RoboNomics

Chapter 77 - 2016

Rupert leans on the glass podium as the thunderous applause continues. He stands on a raised platform at the front of the room, looking out on hundreds of people.

They sit on elegant, comfortable chairs around tables in the vast, sterile room that the company uses for these occasions: iTronics shareholder meetings.

Rupert has just introduced me to them. I sit behind a long table behind him, with members of the executive management team on my right side, and members of the Board of Directors on my left.

I watch as he just stands there, rather than allow me to take over the lectern. The clapping continues, the crowd expectant for my speech. He raises a hand and the sound gradually dies away.

It was my idea, to have him say a few words before I address the shareholders about the Anderson Foundation for Earth.

"Look," I explained as we stood in my office a few days before the meeting. "I just think it might sound better coming from you."

"Ms. Anderson, I can't. This is so...unorthodox."

"But they know you. They're used to you. I'm not asking you to give the entire presentation, I just want you to introduce the Foundation. Ease them into it with a friendly face. You know?"

Despite his reservations, in the end he relented.

"Now," he says to the crowd. "Ms. Anderson has asked me to say a few words to you today. Some words about Donald Anderson's legacy, and about the things that were important to him. Donald cared deeply about this organization. He cared about furthering iTronics' vision of the future about his duty to you, the iTronics shareholders.

"But I'd also like to talk about the things that are important to his daughter. Andrea Anderson believes that we at iTronics have a greater duty. In staying true to that vision of the future, she believes that we have a responsibility to all humanity."

With the exception of Mitra, everyone around me seems surprised by Rupert's words. I hear whispering as the crowd shifts in their seats. Even up here, I hear people speculating about what he's talking about.

"When we first colonized New Rome --"

"Hey," comes a voice from the crowd. "Is this something we're going to vote on?

"Yeah," calls another voice. "Rupert, what's all this about?"

"I thought we were here to vote on the budget," adds a third person.

Rupert glances back at me, unsure of how to proceed. I can't just let him drown.

I'm on my feet.

"What this is about," I say as I walk around the table and up beside him. "Is the extra money that the board hasn't told you about. The cash on the balance sheet that we must, as an organization, put towards a good cause. A higher cause."

The first slide of Mitra's presentation appears on the wall behind me, project there by my FlexPhone. On it is emblazoned the emblem for the Anderson Foundation for Earth.

We picked the name together, we designed the logo. But this is not how I wanted the Foundation to be introduced. This is not what was supposed to happen.

As Rupert limps back to his seat behind me, I throw myself into the speech I'd practiced.

"Today I'd like to talk to you about the future. I'd like to introduce everyone to the Anderson Foundation for Earth. A new vision of the future that --"

"Earth? Is this a joke?" A voice from the crowd rises above the sound of my voice that's amplified by the tiny microphone hidden in the lapel of my crimson suit jacket.