Mitt was your typical trillionaire, bad boy, false prophet. Convenient, since being first gave him carte blanche over the precedence of what’s deemed typical. Mitt’s inheritance of decadence gave him a blasé indifference to common folk, that only a lifetime spent as a plutocrat could foster. Fortunately for a man like Mitt, a good public image can be bought and sold like a commodity. The strength of his perceived propriety only empowered his multinational conglomerate empire. The gossip bombs from his heavy hand with hired women and careless affairs with narcotics, were easily defused with a strategic bribe.
But that was all misdemeanor ultra-wealth delinquency. Like his investment portfolio, Mitt was never one to settle for middle of the road performance. He had something more sinister in mind.
“Global domination.” Mitt smirked as he swiveled to face his panel of yes men.
“Through incremental easing of lending rates through our reser...”
“This isn’t a feedback session, Nerdgeek #4.” Mitt interjected, not knowing if he even got the Mittname of the guy he never bothered to learn, correct.
“Only a handful of people in this room have been made aware of Starfish Prime. Specifically, because all the mouth-breathers outside these walls would call it diabolical.” He elaborated with his innately condescending tone.
The members in the boardroom shared dampened looks of indifference and annoyance. This wouldn’t be the first time one of Mitt’s grand plans was forced upon them, complete with hyperbole and epic consequences, the board members knew to just agree and sit it through. The pay was good.
Mitt shouted over the quiet murmur amongst his staff: “As I figured, the words to explain to you gentiles, what’s on the agenda, simply don’t exist in english. You’re gonna need pictures. Roll that beautiful bean footage, A/V club.”
The boardroom windows flashed to opaque and sprung up the Conglomo corporate logo. “Enjoy.” Mitt blurted, as he openly directed his tablet to RedTube with the indifference of a honey badger.
“Conglomo: Innovators at life.” the video opened with a sterile female voice.
“Fast forward through my bio, get to the goodies.” Mitt demanded.
“Following a visit with the Supreme Leader of the Empire of Korea, Kim Jong Un, Mr. Mitt had realized a fantastic vision. Seeing the promise of the Korean Warrior Clone program and...”
“Fast forward again.” He again, interrupted.
“Starfish Prime will allow Conglomo to dictate its destiny. 16 years ago, Mr. Mitt enlisted 998,000 well-reimbursed mothers to act as surrogates through in-vitro fertilization. Through chromosome therapy and high-efficiency disposal measures, Conglomo was able to achieve a staggering, 93% male birth rate. The children were secured and brought to Conglomo Island 8, our largest and most secluded.
For the past 16 years, these children have been raised under the tutelage of former German Army General, Friedrich von Jäger. Following a strict regimen of diet, education and military training in a controlled, Spartan-esque environment, Conglomo has grown, of our own resources, the largest private military organization in history.”
(work in progress)
This is a solid tribute to O'Connor. You've got a cynical tone and an unsympathetic main character. He's an anti-hero and a sociopath, but there's something sort of attractive about him. You've also mixed humor with a kind of macabre plot, which is very O'Connor.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you could do to make it resemble O'Connor even more would be to add some physical description, especially if you use an unusual and striking simile. ("Nerdgeek#4 wore a power tie that looked like a knife wound and had a face like..." That kind of thing.)