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Madison sped home from Applsn up the east side of San Francisco, She nearly wiped out as she passed by the San Francisco international airport when a Boeing 777 passed overhead. Slow and steady wins the race, slow and steady wins the race. Madison reminded herself. She was in a rush to get home, as she left her phone at home in fear she wouldn't have silenced it correctly and it would buzz or bing during her interview. Now she wished she would have just left it in the car. She knew Erich would only call her twice, and she didn't want to disappoint him.
After 20 more minutes of trying to stay calm, trying to not get in an accident or start traffic, Madison pulled down the driveway that led to parking for her condo complex. Pulling into one of her four parking spaces, Madison gathered her folders and keys and headed to her front door. At her front door, she heard a loud meow.
"Shady bitch can't live on her own for a day." Madison muttered to herself. She walked through the doorway shutting it behind her. She turned the corner to the kitchen and the sight she saw made her want to chuck Smores out the window.
Smores sat on the ground meowing loudly, 2 feet away from an open cabinet which her container of cat chow fell over and spilled all over the floor.
"SMORES." Madison screeched. Smores ran under the table again and Madison chased her. Smores scurried out from under the table and scurried up the stairs. When Madison jumped to her feet after her attempt to catch Smores from her hideaway under the table, Smores jumped a full 7 feet from the staircase to the window ledge, and sat looking at Madison.
"I'm not helping you get down from there." Madison shouted up to Smores as she walked back down the stairs to clean up the mess Smores made.
As Madison was first finishing cleaning up the last bits of cat chow that Smores had avalanched all over the kitchen floor, she heard her marimba ringtone coming from upstairs in her bedroom. Cursing to herself, she wondered how many times it had rang, since she had been vacuuming up some of the food and wouldn't have heard it.
Madison ran to the stairs, slipping on the hardwood floor at the bottom of the stairs. She quickly got back up and ran up the stairs, passing Smores who had perched herself in a comfortable position in the sun on the window sil. She meowed.
"You're going to a shelter!" Madison managed to yell as she ran up the stairs. When she made it to her bedroom, she ran to her phone which had been luckily still ringing and answered it. It was Ivana. She began talking before Madison could even say hello.
"I think you got the job."
"What?"
"I said," Ivana said, edging a whisper. "I think you're going to be CTO."
"How do you know?!" Madison asked.
"I heard Erich talking to one of his lawyers. They were filing something out- from where I was, I could barely hear them talking. I'm certain it was a contract, and-or a disclosure agreement- maybe something else," Ivana was silent for a moment. "Their still at it. I didn't hear them say your name at all- or anyones, but this only happens when an executive position is about to be taken. Usually for most employees, they'll sign the same agreements as everybody else before their hired. Since it's an executive position being taken, their making up a different one- and there's only been two people headed for empty executive position, CTO. The other person went just a bit before you for his interview, and I heard from word of mouth that it didn't go well. He doesn't understand proximity modules, and there's no way Erich would hire him. Therefore, it leaves you."
"So," Madison started, trailing off as she spoke. "I could be CTO of Applsn."
"I'd say," Ivana laughed. "You were CTO the moment Blunt saw your college portfolio."
"What'll happen then?" Madison asked, confused.
"I can't say," Ivana sighed. "I probably should get back to work." and with that she hung up.
Madison set her phone down and plugged it back into the charger. She stared at it for a few seconds before getting up to go change out of her dress she had worn to the interview and put on some comfy clothes. She was oddly bored, and wasn't sure what to do in the meantime as she awaited a call from Erich Blunt. She was all alone inside, and it was too hot and humid outside to go for a run. Madison put on a sports bra and some random soft t shirt she dug out in her drawer and wandered downstairs. Her condo was silent- all except for Smores purring as she slept up on the window ledge in the sun. Madison grabbed a book and cozied herself on the couch to pass some of the time.
-
Two hours later, Madison looked up from her nearly finished book, Deep Dark and Dangerous. There still wasn't a phone call, but Madison reminded herself that it could take Erich Blunt a while to decide whether or not he was going to hire her. Then Madison heard her phone buzzing from upstairs. Madison took off running to her bedroom.
