Here is January's installment of The Adjusters, “Intermezzo: Patrick Dee", wherein we get a glimpse of the inner workings of ADCorp, and realize things are always more complicated than they seem.
As usual, comments welcome.
I'll also remind you that we have a Speculation Thread available for general discussion. (A thread which I read but do not comment on.)
The Adjusters #57 - Intermezzo: Patrick Dee
“In short,” the vice-president of Sales Division, Michael Halderan, was saying, “as we would expect, profits are steady, and we are probably going to make our numbers for the quarter. We’re steady. We’re growing where we want to grow, and holding steady where we are saturated.”
Patrick Dee sighed, only making a thinly veiled attempt at hiding it with a conspicuous yawn. He found quarterly meetings boring. Which was not surprising, since he found meetings simpliciter boring.
And Halderan was not done. “Our latest analysis does unfortunately predict that we won’t be able to keep this up for long. Frankly, our existing clients are asking for more, and we cannot offer it to them given our current development plans. And we cannot grow out customer base for obvious reasons.”
George Clayton, Vice-President of Investigation and Enforcement Division, more commonly known as Control, nodded. He had quit smoking a few years earlier, after a scare with lung cancer. But a life-long habit of smoking had left him with a tic that made his finger rise up to his lips at regular intervals, like clock work. It drove Dee crazy.
Neither Halderan nor Control needed to spell it out. All ADCorp executives around the table knew the words: critical mass.
Continue reading...
Next month: “Intermezzo: Eve Shawbank”.
An interesting plot development chapter! The smut side of things felt kind of by the numbers though, and was not especially exciting. Mostly because it seems like Dee was sorta detached much of the entire time.
ReplyDeleteGood chapter on the inner working of ADCorp. It nicely sets up lots of potential conflict in future installments.
ReplyDeleteAlso looking forward to the Shawbank chapter. It would definitely be fun to see if she is adjusted, or perhaps see her get adjusted. Especially since she of all people would know what's coming.
Thanks for the feedback. And yes, one goal of this installment (and the next three, ending Book V) is definitely to kick the plot-ball forward and get us back on track.
ReplyDeleteAnd point taken about the detachment as far as the smutty bits. Wasn't planned that way, but it fits with the character of Dee, in retrospect.