“I want a situation update on Ben Smith,” Raymond demanded as he walked into the monitoring room. “And you, get me a cup of coffee now.” He pointed to someone random.

“He’s actually taking this very well, sir,” Nicholas was reading the brain waves. “He’s a lot more receptive to it than Lauren was…”

“What’s he done so far?” Raymond had actually pulled up a chair, rather than standing over Nicholas and Stanley like he usually does.

“The usual thing everyone else does, he’s given it an examination before trying to go back into standby mode.”

“That’s when we came across an issue, he doesn’t have Lauren’s ID to disengage. When he understandably panicked he even referred to himself as Lauren,” Stanley interjected.

“He tried some breathing exercises but our Dolls can’t do that, so I triggered a soothing program to calm him down while we waited for you,” Nicholas looked over at Raymond to see if was about to be reprimanded.

“Mental sedatives are a last minute resort to stop people from harming themselves or the Doll…” Stanley was horrified. “We’re only meant to be observers, in fact we should be booting him out of the Doll all together… company policy…”

“Excellent call, 477901,” Raymond interrupted Stanley’s small outburst before turning to him. “477900, don’t quote company policy to me.”

Stanley kept quiet but nothing about this sat right with him. The fact that he had overheard Raymond requisition Lisa Young’s Doll in secret. He continued to allow a non-employee pilot an experimental Doll. And now he was praising Nicholas for using mental sedatives rather than ejecting the pilot. Stanley had always been by the book but these orders were coming from his boss, so what was he to do?

“What’s he doing now?” Raymond asked.

“He’s working though the scans of his body indicate that he will need to use the bathroom shortly and since you don’t want to boot him from the system…” Nicholas didn’t care as much for the rules as Stanley, in fact he had learnt to let many things slide.

“Let me,” Raymond took over Stanley’s terminal and opened up the raw data center for the Doll’s mind. He knew this was risky but he didn’t care as he began to type in additional data.

“What are you doing?” Stanley practically screamed. “Mental sedatives are one thing, but changing the data remotely?”

“477900, you are out of line! I am the senior executive of the R and D division. We do things my way. If you do not understand that, there’s the door!” Raymond pointed to the exit.

The whole room went quiet as they all looked at Stanley. Stanley himself wasn’t sure what to do but he couldn’t be a part of this any longer. So he grabbed his things and left like he was asked.

“Why the B? Why not just have him remember Lauren’s code?” Nicholas asked as the Doll went back on Standby mode.

“It’s against company policy for anyone to use someone else’s ID,” Raymond turned towards Stanley and smirked. “It also allows us to keep track of which user is in the Doll without needing to be looking at the brain waves.”

“Are you certain he’s going to be able to pilot it again? Given Lauren’s readout I imagine she’s going to quit the program, in fact I even recommended we pull her from it.” Nicholas admitted. He was just as curious as Raymond as to where this was going.

“That’s a shame because Lauren has been scheduled to fly to Tokyo for a critical position and we need her to pilot the Doll remotely for more testing,” Raymond smiled as he turned back to the door thinking about the damage Stanley could cause.

“I’ll retract my statement,” Nicholas opened up his previous comment and deleted it.

* * * * *

Stanley didn’t like what was going on, he didn’t like it at all. He didn’t know what to do, given Raymond Jones’ position in the company. Because he walked out in protest he knew he was about to lose his job so he had to move fast. He couldn’t use the phone in the monitoring station without being interrupted so he went to the next closest one in the staff room.

“Stanley Mason, ID477900. I need to speak to Lauren Smith, ID299935.” He wanted to report Raymond for his actions but he wasn’t sure who or if he could get a hold of them. So instead he tried to inform Lauren what was going on.

“Good morning this is…” Stanley’s heart skipped a beat as the phone was disconnected.

“I’m sorry but you are not authorized to use this service,” an automatic recording stated. “Stanley Mason, ID477900 please report to HR immediately, failure to comply will result in termination and you will be escorted off the premises.”

Stanley Mason was a good employee who followed company policy to the letter so even though he knew he was going to be fired he still went to HR. If he couldn’t save his job, he’d at least tell them about Raymond’s misdeeds, surely they were going to listen.

HR was in another building on the other side of the property. Stanley had to go down to the lobby of his building and sign out. He got as far as the locker and took out his personal belongings when he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

“Stanley Mason, ID477900?” asked a large woman, with a stern voice.

