Robert J. Minton [01]

    Liz had been hard at work on the paystub reconfiguration for about twenty minutes when the red alert alarm suddenly went off. The next moment a 3D projection of Robert J. Minton appeared in the middle of her office.

    "Employees of Infocation Corporation and all Infocation Subsidiaries, be advised that Infocation has just placed a bid for BMI Relations of $53,800 per share. You will be alerted to developments in the bidding process as necessary."

   Then the image disappeared and Liz waited for it to reappear. It reappeared almost instantly. "Executives and officers of all Infocation subsidiaries, as you have just heard, we have entered a takeover bid for Burson Marsteller Intercontinental Relations Incorporated. Please divert all fluid capital resources into the Infocation acquisition fund immediately."

    Liz Cohen had already done so. All officers with financial clearance had probably already funneled every available dollar into the acquisition fund. But they liked the imperious nature of the projection of Mr. Minton that reminded them to do so. Liz Cohen had an extra charge of excitement because she owned thousands of shares of BMI Relations already and if a bidding war was breaking our for the Relations firm she was going to be a lot wealthier by the end of the day.

    The 3D projection disappeared again and then to her absolute astonishment it appeared again. "Ms. Cohen," it addressed her directly. Suddenly her heart rate accelerated and she began to sweat all over. She became conscious of the fact that Mr. Minton was seeing a 3D projection of her and she began self-consciously fidgeting with her hair. Through a dry throat and with a wavering voice she replied "Yes?" meekly.

    "What do you know about Sharon Shafer?" Mr. Minton demanded. "You've worked with her before. Would she bring DarqueOps into a bidding war?"

    "Well, I don't even know for sure if Mrs. Shafer is in DarqueOps for certain."

    "Don't be stupid! OF COURSE Sharon Shafer is in DarqueOps, but obviously you don't know the answer to my question."

    With that the projection disappeared again. Her shell-shocked eyes remained fixed on the place where Mr. Minton's projection had been with a look of contempt upon his face. She suddenly hated herself. She wished she could call her words back into her mouth and try to answer the question again. She could have at last tried to guess about what Mrs. Shafer might do. Mr. Minton seemed like the perfect human being to Liz Cohen. He made the world function properly, and she had been given an opportunity to assist him and she had blanched and given a weaker answer than Mr. Minton needed. She was deeply, deeply ashamed.

    She saw her reflection in the window to the right of her desk and she cursed her Asian features again. And then cursed her parents for having adopted her from such an awful place as southeast Asia full of such hideously ugly people. Why couldn't they have just had her the natural way and then she could be Jewish like her sister Janet. Better yet, why couldn't she have been born into a proper Christian family like almost everyone else she knew. She was sure that Mr. Minton hated to look at her foreign looking face, and hated her because of it.

    Mr. Minton actually cared very little about Ms. Cohen's appearance. He viewed her as a commodity. She made money for Infocation so she was necessary. If there was anything he hated about her it was the fact that he suspected she had sexual thoughts about him. Robert J. Minton viewed himself as a proper Christian in a world of sinners. He was chased, still virginal at age 46, and intended to remain that way always. Human sexuality was repugnant and he felt that all of his success in life was directly attributable to the fact that he spent all of his time in pursuit of power while others distracted themselves with the pursuit of sins of the flesh.

    Robert J. Minton had become the youngest president of the United States at age 29 by amassing such power that he could alter the make up of what he felt was an antiquated document: the U.S. Constitution. And after presiding over the United States as its commander-in-chief through Holy War II, he saw fit to dissolve it: the U.S. Constitution and then the United States of America itself for good measure.

    Mr. Minton sat at the head of a lengthy table in a darkened conference room in the headquarters of Infocation Corporation. Directly across from him was a wall that was taken up entirely by an illuminated vibrant blue flag. In the center of the flag was a large, white number 1. Along the bottom of the flag was a row of corporate logos. This was the flag of 1WG, One World Government. One World Government had been a huge leap forward for corporations, it got rid of many of the old rules that interfered with business. And there had been one president of 1WG since its creation in 2031: Robert J. Minton.

    Directly to his right sat Mr. Minton's mother, Ruth. She was chairman of the board of directors. There were two other men and four other women who made up the board of directors but they were inconsequential; spectators. Mr. Minton's mother was the only director who dared speak, and she would always differ to her son's decisions. His will was absolute. Infocation had a board of directors only because all corporations had one. But they knew better than to have an opinion without permission.

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