Madison got to her bedroom and quickly answered the phone call. It was Erich Blunt.
"Hello?" Madison said- trying to sound formal.
"Congratulations," Erich said on the other end. "You're officially CTO of Applsn. You start tomorrow morning at 8, and I'll go through everything with you. I'll meet you at the south entrance, by the doors on the right, and we'll get your fingerprint in and security coded. Sound good?"
"Sounds good." Madison said in response. Then she remembered Ivana didn't work at Applsn tomorrow, meaning she would have to drive herself. "Off topic, but, where do I park?"
Erich laughed. "East entrance has the best parking if you're planning on entering through the south entrance," Erich said. "Park there."
"Do I need to bring anything?" Madison asked. She didn't think she would need anything, but she just wanted to be sure.
"Only your brain." Erich said. "Tomorrow morning at 8." He reminded her.
"I'll be there." She said. Erich hung up.
"I work for Applsn!" Madison screeched in excitement. She heard a clunk and a hiss and knew it must've been Smores falling from the window she was sitting on. Madison's phone buzzed. She picked up her phone and looked at her screen. It was a text from Ivana.
Now that you're Applsn's new CTO, don't do anything stupid. Everyone is going to be watching you now. Also, I'm predicting you may be all over some news channel, but mostly just business channels.
Madison processed this for a second. She remembered how other big companies would hire new executives, and how they would be flung into fame. Now it was about to happen to her.
I'll try not to.
-
Madison awoke the next morning to her alarm clock and Smores sitting on her head. Pushing Smores away from her personal space, Madison stretched and yawned. Today was Madison's first day working at Applsn, as CTO- and she was excited. Madison rolled out of her bed onto the floor, and got up and ran to her closet. She quickly picked something out and scurried off to the shower.
Madison got up and hurried to the bathroom to clean up. As she showered, she thought about her position as CTO. Am I going to run the company often? How much do I even know about running a company? Madison had no experience what-so-ever on running a company- much less one as big as Applsn was. It was surprising that Erich Blunt had hired her so quickly for such a high class position. But given her college finish, it didn't really shock her at all. Erich Blunt wanted someone who was smart, and Madison was all that.
Madison stepped out of the shower. She put lotion on, added hair smoother and got dressed. She wore a plain, simple- executive looking- black dress.
She hurried down the stairs to the kitchen, fed Smores, and grabbed something to eat. As she ate, she turned on the CBS News like she had every morning. Smores was eating like a pig, chowing down on her food. Madison finished eating, and headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
As she brushed her teeth, she went to clean up after Smores. There was cat chow and splashed water everywhere. Disgusting animal. Madison thought to herself. As she cleaned up the remaining pieces of cat food, she heard her name on the tv.
"Madison Kocain takes open position as CTO at technological firm, Applsn, beside CEO of the company Erich Blunt," Madison froze as she stared at the tv in awe. "CBS News Carla Johnson has more information on the story."
Madison shut the tv off before they said anything discouraging. She washed off her toothbrush, turned off the lights and headed out the door to her car.
The drive to Applsn was fairly entertaining. She passed by a couple of accidents, cut through some traffic and almost wiped out due to a passing aircraft as she had the day before. She didn't want to be late. Within an hour that felt like only 10 minutes, she was pulling down the street that lead through Silicon Valley to Applsn and into the east parking lot.
Madison quickly double checked her appearance, grabbed her phone and keys and stepped out of the car. As she headed to the south entrance of Applsn along the side of left building, her heart began to race. She took a deep breath and continued. She turned the corner to the south entrance and walked up the long ramp. Erich was talking to someone up by the doors. Erich saw her and he and the man he was talking to walked over towards Madison.
"Morning Kocian." Erich said once he reached her. "I'm going to skip all the handshakes and cut right to the chase, we did that yesterday." Madison couldn't hold back the small laugh that bubbled up. The man who Erich had been talking to, however, shook her hand.
"David Hertzberg," He said. "I'm his lawyer." He finished, gesturing over to Erich.
"Before we can do anything, we have paperwork that you need to sign." Erich said. "We also need to set up a bank account for payday, and set you up with a phone and laptop."
