Leaving Earth Vol. 1 (Leaving Earth Omnibus) Read online

  Grum did not know everyone in the company. He recognised his boss, of course, but the others were unknown to him by sight. One, he assumed, would be another VP — probably finance as this was an expensive facility — and the other two… He had no idea.

  'Let me start by introducing everyone,' said the boss. 'Graham, this is Hayleigh Alvarez, VP Finance; Kaity Cobb, an AVP from HR, here at my request; and Mr Grey, the CEO's personal assistant, here to observe at the Mr Goldstein's request.'

  Grey was right. The man was entirely dressed in different shades and styles of grey, though his complexion was slightly tanned and healthy. It was quite clear to Grum that the boss had not wanted him there and was annoyed that he was.

  'Pleasure to meet you all,' said Grum.

  'I have taken the extraordinary step of asking a representative of the HR department to join us, because, sadly, I expect to recommend disciplinary actions following this review,' said the boss.

  Well, that's set the stakes out clearly. 'I see, sir. In that case, we should proceed and discover which part of exceeding expectations has offended you and the company so much,' said Grum. He drew out a tablet, connected to the screens behind him and displayed several documents. These included his own rather extended and amended contract of employment, the company handbook, the Nevada Facility's articles of commission from the board, and a folder containing the accounting files. 'Shall we begin?'

  It did not take all that long. Unauthorised expenditure. Unauthorised use of resources. Implementing an HR policy outside of the company standard. Failure to even attempt obvious ways of increasing yield. Therefore, failure to meet expectations in any regard.

  Grum countered. He pointed out that the Facility was authorised to spend any amount which could be justified. His own contract allowed a freedom from arbitrary budgetary constraints unless he was shown to be making an unjustified expenditure. Such justification to be judged in the first instance by the VP New Energy with review by the board. Grum saw Hayleigh Alvarez shrug at that point. Also, any resources available to the Facility were his to direct as he saw fit…

  'And finally, sir, I have explained both to yourself on numerous occasions and to Steve Branch, who has sat in on a number of technical sessions, that what you consider to be an obvious solution is impossible.'

  'Nonsense. It is obvious that you could simply put more antimatter in the same containers.'

  'But unfortunately, both not true and impossible, unless your intention is to explode the container each time and destroy a section of the Facility.'

  'That is a lie!'

  'No. It really isn't. I have science on my side with this. You have a mere assertion.'

  'I can prove it!'

  'I invite you to do so.'

  'I will, but not in this meeting. I am responsible for your performance review and from this interview as well as several reports from your staff, I have no choice but to suspend you, pending an investigation.'

  There was a slight cough from Mr Grey, and Kaity Cobb spoke up for the first time. 'I'm sorry, sir, but at this stage you can only start the investigation. Anything else has to follow from that.'

  'But that was why I brought you along!' The boss fumed.

  'I'm sorry, but this was not convened as a disciplinary, it's a performance review.'

  'Fine. Then I'll start an investigation and when it comes back with the evidence I need, I will suspend him.'

  'I'll make a note, sir,' said Kaity.

  'Fine. That's all, then. Thank you for your time,' said the boss and he closed the conference.

  So, no need to go into what I see myself doing over the next year, then? thought Grum.

  In the week following the performance review, Grum was attempting to piece together a view on what demand would be placed on the facility. If the boss ever got the thumb out of his arse and worked on the generators. Or took the gloves off Grum.

  He was just about to grab himself another coffee, when the phone rang. It was Vann. She was having another check up and scan, so he was looking forward to seeing the images.

  'I'm going into hospital,' said Vann, as soon as Grum answered.

  'Why? What's wrong? I'm coming, now.'

  'NO!' Vann's shout stopped him mid-stride for the door. 'You don't need to rush, you don't even need to come, really, except that I'd like to see you.'

  'So what's wrong? Why are you going in?'

  'I got the results back from the latest protein test, and the levels are too high. With my blood pressure climbing, as well, they've diagnosed pre-eclampsia.'

  It was something they had both looked at when miscarriage had been ruled out. 'How severe?'

  'At the moment, not very. But it's standard procedure to go in for observation for a few days. I'll probably be back at the weekend.'

  'OK. I'll only bother you if I come right now, won't I?'

  'Yes, love. Come see me after work.'

  'OK, my love. See you later. Take care.'

  Grum hung up and sat back down, fidgeting. Coffee, and a walk. That was the thing. I'll go and see how the Tech Centre generators are coming along.

  Vann was, indeed, back home at the weekend, with a stern injunction to take it easy. They discussed whether it was time for her to start maternity leave, given the complications, but decided that Vann could continue.

  Chapter 16

  THE following week, the previous flood of messages about AM generators died to a trickle for Grum. He had no idea whether the same was true for Steve Branch or the boss, but it was a welcome relief from frustration for him. The only downside was that he, of course, heard nothing from the boss about the forecast demand for antimatter.

  Not having access to the various potential customers for his facility was damaging the business. Not just his part of it, either, but the whole of USSMC would suffer because of the way the boss was behaving.

