The nearly three-hour flight to Europe passed without any turbulence or surprises, and the alcohol on board was first class. Deprived of devices and network access, Tech Bros could do something they usually lacked time for. They talked. They told each other anecdotes from their lives, discussed politics and the future movement, and joked about themselves and their ’favorite’, Ava Canberry. So they were in high spirits when a skinny eleven-year-old with a small backpack climbed aboard in Barcelona, followed by his mother, Meg Spitzmann, SunCo.’s chief financial officer.
The Cooee had eight passenger seats, four on each side. The seats were arranged in pairs—two facing each other, with an interactive table between each pair. This created two groups of four seats each. Since there were three Tech Bros in the first group and the empty seat probably belonged to Rick, Meg and her son took the other four seats. After stowing their luggage, and once her son had stopped running around, Rick invited Meg into the small kitchen alcove at the rear of the airjet. He called it the ‘caboose’.
“I’ll make you some coffee,” he offered instinctively. If there was no cup of coffee on Spitzmann’s desk at the company’s headquarters, it meant Meg had to be out of Dyker Heights. Her colleagues claimed that coffee, instead of blood, ran through the CFO’s veins. “Unless you prefer something cold or a drink?” Rick asked.
“Cortado, if you would be so kind. No steward?” Meg was surprised. She looked out of the caboose into the passenger cabin to see what her son was doing.
“We’re on our own today.”
“Uh-huh,” she murmured, leaning her back against the top of the kitchen cabinet.
“Thanks again for shortening your vacation.”
“My kid actually enjoyed it. He always wanted to see Shanghai,” she answered.
“Who wouldn’t?” Rick nodded.
“What bothers him more is that he won’t have access to the web during the flight. I confiscated his XR glasses and smartcom as a precaution. The kid still has a transformer with an e-tutor, but I locked it out of the web until we land in Shanghai. I left it to Nick, okay? It will put the kid to sleep with a lecture on German grammar.”
“Okay. Thanks for remembering,” Rick nodded.
“Bitte schön, Chef,” she replied but looked at Rick in such a way that he felt obliged to explain.
“I have my reasons, believe me…” he began.
“It’s not about access to the net.” She waved her hand dismissively. ”My concern is something else. Almost the entire SunCo. board is on the plane. You are going over the top, Real. I hope Robert Wang isn’t going to walk in here in a minute.”
“Rob stayed in New York. Actually… yes, it is a certain security breach,” Rick admitted.
“Not ‘certain,’ just blatant. Maybe they forgot,” she gestured to the passenger cabin with her head, “but I remember. Our contracts categorically forbid us from flying in the company of more than two board members. There are five of us here… Thank you,” Meg took the cup of coffee. “Theoretically, all of us could be dismissed from the board for this flight, or even fired from the company altogether.”
For several years, since the terrorist attack on the SMSNG board, there has been an absolute ban on more than three board members traveling together in the WISE holding company. Today, the procedures for flying together were secondary to Archee. Even if an argument arose, it would not be the first conflict with Ava or the Council. He had managed to settle much more serious scandals.
“I am aware of that, but I take it upon myself,” he replied. “In case of trouble with Ava and the Council, I will testify that you were not warned about the presence of other executives on board, which is true, by the way. It was my idea, and the responsibility will be mine as well.”
“Well… I sincerely doubt it. You will not be fired by the Council, but you have gotten us into trouble, Real. If Ava finds out, she’ll make a hell of a row.” Meg put her coffee down on the worktop and crossed her arms over her chest. “She’ll think we’re plotting something against her… I would have thought that myself. She’ll want to punish us, just on principle. She is just waiting for an excuse to mess us up before budgeting for next year’s projects, and you hand her the opportunity on a platter.”
“She won’t find out.”
“At least not from me. I hope, Rick, you know what you’re doing and have a good reason for it.”
“I will worry about Ava later. It is important that you keep things discreet.”
“I’ll release the hotel room in three days. But I do not know how you are going to hide Brighton’s presence.”
“I can manage it. I need all of you here together for a few hours. Before we land in Shanghai, you’ll learn everything. You will all find out why you are here, and the matter will be over, I guess. Just make sure your son gets to sleep reasonably quickly.”
“Steve, such a formalist, doesn’t mind?”
“He suspects that I want to discuss a strategy for removing Ava from the head of Enviro or even from the WISE board.”
“Wow! Fat! Is he counting on replacing her in this position?”
“Maybe, but today we are talking about something entirely different. Believe me, I wouldn’t take the risk of assembling almost the entire board in my airjet if it weren’t for a unique situation. Make yourself comfortable; we’ll talk after Nicolas falls asleep.”
“Whatever we discuss here, Ava will not accept decisions made behind her back. At least when it comes to key matters.” Meg stressed the last words and looked him in the eye, making sure he understood what she meant.
Archee nodded as a sign that he understood the allusion.