"But I already have a phone." Madison stated, holding up her left hand that was clutching her- oldish, but still good quality- iPhone 5S. "Why do I need a new one?"
"Company purposes," Erich winked. "Let's go get this paperwork done first." He said as he gestured her to follow him into Applsn.
They walked through several of hallways and up a flight of stairs. Things from yesterday were coming back and looking familiar. Madison's train of thought was interrupted by one of her own trademarks. As they turned the corner, Madison slipped. Erich immediately turned around and saw her quickly hustle to stand back up, and slip once more in the meantime.
"Get enough sleep last night?" Erich asked, laughing. It made her feel a lot better knowing that he thought it was funny, and not a disgrace as she would have seen it.
"9 hours!" Madison said, proudly, smiling.
"You just wiped out on the floor out of the blue." Erich said, shaking his head as he laughed.
"Oh that was nothing," Madison said. "I'm way worse at home."
"I believe it." Erich said smirking as he unlocked the door to what looked like a conference room. On the table were papers, which Madison assumed were the papers that needed signatures from her. Also on the table was the box of a MacBook Pro and on top the box to an iPhone 6.
Erich sat down in the chair at the end of the table and Madison sat at the chair on the side of the table closest to him. Erich picked up one of the small stacks of paper, and placed it in front of Madison, and grabbed a pen.
"This is a Non-Disclosure agreement," He started. "With other companies competing, that last thing I want them obtaining this company's information, codes and or knowledge."
"I've heard of these before," Madison said as her eyes skimmed the top paper.
Legal Contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to or by third parties.
Erich's lawyer, David, briefly explained to Madison what the contract was all about and what she would be agreeing to when she signs it. Madison followed along, for the most part, a few times he had to go back and change his lawyer terms into words people like Madison would actually understand.
"Hertzberg doesn't mean for you to read through all of it." Erich started. "All you need to understand is that you're restricted in your use of materials provided, and may not share common knowledge."
Madison looked at Erich trying to process everything. "So basically everything that happens inside Applsn, stays at Applsn."
"Yes," Erich said nodding. "Unless you have further permission from me."
"Got it." Madison said, reading more on the agreement.
Both parties will be supplying information that is intended to remain secret.
"Do you need to read more into it, or are you ready to sign it?" Erich asked.
"I'm ready to sign it." Madison said. Erich flipped through a few pages in the contract before point at three sets on blank signature lines and handed her the pen. Madison signed her name on the lines, and Erich put the papers into a folder.
"That's all I have to sign?" Madison asked. It seemed like there would be much more.
"That's all." Erich said. "Hertzberg is handing your bank account along with health information."
"Wow." Madison said to herself.
"Next," Erich said after he finished putting away the contract. "You're provided with a laptop and phone while you're here working with me at Applsn." Erich grabbed the iPhone box first. Madison felt giddy when Erich had said she would be working with him, not working for him. She couldn't believe how much her life had changed, in what? Only 2 days?
Erich passed Madison her new iPhone 6, which was silver, and she held it in hands, turning it over and admiring the shiny screen. Her old iPhone was covered in greasy fingerprints. Madison had been planning to buy the iPhone 6 but had just never gotten around to it. Apple had bumped up their old phones' pixels to the iPhone 6's new dual domain pixels. To put simply, the screen can be viewed from any angle and in any type of weird or uneven lighting. The display also has a higher contrast and a thinner backlight.
Erich reached for the next box. "Secondly, you get a laptop." Erich said pulling the laptop out of the bubble wrap around it. It was brand new. "I'm hoping you already know how to use a laptop."
"I do." Madison laughed.
"Great, then that'll save a lot of work." Erich said.
"Am I able to backup all my things on my current phone onto my new one?" Madison asked. She hated switching phones.
"Of course," Erich looked at her. "It's whether or not you're ok with it all being visible to me."
"As long as you don't do anything with it," Madison hesitated as she thought about that. "I'm ok with it."
"Same thing goes for your laptop. Everything you do and everything you have stored will be visible to Applsn. Got it?"
"Got it." Madison nodded.
"I'll hold onto these till later," Erich said as he stood up and placed the boxes back on top of each other on the table. "Now you get to see how everything works." Erich winked at her. Now Madison grew excited.