  Every time he emailed the VP requesting some information about how much AM the facility would be required to produce, Grum received the same message back:

  "Just make more. Combine the yields. I will tell you when to stop. Are the generators ready, yet?"

  It was incredibly frustrating and the only way he could see to deal with it was outright insubordination. If he started talking to the other departments about antimatter production or generators, the boss would certainly hear about it. Grum would be forced to pit his worth directly against the VP by going over his head to the CEO. He really did not want to do that, but the time was fast approaching where he might have to.

  Oh, and then there was this. Grum opened the email again and stared in blank disbelief that anyone could be so mind-shatteringly stupid.

  The twelve newest generators were to be used for the Tech Centre, that was not news. USSMC had decided that they should be connected individually, but at the same time to provide power for the Tech Centre. They would theoretically provide in excess of a hundred and eighty five megawatt-hours per year, which would account for about a third of what the Tech Centre used.

  However, each generator was to be fitted with a feedback power loop, which would provide the maintenance current for its own superconducting magnets. This was the boss's greatest triumph so far, Grum felt, over basic common sense.

  Grum had vehemently argued several points against that course of action, including the fact that any single failure in the generator would cause the generator to explode with the force of about 120 tonnes of TNT.

  The latest response from the VP was couched in reasonably civil terms, but was effectively a very simple message: JFDI.

  Grum's addition to the top of the message as he forwarded it to Stew and Ben was the very same, without abstraction. He wanted it to be quite clear that he was not willing to entertain any further arguments, especially those which he would agree with but was unable to action.

  The same morning as Vann had to go back into hospital, Grum got a call from Kaity Cobb.

  Vann had been given some dipsticks to measure her own protein levels, and a bloo
d pressure monitor. She told Grum that morning that both were up again, and she had been told to go in to the emergency room if they got this high.

  Grum had just dropped her off at the hospital foyer when he got the call.

  'Hello?'

  'It's Kaity Cobb from HR.'

  'Oh, hi.' Grum had a suspicion what this call would be about, and it was not in his favour to make it easy for anybody.

  'Are you on your way in?'

  'I had to take my partner to the emergency room. I'll be at the office as soon as I can.'

  'Er… Oh. OK. I'll call back when you get in the office, if you could send me a message?'

  'Sure.'

  There was only one reason that Grum could think of for him to be getting a call from HR. The boss must have managed to sort out the disciplinary. For Kaity's sake, he hoped that she was just being asked to give him the results of the investigation and tell him the date of the hearing.

  Grum sent Kaity a quick message as soon as he was through the door of his office. The phone rang within seconds.

  'Hi, Kaity.'

  'Hi. How is Lavanya?'

  'Not great.'

  Kaity sighed. 'OK. Here it is. The investigation, such as it was, has finished, with the expected results. You will be sent the report and given a chance to respond at a hearing for your dismissal. Your VP wanted to hold the hearing today, but we know that you would be unable to comprehensively respond at a hearing on the same day you have the report.'

  'Uh-huh.'

  'Geez, you're hard work. You have until Monday afternoon to prepare and to get any support you need. The hearing will be by video conference.'

  'Thank you, Kaity. I will be in touch.'

  Kaity hung up on him.

  He knew he had been a bit hard on Kaity. She had actually told him more than she needed to tell him.

  Grum shrugged and called Vann. Following which, Grum called Zak Winter — the lawyer who had helped Stewart and he go over the initial contracts. It took a little while to go over all the ins-and-outs. Grum was not encouraged to think that his situation was any less desperate than he thought it was. Until he got to the part about Vann being 27 weeks pregnant and the doctors talking seriously about Vann having to stop work due to the pre-eclampsia.

  'I know you weren't much interested in this at the time, but do you remember that I commented on the generosity of the twelve weeks paternity leave? There is nothing in the contract to state that it must start post-partum,' said Zak. 'If I were you, I would give your HR contact immediate notice that due to your partner being diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia, you will be taking paternity leave starting Monday morning. If they have any questions, send them my way. I won't charge you the earth, I promise.'

  'Thanks for the advice. I will do exactly that.'

  'And once you've done that, send me over the proceedings and findings of this investigation.'

  'Yessir!'

  'Hah!' Which was Zak's final syllable as he hung up the call.

  Vann was out of hospital again on the Friday afternoon. This time, though, her doctor and midwife had ganged up on Grum to deliver the same stern orders which they had apparently given to Vann.

  Immediate leave from work, or she stays in hospital. Grum could not argue and even Vann acquiesced. Complete bed rest was not a good idea, but neither was any particular exertion on Vann's part. It was entirely up to Grum to take over the rest of the household duties.

  In any case, it was highly likely that Vann would be induced at 37 weeks, so they had best be ready for that.

  So say we all, thought Grum, as they left the room.

  'I'm going to be bored shitless,' said Vann, as the taxi pulled away from the hospital, taking them back to Grum's apartment.

  'I can get Stew to feed you engineering reports…'

  'That's not going to cut it.'

  'No, I suppose not.' Grum thought for while as the taxi rolled on in silence. Vann could not be asked to work on anything active. Even getting Stew to send over the generator reports would be a stretch. 'What about,' he said, slowly, 'if you were to work on a proper pod design? We both know that if we work this all out, the pod idea will need to be ready to fly pretty pronto.'

