Blood Zero Sky by J. Gates Read Free Book Online

installed somewhere in the ceiling.
    I hazard one more glance at the woman, but she’s looking away now, gazing at the screen of her IC. I swallow the wave of disappointment I feel and look away from her again. There are more important things on my plate right now than flirting with girls—even ones as beautiful as her, I remind myself. Besides, she was probably just staring at me because I’m May Fields, the CEO’s famous daughter.
    And I’m about to be thrown to the dogs.
    The music reaches its triumphant crescendo, and from an inconspicuous door beneath the logo, my father appears. The sight of him disappoints me. It’s been five months since I’ve seen him, and I imagined I might see some change in him: he might have gained some weight, gotten a few more gray hairs. His skin might be sagging a bit; there might be bags under his eyes. But no, he looks tan, fit, eager. His face is that of a man half his age; his hair is speckled with just enough gray to lend him a distinguished air, and his white teeth stand out against the dark tan of his skin like stars against a night sky. He looks the same as ever.
    With one hand, he deftly unbuttons his perfectly tailored suit coat, and with the other, he waves to the adoring crowd.
    He pauses next to his chair, basking in the applause, an easy smile on his face. If he had his choice, this is probably what he’d do all day, I think with habitual bitterness: stand around grinning while the world applauded him. The sad thing is, he has enough money that he could actually pay people to do just that. For my father, unlike almost everyone else on earth, is a Blackie.
    Dad sits at his throne-like chair at the center of the long conference table, with Jimmy Shaw at his left and the stoic, nearly mute CFO, Bernice Yao, on his right. On the far end of the table sits Mr. Blackwell. The dark military uniform of the HR squads is stretched across his broad shoulders, his square jaw is clenched, his Neanderthal brow furrowed beneath a bristle of close-cropped, salt-and-pepper hair. As usual, he sits silently, his hands folded carefully in front of him, watching the proceedings unfold.
    With a little flourish, Dad clacks the gavel and the applause gives way to silence.
    “Welcome, N-Corp family. I’m thrilled to see you all, and to all of you out there watching us in imager land—well, I can’t see you, but I hope you’re thrilled to see us.”
    A wave of pleasant laughter runs through the crowd then quickly falls away.
    “I’m proud to say we’ve had a great quarter,” Dad continues, making eye contact with various members of the audience as he speaks. “N-Corp has continued its strategy of expansion with mind-boggling success.”
    The wall behind him opens, revealing a massive 3-D holo-imager screen. On it, a map of the world. America Division, South America Division, Australia Division, and Africa Division are all blue and bear the N-Corp logo. For the last twenty years, since the great crisis ended and the world’s governments were forced to privatize, N-Corp has had a monopoly over these territories. EuropeBloc, RussiaBloc, ChinaBloc, and IndiaBloc are colored red and bear the logo of Briggs & Stratton—B&S for short—the only other corporation in the world. In school, most of our history classes told the story of how corrupt and inefficient the world’s governments were before privatization came to the rescue and these two companies began to dominate the globe, so everyone in the room knows the information on screen by heart.
    Dad continues: “Since Africa Division has been our primary focus for production growth and Company expansion this year, we’re going to have a brief presentation about progress there, followed by a profit projection for the next year. Okay, take it away.”
    The lights throughout the room dim, and the imager grows brighter. The speakers in the ceiling cough once, then cheesy music comes in, playing over idyllic scenes of African lions and galloping