the proper pay and conditions.”
It was very silent on the way back. Jack was unrepentant.
“It’s bullshit. The trial doesn’t have any legal standing. It’s all for show.”
“In the category of ‘all for show’ is almost everything that holds everything together.”
“We need to sweep away the past. It’s rotten to the core. Cut out the cancer.”
“So people can’t redeem themselves? What if our friend here changes his mind after a few months in solitary? You will have already executed him.”
Then more silence. Jack knowing that he was going to get a variant of this lecture from Ruby. As a former teacher it was going to be better constructed, and more effectively delivered. Although he was all for Ruby’s approach, and argued for it, he could also see Jack’s point of view.
It was late in the afternoon, and he was watching the train schedule. He could be in Shepparton inside an hour. It was just too tempting. He messaged Hanni:
‘Busy tonight?”
‘No.’
‘I’m on my way.’
As the countryside ripped past, he was drawn back to the strange deaths, and the lurking feeling that in some way they were linked to the north. They couldn’t run a naked military attack. So they were entirely reliant on covert methods. What would he do, if he were the north? He would look for ways to weaken, debilitate and wear down. Then strike. Lost in thought the distance to Shepparton passed as if in a minute.
Hanni smiled that smile.
“Couldn’t stay away. The pull of Shepp is irresistible.”
“Absolutely. As long as you are here.”
At her doorstep, he leaned on the threshold. Then they leaned on each other. Laughing and falling, stumbling in the direction of the bedroom.
Afterwards, he stood at the window and gazed out through the forest towards the lights of the city. Yes, it was beautiful in that raw, brutal way of the Australian bush. Even today there were people who were born in the country, but took as their sensibility some distant European set of aesthetics. That totally devalued the Australian.
“Will you stay a while?”
“Couple of days, yes.”
“Just me, or is there an underlying reason.”
“Mysterious deaths.”
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