  Vann brightened at the idea. 'Yeah, I'd like that. No deadlines, except the one that this little monster is giving me.' She patted her belly affectionately. 'And we will need it.'

  'Yup. You can bounce ideas off me, as I'll be around most of the time, but you're the engineer. I'll just be doing the housekeeping, talking to Zak Winter, and stuff…'

  'And organising the new apartment.'

  That caught Grum off guard. 'Er, new apartment?'

  Vann gave him a pitying look. 'Yes, love. We both live in singletons' pads. There's barely enough room for me to be at yours most of the time without our continually getting under each others' feet, but with a new baby…'

  'Ahhh, OK. The married quarters, you're thinking?'

  Now Vann's look became sharper. 'Don't start with that again, Graham! Just because we're having a baby together, doesn't mean we have to get married. And they are family accommodations, not specifically married. I mean, I know you're busy, but this should be a priority and you haven't even thought about it!'

  'I…'

  'No, Grum. I know you've been busy at work, and I know that you're stressed. So have I been! But we haven't even discussed it, let alone started doing anything about it.' Vann winced. 'And when I get wound up like this, junior starts kicking.'

  'I'm sorry. You're right. There's time for me to get this sorted out.'

  'Yes.' Vann breathed, deliberately, trying to calm down. 'Look. I've spoken to Amy, and I'm going round there for the weekend. So you can get a head start and have some time to chill out before everything kicks off next week.'

  'I don't need…'

  'Yes, you do. So do I. Look, Grum, let's put it this way, because I think you'll get it. We're both atheists and sceptics. You've given me reason to hope that you're serious about us, and you've said as much. But I need to see evidence that you're putting priorities over plans, and that our new family is the top priority!'

  Grum knew her well enough, he thought, to know that if he gave her an immediate assurance, that would do little good. So he nodded, slowly, and said: 'Evidence it is, then.'

  Vann smiled and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, which he returned.

  They stayed that way until they reached the apartment complex and a waiting Amy.

  Looking for a new apartment did not take all that long. Even sat at the kitchen table, rather than in the office. He was fairly sure that Vann would not want to move off the site, not while they were both working here. He already had a fair idea of what the complex had in terms of accommodation, he just needed to check how many family apartments were left and of what size.

  They had built a few more apartments in the complex than the complex had people to fill them — a fact which the boss had not missed, according to the investigation report. If he looked at the percentage of each type used, then they should really move into a four-bed apartment as they were the most under-subscribed. Four had been built and only one was used. Three-beds had almost as much extra, though, and there were physically more of them: six built and four empty. Whereas, looking at the numbers, he may have underestimated the number of two-bed apartments. Fifteen had been built, but ten were already taken. By rights, he and Vann should be moving into one of those still-free two-beds.

  He played a little justification game with himself, though. He was the boss — unless he got fired — so taking a bigger apartment than necessary was not going to cause much comment. Not none, but not much. If they took one of the largest, there would be more comment, even though there was a greater percentage empty and they were the least likely to be filled. People were irrational and it was best not to poke the tiger. So. Either they went with the standard upgrade, or the three-bed option.

  How could he mitigate some of the whiff around him taking a larger apar
tment than necessary? Ah, turn the third bedroom into a home office for Vann when she was on the shortened hours after the maternity leave.

  He had looked into that. USSMC were actually quite generous — for the US — when it came to child-related leave. Paternity leave was twelve weeks, maternity leave was twenty weeks, both paid. After which the mother was only expected to work 30 hours per week for a further six months, whilst retaining full pay and benefits. It was almost as if USSMC had taken a look at the best that was available in the US and put them together to create something which took the edge on them.

  OK. He could wangle that. He sent off a request for allocation of one of the three-bed apartments to the building manager.

  Next up: talking to Zak Winter about the evidence package he had sent over.

  Chapter 17

  GRUM was just winding that conversation up when Stew came over bearing ale.

  'Evening, squire.'

  Grum waved a hand at him and indicated the phone at his ear. 'Yes. Pretty much. As far as I can tell each point is what the VP brought up before, and is covered in the contract, except the bit about making generators.'

  Stew carried the mini-pins over to the kitchen table and set them up. Grum saw him miming quaffing motions and gave him the thumbs-up.

  'It'll be in reference to the public roadmap,' said Grum into the phone, holding up his index finger to Stew, indicating he would be another minute. 'Ahead of that schedule, yes… No, I don't either… Yeah, I sent it. I guess they got back to you, because I heard nothing… Oh, really? I get the feeling that Kaity is as much on my side as she can be in the circumstances… No, nothing for granted, for sure… OK. Speak again on Monday. Bye, now.' Grum tapped the phone and chucked it half-heartedly at the sofa. 'Done. For now.'

  Stew held out a full pint to Grum, who took it gratefully. 'My girlfriend, told me to buzz off because your girlfriend has claimed her for the weekend. So, I thought I come and exact penance from you in the form of grub. But I brought beer, just in case.'