corporate worker - scifi short story - flash fiction

Post Kickstarter waves of delight and gratefulness

So we made it through the 30 days that was the Spool Tower – Multi-level Modular Terrain System Kickstarter. During that time, we had to put a halt on most other general activities Digital Taxidermy normally undertake.

Well we are back. With all the usual and a return to weekly stories.

There are 6 models to be finished for the Kickstarter and most of everything else is listed on the website awaiting the final confirmations of funding. Once we have this confirmation the spool towers will go live, and all pledges can be collected.

You can track the progress of the models, on the Spool Tower section of our webstore. As models get finished their images and status will be updated. All Spool Tower models are listed currently as out of stock. Once the funding process is finished, they will all go live and open for general sale, add them to your Wishlist today for notifications of their launch.

We have had so many ideas in the last couple of weeks on what we can do with spool towers, knowing that there are some very enthusiastic people out there, we will definitely be exploring these in the coming few months. Our question to you guys is, would you rather we released addons for Spool Tower Multi-Level Modular Terrain System as weekly expansion packs or should we save them up for a month or so and run another Kickstarter?

Now the campaign is over, but the fight for waste reduction is just beginning. To help support Digital Taxidermy further the best thing you can do is show your friends or show your gaming/printing groups your results. The more people that see what is possible the more spools we can save from being thrown out.

Digital Taxidermy grows

We have been adding some new faces to the Digital Taxidermy Storytime Collective lately, we will start to see some of their works come out over the next few weeks.

The last Kickstarter experience has shown us that we need more people behind us to interact with everyone, take care of the admin and promotions. We have started training a few people up to help us in these roles in the future. The hunt is on now to find a new designer to join our team and up our content output.

Latest Releases

No new releases this week as we are putting the finishing touches on the Spool Towers, we will have more great releases soon so stick around.

We have some products that still have not made it to the shop yet, we have just got someone to help us with making this a reality so the raiding of the back catalogue will commence in short order.

Storytime

This week we have a return of the flash fiction. We have the seventh story “Corporate Worker 532904”, If you have not read any of our fiction before then you have some to catch up on it, in the blog section. We will have another story for you next week.

So without further ado her is the third outing for Richard Holden as author for Digital Taxidermy

Corporate Worker 532904

Steve stretched, and gently rubbed the sleep from his heavy eyes. He'd been woken again by the sound of the Vizzy box coming on.

He'd been quite excited when they had first installed the sets in his block of cubicles. Something new for down time.

But it turned out the Corps controlled when they came on and off.

Sadly, he soon discovered that it was just one advert after another. Each Corp taking it's turn to get its slot. Non-stop.

He'd heard rumours that before the virus, people often chose to sit and watch ads all the time. He couldn't quite believe himself. What must their lives have been like?

He got dressed in familiar, old clothes. Hmmm, would today be hot or hotter?

Downing his corporate sponsored Shakes ‘n’ Things, Breakfast Productivity Shake, and trying not to gag from the sticky sweetness, he made for the door. Fortunately, he'd landed a lucky pod after a fatal accident at one of the factories a couple of years back. He was only 2 short roads away from the power plant.

Crossing through the hi-tech security gate, he shouted a greeting to the security guard, Bob, after being checked by the tall Corporate Security bots.

Bob grunted back irritably. You had to give it to the guy. If there was one thing you could count on Bob for, it was witty repartee.

Not for the first time, Steve wondered what Bob did for security, given everyone was checked by the bots.

He made it into his lifeless monitoring station, and gave a warm greeting to his 2 team members who had arrived before him.

Gill soon approached, more tentative than usual.

"Steve, sorry, I know you just got in, but would you stamp this form so I can submit my holiday request please?"

"Yes, of course Gill" Steve smiled up at her, his round cheeks showing their wrinkles. The standard thought loop ran through his brain 'she's hot, you're too old'.

He sighed and turned back to his plain desk with a wry grin. 15 years of hard work for this soulless place. Finally, he had earned promotion to team leader just last month. And what was he entrusted to do? Stamp forms.

He reached for his ink pad and the worn-down stamp. He opened the pad to find the ink dried up. He turned to the attendant bot at his left-hand side.

"Bob" he muttered, and the machine sprang to life. Steve smiled. Naming the bot after his security guard friend was genius. Little victories.

"Can you send a request to resources for a new ink pad please?"

"Certainly Corporate Worker 532904" the metallic voice replied.

"The protocol for that request is to complete and stamp form 553(b)"

"Ah ok, I'm I've sure I've got one of those in the bottom drawer here, hang on"

Steve reached down and rummaged until he found it.

He sat up stiffly and placed it on the desk.

"Ok, fill this in and, hey, what?! You want me to stamp this?"

"Yes" replied the bot.

"But I've run out of ink! That's the point!"

"I am sorry but due to Company Stamp Certification Policy, I am unable to help at this time" the bot replied.

"I still don't understand why I'm stamping these ink requisition forms" he stated. "Why can't I just send a system note?"

"Last year the company reviewed the system note practices and found some of them to be inefficient, Corporate Worker 532904. It was a decided a more 'human' touch was necessary. This is why Stamp Certifications are now required."

"So what, pray, do you suggest I do?" Steve sighed in defeat.

"I am sorry but I am unable to help at this time" the bot replied.

"Please rate your interaction with your bot today." the bot finished. "Remember 5 means good and 1 means less good!" It always sounded so chipper at the end.

Steve sunk his head in his soft hands. It was going to be a long day.

……

By Richard Holden

Should you wish to support the Digital Taxidermy - Storytime Collective please consider a small donation to help boost their enthusiasm.

So what did you think? Please do let us know in the comments or jump over to the Digital Taxidermists to chat with us and our interesting band about what possibilities you see ahead.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This story or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.