“Yes?”

“I’m security officer ID535241, you’re to come with me,” She instructed. As she handed him over a small metal case. “Please place your personal belongings inside the box.” Stanley complied not wanting to create any issues. The case had a small electronic lock which turned red as he closed them inside. “The case will remain locked until a security officer unlocks it,” she informed him as she led him to the HR building.

It didn’t take long to get to the HR building as Stanley was escorted in a security car. Security officer 535241 escorted him all the way to the receptionist and waited for him to finish.

“Stanley Mason, ID477900?” The receptionist asked. “Third door on the right, HR officer 197288 is waiting for you.” She buzzed him in . “That needs to stay out here,” she pointed to his case. The security officer took it off him with a grunt as he continued down the hall.

Stanley’s heart raced as he slowly walked down the hallway to the private office. He was beginning to doubt that he should’ve come here at all, but what was the alternative? He honestly didn’t know. It was the first time he had interacted with security, other than signing in and out of buildings, so he didn’t know how zealous they were at their job.

“I’m glad you could join us, Stanley,” a kind old woman smiled as she gestured to him to sit down. The fact that his ID wasn’t used was already a troubling sign. “I’m HR officer 197288, do you know why you’re here Stanley?”

“I have an idea,” Stanley said as he took his seat. “Though before all that I’d like to make a formal complaint against Raymond Jones, ID020205.” Stanley said with a determined look.

“Unfortunately I do not handle the complaints,” the officer said. “Besides, any complaints you make now are less likely to be taken seriously given your status as a former employee.”

“You’re firing me without giving me a chance to defend myself?” Stanley questioned.

“I’m sorry Stanley but these violations are too troubling to ignore. Deleting paperwork on DLY-4’s transfer to recycling. Using mental suppressants on Lauren Smith, ID299935 during an active test, and worse programing new information into DLS-9 while it was in use.”

“I didn’t do any of those things!” Stanley yelled. “It was Raymond Jones and Nicholas Potts, they are running an unsanctioned test on DLS-9 which is currently in use by Ben Smith right now!”

“As I said before, Stanley, complaints are not my department,” the HR office said in a firm tone. “Now please calm yourself down before I call in Security.”

“I’m not making a complaint,” Stanley said a little too harshly as he tried to work his way out of this. “This is my defense against my accusations.”

“Very well…” the HR officer sighed. “You said Ben Smith was using DLS-9?” She decided to entertain him. “What’s his ID number?”

“He doesn’t have one…” Stanley explained before realizing his mistake. “There was a bug in the program that allowed him to pilot DLS-9. I went to disconnect him but Nicholas Potts, ID477901 stopped me.”

“Divulging company information to an unauthorized person is a serious offense, Mr Mason.” The HR Officer frowned.

“I… what?” Stanley was confused.

“I am not authorized when it comes to the systems the Dolls use, and you disclosed a bug you found during testing,” she informed him.

“But you knew that other stuff…” Stanley couldn’t believe it. “Wait, how am I meant to defend myself when you’re not authorized to know what I do?”

“As a HR officer I am only cleared on information that pertains to disciplinary action.” She kept her annoyingly formal tone. “You are only able to defend your actions to an extent” She began typing on her computer. “I was willing to hear you out too, but you violated company policy directly in front of me.” She stood up and opened the door. “I’m sorry Mr Mason, but you’re hereby terminated. I have forward you all legal documents, and am obligated to remind you of your NDA as well as non compete agreement. Failure to oblige will be met with legal action.”

Stanley was speechless as he was ushered out of the room. He had worked here for the last twenty-five years, he interned here in college. Now they were throwing him out the door, not because he messed up but because a senior executive bent the rules and he questioned it.

Security Officer 535241 waited outside reception and kept hold of the case with Stanley’s personal belongings. Neither of them said a word as they escorted him to the car park and she only unlocked the case and handed him back his belongings when they reached his car. She then stood and watched as he left.

Even though he was threatened with Legal action, Stanley refused to give up. What Raymond was doing wasn’t just against company policy it was illegal. He was going to refer this to the AI Watchdog and if that didn’t work he was going to the News, social media, conspiracy boards, anything to get the word out.

Stanley drove out of the parking lot and onto the main road determined to expose the truth. He was so focused on his goal, he didn’t see the truck driving towards him until it was too late. Stanley’s world went dark…