35. Olly
THIRTY-FIVE
OLLY
“I know that I’m interrupting everyone’s workflow, but this is too critical a time in our company for secrecy and blind decision-making behind closed doors.
We need to hear from you in the coming days and weeks so we can fix what is broken here, be that a policy, procedure, or trust. Trust is a word that I take seriously, and something that has been fast and loose in this company while Edward Evans was in charge.
Deception and outright lying has been part of our corporate culture since day one, and that’s something that’s got to change.
” Clark looked amazing on the stage in the ballroom I didn’t even know was on the third floor of the Information Complex.
I had also discovered that this entire building was leased out to us.
Of course it was.
Clark was wearing a new suit, slate grey and a green tie, which complimented his complexion and his eyes.
It was the sixth day after Edward Evans had passed away, and with Jeff’s IT wizardry we put together a comprehensive list of employees who needed to travel and gathered as many of them as possible together here.
I felt some guilt that I had thought of Jeff, my friend, as someone who had betrayed Clark and I.
I knew what it was like not to be in control of your own body, or having your mind manipulated, so I was open to having him here, and down in the apartment complex.
He was amazing at what he did, and he knew the business, the IT side of it, from the ground up.
We needed him. And Robert, who knew about both the financial end and our employees, in conjunction with Susan, our head of human resources.
With their connections, we were able to gather every employee from Halifax, Montréal, Saskatchewan, and our Swedish and Singaporean teams. Antarctica was patched in virtually, which was where Jeff’s magic came in.
Not literal magic, just his talent with technology.
Fuck, maybe he really did have magic powers.
At this point I’d believe just about anything.
I knew there were some people who Robert called ‘Assets,’ much to my chagrin, that were not capable of attending in person.
We had two people in the Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth, which meant that they were mentally ill and had committed a crime of some sort—or were just pretending to have.
Then there were people peppered in Mental Health Inpatient Units, or in halfway houses for people with disabilities, sober houses, and even some who were in what Robert called ‘deep cover,’ in, places like the military or government and couldn’t risk being exposed to attend a meeting.
The transcript would be delivered to them cloak-and-dagger style when it was finished.
On the stage, each equipped with a microphone, were Clark, who was taking his turn standing at the lectern to address the whole crowd, and myself in a thankfully comfortable chair because my back was about done in today with both Bea kicking and being super active, and having my eight-and-a-half month pregnant body just hurt.
Joining us was Robert, Jeff, and Susan from our Halifax operation.
Eilyse from our Montréal office. Johan from Northern Sweden.
Sofia from Singapore. And on a big projection screen, Christian from our Antarctic base, who I was glad to see looked perfectly normal and not like he was a revolutionary on the ice planet of Hoth.
There were all of the team members with him who were super enthusiastic, because they didn’t see new faces all that often.
“As I was saying, the lack of trust within this company and the lack of transparency is something that’s got to change.
Today.” There were murmurs in the crowd, but he held up his hand and there was silence.
“I’m going to do something no one has ever done in front of all nine hundred and twenty of you, including the ones who couldn’t be here with us today, but we will make sure they get the chance to process this information.
” Clark gripped the sides of the lectern and said, boldly, “Almost ninety percent of you are psychics, with varying degrees of power.” There were a few pockets of nervous laughter from non-psychics in the room or those who wished their powers to remain unknown, but Clark forged ahead.
“Do not attempt to deny it, as everyone up here on the stage is a powerful psychic, and chances are they know you, the real you, already.” I was a tad nervous about this blunt approach Clark was taking, but sometimes, you have to throw your cards on the table and see what happens.
He was being open, honest, and by a quick read of the room, he held everyone’s attention.
I was actually ridiculously proud of him at this moment, and my heart stirred a bit.
I thought about after the meeting, and perhaps tonight Clark and I could get takeout like the old days and finish up something we had been in process of binge watching.
“It was my grandfather’s plan to recruit psychics, through normal tactics to outright threats, and I want to assure you now that those days are over.
I may share the name Evans with him, but I am nothing like the old man.
And I will not allow his days of tyranny continue just because it may have been profitable.
Profit, but at what cost to us, to our families, to our very souls?
” I saw some nodding in the crowd and on the panel, but mostly people were dead quiet.
“There are many of you in the dark about what this company really is, and what its ultimate goal is.”
Oh my goddess, was he really going to go there?
He couldn’t could he? Apparently I wasn’t the only one to think so, because then, from the stage, “Well, surely, our ultimate goal is to make money, just in a more...ethical way than previous generations” Robert said, trying to backpedal so hard on what Clark was doing that it was almost hilarious.
“Robert, to quote one of my favourite movies, when I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.
” A smattering of laughter filled the room, and there was renewed interest in Clark’s presentation.
“Look, I don’t want this company I have just inherited to be The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
I want us to be fuckin’ Jedi, and if you feel you cannot cope with that kind of ethical change, please seek out anyone on this stage or your team leader and let us know.
We will look at your circumstances and make arrangements for you to move on.
That being said, I encourage you to stay for this morning’s presentation, and to stop trying to rip it out of my mind to speed things up.
It isn’t only a violation of my personal thoughts, but a waste of my time in making the PowerPoint you’re about to see.
” There was some genuine, non-nervous laughter, then.
Over the next hour, Clark laid it all on the table.
That while many thought they were working for a financial powerhouse or scientific experiments wildly different than the one only a few were entrusted with, they were actually part of The Organization For The Advanced Mind.
Edward Evans had been incredibly strong, powers-wise, and had used mental tricks to convince many of them to believe what he said or implanted into their thoughts, ignoring the evidence of their own experiences and senses.
Clark told them about the pipeline of money from the investment wing of the group to fund the research division of the group, and how it all was going into proving the charismatic man’s vision of the multiverse, and had been since the end of WW2.
I saw a lot of heads moving during this part, from that weird side head bob I’d seen other psychics do a million times which I now knew meant they were trying to get into someone’s thoughts or were ‘talking’ to someone else in their vicinity.
When Clark revealed that it was the old man’s dream to traverse the multiverse, I read the room and it was lit up like a fireworks display.
Some were containing laughter. Others, anger that their life’s work was for such an oddball cause.
And some were excited, their joy palpable in the very air, because they believed in the strength of their colleagues and themselves, and believed that one day, with enough work, it would be possible.
Where Do We Go From Here? Was the title of the final PowerPoint.
When Clark dropped the final surprise, that there had been no official board in the traditional sense, but rather a small group of Edward’s cronies in charge, but that everything really came down to Edward’s decisions, an audible buzz went through the room.
Clark reminded them that everything about The Organization came back to it being a cult, and that meant the leader’s word was law, human resources was a front that usually led to having memories wiped, and human experimentation was deemed cruel but necessary, even if it led to the death of an Asset.
Clark did not want to destroy the jobs and livelihood of nine hundred and twenty people, talented psychics who may not get to use their gifts in their working life elsewhere.
Hell, who else would even believe that they had these talents?
“I propose,” Robert said, speaking into his mic before the Q&A, “That we accept that we are different. That we be able to look into the eyes of each other and know that there is something there that is special and rare. That we do not put down those who have no apparent psychic powers at present, because they were all chosen based on potential gifts, shut behind walls. Take Clark here. He doesn’t know what all he has, because Olly is shielding him so damn hard from those of you who keep trying to read his thoughts without consent. ”