A lot of things would have been easier without Ava. I should have listened to my intuition before the merger.
Five years ago, SunCo., which at the time was active only in photonics and photovoltaic technologies, merged with two other companies—Environics and Windustries. The result was WISE Corp.—one of the world’s largest high-tech holding companies. The name of the newly formed corporation was an acronym for the names of the subsidiary companies—Windustries, SunCo., and Environics. Rick became CEO of the holding company, with Ava and Rajiv Nehru, head of Windustries, as his deputies. They were to be supervised by a Council of Directors composed of twelve representatives of major shareholders. Rick, Ava, and Rajiv also became members of the Council.
Before the merger, Archee envisioned himself as the architect and creator of the holding company’s development strategy. He saw Ava, with her predatory instincts, as his bulldog. She would conquer new markets and crush the competition. Rick the builder and visionary, Ava the business killer—the perfect couple, wouldn’t you say? Admittedly, he sensed some difficulties with his future partner’s character, but he assumed she could be easily harnessed. Leading SunCo., he could handle plenty of guys with oversized egos, and he could handle her, too. A woman of twenty-eight who had founded a major optoelectronics manufacturer in the US market still needed a mentor, right? She had just stopped being the head of a grown-up, but nevertheless a start-up. A global giant was being formed, and she was to be its first vice president. It was a massive ennoblement for her, and for her start-up, a qualitative step up that she could only dream of. She was being promoted to the world’s business premier league—she had to work together and play as a team. Or so he assumed. He should have paid attention to the details then, especially the disturbing ones. His intuition had warned him about Ava’s ambition and character. He had ignored it.
Her words still echoed in his mind—the ones that had stung him during their first business meeting: “We are different, Real. I built Enviro from scratch, and you inherited SunCo.” Steve Brighton, who had witnessed the exchange, commented later: “You won’t get bored with her, Real. She’s uncontrollable.”
Steve had been right. She could complicate life like few others, even outside the business world. It quickly became apparent that Ms. Canberry had no intention of being a first officer, even on a transoceanic liner, and the captain’s bridge was too cramped for both of them. To make matters worse, as time went on, she gained more and more support from Rajiv and then from other Council members. Rick did his best, even his utmost, but his and Ava’s paths continued to diverge. And when they did cross, it only led to collisions. They respected each other, but their cooperation was fraught with friction and tension. They were like two carriages of an ancient trolley car—seemingly on the same tracks, seemingly moving in the same direction, seemingly connected, but every turn caused mutual jerking, grinding, and strain.
Ava’s rough friendship with Rick extended to her cooperation with the SunCo. board. Only with Meg Spitzmann did Ava keep a neutral distance, along the lines of ’we don’t hurt each other and we don’t get in each other’s way.’ It was otherwise with the Tech Bros. That was Ava’s nickname for the male executives of SunCo., and the name quickly stuck with them.
Ava could barely stand Brighton, Lahar, Ti Lee, and especially Robert Wang. She thought of them as a bunch of geeks and technocrats who should only speak when asked. She often let them understand that. This attitude only reinforced her reputation as an extreme feminist and a female chauvinist who had little regard for ‘testosterones.’ In fact, at Enviro, she was known for surrounding herself almost exclusively with women, and all the top positions were held by women. She was also considered an outspoken lesbian. Rick knew that was only partially true, although he had heard her say more than once that ”men reek of testosterone, confrontation, and death. They are like rabid dogs—barking without a clue why or what for.”
The Tech Bros’ frustration did not stem solely from Ms. Vice President’s behavior—Sassy, as they had nicknamed her. The merger overwhelmingly favored Environics. In just five years, Enviro had become a world leader in electric and hydrogen vehicles, communication chips, smartcoms, and web ports. It had entered the satellite communications industry and was on the verge of launching biochips—polymer subcranial Brain-Network Interface implants equipped with telepathy. Ava had skillfully manipulated the Council to ensure Enviro’s projects received the lion’s share of funding. Over time, nearly all innovation and most research and development funds fell under Enviro’s control. This stoked resentment toward Ava among the ambitious SunCo. team, who felt marginalized and exploited. It also gave rise to the Tech Bros’ accusations against their boss. They felt that Archee, once embroiled in a brief but intense relationship with Ava, was barely fighting for budgets for SunCo. and giving way to her in the internal competition for funding.
SunCo.’s vast solar farms powered the world and provided global web access. Its films, paints, and glass, featuring FV liquid cell technology, covered over thirty percent of vehicles and twenty-eight percent of new buildings worldwide. Yet, it was Enviro’s vehicles and consumer electronics that generated WISE’s biggest profits, funding new innovations and projects. This financial clout effectively silenced opposition, though it did not quell the growing frustration. Ava brought in the most money for the holding, so she wanted to decide how it was spent. Sharing the money, or explaining investment decisions to Rick or even the Council, was difficult for her.
Now, one project could change all of that.
